my flying adventures

Last night was the last class in my mini IFW (intensive flying workshop) at TSNY DC. Every Monday night in August I would meet up with fellow classmates and fly for two hours. Flying is such a great hobby that is really exhilarating and addictive. (Their tagline "forget fear... worry about the addiction" rings very true!)

My first time on a trapeze was on a trip to Club Med when I was about seven or eight years old. I had a lot of fun because it was like a swinging jungle gym to me :) Last fall I decided to give it a try again. The rig is located really close to the Department of Transportation in Washington, DC (where I used to work). While outside for lunch, I would always pause to watch the students flying and yearn to join them (seriously, I'm not being dramatic... I constantly talked about wanting to go!). Finally I signed up and joined a Saturday afternoon class outside - I was INSTANTLY addicted. After two classes last fall and one in the spring I decided to become more dedicated and really have a go at it. Thus, my enrollment in the mini-IFW this August.

When I started the mini-IFW I had just caught my heels-off trick (the second trick you learn). Quickly I learned (and caught!) the set straddle whip, set split, and the pullover shoot (not so quickly). You can watch a lot of these tricks on my videos on YouTube.  One of my goals for the mini IFW was the one-handed take-off which I also tackled. To finish off the workshop, I started my "swings". Swings involve using your body weight to build momentum so you can do bigger/better tricks with more height! A lot of the movement is counter-intuitive so it takes a while to get the timing down. I did not tape my swings, but when I start my 10-week IFW next month I'll be sure to share, because hopefully I'll be pairing my swings with tricks in no time.

This video was from class last night... I wanted to do a catchable trick at the end so I tried my set straddle whip again. And as I say in the video, I was "dancing"  on the net because I turned the wrong way and twisted my lines up. But then I got to learn how to take off my lines, which is something I've been looking forward to doing (because it's forward progress!).