I tripled my lifetime skydive total in one weekend (4jump -> 12jump)

[mdrejhon 8]

EIGHT jumps in one weekend! I only had 4 tandems before this weekend. Started my PFF program. Now I'm exiting and freefalling without the instructor holding onto me. Fun!

Didn't expect to jump that many times during PFF training. I only got one jump last weekend (the pre-qualifying tandem jump). I tripled my lifetime jump total in just one weekend. So that means this weekend contained all my first solo landings too.

The weather conditions was almost good enough that I could have theoretically graduated in just one weekend! If it weren't for those wind holds, of course... Then I'd end up grappling to find money to do jumps next weekend before my midmonth paycheque!

There were bonuses too. Two free videos of my jumps, one of them courtesy a "vidiot-in-training". And one jump was almost 13,500 feet in a Cessna, rather than the normal 12,500. That must have been a lucky climb, I heard Cessna's don't usually go that high very well...

Have to repeat one PFF level, but overall, I think I did okay as a student. Good stuff though. Didn't hurt myself, but I did have a big embarassment. I have to try not to take it too hard....(I always do that...sigh). The weekend went well otherwise.

Canopy piloting was mostly excellent though (for a student), got myself homefield grass unassisted several times with the arrow eliminated, even one on-target landing (pea gravel, 3m from center). I did an excellent job crabbing on that one... Flare was excellent on all but one landing, where I flared slightly too early. 6.5 standup landings, 1 soft butt landing. (The 0.5 standup was a near-loss of balance onto my butt then I recovered as the canopy pulled me back up). Now, it's not all flawless, I got critiqued on several things... But I think they now trust me a little more getting back to the dropzone area without guiding me, and I'll have to endure less of those wind holds ;-) Man, there were so many wind holds... But they're looking out for my safety!

I'm somewhat of an inconsistent freefaller. Some things were really excellent (3 first backloops ever, in less time most students can only do 2), finally can do a 360 turn fast and stable. But I screwed up a track causing me to go unstable. I arched and stabilized a bit but not completely. I felt I had to pull while I was still somewhat unstable (because I felt like I ran out of time to stabilize.) At least I didn't panic and did not rush the pull. "Relax" is my main problem at pull time. Pull altitude was reported great every time though. Altitude awareness was reported great, but can't get complacent about that either... It was sure an experience though. Learned a lot in just one weekend!

And even, no, that wasn't my biggest embarassment. *blush*. Something I'm not sure I should talk about online. (Needless to say, I think they're glad they flew me on a very forgiving Manta 288sqft canopy.)

I think I'll nail it within one (or two) more repeat levels, I'll even ask for two repeats if it is better safe than sorry even if I do the next one well enough, then do my graduating jump when both the instructor and I feel ready.

I'm exhausted, so I'm heading to bed shortly. Night all.

Blue skies!

[Orange1 0]

congratulations! glad to hear it went well and you got the landing aids sorted out.

Not fair - we aren't allowed to do more than 3 jumps a day on AFF (But now that i'm off it... )

So, what was the embarrassing thing? You HAVE to tell us!

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[mdrejhon 8]

Oh, I just don't want to put my dropzone in trouble.

Probably not, I'm just playing on the safe side and protecting the innocent

[mdrejhon 8]

I re-read what I said, and noticed one of my sentences is subject to misinterpretation:

Quote

Probably not, I'm just playing on the safe side and protecting the innocent

I am rewording it as:

Quote

Probably not, I am just being cautious of what I should say. I am not sure what I should say about the embarassing moment. I'm just erring on the side of caution, and protecting the innocent (myself included).

I hope this is easier to read. I'll ask around if it's appropriate for me to reveal all, I'm not 100% sure what the standard DZ courtesy is. After all, I am a newbie with lots to learn.

Needless to say, I'm glad they had spare shoes.

[mdrejhon 8]

Correspondence to the dropzone have determined it's okay. If I am posting at all, then I should not omit details. My embarassements were:

(1) An offzone landing. It was a windy day (borderline, had several wind holds) and I was starting to back up. I realized I was slowly floating sideways over a farm building, so I turned crosswind and aimed for a farmfield, then turned back into the wind and did a landing while running backwards. Safe standup (running) landing near the middle of a soft field. For a short while, I was concerned I'd be blown backwards over a building so I aimed for something easy to land in. Just plain embarassing. I knew I couldn't possibly make it back when flying stationary/backwards relative to groundspeed. Got my shoes wet and muddy. Farm landing was embarassing.

(2) A low turn landing. On my 6th PFF jump, I did something stupid: I did a low turn 180 landing (fortunately successful gentle standup landing - thank the Manta 288 sq ft for that, and also luck). finished my 180 turn only about 30 or 40 feet above the ground, which was DUMB, DUMB.... they gave me a scolding for that, and that many thought I needed an ambulance before I touched down. (I got lucky: standup landing that wasn't harder than my other standup landings.) I did not turn earlier because of the tree line (not an excuse, I know). That's why I waited and executed what was a low turn because I did not execute earlier turns due to me flying between treeline and taxiway. I can't quite remember what altitude it started at, but it was initiated somewhere under 200 feet. In retrospect, I should have turned right (and higher up) and aimed for the alternate landing field between the runway and taxiway, or just landed downwind. Earlier up, my approach should have been slightly different to land more safely. Many other alternate options. Anyway, I was preparing to do a PLF landing more-or-less downwind but my turn was relatively flat and slow and looked like it would complete, and I was not losing altitude as fast as I expected, so I kept turning, turning, doing the 180 to face the wind, and slightly used the opposite toggle to interrupt the turn. Learning the details of what I just did was embarassing. That was what was going on in my mind. Nontheless, I learned my lesson and I executed more traditional landing approaches on the 7th and 8th PFF's.

So that's the nutshell. Obviously, my concerns was related to affecting DZ reputation.

[mdrejhon 8]

One person emailed me about the use of the word "vidiot-in-training" (which was during the 4th PFF).

I have noticed some people and dropzones use the word to describe their video guys. One example is "Vidiots Wanted!" in the employment section of Skydive Orange CLICKY.

Apologies to any offended video professionals. I just merely assumed this word was in common use. I guess it depends on the dropzone! Many thanks to the video guy in training for filming my first PFF jump. I really appreciated the video and that is why I gave him a 25 pack of DVD-R discs for him to generously use up for his footage, even if just one or two was for me. I also offered money but he politely declined. He is also my carpool partner and I pitch in for gas!
.