From: bleck@aztec.ai.mit.edu (Olaf Bleck)
Newsgroups: rec.skydiving
Subject: Re: How to swoop?
Date: 12 Dec 1992 06:53:05 GMT
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
Distribution: world
Reply-To: bleck@ai.mit.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: aztec.ai.mit.edu

In article <1992Dec11.115820.8470@ncar.ucar.edu>, nws@stout.atd.ucar.edu (Eddie Roberts (The National Weather Service)) writes:
|> 
|> 	Can some skygod give me a little hint on swooping?  My biggest problem
|> 	(right now) with doing RW is usually getting to the group.  The advice I've been 
|> 	given is go into a flat track and bend at the waist? I've tried a couple
|> 	of times with no success. The first time I simply started to tumble when
|> 	I bent ( I guess to much ), the next few times I bent less but couldn't
|> 	catch the group.
|> 	Is my swooping problem simply a matter of more practice or is the technique
|> 	more involved?


I'm no skygod, but I've been to a few camp like things where we worked on
stuff like that.  I gather you're talking about swooping to bigger
formations, like say a 20way out of a DC3 where you're near to last out? (You
certainly don't want to dive for anything you don't have to.)

Well, I think you have basically the right idea, but you want to have your
arms back behind you more, *past* a flat track, and just a little bent at the
waist.  I figure it works kind of like an arrow--if the shaft runs down the
center of your torso looking from the side, then your arms are back and off
to one side, and your legs are straight and off to the other, kind of like
the flights (feathers) of an arrow.  There's more drag now below your waist,
so your lower body falls slower, moving you to a head-to-earth position.

HOWEVER!! 

When you go this, you really start moving, so you have to be extra controlled.
Points to remember:

-Always keep your eye on the formation.  I use a Protec on occasion, and this
is the instance where it obscures your vision noticably, because you've got
your head tilted down a bit and you're trying to look up over your forehead.

-RULE OF THUMB:  dive half way, break half way!  If you don't, you'll cruise
right past the base and be low wondering what happened--and it wasn't the
fall rate that was the problem!

-We did what we called "herding"--you never want to go by the guy in front of
you, regardless of how slow he is--"herd" him into his slot.  If you don't,
you cause traffic problems and confusion.  In my most memorable "dive", I
could have catted the guy at any time as I followed him down--it was really
neat!

-the hard part is to do the 1/2-1/2 thing--unless you really can judge it,
and have a clean view of the base, it's really easy to "stairstep" your way
down--dive for a bit, arch, dive for a bit, arch, etc.  This is bad
technique, but it takes a lot of practice.  (Which is where I'm at).

-BE CAREFUL!  Realize that you can be going 200mph in a dive, while a
floater's de-arched at 100mph--imagine slamming into the guy next to you at
100mph.

-take your time.  "Better late than never"  i.e. take the time to set up a
good controlled dive.


Some things that people said to try were 1) diving out after a big way, say 5
to ten seconds after the last guy leaves, doing a smooth dive, and trying to
come out level with the formation (tell them you're going to do this!!)  and
2) doing a solo "dive" dive--go into a dive, and when you're head to earth,
slowly bring in your arms and legs so that your whole body is inside you're
head's burble.  When you're doing it right, you supposedly can feel your legs
kicking the the wall of your burble and you really scream down--the point is
to develop you sense of what it feels like when you do it right.  (courtesy
of Mike Michigan)

--------

As for getting into a smaller group, if that's what you meant, well, that's
pure RW finess.  Things to work on are a good box-man position with elbows at
90degrees, arch around the waist, and maybe try a faster jump suit.  I've
always been taught that litterally "swooping in" isn't good form, i.e.  if
you cruise in to say a star and slam a stop in your slot.  Looks good if you
can do, it, but I like to take my time and use a smooth approach.


Hope this helps...

-Olaf

BTW, where do you jump in the Boulder area?  Do they have jumping at the
Boulder County Airport now?  I saw a demo 4-way at an airshow there when I
was about 3 (~1970).
Newsgroups: rec.skydiving