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MrJones

My first pitfall in Skydiving

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I'm on student status and just hit my first bad day of Skydiving--------or should I say lack of skydiving.
I got to the dropzone early on Sunday and was looking forward to knocking off a few aff levels but the winds were buzzing 15-20 . I waited and waited but no change. It was good to watch and learn as the experienced jumpers delt with the conditions, but getting bumped still sucked. I know as a newbie that this situation is bound to happen again. Just wondering what any of you thought about it and your best advice to deal with it.-------------



NUR ZUM SPASS

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It something that will happen many times in your skydiving career. Watch the experienced jumpers in their approach to land (ie. not getting too far downwind, avoiding approach over obstacles, etc..)
Depending on the situation of the DZ setup many people will sit down when the winds get high. I recently was in Yuma with the golden knights and we stopped jumping with 18mph winds b/c the turbulance that is caused by the mountains. The average jump numbers on the load.. 7000+, 8500, 7000, 8000, 4000, 3700..... pretty experienced jumpers. Be patient, it's not all that bad to stay down and jump tomorrow.

However just because the wind is high doesn't mean it's dangerous; gusts, rotors off of trees, etc are what get you hurt.
______________________________________________
- Does this small canopy make my balls look big? - J. Hayes -

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It's better to be on the ground wishing you were up in the air than to be up in the air wishing you were on the ground. ;)



A phrase that just can not be fully appreciated until you've lived it. :S

-
Jim
"Like" - The modern day comma
Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

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Patience patience patience... Everybody who is experienced now was right where you where Sunday. Just know that if you stick with it you will not even remember the frustration involved with beggining.

And yes... Tis better to be on the ground wishing you where up there than (what they said :)

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Hey, I ran into this situation a little while back. Such days are great to try and sucker someone into going over some of the ground stuff on your A-license progression card with you. Or cough up a little dough and have a packing class...

Never go to a DZ strip show.

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Take advantage of this time to learn to pack. Observe and evaluate wind conditions and it's effects. Get some of the experienced jumpers to share some stories. It's these days that you can learn the most. Oh. And of course these are good days for coloring/designing your dream gear too!B|:$:)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peace and Blue Skies!
Bonnie ==>Gravity Gear!

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I presume you used the day to learn to pack. :)



No, we were really hoping for the winds to die down so I was kinda on notice waiting for a load. They never did die down but I did get a number of things for my A signed off... Hindsight is 20/20, I'm gonna learn to pack next time this happens.

Never go to a DZ strip show.

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I'm on student status and just hit my first bad day of Skydiving--------or should I say lack of skydiving.
I got to the dropzone early on Sunday and was looking forward to knocking off a few aff levels but the winds were buzzing 15-20 . I waited and waited but no change. It was good to watch and learn as the experienced jumpers delt with the conditions, but getting bumped still sucked. I know as a newbie that this situation is bound to happen again. Just wondering what any of you thought about it and your best advice to deal with it.-------------




I also waited about 4 loads last Saturday. But I rather be walking around watching the experianced guys than sitting in my bed with some broken bones not being able to make it to the DZ at all :)

GL on completing your AFF!

Clint S.
http://sexygirlabs.com/url]

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I'm on student status and just hit my first bad day of Skydiving--------or should I say lack of skydiving.
I got to the dropzone early on Sunday and was looking forward to knocking off a few aff levels but the winds were buzzing 15-20 . I waited and waited but no change. It was good to watch and learn as the experienced jumpers delt with the conditions, but getting bumped still sucked. I know as a newbie that this situation is bound to happen again. Just wondering what any of you thought about it and your best advice to deal with it.-------------



I had those days as a student and I broke my ankle just after getting off student status, jumping in high winds. Now about two months later, I am able to walk almost normally. 1-2 months before I can jump again.

The next time you feel too eager to make a jump think about this.


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Get used to it. I got my "D License" in Hanger time before I got my "A License" in skydiving.

Ron (A guy how took himself off a load this past weekend due to winds he was not comfortable with)
"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

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I'd accept it as what it is - smart.

Skydiving is dangerous enough as it is - why add more risk? I'm still a newbie (83 jumps), so I have no real experience to tell me "they're too conservative wrt the winds right now". Better safe than sorry, anyhow.

Santa Von GrossenArsch
I only come in one flavour
ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

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For a long time you will find different circumstances stopping you from jumping. If it isn't the wind it may be lack of suitable rental gear, if it isn't rental gear it may be lack of coaches, if not coaches then maybe there'll be too many tandems. Seriously though once you have your licence and access to gear you will find yourself doing a lot more jumping.

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I'm on student status and just hit my first bad day of Skydiving--------or should I say lack of skydiving.
I got to the dropzone early on Sunday and was looking forward to knocking off a few aff levels but the winds were buzzing 15-20 . I waited and waited but no change. It was good to watch and learn as the experienced jumpers delt with the conditions, but getting bumped still sucked. I know as a newbie that this situation is bound to happen again. Just wondering what any of you thought about it and your best advice to deal with it.-------------



I'm not long past student status myself. I was told not to jump (read: grounded) a few weeks ago by a guy I know and trust implicitly -- J.C. Perren, master rigger, instructor examiner, etc. He told me to look at the winds and watch a few loads. Sure enough, the more I stood near the wind sock and thought about it (and watched the wind sock dance back and forth, up and down) the more I realized Shit, I don't want to jump in this! I had driven an hour each way to simply watch other skydivers jump... but you know what? Maybe if I'd pushed the issue and jumped, myself, I coulda been killed in an accident. I don't know that I wouldn't. I found that I can handle getting bumped if I think about the fact that "better days are comin'." There will be more days, with better conditions, and that's when you'll jump.

It's very easy to want so badly to jump that you will disregard the small voice inside you that says you should not. It's a blessing to have experienced people around you who can prohibit you from taking a chance that could take your life. I have NEVER resented any of the experienced instructors who said I was not to get on a load because of winds. I smile inside because I know they care enough to give me bad news, even when they'd rather give me good news.

---Jeffrey

P.S. That said, I made a pretty stupid "fly/no-fly" decision on 17 Dec., on the centennial of the Wright Brothers' first powered flight. I HAD to get up and fly that day, so I did. The winds were NASTY rippin' from the northwest, anywhere from 15-25, and gusting to 45, I was told. I took a friend from Lantana to Pahokee, FL, a half-hour trip. Taxiing was a bitch! I was actually WORRIED that the winds might really take the plane and ground-loop a wing. I spent the whole flight wondering how it was gonna be to land. We got to Pahokee, I overflew and checked the wind tee, and it was well off the runway alignment, and the sock could not be seen from my altitude. I chanced it. I landed and the plane wanted to skip off the right side of the runway. I'm pretty sure I was at or beyond the crosswind component for that little bitty Cessna 152. I taxied with the wind behind me and parked on the ramp. The people in the FBO could barely believe I'd flown in this; they were the ones who told me about the 45mph gusts. I was relieved when the plane was still right-side-up when I went to leave Pahokee.

When I started her up, and tried to turn around with the wind coming from my left rear quarter, I very nearly could not turn the plane to the right! The vertical stabilizer was catching wind from the left rear and trying to turn me left (into the Super Otter!). I had to roll forward very gradually and get some momentum so I could get the nosewheel turned, and then it was a fight between the nosewheel on the ground and the stabilizer in the wind. Eventually the nosewheel barely won. I was incredibly relieved after takeoff. Landing back at Lantana wasn't as bad, since the wind was not far to the right off 27.

I am proud that I flew and landed without incident, but I sure was taught a lesson on bravado, hubris, whatever you want to call it. Just lucky that the lesson was learned so cheaply. Coulda cost me lots.

So hang in there on the days when high-timers can jump and you can't. Eventually you'll be one of them, looking back on those olden-days when you had few jumps, and there'll be new students around you and you'll be telling them it's better to wait.
-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

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Just wondering what any of you thought about it and your best advice to deal with it.-------------



It happens, and I agree with all the above, best to sit it out. Besides packing, one thing I did during weathered out days.....study incident reports. Find out what hurts/kills people in this sport. Learn the lessons. Ask questions. I printed out all the incident reports for the past however many years and went over each and every one of them. When I had questions I asked my instructor. When I thought I knew how to avoid a particular incident, I ran my solution by the instructor. Tough lessons to learn the hard way, much easier on the ground with an instructor.

Blues.
Nathan
Blues,
Nathan

If you wait 'til the last minute, it'll only take a minute.

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These are the days that you sit and realize it's not your day to jump. I sat at the DZ last Sunday and watched the winds dance around. When the second load went up the winds were 10mph, when they came down they gusted up to 26mph. I thought about manifesting for that load but figured I had plenty of time to jump. One of my friends broke her ankle landing from that load. After watching that, I stayed grounded even when the winds dropped to jumpable because I felt they were still unpredictable. I would have loved to jump, but I listened to my 'little voice' instead. I rather be able to jump for many tomorrows then for one today. It's frustrating yes, but it's for your best.

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Well, to begin with, get used to it. It'll be happening a lot. Infact there will be times when you'll be required to determine for yourself if you should sit out or go. Sometimes when you haven't jumped for a while and are etching to get up but the wind is just bodering your comfort level, it can be a tough decision. So use this time to learn how to mentally surrender yourself to weather. It might save your bones and may be even your life someday. You can ofcourse use this time to learn some packing. You can talk to the instructors and riggers more about the gear. Evetually you'll be looking for one. It helps to know what you are looking for. You'll alaways manage to find a copy of The "Parachutist" or "Skydiving", good time to look at it. You can use the time to feel great about all the money the weather saved you. Atleast for now. Eventually you'll get quite broke ;), Make friends around. If you have a girl friend who needs your attention, this is the time. You don't want to be caught on the ground not Skydiving on a nice sunny day with no winds. Nothing feels worse than that.

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