Finished AFF, what's next?

[dmitry26 0]

Hi All,

I am new to the sport (actually just started a month ago). Love it. By now I’ve got 12 jumps and finished AFF. I need to pack main parachute a few more times to get A.

What’s next? I am aware that there B-rel program (formally known as The ‘B’ Licence Manual by APF) but I think that I would like to do some freefall stuff as well. Sure I can and will talk to instructors in my DZ, they are great guys.

What I really want to ask you is how you know that you start pushing your own limits PRIOR to breaching them? How are you planning you jumps? How to choose from all the things one want to practice something to start with, especially if they fall in different categories like freefall and RW?

We all want to be safe and have fun, don’t we?

Thanks

[covey 0]

Welcome to the forums. Congrats on finishing up your AFF. I don't really have any advice for you cause I just got my A recently. Just have fun is all I can say.

Believe those who are seeking truth. Doubt those who find it. -Andre Gide

[skymama 35]

Welcome to the forums!
In my opinion, right now I don't think you need to be focusing on what discipline you want to do, you still need to be working on the basics. Find someone to jump with who can help you on your belly flying skills of staying relative with people and making easy docks, and progress from there, one skill at a time. And, please don't forget that the skydive doesn't end until you have safely walked off the field. Your canopy training is a must right now and so many people have accidents under 100 jumps (me included!) because they were focusing more on the freefall and less on the canopy. Have fun and be safe!

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[dmitry26 0]

Thank you.

I am going to take one jump at the time but the question is where to start. There is a lot of basic things and it seems to be unreasonable to try more than one new thing at the time.

I will see how it goes coming week-end.

Thanks again

[snowboundlava 0]

What's next?? Fun, fun, fun, fun...fun!! Congratulations on finishing your AFF!! I can't wait until I finish the AFF. Even though you are more experienced than me I will give you my advice anyway....Ask as many questions as you can to the experienced jumpers. Always try to learn more. And HAVE FUN!!!!

[CanuckInUSA 0]

It's highly recommended that once off student status that you do a fair amount of belly jumps before you try freeflying. And be sure to work your way up from doing solo belly jumps and coached two-way belly jumps before trying two-way belly jumps with other fun jumpers. Then at some point in your skydiving career you can try freeflying (if that interests you). Freeflying is fun (I love it), but everything happens much much faster and it's more dangerous than RW. Some of us don't like to assign specific jump numbers as to when you're ready to freefly (my first attempt was on jump #43), but you've got to be able to fly with others on your belly before you can fly with others while freeflying. Also, make sure you have a freefly friendly rig before you even think about trying it (god forbid anyone of us has a premature opening while headdown at 200+ mph).

Also, there's is another often over looked discipline of skydiving that newbies don't think about (I know I didn't think about it as much as I do now) and that's the canopy flight and one way to work on your canopy flight is to do hop n' pops. Whenever the cloud ceiling is questionable (or I'm pressed for time) you'll find me on a load doing a hop n' pop. Because while I have my freeflying goals, I also have to land my canopy on every jump and what better way to become a better canopy pilot that to spend time learning your canopy.

Good luck with your skydiving career. It only gets better from here on out. One of the beauties I love about this sport is the constant new things we experience and we never stop learning. I'm only 9 1/2 months into the sport and 217 jumps and I have so much more to experience and learn. To quote one of the Flyboyz "take your time, because it'll be there for you for the rest of your life".

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[sarge 0]

Hi, how are ya? Welcome!

--
I'm done with the personally meaningful and philosophical sigs!!

[dmitry26 0]

Thanks a lot for your advice.

I had a chance to jump last Saturday all by myself for the first time. I did a few belly jumps and will take B license course next (which includes 2-way).

Can anyone recommend any good books for novice as me (14 jumps) to cover period from around this number of jumps and more advanced? All I've seen so far are about the first jump or very advanced.

Cheers

[skymama 35]

Quote

Can anyone recommend any good books for novice as me (14 jumps) to cover period from around this number of jumps and more advanced?

Since more newbies get hurt being under a perfectly good canopy rather than during freefall, I'm going to recommend the book and video called "Basic Canopy Flight" through Skydive University. I think if you call the Sebastian, FL dz, you can get a copy of it. It's very informative and well worth the money spent.

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[froglady 0]

Congradulations! Now the fun begins. For now I'd stay on your belly, stay with small ways, and work on learning your canopy.

FrogLady

[rjackson 0]

I'll add to the other comments. When I was in your position I really lucked out and found a load organizer (LO) that was willing to work with me. I started to do 2 and 3 ways for a while. The nice thing in this situation was I was getting some informal coaching, the LO kept an eye on me to make sure I was staying safe. The biggest thing was I was able to meet other jumpers and to make friends.

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Randy

[dmitry26 0]

Thanks a lot to everyone.

Will go to have a few more jumps on the week-end.

Dmitry