12 hour drive for me. I'm going to fly.

Andrew, Are you registered yet?

just wanted to post back and say I finished the Glidecam training. It was well worth it and I learned a lot. We started by just learning all the components and how to balance the rig, then we went through a bunch of excercises and learned a lot of moves like the Don Juan and whip pan etc. Its a great way to make sure you have the proper technique and I'm glad I waited before I did much practicing. We taped ourselves and studied the footage.

Tom the instructor is a really cool guy and he made sure my rig was all set up before I left. He had some guys drill a couple of holes in my sled to pass cables through, and helped me balance everything out with my monitor.

Definitley worth it for those guys who are new to the Glidecam. I feel months ahead now.

Ditto. One of our guys, Gary Allison, said much the same thing about the class. I wish I could have gone.

Practice practice practice....

Hi guys,
I am a new owner of a V8. I have been practicing daily...it is slowly coming. I want to know how the training went and where it was held.

Is anybody doing a video? I think this would be a big help for people who can't make it to the training.

Also has anybody re-engineered their V8 or 16 to have the support arm coming from the back of the vest. I find with it mounted on the front it is quite taxing, and have heard if mounted on the back you gain alot more endurance?

Hi again Taylor:

I know that Glidecam is planning a training video or series of videos. Mine will be non-rig specific, as I already have committments from numerous manufacturers to have their equipment represented.

As far as back-mounted vests, yes, there are a few out there. Here's one, and here's the original, which I own. You do gain endurance from this design, but it is a difficult design to mass-produce compared to a front-mounted design. The Suave vest requires a series of measurements of the individual operator, and costs $9000, for instance!

Thanks Charles P,
From talking with Cody he has a back mounted design in his book, so I think I will try to get one built with my modified Glidecam vest and a new support arm.

Don't you need a longer arm for a back-mounted vest (just
wondering)?

The arm snakes around to the side and ends up with the arm finding the exact same position by the time it gets to the front. This arm, because it is so long, needs to be extremely rigid. On the Suave vest, it is one big chunk of carbon fibre, very impressive.

Using existing support arm
 

Hi Charles,
From your above post, do you think it is possible to modify my rig for back mount and still use my existing support arm?

I am running a V8.

Taylor:

The arm should be fine, but I think you are looking at building a whole new vest rather than modifiying the present one.

What exactly are you experiencing with your front mounted vest, fatigue-wise? My guess is that the rig is trying to get away from you (that has to do with the exit angle of the arm) and you have to use force to keep it in front, and/or lean way back. Also, you need to keep the rig as close to your body as possible to help with fatigue

Basically fatigue, I'm an old guy 44 ..good shape but hurt my back this summer. Have spoken to Cody and he says by going to the back mount he can operate for an hour no problem.

Do you know Steve Campanelli?