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Why do I (you) see people a lot in video (thats the only time I've seen people BASE jump, so far!) that go into the delta position, rather than the full out track position? Is the track inherently less stable than a delta? Because a good track will beat a good delta any day in distance covered, and I assume the objective is to get as far away from the object youre jumping. Does it have to do something with subterminal vs terminal? I hope I explained clearly...

i was under the assumtion that the delta was the extreme and most efficient tracking method? I have read that with base, the sooner you are in a track, the faster and further you move out......

my 2c

ok, maybe I'm totally wrong, but the delta is a diving maneuver, whereas the track is a dearched, flat horizontal manuever. I'm pretty sure a track covers more ground than a delta, right?

The best track position is de-arched, to get lift. I think you saw the delta position just after exit, because it's a very stable position and a nice position to go into a track position after 3 seconds.

  

Many people skydivers included haven't seriously learned to track well. Skydive a couple hundred times without seriously practicing your track, jump off a cliff and see where that gets you. You'll move away from it but with practive you'll move MUCH further.

If you look at a lot of Big cliff footage you will notice that many many people can flat track with the best of them. Some can't. You'll notice that in skydiving as well.

So go out and do some tracking dives and figure it out. It's fun and could save your life.

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So let me get this right. During the first part of a jump (i.e. when youre very sub terminal) its better to hold a delta for 2-3 seconds, instead of transitioning right to a track? Is this a stability issue?

I think that you may be seeing some sub-terminal "penguin" tracks and thinking they are deltas.

Most BASE jumpers are using a tracking position that looks a bit different from a skydiving track. It's really more similar to the position that wing-suit flyers use--but with no wingsuit.

You might also be looking at jumpers using tracking pantz, which require a slightly different tracking position, as well (arms a bit spread to counteract the "high life" legs).

Or, as hookitt correctly points out, you may just be watching video of folks (like myself) who can't track to save their lives.

You might want to head over to Blinc and read the knowledge BASE articles. Lukas Knutsson (rip) wrote an article on subterminal tracking. He was a tracking badass, so it would probably be a good thing to look over.

Of course if you haven't read all that stuff, you should spend an afternoon reading those articles.
Knowledge BASE

Yeah, that "delta" position prevents you from going head low on your exit and sets you up for a track. I do it for a sec out of the plane, too, on my non-WS dives (which are always tracking dives or hop and pops).

i do belive that in a delta you will tip your nose abit,but you will be more stabel.Try to go to delta from an box(in a skydive).or am i wrong here?

thanks for the info. Now that you mention it the times that I went right to track from a box position, i went seriously headdown for a second. I will mess around with it next dive. Tracking is SO much fun, I can't wait until I have enough skydives to start WS flying, and WS BASE, whew

A real track will give you a lot more forward speed than a delta, terminal or not. I use the delta to go from exit- to track-position and depending on the jump/exit that can take 0.5-2 secs. And yes, a full-on track is less stable.

Obi

I was just skimming through forums in a hopeless quest
to catch up and ran across this:

> Now that you mention it the times that I went right to track
> from a box position, i went seriously headdown for a second.

I think this is normal - you go head down relative to the ground,
but not relative to the relative wind.

Imagine you have been tracking for a while, so you are
in a steady state, body shaped just right, hitting the relative
wind at a certain angle.

From a standing start the relative wind is coming straight up,
so if you hit your best track, meaning body shape and angle
of relative wind, you look head down relative to the ground.

As you start moving forwards the relative wind starts coming
from more out in front of you and you level out, relative to
the ground, but your angle with the relative wind is the same
throughout.

Skr