Are Discs Rated At Sea Level?

I just bought a new driver that was rated as being understable. It actually seems to be stable to slightly overstable when I throw it. I can turn it over when I put it on an angle but it hardly does a hyzer flip. Is this because the disc was rated at lower elevation and I am at higher elevation? Everything is just so much more overstable here. I would definitely be in favor of ratings that reflect altitude as well. Seems like anymore I just have to throw a disc to see what it will actually do. The ratings don't always seem to apply.

[LEE CASTRO]

Most discs do tend to fly a little different when your high.lol

[david k. reisner]

beat it up some , it will become less stable !

[Eric Day]

I have the same issue, and my course is maybe a few feet above sea level, well right now it might be under sea level.... Can you Highlander come down with some fan and blow this storm out the Gulf. I wanna play some golf.

[Dookville]

Innova is at sea level here in California and I see Dave and the guys throwing at my local, which is 212 feet above sea level. I have even had the chance to throw a few proto platsics, at sea level of course. I would suppose since Discraft and Lat64 are at sea level, testing is probably similar.

[hg]

could be you..not the disc :)

[Jim Coonradt]

Up here at altitude almost everything flies stable to overstable. About the only disc that I have that is understable is a Sidewinder or a beat in DX TeeBird. I had a friend who went down somewhere (at lower altitude) and played and he told me that everything was just turning over. Now I don't have the biggest arm but I know that when a company tells me that a certain disc is their most understable and it is just stable to slightly overstable then their rating just isn't right. The only way that I know how a disc will perform is of course to throw it and see how it actually flies.

[Dave Engle]

I've heard of this and had an in-depth discussion about this a few days ago.  The guy i spoke to joined me in a pick-up round and was having trouble turning over his discs.  He had just moved to my area (at around 3400 feet) from sea level and had thought that the change in elevation might be the case.  I could tell he wasn't just making excuses: he had a cannon for an arm and was very knowledgable about disc golf in general.  It was pretty inspiring watching him bomb 400+ foot flat hyzer bombs and be disappointed that they didn't flip over!

 

So i think there is some truth to discs being more stable in higher elevations but even with that, it's probably just as much your technique to blame.  It's amazing how quickly bad habits can sneak in to your game and every day presents a new tweak to the throw.

 

Maybe try building yourself a high altitude set?  Same discs you play but get them 5 to 10 grams lighter.  I've switched out most of my 170+ drivers for the same models in the 160-165g range.  For example, my favorite disc right now is a 161g Vulcan. 

 

Food for thought.

 

[Jim Coonradt]

Well I let someone else throw the same disc and they had similar results. So it isn't just me. Discs are simply more overstable at altitude. That is a fact. I can easily flip a Sidewinder or a beat in TeeBird. However, I am not one of those power players who can flip any disc.

 

I am in the process of breaking in that disc that I just bought so I will give it a week and see if it changes. A Star Vulcan is not understable for me at all. My Star Vulcan flies almost exactly the same as my Lemon Lake Katana. Maybe a good rule of thumb at elevation is to just add a couple of numbers to the stability rating. So -2 is more like 0. A -4 rating is more like -2.