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For those of you with over 50ish Slider OFF jumps that had flippy shit (gainers, font flips, twists, and stupid fun shit of the sorts, etc) envolved. (ANY OBJ) What percentage of those that "felt right" on pitching ended up with 'looking _______' Fill in the blank with a post to specific, or answer 1-4.

Thank you, wanting to do flippy shit. NIC

For some reason or another, usually better heading performance with gainers... and even silly flips that haven't gone so well. Just seems that way to me.

My general method and train of thought:
During rotation, looking for the ground... tower (or whatever object, hopefully its a bridge first ) passes field of vision, then I see land. Hand on PC and pitch then. Feet out to slow rotation and avoid the PC hitting the foot. Keep it simple.

I'm digging this thread up since I have over 50ish slider off flips now.

Most of the single gainers that 'felt right', i.e. on axis and pitch while stable and at the right time, turned out good, heading performance maybe slightly better than flat&stable, because I'm concentrating more on staying on axis after exit and I make concerted effort to stay that way during deployment.

Doubles seem less consistent with heading performance.

The thing about slider off flippy shit is that you went slider off due to lack of altitude and therefore sooner or later you will have to pitch while it feels wrong to avoid overdelaying.

That's when you find yourself in some strange orientation trying to get to the risers while the canopy is flying at the object.

The trick to being on-heading is:
Relax, launch symmetric, flip symmetric, pitch symmetric

Doing a twist, good luck. The above plan goes to shit and you rely totally on your experiences.

Launching symmetric is hard sometimes because people are more comfortable exiting with one foot, get the other foot out there as soon as possible.

Flipping symmetric is all about the hips and shoulders, don't turn them. The faster the flip (like on a tucked double or trip) the more exaggerated a non-symmetric launch or body position is.

Pitching symmetric is tough because you only pitch with one hand (most of us). I have taken to a bird-man style double handed track pull on single lay-out gainers. You can still pull with one hand, just keep your hips and shoulders symmetric.

I find the most important thing in aerials is to relax and trust that you have the skill to save your life. It helps to actually have said skill. I recommend practicing either in a pool or from a taller bridge (like Mile's bridge).

There are 2 things that will kill you very easily. Doing aerials before you're ready, and trying to impress your friends.

See ya
Be Safe
-Bill

If chicks dig scars, they can go out and get their own.

Attached Pic : See the tag in the lower left corner for photographer credit.

tenacious B

thanks for the tips!

now I too can impress my friends with a one-upmanship quad...

Why only use the symmetrical wingsuit style pull on layed out singles? I think there's a pretty natural transition from hands on shins tuck to ws-style pull so it makes even more sense to me on tucked gainers, as my doubles typically are.

That's a nice pic. Who's that cool looking dude in the black shirt?

cya
sam

Yeah, that's you in that shot. Also, the Jesse's.

I guess I kinda use the track-pull in the Doubles and Trips, but it's so fast I don't really devote much thought to the left arm.

In doulbes, or any fast rotating aerial it is very important to keep the torso (hips to shoulders) very still while reaching and pulling. I have seen some bad axis opening caused by cheating the pull. It's a very different feeling in a tuck, than a layout. The tendancy is to reach early and leave your hand on your PC until pull time, but this could totally throw off your symmetry.

You get better at moving only the arm and not the shoulder the more pratice you get.

This is critical on sub-terminal aerials because you don't stop rotating until the parachute stops you. If your pull throws you off axis (and it will) you could turn sideways during opening
You can extend your legs to slow your rotation, but the pull is still very important for on-axis openings. On-axis leads to on-heading

If practicing in a pool or on a trampoline, pratice the pull too.

I'm not sure if I understand this right, but stopping a rotation (flip, twist, spin) is one of the first things I learned in gymnastics.

I did a 1.5 second single once and stopped it to fall belly to earth for about 1 more second, but this is not typical for low aerials. Ussually you just slow your rotation and fall in to your opening. Stopping the aerial takes up too much altitude, and has great risks. It might put you in a stand or on your back. Not a big deal from 1500ft but from 486ft with the ground coming up at you at 32.2 ft per second per secondit could be lights out.

Again, these are ussually what happens. Really good aerialists do things that beginers will not be trying.

On my doubles and triples I kick out of the aerial to slow it down to the speed of a layout without losing as much alti. But I'm still rotating and have to pitch at the rite time or I'll over rotate. Over and Under rotations are huge killers of heading performance - I would suggest not doing either one

Hope this clears up my earlier point.
-Bill

Ah, I get it now. Your original remark conveyed a recommended way of doing things, not a law of physics. I haven't done any aerials (nor do I intend to), so I don't know much about the best way to do them sub-terminal. Your explanation above makes sense though.

The reason I asked is because I see many BASE aerialists hucking themselves of a bridge without proper gymnastic training. Some of those believe that initial rotational momentum defines the rest of their jump, which proper gymnasts know to be untrue. With proper training, you have a remarkable amount of control over your rotation in mid-air, even when subterminal.

That said, stopping your rotation before pitching on a subterminal jump may indeed not be the best idea, as you pointed out.


Yes. Thanks!

Jaap Suter

Very true and that's the single biggest mistake people commit on their few fist aerials: launching way too hard ending up in unwanted doubles, off axis, or pitching at the absolute wrong time, you name it.

A single gainer is the simplest thing there is, much simpler than a flat and stable exit, at least to me

Granted that I only have one double at the Potato (and went very well), a slow single to me is where it's at: slow, mushy, lots of time to enjoy the view, great non-slamming slider down opening, what else can you ask?

The secret is not to launch the flip on the exit: just step up and forward, lean back, bring your knees in a little, and when you see the water/ground smoothly pitch. There is really nothing to it.

I guess it is a diference of style from Nitro, and maybe because I don't have proper qymnastics training. I tell beginners that there are little tricks to speed yourself up, or even slow yourself down; but the launch is critical.

I say that it is all in the launch. Not too hard and definitely not too slow. I don't want a skydiver to think they can use air speed to help the flip (a common mistake).

I am all for a 2 second lay-out for the first gainer. I say launch off and lean your head straight back, shoulders square. If you launch slow, bring your knees in a little. If you launch too fast, pitch fast

See ya
-Bill