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Dan1052002

AFF camp

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I recently decided that I wanted to enter the world of skydiving. I had very little knowledge of the sport. My only experience came back in 2000 when I trained all day and did an AFF jump at Skydive New England up in Maine. At the time I was in my twenties and did not have the money to continue so I never did it again. That jump did not go well either. I came out of the plane with no arch and sent myself and the instructors into a 360 flip. The free fall took me by surprise and I was pretty unstable. I remember not bringing my left hand out to compensate for practice deployments or the actual pull. Needless to say my wave off and pull was less than smooth. My canopy flying was good as was the landing. All in all, that jump back in the day went ok but was an eye opener and was a hint that skydiving isn't exactly easy to get into.
Fast forward 15 years........ I made the decision that I wanted to get out of motorcycle racing at the end of this year, so I wanted to be involved in something else. I have been racing dirt bikes since I was a kid and I am tired of all the nagging injuries. Soooo.... I signed up for the Accelerated Free Fall camp out in Orange, MA. The place is called Jumptown and I guess its been around a long time. So this is my story..............

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Ground Training 06-25-15. I arrive and am met by an older lady that runs the place. I sign my life away with waivers and take a seat in the waiting area. I am met by a German instructor named Andrei's. He has been jumping for ever and knows his shit. Pretty cool headed guy and definitely patient with students.
We spent the day going over a ton of information, The AFF program can be system overload because there is so much information to take in. Right away it was clear I will need to work on muscle memory for keeping the arch. I don't know why but I was surprised to learn that people die during canopy landings. I just assumed as long as the parachute opens you are come free. Wrong, most of the incidents with canopy's are from swooping. I wont be doing any of that.
The day of ground training came to an end and I was told that I may get to jump. I was nervous but did not want to have to go home and dwell on the 1st jump. Unfortunately, the clouds moved in and there was no way I would be allowed to jump. So home I went, to try and retain all the info from ground training.

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AFF CAT-A

The following day I returned for my 1st jump. I hung around for a few hours waiting for the sky to clear. I watched quite a few loads go up and saw some great canopy landings. I was met by my jump instructor, his name is Mihailo. Great guy that knows his stuff. He is a very good teacher and I had the feeling he was looking out for my safety a lot so this calmed me a bit. When he told me to come with him and that we were going up on the next load, the nerves started to set in. I was extremely nervous during the suit up to the point where we got on the plane. I settled down a little on the ride up. I'm not a fan of the first 1500 feet with the seatbelts on. After that I am good with the plane ride. During the ride to altitude I started looking around at people and the first thing I thought of was " these people are freaking NUTS". About 3 minutes out from my jump I began questioning my change of sports and why I was there. There was a guy the day before that was doing a tandem and did not jump, I couldn't be that guy so I was going whether I wanted to or not.
When it came time to exit. I felt rushed due to the cloud formation and the opening we were jumping. It was a big opening but others had jumped so now the pilot had to turn around to get us over the area. I got in the doorway did my hotel check and then jumped with the two instructors.
My exit was not good. I didn't arch enough and had my chin down. We eventually flattened out to earth but it took a while. I was IMMEDIATELY over whelmed by the speed, noise, and everything going on. I did not feel stable and my legs were went Way too much. I did my first circle of awareness and was getting "straighten legs" from my reserve side instructor. My main instructor was giving me " Arch". I did not respond to either of the signals. I went into my practice deployment touches, I only got two of them in. I was not bringing my left hand out in front of me and because of that, the front of my body would dive down and make me unstable. I kept getting the signal to arch and I kept saying to myself "wtf, I am arching" ( I wasn't). I missed the 2nd circle of awareness and was too busy trying to get stable. I lost track of altitude and kinda froze up. I just kinda spaced out. I saw my main instructor give me the "pull your chute!" signal. And I thought,, what? It cant be time yet. As I looked at my altimeter, it said 5,500. I had missed my lock on at 6k and my wave off at 5,500. PUFFF, my chute opened and the instructors instantly disappeared. My main instructor Mihailo had pulled my chute for me.
I was super bummed the entire canopy ride down. I handled the canopy pretty decent, followed my flight plan, and had a good landing (was a plf but just touched and fell forward). I was really disappointed and felt I had let all my instructors down. I had jumped once a long time ago and thought that I would be able to deal with the free fall better. Nope, I choked :( I am a dirt bike racer and deal with extreme stuff. I am also a k-9 cop and I am often put into high stress situations. I thought I would perform better but the jump was just too much to take in. I was over whelmed as soon as I came out of the plane. I failed the first jump and was told I had to repeat it. I debriefed with the instructors and was told to work on my arch and not be too hard on myself. They said sometimes a 1st jump can be too much for the mind and it had been a long time since I jumped back in the day. With 3 days of rain and then the place being closed a few days. I had to wait almost a week to do my second jump.

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AFF CAT-A (repeat)
I showed up at Jumptown prepared and with a clear head. I had gone over the jump many times on the ride there. I met with my instructors, showed them how I had been working on my form and we went over the skydive numerous times on the ground.
The morning went fast and then it was my turn to go up. I geared up and after some safety checks,, we were on the plane. The plane ride was better this time, not as nervous. That is until we were about 4 mins out from altitude. I was so nervous I again thought about not jumping. Naw F that, gotta do it!
My exit was pretty good. I had a good arch but didnt have my chin up. Oh well, its wasn't too bad. It was decent. I did my first COA and got the straighten legs sign. I responded and felt pretty stable. After the COA, it became very clear to me that I was at ease with the skydive and I was able to think and react smoothly. I was conscious of my surroundings and was processing things perfectly. I was also super aware of my altitude and kept checking it. My practice deployments went well although on one of them I didnt bring my left hand in front of me enough so I got a little squirrely. My second COA went great but I was still getting the ARCH and straighten legs signs. But I was pretty stable so my form wasn't nearly as bad as the first jump a week earlier. My lock on at 6k and wave off at 5,500 went great. I had a nice stable controlled pull. The Canopy ride went well and I was soo pumped that I had done well on the jump. I had a perfect landing into a little run and stayed on my feet. I was screaming when I landed, that's how happy I was :)
This jump opened my eyes to the sport and I enjoyed the skydive. This is where I will look back and acknowledge that this is where the addiction began.

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AFF CAT-B 07-05-15

Coming off a great cat A jump. I was excited to get to work on the CAT-B jump. I trained and went over the skydive many times the day before. I went home because of bad weather. When I returned on sunday, I again went over the skydive and played it out on the ground many times. Today was going going to be a busy skydive. I had to perform forward movement and stop instructor induced turns.
I was much better on the plane ride this time (still don't like the first 1,500 ft with the seatbelt thought, it makes me feel trapped). At altitude, I was nervous but I knew I had done my homework and I was ready. I was also going to try something new on exit. A guy I was chatting with before the jump told me to make a big effort to try and look at the plane as soon as I jump.
My exit went perfect!! Trying to look at the plane as you drop away is key! I had a great arch and my chin was up the whole time. The skydive went awesome. I did a COA, 2 practice deployments that went great and I had my left arm out perfectly so I could even see my altimeter in front of my face. I then initiated forward movement by straightening my legs. That was pretty cool! After a mini COA and an alt check the instructors started a left turn. I stopped it with my right arm. They then did a right turn and I stopped it with my left arm. I liked the feeling of turning, pretty cool. I locked on at 6, waved off, and had a good stable pull.
When my chute opened, I looked up to see everything twisted! I instantly let out a "oh fuck!". I was able to pull up on the risers and scissor kick my way out of it. Canopy control check was good and I was off on my way to the airport. Well I was a ways off, apparently when I did the forward movement it was down wind. So I had some ground to cover to get over to my holding area. It was kinda nerve racking but I made it to the area just in time (altitude wise) to start my landing pattern. The landing went great. I touched down and kind of slid on my knees for a second. Awesome skydive! I passed and I am now moving on to my CAT-C 1 skydive next Saturday on july 11th. Can't wait!

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Dan1052002

I was screaming when I landed, that's how happy I was :)



Right on B|

Learning to skydive is one of the greatest experiences a person can have, I think. Keep us posted!
--
"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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Awesome work. Glad you're enjoying yourself! I finished my AFF about a month ago. Absolutely loving it.

Quote

So I had some ground to cover to get over to my holding area. It was kinda nerve racking but I made it to the area just in time



Did you have a few alternate landing options scoped out on the way back? Your instructors have probably gone over this with you already.... but chat to some of the other jumpers / your safety officer / or even go for a walk if its not private property and have a look at some other places that look suitable to land on around the DZ. Always handy to have that information ready to go should you ever need it!

You're rocking it! Can't wait to hear about the next jump.

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Yeah, at one point around 2k, i didnt know if i would make it to the airport property and I had a field picked out that i was gonna land in. It was big and i was going to start my decent with the wind then do a 180 at 1k or less. The area was big enough that i wanted to keep it simple and make sure i was against the wind when i landed. But, i made it to the airport so all was good. My jump master was motioning for me to get close to the airport as soon as we pulled but i never saw him cause i was getting the parachute untangled as soon as it opened.
Congrats on passing AFF, thats awesome man!

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Landing priorities (in order):
1. Wing level over your head/not turning/diving
2. Avoid obstacles
3. Flare AT LEAST halfway
4. Prepare to/PLF

notice: landing into the wind is NOT a priority, it doesn't even make the list.

Just saying, I've seen too many people do dumb things to land into the wind. It's nice, but not something to worry about, especially when landing off. Not saying you did anything wrong but understand what your priorities are and aren't.

Good luck with your continued progression!

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