Very educational weekend! Jumped 12 times (23jump -> 35jump)

[mdrejhon 8]

This was the best weekend ever!

Before this weekend, I was at 23 jumps. I am now at 35 jumps.

Lots of firsts (yes, beer beer beer). First 2-ways, first linked exits, first downsize (Sabre 190 @ 1:1), first consistent series of accurate landings (student-league "somewhere in the bowl" anyway), 25-jump milestone...

I can go on and on about some of the successes, but then I'll be called a 100 jump wonder...err...35 jump wonder. So let's not go there. Gimme slack for being an excited relative newbie wanting to post about his experience.... And definitely, there's always mistakes to learn from. A bunch of little mistakes though, I screwed up a lot of my bellyflying. 7 of my jumps were 2-ways (with 5 of them being contact) I'm still flopping around like a flounder sometimes, too slow faller, trying to adjust fallrate, had to dive a few times to catch up, need to pratice a harder arch....I had 4 different 2-way volunteers on 7 separate jumps. (I was only able to do solos during the last weekend which was a boogie and everyone was busy. Developed a few minor bad habits I think.) Some of the 2-way jumps went reasonably well where I did get two 7-point 2-ways in (not the most graceful, but it was very educational!)

Finally off a student canopy now. Lots of fun flying the Sabre. Lots to learn though, pulled high to test it out and pratice with it. A couple of accidental early flares (1 or 2 feet too high) on the new canopy but fortunately softer landings than my former student Manta 288 (Note: I did an intermediate-step 230 downsize to verify how I flew). That's a near textbook-exact 1:1 wingload now as weighed on the scale fully geared-up, which is probably just about right for the next 100-200 jumps for me, as I REALLY want to get to know my first non-student canopy now... and buy a rig the same size as this one, perhaps identical canopy.

Finally my accuracy is getting much better, probably now resembling a beginning novice now rather than a total student... The farmers must breathe a sigh of relief now I'm not hitting farmland anymore (the farmland adjacent to the landing zone, just a hundred metres away).... landed in the bowl four times, landed close, never landed further than 50m in my worst accuracy of the 12. I'm apparently getting close to meeting the CSPA B requirement already of 15 jumps within 15m.... I'll blame the excellent weather and predictable winds for that. I didn't do it, the weather helped me more than I did. One thing though, I can't get my A until I buy my own rig since this dropzone has a policy of pack-training not on rental rigs, for the packing requirement of CSPA "A" (but....This is well MORE than made up by the free volunteer 2-way coaching by appropriate qualified jumpers, I'm getting though, an advantage of a nice cosy Canadian dropzone like this one).

Anyway, I'm glad to be finally off a student canopy. I hope I stay on the same canopy for about 1-2 years (over 100-200 jumps)... I want to get REALLY familiar with the canopy now for the next hundred-plus jumps. Not to worry, I'm sticking to straight-in approaches though during the final leg... with some tiny S-turns, only as needed to get myself aimed to the bowl... The dropzone made sure of that. Strangely, I find my landings are better on the Sabre's than the Manta's, and usually much gentler on my feet whenever I flare well, I guess that's because the Sabre planes out much better than a Manta during a plain identical straight-in approach at my wingload. It has a LOT more lift than a Manta in identical straight-in approach! Imagine my pleasant surprise when I flew about 10+ feet further forward in 2 more seconds of flat flight at near grasstop level than expected and landed soft on my first Sabre landing, ground sure took its time reaching me in comparision. (Clearly, it flies faster than the student canopy and I'd hurt myself more if I forgot to flare...but thankfully that's never a habit I developed!) But I've still got lots to learn about flying it, obviously (as I read). I ought to get Brian Germain or Scott Miller course sometime...! I really got LOTS to learn. Regardless, I'm sticking to the conservative approaches I've been doing over the last long while. (I cancelled attempting to land in the bowl twice, one of them because of an unusually long glide from a bad spot. I was more concerned about landing safely...I was warned against target fixation. Still, for a change, it was really easy to land within 50 meters thanks to predictable mild/moderate winds.) I envy the accuracy jumpers that can land within centimeters, but at least the farmers must finally love me now for staying off the adjacent farmland!

Now I know what everyone is saying about the original Sabre having harder openings... Tolerable yet uncomfortable, but not painful. Not my favourite part of the canopy but I LOVE it regardless....fun to fly and land. It's probably nearly identical to the rig I'll probably be buying in late July, once I find a suitable one in my price range... Hopefully Sabre2 though.

Cannot get overconfident, cannot get overconfident... (especially with a little scary turbulence for a little bit at 750 feet on one of my jumps. AAAAGH! I hate turbulence! And the door monster still attacks me sometimes...!)

So this has been a REALLY educational weekend... and the most fun one I've ever had skydiving!

[Jeth 0]

Congrats on your great weekend!!
It was nice reading about your great weekend. I hope you have many more.

"At 13,000 feet nothing else matters."
PFRX!!!!!
Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109
My Jump Site

[mdrejhon 8]

Thanks! I wish you luck!

I was on an AFF-type program, so I did a bunch of solos after this. Most of my jumps between jump 13 and 24 were solos, but now I'm making it a point to do a lot more RW jumps.