talkingfrog 0 #1 September 10, 2013 Wife and I just finished our AFF and solo (well, she finished a few weeks ago and has been merrily soloing since then). Just cute little jumpers leaving the walkers! Makes it nearly a family affair since my daughter jumps as well. Now it is on to the A license. Coach jumps, docking, hop n' pops, canopy piloting and tests, oh my! Really enjoy the community so far and looking forward to years of fun.There ain't no devil, only God when he is drunk--Tom Waits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PixieUK 0 #2 September 10, 2013 Hi I'm guessing you're from the US as you talk about coach jumps and docking etc before getting your A licence (it's slightly different here in the UK). I've just finished my AFF and am starting my consols (10 consolidation solo jumps), then will need to do a hop & pop and get signed off on my canopy handling to get my A licence. So I'm hoping to get it all finished before the end of the season, though it's getting a bit cold here for camping on the dz, lol. There are a few other newbies about on the forums at the moment so we're all asking similar questions about what happens next, when does it stop getting so scary, what's the best way to do x, y and z and getting lots of helpful replies so it's a good place to be, when not in the skies A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimensions - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skymama 35 #3 September 10, 2013 Welcome to the forums! 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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
talkingfrog 0 #4 September 10, 2013 Skydive Kapowsin in Shelton, Washington is our home dz. When we jump we can see Mt Rainier, Olympics, Cascades, and lower Puget Sound. Just awesome. Very lucky that this is a family affair. Daughter is coming in this week and hope to load up with her at least once. And she gets to give Dad advice too--everyone wins!There ain't no devil, only God when he is drunk--Tom Waits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
talkingfrog 0 #5 September 10, 2013 True, we must be rather cute to jumpers with hundreds or thousands of jumps. I have plenty to work on so I am not going to get overly frantic; just do one or two things at a time. And on weather hold days I can either do hop n' pops, learn how to pack a chute, or other ground training stuff. My wife has at least 7-8 more jumps to get her A and I have about 15. But our season here goes year-round so we should have our A's by end of October.There ain't no devil, only God when he is drunk--Tom Waits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dkvkb 2 #6 September 10, 2013 So exciting to hear you are doing it together! Have fun, be safe and keep the updates coming! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
talkingfrog 0 #7 September 15, 2013 Wifey did her hop n' pop and four coach jumps last week. I had to work during the beautiful weather . But I did get in 3 jumps this weekend. One was a jump right at sunset. Clear skies, jagged mountains, ground terrain wormed by the different channels of lower Puget Sound. Landing at near-dusk. Beautiful. One interesting thing happened on my last jump. There were about a dozen freeflyers before me and the AFF instructor next to me told me to wait a full 7 seconds before jumping to ensure they were clear (incredibly long 7 seconds) just in case one jumper had a malfunction. And, wouldn't you know it, one jumper had a premature deployment at 8K. Saw her chute in the distance and mentally gave the instructor a big hug. My tracking is getting much better but I would rather not put it to the test yet. Just another day in heaven. There ain't no devil, only God when he is drunk--Tom Waits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
talkingfrog 0 #8 November 3, 2013 So we have our A licenses now. Wife got hers a few weeks ago and I did 7 jumps over 2 days to wrap up mine. So now we are ready to do some jumps together. At least until winter completely closes in and we shift to skiing. Since I started jumping in 1976 (round chutes, ripcords and all that), stopped for 37 years (minor malfunction scared me off), then started again I probably have the record for the longest time to earn an A license. If I go for a B license it will take less than 37 years--absent dramatic improvements in longevity treatment I doubt I could get into a Caravan when I am 100!There ain't no devil, only God when he is drunk--Tom Waits Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrDom 0 #9 November 3, 2013 Congrats to you both! A wonderful accomplishment and even better to have it with family.You are not the contents of your wallet. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites