PARACHUTING:
UNITED WE FALL

This book is dedicated to uniting relative work parachutists for the promotion of sport parachuting, with thanks to the many contributors who have shared their freefall joy with others through us.

"Relative Work": (from the French `relatif'): adj. relative, relating; n. an art practiced by freefall parachutists performed with perfect body and mind control; the movement of the body in the air so that two or more relative workers may fly into various maneuvers such as "star", "snowflake", "wedge" or "bomb-burst funnel", syn. the practice of precision group skydiving, i.e. Skydancing and other mind-expanding flight activities.

INTRODUCTION

Parachuting shares much with ballet, bullfighting, motorcycle racing and mountain climbing. Each of these sports has as a common element mind's-eye perceptions of "perfect" motion.

Poetry-in-movement in each of these sports is performed and appreciated as art is, with the art form being movement perfectly orchestrated to the music of the participant's environment.

In parachuting, perfect freefall flight is the cognitive goal of relative workers. Perfect freefall flight, i.e. "skydancing" with the wind as performed by practitioners who enjoy the sport, is appreciated by all viewers. It is performed more perfectly by those who understand that the paths of fun and beauty lead to success and fulfillment.

Though a Western sport, the art of freefall relative work has a subtle Eastern character. This is the mystical element of linked mind and body movement, i.e. by mastering the mind, one's bodily movements are mastered. A skydance has a rhythm which you mesh to as you dance with the wind. You can easily fly anything you can imagine ... imagining your flight to be perfect and then following your imagination with your body gives pleasant results. The perfect speed of flight is being there.

You already have the requisite skill for accomplished artful freefall flight if you can appreciate the beauty of skydivers flying together in bright rainbows of flightsuits in a landscape of clouds on a canvas of blue sky. Take this appreciation and paint your own fanciful sky capers.

The purpose of this book is to communicate to you the paths others who share your love for the sky have taken in their search for the secrets of relative work. It has been our primary concern in compiling this book to help you establish habits of mind through which thought impulses can be turned into fulfilling flight experiences.

The only laws of good skydiving are the laws of clear thought. At every stage of development freefallers look into themselves to discover their capacities and with what powers they may fly to make themselves successful and happy.

At its profoundest level, relative work transcends its own teachings and practices, yet at the same time there is no skydiving apart from these practices. The best way to communicate this doctrine, it seemed to us, was to compile a book of authentic doctrines and freefall flight methods from the mouths of the masters themselves -- other relative workers.

Additionally, we selected writings which would provide a fair view of the progress of freefall relative work. Share with us the wonderful store of recorded discoveries, experiences and reflections which parachuting has spawned.

We begin with articles on the technique of skydiving. The first chapter concentrates on the mechanics of freefall flight. Later on, Chapter Seven looks into the philosophy of relative work. Important elements of continuous good skydives are revealed by participants.

Everyone loves good jump stories. All of Chapter Eight concentrates on those special parachuting adventures we like to share and reshare. The middle chapters, Chapters Two through Four, cover competition, gear for relative work, and relative work with open canopies.

Interesting bits and pieces of information are tucked away into Chapter Five. Everything that doesn't easily classify fits here; it is an enjoyable potpourri.

The history of our progress in freefall is recorded in Chapter Six. Here we look back and see that "the way it was" has lessons to teach us so that we may continue to grow.

The last chapter, number Nine, wraps up with musings on sequential relative work, the skydance philosophy, ideas, wisdom and freefall dreams.

The book's original illustrations reflect the contents. On the cover, the little-freefaller stamp metamorphoses into skydivers, just as the skydives painstakingly stamped out on these pages turn into fun in the air. The illustrations mirror these images. Plaudits to non-skydivers designer Jim Bright and illustrator Hugh Dunnahoe for being able to see it through our eyes.

This book owes much to its contributors. Each author shares a special piece of knowledge so that we may all learn more quickly. By sharing, each author has provided sparks of creativity which encourage our sport's healthy growth.

We intended this book - this communication - to fan those sparks, building wildfires in our imaginations and giving reality to the flashes of thought that spill from our psyche and take shape in freefall.

Pure joy in flight - flying our fantasies to perfection - this is our collective freefall experience which we hope to communicate to you. Pass it on.

A few years back we communicated with fellow relative workers with the RWunderground newsletter - sharing ideas, news and information. When we quit printing, we promised to collect "the best" of the newsletter, add the best of the latest RW communications, and make them easily, widely and permanently available to others.

Friends we have jumped with, competed against, and partied with through the past few exciting years have shared their articles, poems, stories, etc. with us. Some of them have appeared in other parachuting magazines, and their editors are hereby invited to use this material as it is presented.

So this is our collective story. It is a story about skydiving, both past and present, by skydivers who love the sky. It is a collection of communications by those who fall united in the spirit of spreading the magic of freefall farther. Everything here provides food for thought on your flights of imagination into the bright blue skies we all claim as home.

Fly clean,
  land soft,
    love hard,
      give beautiful memories,

Pat & Jan Works

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 TECHNIQUE: The Boogie Mechanic's Handbook

Part I:   Sequential Input
Part II:  Quality Skydives Versus Quantity of 
          Skydivers - Big Dives from Small Airplanes
Part III: Your Relative Work Technique - 
          Hints for Neophytes
Part IV:  Exits-Better Exits for Better Skydives

Chapter 2 RW GEAR

Chapter 3 CANOPY RW

Chapter 4 COMPETITION

Chapter 5 SPECIALTIES

Chapter 6 TRADITION ... LOOKING BACK

Chapter 7 HEAD TRIPS

Chapter 8 JUMP STORIES

Chapter 9 SEQUENTIAL

Part 1:   Musings on Sequential - 
          The Skydance Philosophy
Part II:  What's What in Sequential - 
          Glossary of Ideas
Part III: Words of Wit and Wisdom on Skydancing - 
          Shared Sequential Dream Flakes
Part IV:  Sequential History-Where We've Been

CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS

Bach, Richard 1 - 2
Beckmann, Uwe 1
Bellak, Dave 1
Bishop, Dirty Billy 1
Burrows, Greg 1
Chora 1
Cohen, Marc 1 - 2
Cooper, Terry 1
Courbat, Tom 1 - 2
Deluca, Rande 1 - 2
DeRosa, Tony 1
Diamond, Neil1
Farkle, Father 1
Farmer, Matt 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Fulp, Estelena 1
Furlong, W.B 1
Garrison, Skratch 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12
Godfrog, C.G 1
Goethe 1
Gordon, R.W 1
Gorman, Ken 1
Heaton, Norm 1
Hull, Roger 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 -
Krueger, Al 1
Lao Tzu 1
Magee, John Gillespie 1
Mahler, Gustav 1
Morgan, Joe 1
Nelson, Carl 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Nelson, Roger 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Newell, Bill 1
Phillips, Tom 1
Picciolo, Pete 1 - 2
Poynter, Dan 1
Schultz, Michael 1
Shea, Kevin 1 - 2 - 3
Straightarrow, Charlie 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
Taggart, Garth 1
Tolkien, J.R 1
Tosi, Umberto 1
Tutko, Thomas A., Ph.D. 1
Unknown, Author 1
Vivekananda 1 - 2
Wardean, Donna 1
Warsh, Weird Al 1
Weird, Capt 1
Whitey 1
Works, Pat 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 - 32 - 33
Works, Pat & Jan 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
Worth, B.J. 1 - 2 - 3

I was blazing one day
in the energy of change
  When an agent from Chaos
  came swooping by
    "The answer," he mused, "is
    Boogie Mechanics."
    "The Skydance Approach to Boogie Mechanics.
    But what was the question?"
      And he was gone in the night.
      One day a long time ago.

Skratch Garrison