Finally! First time jumper. Tips?

[Anonthemouse 0]

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Oh, and my sister is now dating my instructor. Oh boy...

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That's part of the class...

I should have read the Terms and Conditions instead of just hitting agree

I am bad at this sport because I play by the rules.

[Anonthemouse 0]

Alright. So today was the first day of the AFF course: groundtraining.

Great people and great instructor Went trough the basic jump plan, exit, emergencies, parachute parts and how it works. One hell of a day!

I'm glad that I already know how to be stable during freefall and how to maneuver in air. Now I have some more time to drill the checklist of the parachute in my head...

-3 sec count: Parachute above my head?
- Going straight?
- No line twist?
- Steering toggles work OK? 2 flares
- Slider down?
etc...

We got to wear a small harness with a cutaway and a reserve handle all day, so we could practice the reserve whenever we wanted
But the actual test where I had to hang in a parachute was quite hard and I didn't do well. Got a lot of pressure from the instructor on me to represent the stress you'd have when actually doing it. I passed. But I'd rather fail there than do something really stupid in the air!

Couldn't have been a worse time for the weather to change from hot and sunny to cold, clowded and rainy... Maybe it'll clear up tomorrow so I can finally do my first jump

I am bad at this sport because I play by the rules.

[virgin-burner 1]

doing a one week course!? best way to do it IMHO..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[Namowal 0]

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doing a one week course!? best way to do it IMHO..

I think so too. I did my early AFF jumps several weeks apart and I think that made it harder for me to get used to freefall.

My blog with the skydiving duck cartoons.

[Anonthemouse 0]

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doing a one week course!? best way to do it IMHO..

I think so too. I did my early AFF jumps several weeks apart and I think that made it harder for me to get used to freefall.

I'm trying to do it all in a week, but I may not be able to due to the weather. After this week I'm heading to england and I'll stay there for the entire week. The quicker the better, but only as long as it's all in your head!

[Edit to add smiley ]

I am bad at this sport because I play by the rules.

[Anonthemouse 0]

I did 6 jumps that week, here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-IE_-_zZgw

I honestly tried to do all the jumps in a week, but I had to stay home for a day because my 2nd landing was a bit of a rough feet landing, causing minor injury to my hips.

Maybe I can finally get off that 'AFF' status on sunday.

I am bad at this sport because I play by the rules.

[dthames 0]

Great job on early jump stability.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[Anonthemouse 0]

Thanks Dthemes!

I did 3 more jumps today, one AFF and 2 solo's.
on my first solo I finally had some time to look around when falling. So at least I dindn't track the complete wrong way! The exit was a total failure, but at least I know how a car tire feels now

On the second solo however, I had one tandem passenger jumping after me. It was my turn to stand in the doorway. I leaned out of the plane and took a look outside. Then I got back and gave him the best 'Oh my god this is so scary!!' face I could, then jumped out with a smile
I'll never forget the look on his face. I'm trying not to get too overconfident, but it had to be done

I am bad at this sport because I play by the rules.