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Bignugget

New to the forums, AFF lvl 1 fail! today ;]

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hello all, figured I may as well intro myself since ive been lurking for close to 2 weeks since i scheduled this AFF jump.

Im 28, from Missouri, jumping at Flyfree skydiving out of Festus.

Only one day of exp. at the dropzone there but I can say as such top notch people, everyone immediately made me feel like one of the family which is always nice for someone new.

I failed since I didnt deploy my own chute ;/. To be perfectly honest I did 2 AFF dives in 2006 from 14k feet and the freefall seemed much longer than today at 10.5k feet, as such it seemed like 6k was on top of me so much faster and I just didnt react and stay altitude aware. Oh well ;] Im back next week!

Anyways just wanted to intro myself and if Suzette or Lutz lurk around thanks a bunch for today and I sure hope I can jump more with you two.

-Anthony (bignugget)

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Thanks for the encouraging words :] I read them last week before I went but the weather held me down, got there this weekend though and passed level 1 and 2, onto levels 3,4,5 tomorrow!

My instructors said I was on my shit today, hah. I told them I had been practicing my dive for two weeks walking around day to day.

im hooked.

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You need to focus on this: each student level is training; it's practice; it is not a test. You're trying a totally new skill set you've never done before in a very foreign environment. You should never think of repeating a level as "failing"; you simply have to practice it again so you can master it. You didn't master parallel parking the first-ever time you tried it, did you? No, you learned from doing it wrong, and repeated it over and over until you mastered it. Then you moved on to the next skill set. Same goes for every student level of skydiving training.

If I were the Great Dictator of Skydiving, I would forbid the word "fail" from ever being spoken about repeating an AFF level.

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If I were the Great Dictator of Skydiving, I would forbid the word "fail" from ever being spoken about repeating an AFF level.



That's a good point. I see a lot of people freak out because they had to redo a level. My instructors seemed worried that it might discourage me, despite me telling them that often times I learned more from this "failure" than I would have if the jump had gone smoothly.

Everyone learns at a different rate and in different ways, but after a couple thousand jumps the ones who stuck around all look about the same.
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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Point well taken. To be fair my instructors never did use the word fail. Im tough on myself, but they must have gotten the dictators memo! my logbook just says "repeat" and my instructors were really encouraging on the debrief of the first jump I had to repeat.

But I acknowledge what you are saying and its good advice I think its spot on to not discourage myself using negative words like that. I may have to repeat a couple more jumps, but I won't ever fail again :].

Appreciate the words of advice.

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Passed 3 and 4 today! This is some fun stuff, on my first one instructor dive i left and did a half flip ended up on my back but flipped myself over, then started my practice 90s and started spinning crazy, but was able to settle it. In the debrief my instructor was like "awesome job stopping that I was going to give you one more 360 but you stopped it I was so happy" !! Made me smile, I love skydiving. Lets do more!!@#!@$

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Next couple are REALLY fun! By now it sounds like you're relaxing a bit and learning to control your body in the air. Barrel rolls and flips are fun and you'll be ready to do them when you hit those levels. On my 7 jump the instructor had me fling myself out the door of the plane (more or less literally,) grab my ankles behind my back and flip for 5 seconds. That's still one of my favorite exits!
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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Next couple are REALLY fun!reply]

Yea, then after that you wonder why you're carrying on.



Is this the new jumper depression I hear so much about? After you get off coaching you're left to your own devices in a big new world. It's a different experience than you had previously.

I find it helps to have some clear short and medium term goals. You can pick the thing you're least comfortable with (exit, freefall or canopy) and work on that. Or you can find someone to coach you in something you haven't done before. It's just a matter of you setting the priorities now that you've acquired the skills to keep you alive.

I was a bit overwhelmed for my first couple of solo jumps after I got off coaching, but I have a medium-term goal I've got my sights set on, and will take any group invite I get, if I feel I can jump with that number of people safely. I'm not going to be going after any world record formation attempts anytime soon, but ended up in an 8 way speedstar on Friday that was a blast!

I'd gone in there intending to work on my exit, which I'm really starting to like at this point. Second jump someone wanted to jump with me, and we ended up in a 4 way that I screwed the exit up on. We decided to do it again and by that point here were 4 more people. One of the guys took video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDwAdtM5Za0 I'm the guy in black in the formation. We didn't get the formation built up past the three who went out the door first, but it was still a lot of fun.
I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

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as a noob myself, I know what you mean. The idea is to keep yourself trying new stuff during those solos and be safe while doing it. Every solo jump I do, I try to check something off my A license sheet. Now I am just starting to play with the front risers up at 4000ft and trying to build confidence in canopy control. Then at 2000 I stop and focus only on a good targeted landing and smooth flare. I also am hitting the tunnel up for some mantis and grip trainging for future use. Just remember, there is a reason so many skydivers have thousands of jumps, because it is an "always learning" sport if you make it that and no matter if there is noone in the air with me or even if I am the only one on the plane who speaks english, I am still jumping out of a freaking airplane and thats pretty cool B|

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