Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!samsung!caen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!eng.ufl.edu!gnarley.eng.ufl.edu!esj From: esj@gnarley.eng.ufl.edu (Eric S. Johnson) Newsgroups: rec.skydiving Subject: Re: Arch problems Message-ID: <1991May7.134409.5340@eng.ufl.edu> Date: 7 May 91 13:44:09 GMT References: <28390@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> Sender: news@eng.ufl.edu Reply-To: esj@gnarley.eng.ufl.edu (Eric S. Johnson) Organization: U of Florida Engineering Comuputing Services Lines: 38 In article <28390@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> dth@reef.cis.ufl.edu (David Hightower) writes: >I have a problem that maybe some of you have encountered. I took up >skydiving in the Spring of '89, and immediately fell in love with it. >Only problem was, I could not arch enough to remain stable; as soon as I >started my free-falls I lost control on every jump and had to time my >pulls with when I had the ground in sight. > >Is there another jump attitude that maintains stability? Or is there >something I can do to improve my arched stability? I have not jumped >since Fall of '89, simply because I got tired or one-man acrobatics >(aerbatics?) and always worrying that I would wrap the canopy around >myself during a barrel roll. Plus, doing 5-second free-falls 23 times >in a roll gets to be boring. > 23 5 second delays? ouch. 1. Find another instructor. A different guy at your DZ or find a whole new DZ. Granted you may be a complete uncoordinated bum ;-) but 23 is outragous. A good instructor would have cured you by now or bought ya a bowling ball and stopped takeing your money. 2. If you can afford it, get into a AFF program. I can give you names and phone numbers for some of the best AFF instructors in the world who live here in north Florida. Its expensive, but one AFF jump might cure your off the step stability problem (and boy will it be fun too ;-) You could then proceed with the static line training. 3. What I found (somewhere around my 6 or 7th PRCP) was to pratice everything in the shallow end of a swimming pool. Grab the side as if its the strut, look to your left and visualize a JM yelling GO! Hit a arch and exhale and float to the bottom. Modify as needed for prcp's etc. Water will help you feel your arch. Best - o - luck Ej A-12472