Skydance rocks!

[skreamer 1]

Woo-hoo! Went to Skydance today and had a total blast!
Gary Lum came out and we did a couple of jumps (does that qualify as a dz.com boogie?).
I had my checkout jump with Ed, he was really cool. then I did 3 fun jumps. Learnt barrel rolls and forward somersaults from a track (sorted out my legs as well)). Man, I had sooooooo much fun! One of my fun jumps I flipped out of the plane backwards and hung onto my knees for about 5 seconds - what a blast! Then JP from Action Air did a couple of 2-ways with me. The first one we got separted on exit and then only managed to dock once. The second jump was WAY better, JP wore a bigger suit and I arched a lot harder. We turned 6 points and I was over the moon! Man, 6 jumps in total and I still have a smile on my face right now. The weather was great, and even if I only manage another 4 jumps in the next 3 days I will be happy. Tomorrow I'm going to try sit-flying and Saturday one of the free-flyers is going to take me out, so I can try going head-down. WOO - HOO!!!!!!
skydiveskydiveskydiveskydiveskydiveskydive
WOO-HOO!!!!!!
Oh yes, here's the beer list I clocked up today :
*first jump in northern hemisphere
*first jump with own rig (inc. conversion to BOC)
*first jump from caravan
*first RW
Went out for supper afterwards at the flight line (path?) bar with some of the guys, great way to end an awesome day!
And the best part? tomorrow morning i am going out to do it all over again.
Life is good!
/s

[TripleF 0]

Skreamer,
Way cool,, where is the beer?? Point me in the direction...
..46...
Triple F

[Merrick 0]

You know you're a B**ch right?!?! LOL
Seriously, good to hear you're having a good time, wish Pam & I could join ya!
"Pull High.... It's lower than you think!"

[Divadiver 0]

Go Skreamer Go!!
:)
Divadiver

[tigra 0]

Glad you found people to play with!

[lummy 4]

Yeah,
N thanks for pointing out how sick I was. I'm feeling a little better today but you never know, I think a relapse is imminent.

[Pammi 0]

Kick a**! Glad you had a good time Skreamer! I'm supposed to work on some flips this weekend myself...although I'm not sure why. They say it's so they can see me unstable then get back stable...I haven't been truly stable since I started for gawd's sake! LOL! Although I can track already...what fun!
Pammi

[lummy 4]

Pammi,
Are you still doing AFF? If so, the point is to see if you can go completely unstable and back to stable again.
FLips are fun too. I was having a blast yesterday just doing back flips and popping right back into the box position. Big difference from my AFF flips which were REALLY messy

[Alias 0]

Front and back flips are on my plate for next aff dive. I'm not the most acrobatically (sp) inclined individual, so I'm a bit stressed.
Glad to hear everyone else has no problem with them, gives me a bit of hope

[bwilling 0]

Skreamer you rock! I am so jealous though!
Hey Pammi and Alias, don't fear flipping! it rocks! and it's just air, it won't hurt you if you mess up... my first few frontflips coming back were short, and I'd end up flying on my back... no big deal, half barrel roll back to belly to earth and try again... I have them down again now, and can roll really slow and still stay on heading!

[lummy 4]

Alias,
Like I said, the point is to go unstable and then get back to stable. My AFF back flips (and forward) were VERY sloppy. Rolled sideways, made 2 instead of one. My instructors told me not to worry about being graceful, cause they probably won't be, and they weren't. I didn't fail becuase I got back to a belly to earth position, which is the whole point. You'll do fine, just remember to ARCH when you are coming out of it or feel out of control.
Gary

[Alias 0]

Thanks for the input. I try to imagine the method, but still a bit timid about the attempt. By the time I get to altitude, I'll have phsyked the timid feeling outta my ass and will be ready go..........I hope

[FallnAngel 0]

Heya Pammi & Alias!
Flips really are great! Gearing up for my AFF6, where you're supposed to do 2 backflips, I was so anxious...really almost afraid of what would happen. Well, after one of the worst exits in the history of skydiving (ok, probably not *that* bad...but as my instructor said during debrief later "that exit sucked!"), I got stable, then put my arms out, pulled my knees in and lo & behold, flipped right over! My JM told me that as I was rotating around, all he saw was teeth, I was smiling so big! It was an absolute blast.
You guys will do great, I just know it!!
Fantastic Flips,
Karen

[Pammi 0]

Well Lummy and BW, I don't know how to explain exactly where I am in a standard progression Anyway, I was more joking then anything because I actually did have a couple of jumps where I flipped over on my back...I even got to laughing on the second one cuz it was just funny by that point and I knew how to get back over, so not scary that time.
So I've pretty much been in every unstable position there is to be in so far...now I want to be STABLE! LOL! (it's about there tho Pammi

[BFK 0]

YES! Skydance is the shit. I love that place. By far the best pro shop I've found out there is Action Air. Super duper helpful people to buy gear from. And Ryan is a great and really knowledgable rigger. And Skydance has great people to jump with. As soon as I have the money to skydive more I think I will jump there. Byron is very cool too, with really friendly people as well. Both are great places to jump.
If you want a great person to freefly with at Skydance get a hold of Marcus. He's a super nice guy and great freeflyer who can fly in any body position imaginable and will jump with newbies.
BTW, could someone at Skydance thank Tim for filming an AWESOME proposal video for my girlfriend on Valentine's day. That tiny sign had huge wind resistance. I hope our marriage doesn't have that kind of resistance.
SHE SAID YES!! DUAL INCOME!! MORE SKYDIVING!! But I don't start work until the end of summer. :(
Blue ones over Byron and Skydance,
BRAD KOCH
PS Blue ones for everyone else to!

[jumpergirl 0]

Congrats Skreamer!! I'm glad you had a good time!! I can't wait for you to get over this way and jump with me!!

[Shark 0]

Cool deal! I did my FJC-AFF there. I miss it, sometimes. There are a lot of cool people there. Glad you got to do some rw there. I only got 16 jumps and was unlicensed when I moooved back home to Sandy Eggo, so I didn't get to scare anyone except for the JMs. I'm planning a pilgrimage sometime in the future and probably do some HALOs after I get my D lic. BTW, love the chicks there, too.

[FallnAngel 0]

Quote

BTW, could someone at Skydance thank Tim for filming an AWESOME proposal video for my girlfriend on Valentine's day. That tiny sign had huge wind resistance. I hope our marriage doesn't have that kind of resistance.
SHE SAID YES!! DUAL INCOME!! MORE SKYDIVING!! But I don't start work until the end of summer. :(
Blue ones over Byron and Skydance,
BRAD KOCH
PS Blue ones for everyone else to!

Heya Brad! I was out at SkyDance on Sat and happened to see Tim...passed your message along (plus, JP @ ActionAir had printed him a copy of your email). Tim really does a great job with the camera! btw, Congrats on the engagement!
Blues,
Karen
P.S. Hope to see you out there jumpin soon!

[skreamer 1]

Quote

If you want a great person to freefly with at Skydance get a hold of Marcus. He's a super nice guy and great freeflyer who can fly in any body position imaginable and will jump with newbies.

Dude, I can't believe this! Markus is the very guy who promised to take me free-flying! And he lived up to his word too (the very next day). Last week Thursday I got another 5 jumps in at Skydance (day after I posted this thread). Anyway, I had managed to sit-fly in my 4 fun jumps (hey what else are you gonna do jumping on your own).
Anyway, so Markus rocks up for the sunset load, strolls up to me and says 'So, you still want me to take you head-down?'. Hell yes!!! Then I go over to him and try to give him a jump-ticket. The dude would NOT accept it, no matter how I tried (I didn't want to potentially screw up the jump for him). Anyway, so we get in the Cessna, but he is still wearing his work clothes (for those of you who haven't been to Skydance, Markus is sooooo laid back he is practically horizontal). Anyway, I was thinking 'He's wearing his rig, but he is also wearing leather boots, denims, a hooded top and a baseball cap - exactly how do these freeflyers do it??'. Next thing, baseball cap disappears and skydiving shit starts appearing (it had been stowed behind him on the plane). Thing he is pulling on a balaclava and then I'm thinking 'Oh shit, I'm going skydiving with the IRA!!!'. Anyways, we get to altitude, JP gets out first and is hanging off the strut. I get out next and am facing Markus, he grabs hold of my harness and does a head-count. I would love to say I went head-down on my first attempt, but I totally hosed it. Training kicked in and my head went back in an attempted arch as soon as we stepped off. Anyway after 3 seconds when it was clear the head-down action wasn't going to happen, we separated. I struggled into my sit-fly and was happily just watching Markus and JP (it's one thing to watch free-fly on video, but trust me when you see these guys doing it yourself - WOW!!).
Anyway, it was the sunset load, and on my left I could see an almost full moon rising - I so wish I could convey how beautiful it was, but this medium will never allow it. So then, next thing I see Markus tracking towards me and I'm thinking 'Dude, what the fuck are you doing?, you are headed right towards me!!!'. But then he got closer and I realized he was back-tracking and smiling up at me. He flew right underneath my right foot (about 2 meters below me) and I just stayed in my sit, with the world's biggest goofiest smile looking down and beaming at him. And when we all tracked off, I was watching them tracking below my feet, while I tracked off. It was the first time I had really watched other people tracking while I was doing the same. This was my favourite jump so far, and any of you guys looking for a place to jump : go to Skydance. As for the rigging shop : after I bought my jumpsuit there, they tailored it for me TWICE. I didn't even ask, Ryan just came up to me and said bring your suit back to us, so we can make a couple of changes for you.
The guys at Action Air told me I was 'jonesing' and then I had to get somebody to explain it to me. Just to give you guys an idea : that same day (Thursday) Ed had to take a student up for his graduation hop 'n pop. They asked if I would like to go along (me say no to a skydive???). Anyway, it only cost $8 and counts towards my B license. Student went first (poised), I bombed out after him, and Ed jumped last. To be honest, I was a bit scared, because after all those jumps from altitude, '3000 felt REALLY close. And my PC tapped my ankle (my head was pretty low when I dumped). But I will do it again any day.
More good news, I have just found a DZ in the UK that is still open, now I am just praying for decent weather - I WANT SOME MORE!!!
Sorry about the long post guys, but I am still totally geeked (as if you couldn't tell).
/s
ps to give you guys an idea about Skydance, I am already making plans to go back in June for their boogie. I still have 6 Skydance jump tickets (high winds on Friday and Saturday) and refused to sell them because I want to go back and use them myself dammit! I have got 33 jumps in totals now and have decided screw the A license and am going straight for my B.
pps Congratulations on your engagement, can I make a suggestion?
Make your wedding vow 'For richer or skydiving'