Tips for Bigways No 17

December 14, 2017

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‘My slot is D4, so what?
How to take advantage of the information provided before a dirt dive.

My slot is D4, so what?

Coaches and organisers post dive information in advance of a dirt dive for a reason.
Information typically includes a dive plan like the one above, a tracking plan and a list of names allocated to slots.
The people who use it tend to be the ones who are best prepared, more likely to perform well and be invited back.

On this occasion I was D4. Before I even arrived at the dirt dive I knew:
1. What aircraft I was in and where it will be flying in relation to the lead aircraft in formation
2. Who was next to me on the stack up and where I would be sitting in the aircraft in relation to them
3. What exit slot I have and where I would be looking to see the base on stack up and on exit

Assuming the base flies as expected:
4. What type of flying techniques I would use to approach my slot
5. My exit frame references
6. My approach references
7. My tracking hard deck, leader, team and radial
8. The job assigned to me
9. What equipment I would need for my slot

On this occasion:
– I was docking in the quadrant behind Dan BC in B2 
– Manuello in C2 had a white helmet and it would be his job to set a good radial for me off the base so that I could fly as the outfacing anchor for my side of the diamond
– As outlying references and to check and balance my quadrant on approach, I could use the two outlying closers of the horizontal radial as reference, Rambo in A19 and Martial in D15, both with very recognizable flying colours and styles – you can literally ‘see’ Rambo’s white Y fronts under his jumpsuit in freefall! Once seen, it is an image never forgotten.
– Piya would be picking up my leg grip – Piya is a very strong flyer, one well chosen for that corner connection slot where he would be juggling many radials and references to keep the line for me and the diamond to build on.
– Whilst you may think that the ‘right’ way to make my dock would be to turn towards Piya, in fact in this type of build, it is more important to turn with visuals to the centre at all times, so left after I had stopped with my centre point where it needed to be information. My references then took advantage of LG in C4 whose flying style I could quickly recognise, also Scott Latnis in D1, as well as trusty white helmeted Manuello through to Dan BC.
– Montana would be rotating in front of me and I would be picking up her leg grip, she is a light flyer with plenty of range and someone who would do the job well to be on level and in the right place so that I would only have to glance out for a millisecond to pick up the grip, if a glance was needed at all.
– And then, when in slot, my job would be to see Manuello as much as possible
(his trusty white helmet) and through to Dan, maintain reference to Scott and use Mariushka who was the SF closing our diamond as the ultimate in radial reference through the centre.
– I wore lead. You might think that it would be ‘safer’ to go light however that would have been selfish. My slot was an anchor for an outfacing diamond, the diamond could not be light and I needed to help Pia maintain the level of his donut, something very likely to float. Better for Scott and I to be a bit heavy and provide our diamond and especially Mariushka with the option to dock quickly and be helped to stay there if closing at the last minute was going to help us complete.

The dirt dive, walking the exit frame all help lock in the visualisation plan. In addition to all the team preparation I have tricks that I have learnt work well for me to ensure my blueprint is embedded enough so that, when the plan has to flex, I have enough brain space to adjust in action:
1. Photograph the dive plan as posted for easy reference to aid my visualisation.
2. Write down the names of all the flyers close to me / in my quadrant. Learn them. The ability to name people quickly makes my own recognition and response processes faster in freefall. On this occasion I was able to take a photo of a fully named dive plan from one of the coaches, bonus!
3. Take that little piece of paper (or photograph) everywhere, and refer to it often.
4. Act out my exit, approach, docking, tracking, deployment / emergency and landing plan constantly, as I am talking to people, as I am eating, walking, packing….
5. Know where my friends are! On this skydive it helped me to have LG in C4 as a reference as well as Stretch in B15 also Cathy in C15. Extra data that I can quickly call on and easily recognise in need.

To conclude. Be the person who can walk toyour slot at the very first dirt dive, who doesn’t need to ask for information that has been made available, who wears suitable tools and has a robust plan that will be validated in flight rather than needing flight to create a foundational plan.

If everyone behaved this way, there would be more time available in preparation for the complexities both as an individual flyer and for the team. Also jumps are more likely to be successful and, the clincher, you are regarded as a team player, part of the solution and someone people want to play with.

On this occasion, we had three jumps to build this and Doug’s craziness in formation design created something that we were unable to complete on the day. We had a lot of fun trying though  2018 will no doubt be even crazier!

Melissa

Melissa is an experienced skydiving competitor and coach with a history of National and World level representation in 4 way, 8 way and Bigway Formation Skydiving. She is a member of the Aussie Bigways coaching team and provides guidance to other coaches and Mentors in coaching and training best practice. Contact Melissa to find out more about how her Supercharge coached programs can help you achieve your goals.