H (bow) exit - grips for OC and Point

Just curious what different grips people have used for OC and point when launching the bow.

I've seen point take no grips and just present, and I've seen point take a high grip on OC.

Any thoughts/comments?

I've been taught and the teams I've been on have used OC taking a double grip on the bar, and Point taking a high grip through the inside of the arm.

gracias - that's how we flew it sunday and it seemed better than having point take no grip and OC have one grip on bar, one on point high grip.

3mpire

gracias - that's how we flew it sunday and it seemed better than having point take no grip and OC have one grip on bar, one on point high grip.

Yep, I wanted to do that with previous teams and believe it would have made the exit more solid, at least between OC and Point.

3mpire

it seemed better than having point take no grip and OC have one grip on bar, one on point high grip.

It's funny; that's how I have been teaching teams to do it because it seems to generally work better. But when I am OC, I prefer to take high grip on Point and just have my right hand on the bar.

Point doesn't have a terribly hard job on H exits anyway, but it's definitely a little easier (IMO, I am no kind of great Point flyer) to present without taking that grip. Maybe my preference comes from jumping with very inexperienced people, which is the most often I find myself doing that exit.

On the gripping hand, almost all my 4-way is as Tail, so this advice about how to fly the front piece is worth what you paid for it

3mpire

Just curious what different grips people have used for OC and point when launching the bow.

I've seen point take no grips and just present, and I've seen point take a high grip on OC.

Any thoughts/comments?

I jump point and on H I don't take a grip, just present and it works fine for us.

same here, point takes no grip and works well for us

bodypilot90

same here, point takes no grip and works well for us

I think this is discussed in another thread, but I'm too lazy to do the search.

The key point here is the OC's strength and his ability to launch clean and crisply with a single right hand grip (left door like an Otter). (Also, some planes have a LOT more wind force on jump run and that might change this aspect on a case basis. consider the push between climbout on an Otter - relatively easy, vs climbout on a caravan - more push)

If the OC is able to do a strong exit without having the extra leverage the left hand on the bar provides, then I usually coach to OC takes that grip. That forward hand is a great advantage for tail and OC...

Sometimes, especially on girl's teams, the OC is just working to stay out there. Launching forward and up and out can require quite a strong presentation (mainly with the strength in the right leg). In that case, not only do I minimize their leg motion on the count (swinging that leg out on 'ready' can unbalance that OC) I also consider giving the grip on H to the point so the OC can use that left hand.

And then sometimes we might do it temporarily, even the strongest OC sometimes just feels unbalanced out there, then that left hand leverage on the bar is a temporary way to get them to re-establish their balance and stance and count.

1 - I prefer the OC take the grip on exit (it's what they do usually in the sequence so I like to keep the same)

2 - but it's no big deal if the point takes it on exit if the OC needs a bit of help

the point should have no issue either way, frankly, provided the OC launches clean rather than weakly peel off. Point (for H) should be focusing on his orientation - and I find that comes from hipping/anchoring hip down a bit to counter any rotation from a weak exit. IMO his left hand shouldn't be a big consideration in his priorities.

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Sometimes, especially on girl's teams, the OC is just working to stay out there.

I'll be sure to emphasize this particular point with my OC

In all seriousness, thanks for the breakdown. I'll share all of it with my team. Both of the caravans at our two primary DZ have the 850 HP blackhawk conversion so there is a bit of prop blast for OC.

It's the way we used to launch h as well. I used to find it not too much of an issue but am not the smallest bloke. On faster run ins like caravan and kingair where I needed both hands on the bar I took the grip on the 'set' part of the key.

babz

I took the grip on the 'set' part of the key.

this works good too when the team gets better in sync - good trick for a lot of tail position launches too

(to the OP - funny comment to your OC about the 'girls team' comment... ; ) but it can also be a balance thing as much as a strength thing if that makes him feel better)

We jumped in an NSL meet on saturday and did no-grip point exits on a few and it worked out no problem. we did a good job of spending the extra time in the mock-up required to have everyone feel good about the setup and how the grips would look.

we felt so good, we even launched a 2 successfully. We hadn't tried in any of our previous training jumps, but it worked pretty well.

I'm OC in our team and have our point taking a high grip on me so i can keep both hands on the bar, IC also has a high grip on my right arm, naturally as soon as I let go I take the high grips on IC and point to secure the launch though..

For us as little females it ensures that I stay in place during faster run in's, that its a nice strong exit with multiple grips keeping it secure and that I can happily present my left leg without the old fear of falling off prematurely (its happened before!!).