sammielu

At 5'8", 130 lbs, you are tall and skinny and potentially have a very big fallrate range. Nice hard Arch with hands in front of your face to fall fast or extend those arms and legs and flatten your arch to slow down. Weight is a tool for the toolbox, but really is most useful when jumping with the same group over and over. Get some coaching on your body position and jumpsuit fit. For RW, big booties allow you to sit back onto your hips/legs and free up your arms, good for grips as well as adjusting fall rate. Think about those jumps where you can't get down to the group - are the other jumpers continuing to drop lower and lower, or is there a consisted distance between you floating above them and you need to learn to dive down to the group? Keep jumping, keep challenging yourself, keep getting feedback!

Altimeters that measure free fall speeds are very common; I wear one on every jump. For perspective, I am 160+ pounds with all my gear on, and I can easily fall 150-170mph by myself, in a stable, belly-to-earth body position (okay, 160-170 is not "easy" but I do it often to keep up with students). 150+ is not super fast in skydiving terms. It is faster than ideal for tandem skydives, where the little parachute (drogue) is used to slow things down and add stability.

Do as many belly jumps flying with others as you can - before you take students and ideally before you go for a coach rating. Buy or borrow an IRM and do the reading & test before the class so you will know the information and can use the information presented in the course to learn how to apply the information.

Remember who is in the sky with you. Bigger groups often had higher break off altitudes, and some of those fliers may be very experienced at tracking away and can cover a lot of ground. Example: break off at 6k because the group includes newer jumpers - I can cover a lot of distance in the 10-15 seconds it takes to get to pull altitude of 3k. Definitely more than the 500' normally given in the 1000' separation rule. Do you really trust everyone to avoid tracking up/down jump run? My point: there are other factors to consider when thinking about separation. Pull altitude and break off altitude, for example.

I second the suggestion to read the other thread. Also: Physical fitness and flexibility helps prevent injuries in all aspects of life and definitely helps when learning to land a parachute. Spend extra time learning to PLF, and then do a PLF when landing, even if you 'think' you can stand it up. Learn, and then explain the safety precautions for gear and emergency procedures to your wife, and then demonstrate exactly how you will land to keep your body safe. That should provide her with a decent understanding of how you will mitigate the risk in this sport. She might want to attend a first jump course for information purposes. Get her involved with your desire to jump - what fires up that passion for you? What safety considerations are you going to make as you progress by using conservative gear, consistently deploying at a conservative altitude to give yourself more time to fix/react to a malfunction, and practicing complete emergency procedures every x amount of time? I have a friend whose wife doesn't jump, but who is knowledgeable enough that she approves his canopy choices, reserve sizes, snd when its time for new or updated equipment. She comes to the dz sometimes and even to boogies and hangs out, and then they do something together that she wants to do, like going shopping or to an amusement park. It can work.

I know. But geez! If you know you're a slow-mover, start early! Especially if you wait until the green light is on to start the long journey to get your body up, open the door, stick your head out forever to see where we are, and then take even more time to get up from your knees and get your group ready to exit - so frustrating! Exactly what were you busy doing for the prior 10 minutes?? I know it sucks to sit on your knees and be ready for a whole minute or two, practice that crap on the ground and get used to it!! (excuse my rant but you KNOW what I mean!!)

FWIW, I do spot before I go. At a familliar dz, its a quick check for clouds, air traffic, and a reasonable spot according to the winds and the safety/options for landing out (dont want to be downwind on a very windy day; not a big deal in the desert surrounded by safe outs, etc). For my first jumps at a new dz, I want to identify where the airport is and jump run direction. I'm also looking out the window for this stuff on the climb to enable an efficient climb out. By the way, why does it seem like the people who take the longest to climb into position (due to flexibility or fitness levels or laziness) are the first ones to stretch out, sleep on the way to altitude, and the last to even start to get ready to exit?!!! When we get the door light you should be fully ready to get into position, no matter where in the climb to altitude you have to start getting ready to do so.

RE: Green light means Go - varies from dz to dz. I've only jumped 4 dropzones and they each have different rules for the action to take on green.

One thing we learn in skydiving is that unless there is video to document what happened, we only have our memories. Either way, examining video evidence or mentally reviewing a skydive or any element of one, it is not always clear what happened. What is important, that we can discuss and improve on is: what action did I take? What action will I take if that event happens again? Here's what we know: you had a hard time pulling. Your instructor worked it out from there and did the most important thing on every skydive: landed both of you safely. You can go over and over what happened as much as you want. What's productive and beneficial for future skydives is to learn from that experience: Handles can be hard to pull and instructors can be busy. Apply that to future skydives if you want to continue. The other thing we know: responses on an internet forum are a mixed bag. The real question is: do you want to skydive or debate what could have happened on your previous jump with a bunch of people who weren't there? Jump or do not jump, there is no try (or discuss or debate or blah blah blah)

Fitness is much more important than age. Stretch, work on hip flexibility, and spend extra time practicing your PLF so you know you can land safely.

LadyOpinion: Get measured again. Take the chest to hip measurement 10 times until you've figured out which # is correct (the manufacturer can help identify how to measure that properly for their use). Give the manufacturer extra info on your body; part of the chest measurement on your body is chest muscles that stick out forward (just like female anatomy that sticks out forward), not just a wide ribcage. Fitting to a 40" circle is way different than fitting to a 40" narrow oval, for example, even though the total 40" is the same. Take it to the manufacturer if the dealer can't/won't help. Use these pics to get their input.

Practice is a great idea and totally ok to do to your canopy; given you have proper space where people/kids/pets won't mess with it. Canopies fill with air when flown. Shaking out a canopy after you unpack it is an ok simulation, but expect it to be fluffier and harder to get the air out once you're at the dz. I recommend getting some 1:1 packing lessons. You can't ask questions to a video or have a video correct mistakes/bad habits you may be forming. Fyi: brand new canopies are hardest to pack - having a pro pack the first 5 pack jobs on a canopy is money well spent. Keep in mind that it gets a little easier every time. Especially if you bought a canopy sized on the large end for your container, getting it into rhe deployment bag is going to suck at first. Good luck, keep trying, and just remember that the time and frustration you spend learning now is time you can spend jumping when the season starts.

Tandem skydives and equipment do not equal sport equipment. IMO, you are asking valid questions that should have been asked day-of with your tandem instructor (not always possible with busy instructor schedules who may need to shuffle quickly to another student). Your limited experience with the equipment means you probably dont know how to differentiate between a main or reserve or to identify double toggles or what a hard pull actually feels like. There is information that you don't know that you don't know. If you choose to pursue skydiving, take a first jump class and focus on what you need to do to save your own life and meet other goals for each jump. After you jump, accept that your novice perception may be different than what actually happened and you should listen to your instructors if you want to learn.

^^^^yes. I can't blame her for being nervous on a 150 at 25 jumps. Adding weight to that situation??? Crazy. Is there s bigger canopy she can fly until she is comfortable? Yes, she will want weight eventually. But at 25 jumps, 2 and 3 ways are good, safe learning opportunities. If she's nervous about jumping with you, one person with a different falk rate, she's not ready for more people in formation with her. Have you thought about adding a camera jacket so you can fly at her speeds? Accommodations should be made towards the new jumper, not the other way around, IMHO.

Sometimes tiny and/or female people can bend in half and keep up. We all have to learn to fly our bodies and adjust to others fall rates. Give her a chance, see what happens. Talk a lot about safety, what you are going to do to slow down, what she can do to speed up, and have a plan if you get separated. It is possible to fly relative to others without weight. It helps to wear weight if you want to use your body for more than fall rate control. Ex: I can turn points with experienced fliers that have a big weight difference from me. I can turn double the points if we equalize using some weight. Also: her adding weight now or in the future is something to include when choosing canopies. I fly a 1:1 ratio so I am comfortable adding 10+ lbs and landing downwind or no wind or whatever. Weight is not required just like a baggy jumpsuit for you us not required. But it sure helps!

Crew is so inclusive though!!! No crew unless you have more than 1 person so they will bring up crew pups, give briefing and coaching and loan out equipment. Plus you have to have good landing skills to land a lightning ;)

IMO currency is more important than numbers. Your body has to learn, and remember, how to fly and how to fly with other people. My comment about the 30 jumps/30 minutes of freefal was meant as an analogy. If you only drove a car 30 minutes a year, how comfortable would you be? How comfortable would others be around you? That's all I'm saying.

Well your message is coming through clearly on here... :) PS. I'll jump with you. I'm all about making (and keeping) more skydivers. Cliques don't help anyone, but there is immaturity everywhere. Hit me up if you come to Snohomish (I'm there every day) or the Eloy Holiday Boogie.

30ish jumps (that's 30 minutes free fall max) a year doesn't make for fast progression at anything. I see a possibility for people who have been jumping for the same amount of years to have much more time in the air. Solution: jump with coaches and get feedback. And jump with the newbies, the super happy enthusiastic jumpers who will appreciate you putting together a dive, having it be successful, and each person coming away with s smile and skills to improve on. If you don't have the right group of people for you, make your own out of the newer jumpers.

I'm glad you're thinking it through. Add to your list of questions: What if I get kicked in the head in free fall? Its more common than you might think. Its happened to me on break off and I've dodged plenty of people coming at me fast, because I had the awareness to anticipate it, the skill to dodge it, and the luck for that to work. Can you take a kick in the head at 120+ mph and be ok to pull?

Those look a lot like the $35 bicycle helmets I use for CRW. If that's the look you want, a bike helmet may save you money. The ear warmer pockets are rad, and can hold an audible with some zip-tie or rubber band support.

Be sure to discuss this stuff with your instructors, your profile indicates you are a student. If a student came to me with a question about the safety of jumping with any injury it would fall into the "if you have to ask, the answer is no" category. Especially the neck!!! To be safe, we plan for the worst. What happens if you get kicked in the face and your neck tweaks in free fall? If your body goes numb, like in your example, how do you plan to pull?

Do some reading about Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld, I know he does specific things and jumps slow opening canopies to minimize the impact on his neck. If he can work out a way to keep jumping, so can you.

Students who pay their own way learn more. See what you can do at a dz to help pay the way: packing is a common one.

Seriously though, think about it in terms of another type of business. If I'm a bartender, I might be able to hook a buddy up at my bar when I'm working, but I can't walk into another bar and give my buddy a free drink unless I bought the drink myself.