Advice for AFF Newbie

[NathanL100 0]

I just signed up for AFF at my local DZ and I'm curious as to what to expect and if anyone has any pearls of wisdom to share with someone who is just starting out? I've done one tandem jump and now I've got the itch. Which, after I get a few more jumps under my belt, I'm sure will turn into a full blown addiction!
Newly Addicted
Nate-

[Zennie 0]

I'll offer one that I kinda wish I had when i was starting out...
don't let yourself get frustrated. You'll get frustrated in training and you'll get frustrated when you start trying your hand at RW/freefly (or in my case, both -- I'm a glutton for punishment).
This is a very difficult sport. If it were easy, we wouldn't see all those 1000+ jumpers out there. So don't set your expectations too high too early.
That said, jump you butt off and have fun doing it!
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[Snowflake 0]

Try to relax accept the fear it's there to keep you alive but not to control your body (you control the ride and fear is the mind killer were my mantra on the way up). Oh yea the hardest part at least for me was smiling do it while you gear up smile at people on the plane even if you don't mean it it took me till my 2nd lvl 8 to smile in freefall I muffed a 2 way star and all of the sudden the smile appeared and from then on it's all been good
"......and then the parachute opens and you float to the ground like a multicolored snowflake"
JG

[xybe 0]

Being a fellow skydiver in the making (less than 20 jumps) I would offer the following advice, take it with a grain of salt as you should do with most things you hear from anyone other than your instructor. These are only some of the things that are hard for myself and they might work for you.
Think positive!
Don't think about what you want to avoid but concentrate on what you want to go right. Don't try not to be unstable but concentrate on being stable, it makes things much easier.
Visualize yourself doing a good jump and having fun. In my case the climb to altitude is nerve wrecking so I try to imagine how great jumping will be.
As it says in the previous post, don't be overly hard with yourself. We all have different learning rates and being mad at yourself for not learning fast will not make you learn any faster. It's easier to relax when you are not trying hard to relax, leave the hard work for ground training. If you rehearse your jump enough times and visualize it several times on the ground it should be OK for you to relax during the jump.
Again, nothing new here but remember that fear is your ally, if you can handle it well it will help you stay alive. Being afraid is natural and probably even healthy, accept fear and don't dwell on it. Again, being positive helps here, so having fun is a better weapon against fear than denying you are afraid or getting mad with yourself for being afraid.
Ask, ask and ask again, your jumpmasters are there to answer your questions no matter how stupid they may seem to you. You are at the DZ to learn not to protect your ego :)
In freefall altitude awareness is paramount, check your altimeter often. and remember your priorities:
Pull, pull at altitude, pull stable.
Remember I am just a fellow student, ask your jumpmaster.
Marcelo
Still shedding whuffo-ness
Check out the Hardcore Whuffo pages

[mountainman 0]

All good ideas!I finished AFF almost 2 weeks ago and have 16 jumps to date. There are a lot of good ideas here and I have a couple to contribute. (Or elaborate...repeat...the others.)
I found it is best to always be thinking about your skydive on the ground and in the plane. My instructor told me, "Never stop thinking about your skydive until you have landed your canopy". That is a very good idea. Therefore, you can focus your attention on the task at hand. Depending on what your jump plane is, you either have lots of time (C-182) or a quick review and jump (Mullens). Either way, always be rehearsing your jump in your head and it will happen.
Most important.....RELAX!!!Good luck with AFF and I hope that you get through them quickly and safely!!!
blue ones...
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[NathanL100 0]

Thank You!!! To all that have posted and for those to come. This web site and the forums are awsome!!! THANK YOU!!! I'll raise a few brews for all of you tonight!
Newly Addicted
Nate-

[fred 0]

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In my case the climb to altitude is nerve wrecking so I try to imagine how great jumping will be.

Word on that. I'm really hoping that I'll eventually overcome my fear of the climb (in my tiny C-182, I'm cramped, it's stuffy, and the ride isn't what I'd call "smooth"). I find it much easier to visualize myself doing the things I'm about to do than to stare out the window and work myself up. Just shut your eyes, take some deep breaths, and think about the exhilaration you're about to feel. (and, in my case, figure out what the hell I'm going to grab when that door opens)
I'm on a S/L course, nervously awaiting jump 7, so I'm not sure how much my advice will be relevant, but definately ask your questions. Most of my JM's (with one exception) know to answer them in the simplest of terms and expand until I stop asking questions. They're willing to talk and chat and do whatevers necessary to help you have a good jump. And knowing the answer to that little question in the back of your mind will help you to relax.
And that, to me, was the key. I saw it through my practice pull progressions (which I don't think you have in AFF), as I got more comfortable with what I was doing, my arch improved, and my motions were smoother and more comfortable.
Remember, when you're out there ready to jump, you don't have to go immediately. Take a second or two (not too long, though!), and run through your release moves in your mind.
Oh, and try and jump more than once in a day. Maybe this isn't the same for AFF, but I've found that the second (and third) jump in a day allows me to relax a lot more and look forward to the next one with greater excitement.
Again, take my comments with a grain of salt. I'm learning differently than you are, and I'm very inexperienced.
You might also check the 'newbie questions' thread that I started. The people here helped me with a lot of the thoughts and questions that I had 8-12 hours after my second jump. You're very right, these forums are awesome.
One more thing. Something my coach tells me on every canopy ride down, "Don't forget to relax and enjoy the view." It's taken me awhile to stop staring down and look around at everything. It's good and well to stay on track to the target, but don't forget that there's a lot of land out there to look at.

[FallingMarc 0]

All good advice, but this is something that caused me trouble early on(hah listen to me with all of 30 jumps): it's very good and helpful to visualize your jump when you're preparing. Visualize yourself doing everything right, from climbout to landing. BUT, I tended to fixate on things, and instead of relaxing and thinking of how I should do whatever it is I'm trying to do, the whole ride up I would think "I have to do this right. I MUST get this EXACTLY RIGHT, THIS TIME!" and so on. Then I'd get out and be tense as all hell and screw up. I had a JM advise me after my a couple of failed PRCPs to go through the dive in my mind once or twice, see myself doing it right, then go have lunch and not think about it at all, and when I came back, to just try to relax on the plane and enjoy the ride. It worked. The moral of the story is, every time I fixated on what I had been doing wrong, I just did it wrong again. It's good to visualize the dive going well beforehand, but don't let it get to the point where it makes you too tense. Relaxation is key...
Above all, though, be safe and have fun! Everything else just adds to it!
Marc

[Aviatrr 0]

Most important thing - listen to your instructors.. Second most important thing - SMILE! Make a conscious effort to smile.. If you can do that, you will automatically be relaxed and things will go well..
Mike

[skymedic 0]

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SMILE! Make a conscious effort to smile.. If you can do that, you will automatically be relaxed and things will go well..

this is the single thing that changed my AFF progresion. when I learned to smile in freefall (which was like level 5 and up) , my confidence and ability to relax and ENJOY it shot up.
Marc
Because I fly, I envy no man on earth

[GrumpySmurf 0]

>> and if anyone has any pearls of wisdom to share with someone who is just starting out
Don't eat beans before going up on a load. :)

[skymama 35]

My advice to you is to ask questions, and lots of them. There's nothing a skydiver likes to talk about more than skydiving...ok, the guys might add boobs and beer in there too.
But, seriously, a lot of newbies feel intimidated at the dz because they don't know much, and aren't comfortable walking up to the "regulars" and asking questions that they are sure sound stupid. We want you to enjoy skydiving, and we want you to be safe, so please ask! I have never yet been turned down by anyone, even by the best known people at the dz. But, don't approach someone when they are in the middle of doing something like a dirt dive, or gearing up. It's up to you to approach us...we can't read your mind, so we don't know what you might have questions about. And remember, we all started at the same place you did, so we all know exactly what you are going through. Smile, relax and have fun!
Andrea
"Up high, I feel like I'm alive for the very first time"

[mountainman 0]

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try and jump more than once in a day

Absolutely!!! This is very good advice if you can do it. My wife and I jumped 4 and 5 times, respectavely. That day, I did level 6-9 and a high solo jump. By the second or third jump, it was feeling more and more natural and I didn't have to try and remember what it felt like to do things. So, I highly recommend doing as much jumping as you can in a short amount of time. We just bought the whole 20 jump course so we could just do it as much as we could.

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guys might add boobs and beer in there too

Heh heh heh......SO?????
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[PhillyKev 0]

Along with the don't get frustrated tip, don't be impatient. Bring something to do with you to the dz in case you have to wait out a wind hold. During AFF I spent many a day sitting on the ground watching experienced jumpers and even tandems students go up, but was grounded because the wind was too strong for a newbie solo jumper. Use those times as an opportunity to get to know others at the dz. Try to socialize with non-instructors that you notice are there a lot.
Even though you mainly only know the instructors and other employees, they're the busiest ones there. The regular fun jumpers are the ones who'll have time to hang out with you to kill time and give you some great advice.
cielos azules y cerveza fría
-Kevin

[rendezvous 0]

RELAX ! ...... I know this has been said a million times but it's so important that the more
you remind yourself about it the better. On ground keep repeating the word RELAX ! to your self and everytime you do it let loose the tension in your body and feel that happen. When you've done this a
couple of times your body will automatically react to the word relax by loosening it'self. Then go jump
and as soon as you step out tell yourself to arch and relax. When you in a into your dive once tell yourself
to relax. Thats how important it is. The rest will come automatically. And trust in your ability to do whatever your dive requires too. Don't worry if you have to repeat a level. Just relax and trust yourself. It'll happen
automatically. Also don't rush into your dives. Set yourself up. Feel yourself unnerve and then proceed.

[PhreeZone 15]

Take a tip from the freeflyers..... when your in the door waiting on the group before you to fall away, take a deep breath...hold it....smile Do I HAVE to do another raft dive???

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[RemiAndKaren 0]

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Take a tip from the freeflyers.....

Hi Phreezone,
good tip, but when did freeflyers invent relaxation?

[PhreeZone 15]

About the same time that Olav trademarked the word Freefly Do I HAVE to do another raft dive???

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[RemiAndKaren 0]

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its just that all the RW teams at my DZ ...

Yea..... but I can garantee you that the top teams spend lots of time on relaxation, visualisation and the such...
Good tip still....

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About the same time that Olav trademarked the word Freefly

I still have a hard time with that one.... Maybe I should tradmark the word funnel....

[PhreeZone 15]

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you that the top teams spend lots of time on relaxation, visualisation and the such...

The top teams I'm sure do. I know that I've read somewhere that most of the members of teams like PD Blue, Airspeed, ect are into stuff like Yoga and Martial Arts. Both of those things rely on being relaxed.
I have always figured that if you can visualize something from start to end then thats how its going to go. Usually for me I visuallize steping out the door and..... Funneling. And thats usually how it goes! Do I HAVE to do another raft dive???

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[skymedic 0]

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. I know that I've read somewhere that most of the members of teams like PD Blue, Airspeed, ect are into stuff like Yoga and Martial Arts.

the Sebastian XL guys are definately yoga guys.....says it has improved them...
Marc
Because I fly, I envy no man on earth