Are these things really any harder to land than a warrior, or am I winding myself up?
Yes they are harder and I've known people to get the sack because they couldn't land the real thing (which also means they failed to complete their TR). However, that is a rare event and as long as you can show that you are safe and have the right technique then you shouldn't have a problem. Your trainer should not let you get anywhere near a situation where you could scrape the tail/pods/tips etc.
Any decent training captain will know that you will be totally hit with the "wow!" factor and will compensate a little for that. Just relax, enjoy it and do exactly what you were/are told and you will be just fine.
I can pretty much guarantee it will be over far to quickly and you will be sat with a grin to rival the Cheshire cat's.
Best of luck
