Safety briefing: DON'T DIE!
After my AFF course I was at a dropzone sitting with my jumpsuit on and next to me were some guys which looked a little bit strange to me. They were wearing colorful pants and jumpers, self-made helmets with cameras, and one of these guys had long hair and a nail through his nose. Later I found out that this guy was one of the world's best freeflyers & camera man. A few jumps later I was watching with friends some freeflying movies and I was surprised to see these guys from the load in the movie... And they were not flying on their belly - this was totally different?
At my dropzone there were not many people at my low skill belly flying level and belly flying solo was getting a little bit boring after a few jumps, so I decided to try this sit-flying (what I had seen in the movies). The first few jumps were a little bit depressing - I was tumbling all around and never had the feeling of getting stable in one position. So the best thing I could do is leave my relative jumpsuit at home and at least look like a freeflyer (with jeans and jumper). And it worked!!! The next day some of the guys came to me and asked me to jump with them, I told them that I just started but they replied by saying: "let's jump, I'll make a video of you and then we will see....."
That's how all started..... I can say freeflyers are the most helpful, friendly and cool people I've ever met. Everyone is willing to jump with everyone, regardless of their level, and after the jump they will help you by telling you what you can improve, very positively, even if you think this is the worst jump you ever have done. I'm still a beginner and when I watch the movies of the top guys I feel discouraged at times to see how much I still have to learn, but the patience and the friendliness of these people make me want to learn more and more...
The strange looking guy I was referring to above is Knut Krecker.
I just found a little article from him which "defines" Freeflying, it
is called "Freeflying:the flying Anarchy" here is a small extract:
"In fact it is totally against my principals to restrict it to any
conventions - after all it is Free - Flying. But I think at the
beginning every seeking person needs something he can hold on. Never
forget there are no rules, because rules are always limits and these
do not exist in Freeflying and I hope they will never be. With rules
one restricts himself, because you will act within this borders and
never think about the outside. We don't want to restrict ourselves
on the contrary we are looking for the way to make the impossible
possible and therefore descriptions with resulting rules are much
more an obstacle to find the way. For one the right way can be the
totally the wrong one for someone else, but due to the rules you
can't leave this way any more, so what are the rules for? To feel is
much more important than a description. Instinctive acting much
better than planning. do for the sake of doing. Of course there are
guidelines which are based on experience especially in the term of
safety and in this case it makes sense to adopt this
experiences. You don't have to burn your fingers on the hot stove
plate if someone else has done it before. But anywhere else "Free
your mind" and trust on your instinct in Freeflying and anywhere
else in life. Is there a difference?"