 |
For Starters - Tunnel Bunnies | June 2003 |
Everyone's
got tunnel mania. All the top teams are in them. There's a tunnel in Paris
which is easy-peasy to get to. A UK tunnel is being built. Why are so
many skydivers investing their cash in tunnel time?
To improve their skydiving skills of course! Whilst it can't take the place of freefall, a wind tunnel is a very good simulator and those being built now are even more powerful. A tunnel provides a stress-free environment where you can learn to perfect your individual skills. You might typically do blocks of two minutes at a time, this gives plenty of repetition, which builds muscle memory, making basic manoeuvres a lot easier. So the tunnel complements training - of whatever sort. Whether you want to be in a team or whether you want to be a boogie jumper, good basic skills are the key to success.
If you take a coach they will have an all-round view of your flying in the tunnel. Whilst it can be hard to have a conversation when you're in there, he or she can signal to you in the tunnel or debrief you at the end of each session. The tunnel can provide information which can be hard for a coach to pick up from video.
The earlier
you get in a tunnel in your skydiving career, the better, as it is far
easier to learn an efficient body position in the first place than have
to unlearn stuff later.
Be
Prepared
The cost of tunnel time to freefall time on a minute by
minute basis is probably cheaper and certainly not more expensive, (exact
price depends on the tunnel you go to). However, it's still a lot of cash
if you intend to do more than the equivalent of a few jumps in a day,
which you might as well if you've travelled a long way. Here are some
ideas on how to use the time and therefore cash wisely.
Book
time
You will need to book time beforehand. It's not wise to do more than 2
or 21/2 minutes in one go as you won't benefit much after that point,
due to fatigue. Alternate with one or several other people to spread your
time in short bursts. In Aerokart, the Paris tunnel, you'll need to advise
the operators how much time you want to do in total and how long you would
like each session to be (eg, 15 minutes total, taken in six 2 1/2 minute
sessions). They will try to fit you in with other people or you might
want to consider taking others down with you and booking a half hour slot.
For the best deal in the Orlando tunnel, you book half hour or one hour
slots and should take some mates down with you to share out the time.
It's easy
to fall into the trap of booking too much time. How cool would it be to
do an hour in freefall one evening? You'd be rocking the next morning
at the DZ. Be sensible - compare it to the number of skydives. If you
try to do too much time you will be wasting your money on the latter half,
or you could even injure yourself. Start with perhaps six sessions of
two minutes and see how it goes. You will reap more benefits from doing
this twice in two days than 24 minutes over one day.
For maximum benefit, consider taking a coach, preferably one with some tunnel experience. Or book to go on a tunnel camp run by a reputable coach. Or ask when you book your time if the tunnel has a resident coach you can use.
Tunnels tend to be pretty powerful so you might want to consider taking some lead, or extra lead if you already wear some in freefall. In SkyVenture Orlando the best air seems to be lower down and, generally, wearing extra lead seems to keep you at the right level.
|
Ear plugs |
the
tunnel will generally provide these if you ask. |
|
| White boardmarkers | or paper
and pen are handy. Plan your skydives and write them up so that you
can point to them, rather than try to communicate the plan once you're
in the tunnel. |
|
| Jumpsuit and helmet | VMax
have found this to be wise (!) Also, gloves and knee pads if in Orlando. |
|
| Water and high energy foods | It's hard work and it's easy to get dehydrated. You don't want to waste your last few minutes because you're out of energy. |
|
The Orlando tunnel has a video system and you can get your time videoed, excellent for a debrief or to show your family. It's needed to kill off that puzzled expression your family get when they are trying to imagine you skydiving in a horizontal tunnel - because all tunnels are horizontal aren't they?!
It really is hard work in the tunnel, so it helps to be fit. Aerobic fitness is important together with a strong upper body (press-ups?). If you're used to doing five or ten skydives in a day, you might do the equivalent of double that in half an hour in the tunnel and then some more on top of that. It is even more important to stretch before a tunnel session than before jumping as you will spend twice as long in the air at one time and expending more muscular effort on the air flow.
If you miss your slot in SkyVenture, Orlando you might have to pay for it anyway. Aerokart has been more forgiving but it's not recommended to be late. VMax have found that it's wise to take a map... and it's best not to go to the car wash when you are meant to be in the ferry queue! VNE have discovered it's useful to take a passport.
If you're going to the tunnel for the first time, be prepared for a fair amount of frustration but also a lot of laughs. The air feels different to freefall, simple manoeuvres can suddenly seem strangely difficult and it can feel like being a student again.
It's easy to get hurt in there. Wear gloves and, in Orlando, don't be too cool to wear knee pads - the walls are hard. Getting in and out is quite straightforward but, if there is someone else in there, make sure they arch down to your level so that you don't get in underneath them. Be aware in the tunnel - collisions can hurt - and don't run before you can walk. The tunnel is different. Whilst you may be doing hot 4-way in freefall, do some individual flying before attempting anything bigger in the tunnel, until you are confident on the air.
|
 |
|
|
| Four-ways If you're part of a 4-way team, it's perfect! You can use the tunnel with your piece partner to practice buddies, cat accs, turning cats, turning 2-way pieces as in zircon-zircon etc. We've found the tunnel really useful for 4-way random dives - for building up communication and quicker keys. We've also found that we can do nearly all the blocks in the tunnel - with practice and partly due to the fact that most of us are short! A
word of caution though - some of the block moves are quite different
in the tunnel to the move in freefall. Doing the blocks in a tunnel
has been great for us to learn the pictures, encourage us to watch
more and make the catches happen... but it can be difficult not
to take the tunnel move into freefall because the muscle memory
from the tunnel move has become somewhat ingrained. On that basis
it seems better to weight our tunnel training toward the earlier
part of the year rather than near to a competition. |
 |
Mantis
Position The body position used by top level FS competitors is the mantis and the tunnel is the ideal place to learn it. This is a less stable but more dynamic body position than the traditional arch. It allows you to drop a knee to initiate turns or side slides which is more difficult from a hard arch. It also allows your hands to remain free to pick up grips and your head is high so that you can see across the formation. As Kate Stephens described it, in The Mag, April 2001, the mantis position is best put thus... Lie on the floor on your tummy like a kid watching TV, with your chin in your hands and your legs crossed behind you. Drop your hands away from your chin, keep your elbows down, uncross your legs and extend them to 45 degrees. Arch slightly from the hip. |
 |
Freefly
Tunnel This article is written from an FS standpoint but is also relevant to freeflying. One of the benefits of learning to freefly in a tunnel is that it ingrains a neutral body position; you must be going straight down, not moving laterally, or you will bounce off the sides. |
|
Conclusion There
is a UK SkyVenture tunnel due for completion next year. Look out
for tunnel camps emerging, in Aerokart this year and in the UK tunnel
when it's complete (Hurry up guys!). |
||
|
|||
Words
by Liz Groucott, VMax
egroucott@uk.ey.com
Forward to next for Starters article
Other
related articles:
Tips from the top
www.vne.info/articles/tunnelDrills/
|
