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jbelanger86

I have a lot of questions. New Jumper

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The more I learn about this sport, the more questions I have. Ive been reading everything I can get my hands on but sometimes its just better to get some opinions. Im in AFP, I have had 3 tandems and im going up for jump 4 next weekend.

1. Its been freaking cold here..... Ive read that everyone uses under armor base layers, but I went shopping tonight and found that for a top and bottom, its like $150. What other brands would give the same type of cold protection?

2. I just got my first log book for Christmas, Im OCD and I want to start it with jump #1. Can I go and write in my 3 tandems and my 3 afp jumps? I have a temp logbook that they have used for the first three and I didnt know if there was some rule. I know all the people I have jumped with and could probably get them to sign again.

3. New or used gear? Altimeters? jumpsuits? rigs? helmets? pros and cons?

4. I bought a pair of football gloves (I was advised that those would be good to get by one of my afp instructors, but they are really really sticky. Any way to cut down on how sticky?

5. Canopy. Im having trouble understanding flight patterns. Any resources would be helpful.

6. I would love some feedback on my first 3 jumps. Seems that my first jump was the best. I think I was flooded with confidence and now as i can start to control my adrenaline, im becoming less confident and therefore, I have less ability to relax, which hindered my flight on jump 3. I constantly forget to wave off as well. Any advice you can give to help my confidence levels, and any other feedback on what I can do better on next time would be really helpful.

Jump One:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npRUxn75_es

Jump Two:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZjkIStFYt4

Jump Three:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edMMEM9ZBjQ
Jump Three(camera two):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx1RcD12VnQ



I cannot thank you all enough for welcoming me into your family :) In a lot of activities you find there is too much ego in play. When im around other skydivers, well, its like everyone wants to help make me a better skydiver. Its a wonderful feeling to be "included" and I couldnt ask for better friends than the friends im making in this process. Thank you all so very much. And putting up with my noob questions, lol.
I might be a little obsessed....

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jbelanger86

The more I learn about this sport, the more questions I have. Ive been reading everything I can get my hands on but sometimes its just better to get some opinions. Im in AFP, I have had 3 tandems and im going up for jump 4 next weekend.

1. Its been freaking cold here..... Ive read that everyone uses under armor base layers, but I went shopping tonight and found that for a top and bottom, its like $150. What other brands would give the same type of cold protection?

2. I just got my first log book for Christmas, Im OCD and I want to start it with jump #1. Can I go and write in my 3 tandems and my 3 afp jumps? I have a temp logbook that they have used for the first three and I didnt know if there was some rule. I know all the people I have jumped with and could probably get them to sign again.

3. New or used gear? Altimeters? jumpsuits? rigs? helmets? pros and cons?

4. I bought a pair of football gloves (I was advised that those would be good to get by one of my afp instructors, but they are really really sticky. Any way to cut down on how sticky?

5. Canopy. Im having trouble understanding flight patterns. Any resources would be helpful.



I'll try these. Comments on your performance should come from YOUR instructors, not random folks on the internet you don't know. It may very well be a 20 jump wonder answering your questions. I used to tell students who brought me internet advice printouts "Advice on the internet is liked used chewing gum, you don't know who its from and where its been."

1. Underarmor is good at marketing and creating a life style image. I'm a cheap old fart and walk away from Underarmor and Yeti displays. Any wicking base layers that are NOT cotton or cotton blend will work. Even if they're from Walmart. Might not be as high of quality construction but will work.

2. Yes, fill out your new log book starting from one, have the folks sign the new one if you can, keep the temporary for nostalgia and signatures if you can't get new ones. And NEVER stop logging. After gaining licenses and ratings I stopped logging in detail and regret it.

3. Used most everything to start with. You won't know what kind of altimeters you want, digital, digital with analog display or mechanical. You can find a cheap but good analog altimeter that won't be cool but will serve you well while you learn what you want. Spend the extra $200 on jumps. Jumpsuits are harder to find that fit but finding a good used jumpsuit for $25, $50 or a $100 will serve you for early jumps. This may be the one you need to get new soonest to fit and supply the flight characteristics you need. You if your normal you may be fine for a long time without spending $400 for a custom built new one. Much of the high cost gets you more custom colors and 'coolness', not performance. Get local advice for the difference.

Helmets again are cool factor. I have looked for a long time for a full face I like and still jump a $40 Protec helmet, one of the most protective (without face protection). You do NOT need a $300 plus fancy helmet to learn to fly. A full face may provide benefits but I haven't found any I need. They will keep the wind out of your face and eyes and may be quieter. But that means you can't feel the canopy speed on your face under canopy and you can't hear the guy your about to hit under canopy yelling at you. Full face also limit your peripheral vision, my biggest gripe. If you get a protec buy a new one, you'll want a new liner anyway. If you want a full face look for a used until you want your own cool colors.

You'll be changing canopies every 100,200, 300 hundred jumps. Used gear, cheap older but modern used gear, it great for first. It needs to fit well enough and be appropriate for your size and skill level. Do NOT buy a canopy that is not ZP zero porosity fabric. Non zp canopies work well and can be very inexpensive. But so are older but airworthy zp canopies. If you wear an open face helmet buy new goggles.;) Key is harness fits you, reserve is big enough for you and canopies are appropriate size and performance as you progress. I'm an old fart and don't care about cool anymore. Or you can spend $6000 for new custom rig, and another $1000 plus for accessories and be coolest kid on the block. Buy used until you know what you want and will jump it for a while and use the savings for more jumps.

You might as well buy a new AAD. You will likely be able to move it to your next rig, you will get full value out of it, and used ones are hard to find if it didn't come with the H/C you buy. Do NOT buy an Argus. Others will argue but they are banned in many rigs and many DZ's and are just not safe in my opinion. (but remember chewing gum:P)

4. They are not TOO sticky and will quickly get less sticky as they get dirty. If you must you can go rub them in the dirt.

5. Skydiving, The Parachutist Handbook by Dan Poyter (RIP) may very well be in your library. Most older skydivers have at least one, I have four or five. Find a copy and read it. There is newer information but it will be a good base.

BTW do NOT buy any H/C or canopies without the advice of your experienced instructors, not new coaches, and experienced riggers. All parachutes and H/C systems should be inspected by the rigger of YOUR choice before you buy them. Do NOT buy one off ebay, bring it to the DZ and say 'See what I bought this winter!' I've heard that to many times and often have said, 'Yeah, but you can't jump it or shouldn't jump it.' Too old, to worn, wrong size, wrong performance or unsafe.

Now to know who I am. A static line instructor, Master Parachute rigger, Rigger examiner, who started jumping in 1978. Past chairman of the Parachute Industry Rigging committee. I am NOT someone who can give you advice on swooping, wingsuit flight or teach you how to freefly.
I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

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I will answer 1-4. 5 and 6 are for AFF instructors in person, not on a website where you have no idea who you are talking with.

jbelanger86

The more I learn about this sport, the more questions I have. Ive been reading everything I can get my hands on but sometimes its just better to get some opinions. Im in AFP, I have had 3 tandems and im going up for jump 4 next weekend.

1. Its been freaking cold here..... Ive read that everyone uses under armor base layers, but I went shopping tonight and found that for a top and bottom, its like $150. What other brands would give the same type of cold protection? No need for fancy brand names. Any cheap long underwear will do. I always wear a few thin layers in the winter.

2. I just got my first log book for Christmas, Im OCD and I want to start it with jump #1. Can I go and write in my 3 tandems and my 3 afp jumps? I have a temp logbook that they have used for the first three and I didnt know if there was some rule. I know all the people I have jumped with and could probably get them to sign again. its your logbook you can do what you want. I would leave the first six spots blank, and keep my temporary book with me until I got my A. Then go back and fill them in.

3. New or used gear? Altimeters? jumpsuits? rigs? helmets? pros and cons? new gear is shiny and expensive. Used gear is dull and cheap. I’d have a rigger look at it but I would suggest used for everything until you are good enough to not slide in all of your landings.

4. I bought a pair of football gloves (I was advised that those would be good to get by one of my afp instructors, but they are really really sticky. Any way to cut down on how sticky?the stickiness is the best part of it. If you open your canopy and see someone coming right at you, you want to be able to grab your risers and turn fast. That’s a lot easier if you have tacky gloves with grip. If you have unsticky gloves your hands may slide down your risers.

5. Canopy. Im having trouble understanding flight patterns. Any resources would be helpful. Talk to your AFF instructor

6. I would love some feedback on my first 3 jumps. Seems that my first jump was the best. I think I was flooded with confidence and now as i can start to control my adrenaline, im becoming less confident and therefore, I have less ability to relax, which hindered my flight on jump 3. I constantly forget to wave off as well. Any advice you can give to help my confidence levels, and any other feedback on what I can do better on next time would be really helpful.

Jump One:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npRUxn75_es

Jump Two:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZjkIStFYt4

Jump Three:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edMMEM9ZBjQ
Jump Three(camera two):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tx1RcD12VnQ

talk to your AFF instructor


I cannot thank you all enough for welcoming me into your family :) In a lot of activities you find there is too much ego in play. When im around other skydivers, well, its like everyone wants to help make me a better skydiver. Its a wonderful feeling to be "included" and I couldnt ask for better friends than the friends im making in this process. Thank you all so very much. And putting up with my noob questions, lol.

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#1 - my hands get really cold when it's freezing on the ground, i've found a thinsulate glove under the regular glove works well, but what really helps is to get ready sooner so you warm up nicely in your gear, and to make sure i keep the hands warm on the ride up, tucked in any available body crevice.

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For canopy flight patterns- get with your instructor at the DZ, go over to the aerial photo and have them help you plan your pattern. Based on jump run, the spot and the days winds.

Also if your DZ uses those diagrams that wingsuiters hand to the pilot to show their flight path, you can use one of those to plot your pattern.

One thing you can do at home is to pull up the aerial of the DZ and study the land marks.
diamonds are a dawgs best friend

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I copied and pasted the pages from my temp log book into my new log book.

You will change canopies often, only if you want to. Don't be lead to believe it is required. I got a canopy when I had 22 jumps and changed it out at 700+ jumps. It is a personal choice as to what you fly.

The book "The Parachute And It's Pilot" is a good book to help you understand canopy flight.
Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

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You have 3 jumps (non tandem).
Take your time, be patient. You will learn.
As to ego, you’ll figure out this sport is full of MORE than most.
Take advice with a grain of salt, as a lot of people think they know more than they do.
Being female, be extra careful, know your limits.
Women get “helped along” in this sport more aggressively than guys.
Not uncommon for this “help” to get you into situations you might not be ready for.
This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

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I used an off brand version of under armour three weeks ago when the ground temp was 42 and I was still freezing my butt off. I also dont wanna have too much on that it hinders my movement. Thats why i was asking for some brands. I wish keeping warm was as simple as a few layers, guess thats what i get for being cold natured, lol
I might be a little obsessed....

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jbelanger86

I used an off brand version of under armour three weeks ago when the ground temp was 42 and I was still freezing my butt off. I also dont wanna have too much on that it hinders my movement. Thats why i was asking for some brands. I wish keeping warm was as simple as a few layers, guess thats what i get for being cold natured, lol



You will probably freeze your butt off with Under armor as well, but for more money.;)

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jbelanger86

Im not sure i understand, what do you mean by helped along into things im not ready for?



You'll read more about this kind of thing in the Women Only forum (well worth a look, even for guys), but basically:

1. Skydiving is a sport where progression along the 'cool' axis often corresponds to progression on the 'dangerous' axis. Bigger groups, trickier dive plans, more demanding disciplines. To some extent this is self-limiting - newer jumpers don't get invited on those jumps. Partly because of the safety aspect, but also partly due to not having shown themselves to have the requisite skills to make the jump go well. And partly just because they're new and people don't know them.

However, 2. Skydiving is a sport where the majority of the participants are men. Women are not a novelty exactly, but at the charitable end a lot of guys like to tell women how to do things (mansplaining, y'all) - and at the uncharitable end, skydiving women are in short supply and some guys just want women to like them, or want to take advantage of their 'experienced' status to initiate relationships. This leads to rule 1 above, the self-limiting part, getting overridden by guys who should know better bringing girls who are too new to know better on jumps they're maybe not ready to be on.

We all want to be cool. It's not just women - as a rookie jumper I got on a few things I probably shouldn't because of my more experienced girlfriend, and sometimes people with a couple hundred jumps bring people with even fewer along and it's the blind leading the blind - but it happens enough to women that people remark on it.

There are occasional instances of super-talented women jumping in with both feet and surfing this phenomenon into rapid progression to amazing places, but for the average fun jumping newbie (first few years in the sport/few hundred jumps), it's something to look our for.
--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

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Along those lines, at SDC Summerfest a couple years back, 2 very attractive young women were hanging out near me. One came up to the other, and excitedly announced that 2 guys had invited them to do a wingsuit rodeo.
The second was more experienced, and said something to the effect of "Go back and ask those guys how many jumps they have, how many wingsuit jumps and how many wingsuit rodeos. If they haven't done a lot of jumps, I'm not going to ride on their backs."
She had obviously learned that guys can do some really stupid things when trying to impress pretty girls.
I laughed and told her that I was impressed that she was being smart about it.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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I do enjoy the UA 4.0 cold gear for winter jumping, but you can get some other base-layer brands that are a bit less expensive. If you check out Cabela's online they have women's polar base-layers as well for about half the price of Under Armour and they often have discounts on their store brands.

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jbelanger86


1. Its been freaking cold here..... Ive read that everyone uses under armor base layers, but I went shopping tonight and found that for a top and bottom, its like $150. What other brands would give the same type of cold protection?



The REI house brand for camping/hiking is great and can be found on sale some times.

jbelanger86


2. I just got my first log book for Christmas, Im OCD and I want to start it with jump #1. Can I go and write in my 3 tandems and my 3 afp jumps? I have a temp logbook that they have used for the first three and I didnt know if there was some rule. I know all the people I have jumped with and could probably get them to sign again.



You may want to consider keeping the temp logbook until you finish AFF so you have a designated student logbook.

jbelanger86


3. New or used gear? Altimeters? jumpsuits? rigs? helmets? pros and cons?


If money is no issue, new gear all day everyday.
For most people money is limited and therefore majority tends to go used.
However, as a new jumper I wanted my gear really good, in order to allow me focusing on my skills.

jbelanger86


4. I bought a pair of football gloves (I was advised that those would be good to get by one of my afp instructors, but they are really really sticky. Any way to cut down on how sticky?


They will wear out faster than you like...

jbelanger86


5. Canopy. Im having trouble understanding flight patterns. Any resources would be helpful.


I use an android app called Spot Assist (bought the full version), I firmly believe this app is a game changer.
Ask your instructor, if they are willing to work with you with the app.

jbelanger86


6. I would love some feedback on my first 3 jumps. Seems that my first jump was the best. I think I was flooded with confidence and now as i can start to control my adrenaline, im becoming less confident and therefore, I have less ability to relax, which hindered my flight on jump 3. I constantly forget to wave off as well. Any advice you can give to help my confidence levels, and any other feedback on what I can do better on next time would be really helpful.


My advice: Stick with skydiving, the videos look you are doing a fantastic job. Your instructors seem very solid and will guide you through AFF. Trust in your instructors and you will a great skydiver.

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Underarmor and synthetics in general are really overrated.

Buy some merino wool. On the cheap end is minus33, on the expensive end is icebreaker. All of it is well worth the money.

I started off wearing a variety of synthetics from walmart and target. The helped and did work. I noticed a huge jump in in warmth and general comfort when I went to wool. Icebreaker is well worth the money if you can swing it, the fit and quality are better than my minus33, but it has help up fine as well.

I have since gotten rid of all my synthetics. My closet only has merino wool in it now. Granted it is quite the small wardrobe but it all works amazingly well.

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fanya

Underarmor and synthetics in general are really overrated.

Buy some merino wool. On the cheap end is minus33, on the expensive end is icebreaker. All of it is well worth the money.

I started off wearing a variety of synthetics from walmart and target. The helped and did work. I noticed a huge jump in in warmth and general comfort when I went to wool. Icebreaker is well worth the money if you can swing it, the fit and quality are better than my minus33, but it has help up fine as well.

I have since gotten rid of all my synthetics. My closet only has merino wool in it now. Granted it is quite the small wardrobe but it all works amazingly well.



Comparing synthetic base layers from Walmart and Target to quality polypropylene base layers is like comparing a steak from Applebee's to one from Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.

I will agree that good merino wool or silk is better.

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I ended up going with Duofold, the only other option I found in stores for base layer. Got home and realized I didn’t check at the store. So disappointed when I saw it was 60% cotton. I wasn’t too cold yesterday but I didn’t get to jump. It was a bad day at our DZ.

a tandem crashed on landing and the student ended up leaving in an ambulance, one guy had a cutaway with a new chute, then the plane started to spit fire and sputter in the air and they had to come back down. One guy did end up jumping out because he saw flames and heard someone say go. Can’t say I blame him for his mix up. He ended up landing a few miles away in a cotton field. I decided that it was ok I didn’t jump yesterday....... (wind too high for students) and they closed today for plane maintenance. Im gonna go over my 30 day currency but they said they would work with me :)
I might be a little obsessed....

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jbelanger86

. Im gonna go over my 30 day currency but they said they would work with me :)



You were at the DZ and talked about your dive flow within the 30days. :-) I think they usually count that.

Another cold weather gear option is look for surplus USGI polypropylene base layer stuff. It is nice and toasty and you can get it cheap.

https://store.glennsarmysurplus.com/polypropylene-c147.aspx

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