After chilling out for a little while it was time for my next briefing. Paul was back after debriefing after the last session. We moved into the briefing room and once again it was all fresh faces, this still surprised me as flight night was designed for people to progress. Soon after we started though a couple of familiar faces turned up from the first flight night.
Paul went round the room finding out where people were at with their flying and suggesting what to try and achieve in the flights. I was first up and as he had seen me fly in my last session he suggested we carry on from there with a minute of back flying, but he was going to turn the speed up, just like the instructors, just to see how I coped. He then said that he really wanted to push me and thought we should try some positions ready for sit fly. So on the same day as successfully back flying I was already moving on towards sit fly! Amazing!
One of the others in the group was still doing basic belly flying and Paul wanted to get them moving around the tunnel touching the 'X men' she wasn't sure on how to move backwards and forwards and Paul was going to demonstrate, but changed his mind and asked me to do it! I got up from my seat and positioned myself on the 'flight table' (yes we really have made this up as the term to describe the bench/table for showing body positioning!) I proudly told the room that to move forwards they needed to bring their arms back towards their body and straighten their legs, I then showed them how to go backwards by straightening my arms and bending my legs. Paul proudly told them all that he asked me to demonstrate as in the future I wanted to become an instructor, he then used me to show them how to move arms and legs together. I loved the opportunity to 'teach' hopefully in the future I'll be in Paul's position and I'll be teaching classes.
After the briefing the others got geared up and we headed up to the tunnel. There were some skydivers in there so we watched for a little while before it was our turn.
We all moved into the staging area and I was 5th to go. This gave me plenty of time to run through all that Paul had told me and to make sure I was ready. When it was my go I walked in, I tried to crouch and lay on my back but once again it was the flop onto the net, Paul checked I was OK though before we carried on. I opened up into the back fly position and after a little bit of random flying about the air flow was increased. I think I managed to fly quite well with the higher speeds and I didn't end up all the way at the top of the tunnel, surely that's a good thing!?!? Although I'm sure some of you would of found it very amusing, picturing me pinned to the veins at the top of the tunnel. Once the air flow was slowed again, Paul stood on the ends of my shoes and I stood up, I walked to the middle of the tunnel and we began working on the sit fly position. I stood opposite Paul and he was showing me what to do, first up was to put my arms out to the sides and bent at the elbow to point forwards, I had them a little high to begin with so Paul came and lowered them, he moved back to be opposite me again and began to crouch, legs apart into a sitting position. I found this quite difficult, I couldn't seem to get the balance on my feet and I was leaning forwards into the wind rather than standing straight to my hips and then leaning back. We only got as far as this and my first 2.5minutes were up. I exited the tunnel and watched the play back. It was by watching this I realised how much I was leaning into the wind.
Flight Night, Flight 1 Video
Abbie, in the group was learning Sit fly too, but had been trying for longer than I had so I decided to watch her closely before I went back in to see if I could improve my position, she made it look so easy!
I walked back into the tunnel for my second flight and we were straight into trying to get the sit fly position, again I could get the arms right but when it came to crouching I just couldn't get my balance right and rather than keeping my feet still and bending my knees and hips while leaning back slightly I was trying to tuck my feet underneath me. At one point I ended up on my knees in front of Paul, oooppsss! I did eventually manage to get a position that was close to what Paul wanted, but it does need work! Once I was in that position I was asked to try and fly, I pushed off slightly and Paul took hold of my legs, but all I succeeded in doing was flipping from my sit fly position into a back fly (at least I had that to fall back into, not that that's any consolation!) Unfortunately we ran out of time to try again, but I know for next time that I need to lean more into the wind behind me to crouch. Hopefully I will be better at it next time!
Flight Night, Flight 2 Video
Once again Paul was a fantastic coach and I thank him for all his help, encouragement and support. I'm now trying to organise some one on one coaching with him as he seems to know how I fly and definitely knows where I'm heading (or hoping to head!)
Overall I was extremely pleased with both flights from last night and can't wait to get back in the tunnel to try more sit fly positioning. My next flight is booked for just under 2 weeks, but whether it will stay that way is any ones guess...
x
Paul went round the room finding out where people were at with their flying and suggesting what to try and achieve in the flights. I was first up and as he had seen me fly in my last session he suggested we carry on from there with a minute of back flying, but he was going to turn the speed up, just like the instructors, just to see how I coped. He then said that he really wanted to push me and thought we should try some positions ready for sit fly. So on the same day as successfully back flying I was already moving on towards sit fly! Amazing!
One of the others in the group was still doing basic belly flying and Paul wanted to get them moving around the tunnel touching the 'X men' she wasn't sure on how to move backwards and forwards and Paul was going to demonstrate, but changed his mind and asked me to do it! I got up from my seat and positioned myself on the 'flight table' (yes we really have made this up as the term to describe the bench/table for showing body positioning!) I proudly told the room that to move forwards they needed to bring their arms back towards their body and straighten their legs, I then showed them how to go backwards by straightening my arms and bending my legs. Paul proudly told them all that he asked me to demonstrate as in the future I wanted to become an instructor, he then used me to show them how to move arms and legs together. I loved the opportunity to 'teach' hopefully in the future I'll be in Paul's position and I'll be teaching classes.
After the briefing the others got geared up and we headed up to the tunnel. There were some skydivers in there so we watched for a little while before it was our turn.
We all moved into the staging area and I was 5th to go. This gave me plenty of time to run through all that Paul had told me and to make sure I was ready. When it was my go I walked in, I tried to crouch and lay on my back but once again it was the flop onto the net, Paul checked I was OK though before we carried on. I opened up into the back fly position and after a little bit of random flying about the air flow was increased. I think I managed to fly quite well with the higher speeds and I didn't end up all the way at the top of the tunnel, surely that's a good thing!?!? Although I'm sure some of you would of found it very amusing, picturing me pinned to the veins at the top of the tunnel. Once the air flow was slowed again, Paul stood on the ends of my shoes and I stood up, I walked to the middle of the tunnel and we began working on the sit fly position. I stood opposite Paul and he was showing me what to do, first up was to put my arms out to the sides and bent at the elbow to point forwards, I had them a little high to begin with so Paul came and lowered them, he moved back to be opposite me again and began to crouch, legs apart into a sitting position. I found this quite difficult, I couldn't seem to get the balance on my feet and I was leaning forwards into the wind rather than standing straight to my hips and then leaning back. We only got as far as this and my first 2.5minutes were up. I exited the tunnel and watched the play back. It was by watching this I realised how much I was leaning into the wind.
Flight Night, Flight 1 Video
Abbie, in the group was learning Sit fly too, but had been trying for longer than I had so I decided to watch her closely before I went back in to see if I could improve my position, she made it look so easy!
I walked back into the tunnel for my second flight and we were straight into trying to get the sit fly position, again I could get the arms right but when it came to crouching I just couldn't get my balance right and rather than keeping my feet still and bending my knees and hips while leaning back slightly I was trying to tuck my feet underneath me. At one point I ended up on my knees in front of Paul, oooppsss! I did eventually manage to get a position that was close to what Paul wanted, but it does need work! Once I was in that position I was asked to try and fly, I pushed off slightly and Paul took hold of my legs, but all I succeeded in doing was flipping from my sit fly position into a back fly (at least I had that to fall back into, not that that's any consolation!) Unfortunately we ran out of time to try again, but I know for next time that I need to lean more into the wind behind me to crouch. Hopefully I will be better at it next time!
Flight Night, Flight 2 Video
Once again Paul was a fantastic coach and I thank him for all his help, encouragement and support. I'm now trying to organise some one on one coaching with him as he seems to know how I fly and definitely knows where I'm heading (or hoping to head!)
Overall I was extremely pleased with both flights from last night and can't wait to get back in the tunnel to try more sit fly positioning. My next flight is booked for just under 2 weeks, but whether it will stay that way is any ones guess...
x
Total Flight Time = 50 minutes
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