It was my first 5 sec delay with a substitute instructor.Still being pretty C.S. about looking down, I didn't watch how he spotted me (not that I would have been able to tell). On his go I climbed out to the struty of the C182, got a stable hang and released. Felt like a good arch, count went well, pull was good and the canopy was kinda funny looking...oh, that's a line twist! OK so I kickede it out, got rid of the closed end cells and looked for the target. TARGET? WHERE'S THE DAMNED AIRPORT!!! I did a 180 and there it was about a half mile NE. Hows the wind?...Hmmm not good, from the east. I turned east and started looking for alternative sites, but did get to the airport boundary. At 2000' still 1200' downwind of the target I turned into the wind and checked my options as I was not going to get to anywhere near the target. To the right was a freshly irrigated cornfield, to the left the active runway, and ahead patches of blackberries. The mud looked deep and messy, the runway very hard and the berry patches prickly. By the time I cogitated all this the options has reduced themselves. I was going into the berries. Then I saw it...a thirty foot clearing. In I went and made my very first ever PERFECT stand in place landing...not even dropping the canopy into the berry vines. Getting out of there is another story. Anyway, the instructor noted "Bad Spot" in my logbook.
