{"id":52350,"date":"2024-06-18T15:33:20","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T15:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/?p=52350"},"modified":"2024-12-23T15:22:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T15:22:07","slug":"why-belly-fly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skydivemag.com\/new\/why-belly-fly\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Belly Fly?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Learning Belly Flying is important for every other aspect of the sport<\/strong><\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Becoming competent in belly flying means you can always join a load
Image by Willy Boeykens from the Thai Sky Festival<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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When most people get their A license, they\u2019re simply let into the skydiving world. But without goals, direction, and proper progression, the novelty of skydiving can wear off. A draining bank account without any sense of progression is an easy ticket for people to leave the sport.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The big problem with progression is, people don\u2019t do enough belly flying. Some people think it can be boring, it\u2019s too basic, it isn\u2019t cool or only for old people. Thinking like this doesn\u2019t recognise the immense value of belly in building freefall and survival skills. These are easier to learn and excel at the lower speeds of belly flying than on a freefly or angle jump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When You don’t Learn Belly<\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The truth is, you can\u2019t call yourself a skydiver and suck at belly. It forms the building blocks of all bodyflight orientations. Belly flying is as basic as walking. Have you ever seen a snowboarder who can\u2019t walk properly?!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strongest trees have the deepest roots. Skipping the basics and rushing into more advanced forms of flying leads to shallow understanding and limited success. You may have fun temporarily, but will soon hit a ceiling due to a lack of foundation. As a result, you lack the skills to take part in more technical and creative jumps in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s embarrassing to be a freeflyer or wingsuiter with 800 jumps who can\u2019t make it to the sunset round. People may not say anything, but they\u2019ll certainly notice. If you must re-learn belly at that point, how would you feel? How would this failure affect your potential to be invited in cool freefly loads?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The basic skills of belly are building blocks for awesome freefly jumps to come
Image by Gustavo Cabana<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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How Belly Can Help You<\/strong><\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When you build an unshakable belly foundation, you sow the seeds for future freefall success. You also build up survival skills such as safe approaches, breakoff, tracking and canopy flight without overloading yourself. You build confidence in your flying. You know that you can visit any DZ and do belly \u2013 you always have something to fall back on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belly is the simplest orientation in freefall. It can teach you every concept you need:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Stable exit<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Angle of approach<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Matching levels<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Maintaining proximity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Docking with no momentum<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Grip management<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • LSD <\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Flying solidly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Burble skills<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Altitude awareness<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Freefall spatial awareness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Once you internalise these skills, you simply apply them to new flying orientations. You don\u2019t need to relearn them because you already know what to do. On the other hand, learning such concepts for the first time in any other orientation is far more difficult \u2013 nearly impossible without tunnel time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Fun belly jump over Skydive Algarve
    Image by Dan Maden<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    Once you reach a certain level of belly flying, three things happen:<\/strong><\/h3><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    1. You have the mental space to observe yourself as you fly<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. You build a baseline to explore higher levels of creativity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. You draw connections to other freefall disciplines when you learn them<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Every elite skydiver you see on social media has strong foundations in belly \u2013 like Benoit Lemay, Laurence Fugen, Ewan Cowie, Curt and Jeannie Bartholomew, Chris Geiler and Scotty Bob, to name a few badasses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      This is not to say you need to compete in 4-way but at least become competent. Just because people don\u2019t post belly videos on social media doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not important. Build the confidence to fly belly any day. Then you\u2019ll find it easier and more fun to learn angle and freefly\u2026 and, in turn, these skills will translate back to improve your belly skills.<\/p>\n\n\n


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