Myth #1(Mother Nature killed the sport of ski jumping) Debunked

Myth #2(NCAA killed the sport of ski jumping) Debunked Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Myth #3(The US doesn't have the talent) Debunked Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Mind Of A Ski Jumper Part 1, 2, 3, 4

The Ultimate Coach - Ski Jump Training Device

Jumping Season Digest: (see bottom of this page)

Sunday, February 03, 2008

Jumping Journal: February 03, 2008

Gee...has it ever been a slow winter.  Nothing like last year, at least not yet and it doesn't look like it is going to change anytime soon.  Last year I ended the year with 13 days of double digits jumps in a day.  Today marked my third day so far, THANKFULLY!  Today still leaves me needing 20 more jumps on the K50 to hit my target before February 8th.  The weather forecast is not looking at all promising unless I pull it off in only two days of jumping.  Tomorrow is sounding real good, but Tuesday and Wednesday have rain in the forecast with colder temperatures coming in on Thursday.  Admittedly, Wednesday isn't a normal day for jumping on the K50 anyways, but Tuesday is.
 
Right now the odds of the jump meet in Salisbury, Connecticut next weekend isn't looking the most promising.  They are going to be pushing it to be able to get snow made in time for the target competition on Friday evening yet alone the main competitions on Saturday and Sunday.  It'll be interesting to see what happens.
 
Today, I arrived at the hill about the same time Cannonball showed up.  Nobody else had showed up yet.  The plan was to jump at 10AM and 1PM.  It would mark my first two jump session, non-jump meet day of the year.  While waiting on Jay to groom the landing hill Bill and Josh arrived.
 
We finally suited up and hit the jump about an hour later than planned.  The temperatures were already above freezing.  Granted they never fell very far below freezing, a bone chilling 31 degrees for the overnight low last night.  The skies were cloudy but on occasion the sun did break through.
 
My jumps in the morning were mostly on the consistent side, generally down in the 35 meter range.  I did manage to crash the third jump down around the transition.  It seemed like I was putting too much weight on the left ski and let the right ski wobble out from underneath me.
 
After Josh made mention yesterday of not keeping the shin angle I decided to work on trying to maintain the shin angle at the takeoff and not let the knees snap back.  It didn't seem like I had been letting the knees snap back but the video of the afternoon jumping today made it seem like I was losing most of the shin angle, far more than I ever figured I was losing.
 
After grabbing seven jump everyone called it a morning, err...early afternoon, and we headed off to grab lunch and cool off a little before the afternoon session got underway.
 
I missed the very start of the afternoon after I got talking with one of the ski patrollers that was working today at the hill.  Turns out I guess Josh almost went for a swim in the brook at the bottom of the landing hill.  From what I heard he mange to land a jump down around 50 meter but he set back and lost control and by the time he stopped half his helmet was already off the bridge.  He only took one more jump before calling it quits.  Bill decided to skip the afternoon session and video/flag/coach us instead.  It was left up to Cannonball, Dan and myself to do the jumping.
 
I started the session off with what I thought was a nice jump.  It was pretty typical but I thought my position was a lot better than what video proved otherwise.  I keep thinking I'm more out over the skis than what I really am.  It is so deceiving.  It wasn't until the next to last and last jump of the session that I managed to put in a couple more real nice jumps where it felt like I was out over the skis like I should be.  I was still only getting down to the 35-38 meter range, quite consistently.
 
I didn't end the 17 jump day with any real spectacular jumps but I had some where I thought I was doing better than what I really was.  At least according the video I was doing a nice job of adding in a V.  It seemed like I was getting pretty consistent with that by the end of the day.
 
180 jumps on the K50, only 20 more to go before next weekend rolls around.  Something gives me a strange feeling it probably won't happen.  If Mother Nature changes her mind I could get away with murder, otherwise...I highly doubt it.
 
Keep the ski tips up,
Crash
Winter 2010
DateLeb 25Plymouth 25Leb 50And 38
Dec 121
Jan 056
Jan 063
Feb 024
Feb 032
Feb 046
Feb 073
Mar 063
Totals133102