Basejumper.com - archive

I was thinking about unstable exits last night watching continuum 1 and 2. I was thinking about a few fatalities where this was the cause. My question is that on a delay of 12 seconds say on a high object, wouldn't a say aerial move be a way of recovery? I seem to remember training in my skydiving training that if unstable to ball up and then arch hard. This is also a recovery for skysurfing when you loose stability. I dove in my younger years and balling up was a way to create speed or momentum. Would either of these help with stability apon exit. I would think for one....You would not backslide back to the object. Number two...you would create speed...less surface area.. to gain stability.
Granted we are talking about mere seconds but it was just a thought. When you watch someone front fliping verses just boxman exit, you can see a big difference in speed and direction. Just wondering if something like this would apply. And yes you would need to be proficient at diving technices..

Just a thought Chris

All depends on available altitude. Best bet is not blow it in the first place. When I teach new jumpers I always mention that their bodies will follow where they are looking. In other words if, you look at the ground while you are exiting, then there is very high probability that you will go head down. Instead, I suggest that when learning the muscle memory of a proper exit, always look at the horizon until you have pitched. This greatly reduces your chances of over rotating and going head down.
Once a student has that down then they can start practicing exiting while looking at the ground

that makes allot of sense....But what about learning when to pitch at greater delays....Are you actually counting to say onethousand sixteen or is it by sight...i would think when you go from say 3 to 4 second delays even if you have say 60 to 70 jumps....going to a 16 second delay must be a bit overwhelming with all that is going on. I would think also you have the tendency to look down allot as it's all new... Just wondering if this would cause a headdown direction by eye sight or head direction..head facing horizon eyes looking down...

Thanks Kev...

Many people count when taking small delays and many others gauge it by sight. This however takes practice and is only learned through experience.
When taking larger delays counting doesn't work very well. The tendency to loose track of your count is too high with all the visual stimuli going on around you. Looking is better for long delays. So, how does a new jumper know when to pull when taking a long delay? Trail and error. Most newer jumpers will take too short of a delay when they are able to take longer ones. This is O.K. Better to work your way down rather than hummit with out intending to