- The most challenging part of a skydive
for new skydivers, (sighs) landing.
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In this video let's talk about some tips
to help you improve your landing.
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What's up skydivers,
it's Catherine from Skydive vibes,
sharing the passion of skydiving
and helping you become better and safer skydivers.
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So yes, here again, another landing tips video.
Why?
Because I think there's no such things
as too much tips to help skydivers land great.
So I know because it has been a challenging part
of my skydiving progression.
Like until my 100th jumps, I wasn't confident
in my landing and I had some pretty harsh landings as well.
So that's why I wanna do my best to give you guys tips
and help you improve your landings.
Now, before we start I'm not an experienced coach,
I'm not an instructor so please always counter verify
any information that you find on this channel
or on the internet with an instructor at your drop zone
and specifically someone who knows your skill
and who knows you so that they can provide
personal advice to you.
So here I'm giving general advices
or food for thoughts so that you can discuss
with your instructors.
So first tip for you is observation.
Observe and learn from skydivers
that are lending successfully.
Watch their body position, watch their flare timing,
and if they have specific techniques.
So just sit down near the landing area
and just take a couple of hours to look at those.
Take notes.
Give yourself some exercises to do for your next jump.
But observation is very great to start
to understand maybe the mechanics behind a good flair.
The second tip is to have a plan
for each of your lendings.
Now keep in mind that there's really only three ways
to do a successful landing.
Standing up, sliding or a PLF.
So yes, be always ready for a PLF.
So you can plan to do a stand up landing,
but if you end up in crosswinds, down winds,
well do not be afraid to do a PLF.
You might get dirty but you'll be alive
and you will avoid big injuries.
Of course, we rarely plan a PLF on our plan A
but always being prepared to do it can be a lifesaver.
The next step is to visualize
a successful landing.
Just like we would visualize in the plane,
our free fall routine.
Well, the same thing apply with our flaring
and our landing routine.
So try to visualize yourself, try to see the ground
coming up at you and try to time that flare
and stand up that landing.
What I used to do myself is to look
at point of view videos of skydivers landing
meaning that the skydiver that has a camera is landing.
And so you can see the ground coming up,
the ground rush and you can try to guess
where it would be the best time for that person to flare.
And even in the video, sometimes we can see
when they are flaring.
So you can practice the perception
that you get when the person's flaring.
So that's something, a tool that I want
to develop for you guys.
Well, actually, I'm planning to do a video,
a compilation of my own point of view landings
so that you guys can practice and visualize the ground rush
and the best timing to flare.
So keep an eye up for that.
The next tip is to flare with intention.
Flare like you mean to do it.
Some skydivers are really shy at their flaring
and that's why they are rushing into the ground.
You're not completing your flare.
You're not slowing the canopy the slowest
it can be before touching the ground.
So that's something that is very important as well
that helped me a lot, finish that flare.
Sometimes what happens is that we enter
into our flare and suddenly we wanna get ready
to hit the ground.
So right away, we are messing up our landing
by preparing to put our hands on the ground somewhere
to protect ourselves.
But by doing that, well we're not finishing our flare
or even some people will raise their hands back up
and that's way worse than just completing your flare.
So what I personally do, I start my flare
have break into my first stage of my flare.
When I feel that I'm about to touch the ground.
Oh, that's my signal mentally to push
that flare to maximum possible.
And even there, I give it a little bit more.
So for me, whenever I think, oh,
I'm about to touch the ground,
I'm gonna put my feet underground, that's my signal,
push a little bit more flair, finish my flair.
That's the only thing that resonates into my head
when I'm about to touch the ground.
Again, the feet is about to touch the ground,
oh, flare, flare, flare, flare, flare, flare, flare,
and then touch the ground.
Another great element that helped me
is do not rush to touch the ground, actually.
When you're lending and even flaring
your canopy is still holding you up in the air.
So do not try to reach for the ground.
Sometimes I got hurt because I was stretching my leg
the longest possible to touch the ground the soonest.
But then my speed was still too fast
and I wasn't prepared to absorb the contact
with the ground because I was all stretched.
And so that hurts more than anything,
even though I was lending standing up.
So another tip is to not rush to touch the ground.
So you've completed your flare,
do not try to reach the ground just yet.
Just wait, wait, and finally you will put your feet
on the ground very smoothly.
So just wait until your canopy slows down the most possible.
You can even raise your legs a little bit
not to touch it too soon.
And when you will feel the right time
to put your foot on the ground
it will be when the canopy will stop it's forward speed.
The next step is to practice your two-stage flare.
You knew above the 2,000 feet altitude
you can do some drills up there
and it's very important to do so
and you can actually practice your two-stage flare.
So go ahead above 2,000 feet, make sure you are
in your holding area and make sure that nobody's around.
Traffic, position and altitude.
And then you can start to do your first stage
of the flare, feel the canopy slow down
and then complete it and then feel again
the canopy slow down a lot more.
Then I always visualize myself when the canopy pitch
a little bit back.
I imagine myself just walking my landing after that.
So in the air, flare, flare, walk, perfect.
Go back up.
That's a simple drill that can help you
understand a little bit more the two stage flare
as you're landing.
Of course it is if you've been taught
to do a two stage flare, if not go check back
with your instructor.
Maybe the canopy you have is not meant to do that
or maybe the techniques practiced
at your drop zone are different.
That's perfectly fine, but just verify.
I'm talking about the two stage flare
because in my experience it did help me
to better time my flaring.
Because I would start it then I would adjust if need be
and I would hold or go into the full flare faster.
And then I would finish the flare
at the right time afterwards.
So it helped me to have better timing
on my second stage, because even though I was sooner
on my first stage, I would just hold it
and figure out, oh, I was a little bit too soon.
I'm gonna hold it and finish when it's time.
Another great tip is to also use the exercises
explaining the SIM, the Skydiving Instruction Manual
where they give you canopy drills to practice
to become a better canopy pilot
and master your canopy a little bit more.
And I did the video on those exercises,
you can watch it by clicking right here.
Another very, very important point
is, do not hurry to downsize.
We all hear as experienced skydiver
that we should have a wing loading around
one-to-one or slightly higher given our experience level.
But not all wing loading are the same.
A one-on-one ratio on a 190 is really not the same thing
than a one-on-one ratio on a 120.
Why?
And I had that question for a long time
before knowing the answer it's because of the lines.
So a 120 canopy will have shorter lines.
That means a more, way more responsive canopy
and way less drag due to the line
because yes, the lines are bringing
a lot of dragging the canopy flight.
So a 120 canopy have shorter lines,
less drag, more responsive, so it's really a more aggressive
canopy then a 190 with the same wing loading
of a one-to-one.
So be careful when you're looking
at getting to your one-to-one ratio
maybe it's not well suited for the experience level
you're at.
And of course, you should never consider only your weight.
You want to consider your weight at exit.
So it's roughly about 20 pounds more due
to our equipment on our back.
And you know there is no downside
in jumping a slightly larger canopy.
You can have as much fun.
You can learn as much as well.
And by mastering this canopy will make you
a way better pilot when it will be time for you to downsize.
And lastly, of course, a big tip that everyone
should follow, if you've not done it yet.
Well, do a canopy piloting course.
It's very important.
There are tons of courses out there.
There are some courses given by the drop zones.
There are others that are certified
and given by canopy piloting schools.
So, you can actually do more than one, also.
So if you're not satisfied with the one
at your drop zone go ahead and try to see
other canopy piloting courses.
There are tons out there and it's so important
to master this part of your skydive,
because in my sense, that's the most dangerous part,
actually, because this is when you get nearer
from the ground.
There's traffic, there's the ground coming up,
so it's very important to master the canopy flight,
even though your focus is in the sky.
So I'm a free flyer.
I like the free-fall part of a skydive,
but I'm more and more enticed to practice
and master the canopy portion of my skydives
because this makes me a better and safer skydiver.
And at the end, I find it fun to actually master your canopy
and being able to do some cool tricks underneath it.
All right.
So that's all the tips that I had for you.
I hope you enjoyed those.
Let me know in the comments, which one is your favorite.
Which one really resonated with you
or rang a bell in your head saying, "Oh, that will help me."
Let me know in the comments.
You can watch other videos from Skydive Vibes right here
and I'll see you in the next one.
Sky.
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