RockSkyGirl

Skydive Arizona just changed Event Coordinators. The new one is in the process of getting the website's calendar back up and running. If what's on the printed wall calendar hasn't changed, the SIS boogie is the last weekend in January; Airspeed Bigway Camp is Valentines weekend (2/10-2/12; sign up by emailing Niklas Hemlin); the following weekend should be the MFS Money Meet. Safety Day is 3/11 and so is the next night jump. That's what I can remember off the top of my head. Airspeed also has a tunnel camp every month except April (those are all listed on their own Facebook page). If you have questions about a specific time period, feel free to shoot me a pm :-)

The earlier part of February has typically been dry. Last year even the last weekend in Feb was dry (but it rained the whole weekend the two years before that). In general February is a very jumpable month. The spring winds don't usually start kicking in until March, sometime around Safety Day. So it's a very good time to come here! There are belly and freefly load organizers every day, and there is usually some kind of special event around Valentines. Last year there was a mini-bigway (belly) skills camp over Valentines weekend, and an MFS Money Meet the weekend after that.

That would be Tenney McTenface. They were a pick-up team! They serenaded the judges at the top of their lungs on their way to the loading area; and they serenaded the Golden Knights on the plane on the ride to altitude for every jump. Talk about spirit. AWESOME.

Skydive Arizona's Holiday Boogie goes 12/24-1/1. Awesome activities every day (and night). If you're in AZ earlier, there's also a Thanksgiving boogie (Thursday-Sunday); that one has no registration fee. $21 jumps and National Champion 4-way team Arizona Airspeed organizing! Winter is always a good time to visit SDAZ in that there are load organizers for both belly and freefly every day, and there are a lot of people in town from all over so there are always interesting people to meet and jump with. On the busier weekends, they'll have the Skyvan running along with the Otter and the Caravan; and during the winter boogies they'll bring out the DC-3 (the only DC-3 jump-plane in the world). That jump at Monterey sounds fun, but keep in mind that per the SIM you need a minimum of a B license and 100 jumps to make a (non-tandem) jump from altitudes of 15k-20k MSL!

I don't know what the rental options are for you at your home dz, but there's always the option (as sucky as it feels) to just rent for awhile until you've had the chance to test out a bunch of different canopies and built your skills a bit more so that when you DO buy, you get something you'll be happy with for awhile. I rented for 10 months and more than 150 jumps before I bought my first rig, and as much as it sucked I'm still glad I did it. In that time I went from a 260 down to a 190 and if I'd bought gear right away, I would've outgrown it too quickly. I'm having exactly the same issue as you are in terms of finding used gear right now, but in the other direction. Something that will fit 135-170 canopies but built for someone fairly small. Sammielu has some fantastic advice when it comes to pursuing gear - listen to Sammielu! The suggestion to buy the container itself new and everything else used is one viable option; another one - which I used for my first rig - is to find something that has everything else you want in terms of the canopies it will hold (and don't compromise on the reserve size! Make absolutely sure the container will fit what you're looking for in terms of BOTH canopy sizes before you buy it! Joellercoaster is absolutely right!) and the features you want and then have the manufacturer resize the MLW. Infinity for example does a MLW resize for $300 (which of course doesn't cover shipping, or anything else you also end up needing done, once the manufacturer has their hands on it and can give it a thorough going-over; and I ended up putting way more than $300 into the modifications to my first rig, to bring a 13-year-old container up to date). Caveat - resizing only works to an extent. The yoke cannot be resized; and some manufacturers won't resize the laterals (the small piece which connects the MLW to the container above your hipbone). If you're one of those people who disappears when they turn sideways, it can be tough to find a used container that will have laterals short enough to keep the rig firmly against the base of your spine in freefall. As for reserve versus main sizes - some manufacturers have multiple takes on the same container in that two or three or four containers will fit the same set of mains, but will have a different size reserve tray, allowing you to go smaller or larger on the reserve based on what you're looking for. Wings is one of those (you mentioned you were looking at Wings); Infinity is another. All the manufacturers have canopy sizing charts for their rigs on their webpages (though sometimes it takes some hunting). Bookmark those pages and reference them any time someone says they're selling x model of y brand container. Just because THEY stuffed a 190 in there doesn't mean it's supposed to take a 190. There's a lot of stuff out there in the dzdotcom classifieds. Most of the time, the seller says "will fit someone x feet tall and x many lbs". What I've learned in my own search over the last few months is that no matter what the seller says, get the rig's serial number and shoot an email directly to the manufacturer asking if it'll fit you (this means you'll need to get you own measurements taken by someone knowledgeable at your dropzone so you can send those together with the rig's serial number. This is where all that advice about how to talk to your rigger comes in handy). Manufacturers keep the measurements for every rig they've ever produced and it's usually really easy for them to pull those up based on the serial number, take a quick glance at how they match up to yours, and then give you an answer. I heard back from both Mirage and Aerodyne within 24 hours after sending my queries! And I'm glad I asked - a couple of things which sounded good from the classifieds posts and looked like they could work from the pictures turned out to be no-gos. Used mains are easy to find. Used reserves (especially those less than 10 years old and are from brands which have a good reputation - talk to your rigger) are a bit tougher. Used AADs - they ARE out there, and Cypres at least has an online value calculator on their website. AADs depreciate at a fixed rate so make sure if you're buying one used that you don't get cheated. As for raffles and such - yes, if you're VERY lucky, you might score a %-off coupon from one manufacturer or another at a raffle at a big boogie at a major dropzone, but it's by no means a common thing! Take it if you win it, but don't wait around for it! Best of luck!

I've found that the anti-fog coating wears off eventually anyway, just from wiping out the inside of the visor enough times. There is an anti-fog spray you can use to reapply the anti-fog coating once it's worn off. Not as good as the original coating but it still works.

Innovative Parachute Technologies, based in Phoenix, has released the Axon and the Furai, both 9-cell canopies. The Furai is elliptical. IPT has two 7-cell and one cross-braced canopy also in development.

If you set all three alarms for the BREAKOFF altitude, you'll have your hard-deck siren screaming in your ear from breakoff until your canopy is open and flying. I learned that one the hard way... If you're going to set them all for the same altitude, choose your hard-deck altitude. As for beeping when you land - which audible do you have? With Optima2 you can turn off the low-speed alarms and the swoop corridor beeps if you want to.

Red Rock has a single C-206 Turbo which seats 5 and takes jumpers to 10,500 AGL. They are very fun-jumper friendly; manifest does a good job cycling fun jumpers amidst the tandems even on weekends. Manifest assigns seating and exit order. They are wingsuiter-friendly. I went one summer Sunday on my way back to Phoenix from Flagstaff and made 3 jumps in 3 1/2 hours. Was very pleased with the friendly, welcoming atmosphere there. Views are stunning. The mountains with Jerome are on one side and the red rocks of Sedona are on the other, and you can see a lot of the high ground of Flagstaff and beyond from the plane. Keep in mind, though, that the only nice place to land is in the peas, and that's only about 15 meters in diameter. There is only one direction safe to overshoot in, and there is a ditch between the scrubby ground there and the peas. Elsewhere you have hills, 8-foot-shrubs, fences, buildings, taxiway... If I remember right, the large windsock near the landing area also has a fence around it. There are also some crazy thermals behind the old hangar building in the afternoons when it's hot which can give you several hundred feet of unexpected lift on final if you're coming in from that direction. Landing direction is based entirely on the winds and is determined by the jumpers, not by manifest, and on the loads I was on, there was no set landing pattern, so count canopies after you open and make sure you see everyone! Red Rock has a core crew of locals, at least one of whom is mainly a wingsuiter. There is a Red Rock Skydivers group on Facebook which you can ask to be added to. There is also the large Arizona Skydivers group. If you want to turn a lot of loads and have a whole weekend, pop on down to Eloy (though even at SDAZ things shut down by 1pm in the summer due to the heat, dust devils, and later the monsoon storms; in the cooler months they'll go from an 8am first load all the way until sunset and will run 40+ loads in a day). If you're just trying to get in a couple in the morning a few days a week, Red Rock will work out well for you. SDAZ has quite a few wingsuiters (though mostly they tend to vanish during the summer) but fair warning - SDAZ ground crew has low tolerance for off-landings if you're wingsuiting! If you're mainly a wingsuiter, check out SDAZ's Wingsuit Rally event happening at the beginning of November, right after USPA Nationals. First of its kind here, in recognition of the growing popularity of wingsuiting. Pre-welcome to Arizona!

There are some beautiful trails heading up Kendrick Peak, Bill Williams Mountain, and Humphreys Peak (from Snowbowl); if you're going in August get on the trail at sunrise, since you don't want to be at high elevation during the ubiquitous afternoon thunderstorms. Flagstaff has a ton of great rock climbing, from sport to trad to bouldering; and three climbing gyms - two for bouldering only and one with top-rope and lead climbing. There is also Flagstaff Extreme, a ropes and obstacle course high in the trees that'll keep you busy for hours. Finally, it's not too long of a drive down to the Cottonwood airport and Red Rock Skydiving. They're very friendly to fun-jumpers and the view on the ride to altitude, with Sedona on one side and Jerome on the other, is beautiful.

If you're looking to build your RW skills with 2-way jumps, you can create a dive using any combination of the formations at this link from SDC RhythmXP: http://skydiving.how/files/8414/4054/3163/2way_RW_Formation_Diagrams.pdf Start out with three formations, going back to the top and repeating if you get through all three. You can also try adding in extra turns. For example, you could make a 2-way star, then you both do a 360, and come back into the star. Another resource is the 2-way draw generator on the AXIS Flight School webpage: you'll want to select USPA Collegiate to get the 2-way option http://drawgenerator.axis.tools/draw_configure.php?PHPSESSID=f66998d36cfe49d39779d0cc7389330a Other ideas: A block 7 (4-way dive pool) drill: one person takes a sidebody grip on the other, you both do a 360 and take the grip again; then switch roles. A block 9 (4-way dive pool) drill: two ways to do this. One is cat grips, turn 180, cat grips on the other person; the other is compressed grips, turn 180, compressed grips facing the other direction. A nosebreaker drill: Take turns being the base. Start faced off in a 2-way star. Then one person makes a series of turns, with the base taking the presented grips after each turn: 90 (sidebody), 180 other way (sidebody), 270 other way (cat), 540 other way (star). Then switch roles. You could also do a burble hopping drill. AXIS has a great article and video on how to do this. article: http://axisflightschool.com/pdf/media_articles_Foundations_of_Flight_12_02.pdf video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/oEVdbngDs9c For each of these dives, it's easy to get away from each other in the turns. If you keep eye contact as much as possible with your partner, watching their face instead of the grips, you'll have a much easier time maintaining proximity (same thing when you're making your turns - try to keep eye contact as long as you can as you start turning, and when you can't see your partner anymore gently turn your head to look over the other shoulder, to pick up eye contact again as you come out of the turn). Remember to maintain altitude awareness! Be creative, laugh at your mistakes, and have fun! Blue skies!

Another possible resource for equipment advice is AXIS Flight School; they do a lot of work with Operation Enduring Warrior and have come up with a lot of creative rigging solutions for disabled veterans of all types, including double amputees. http://axisflightschool.com/_oew_skydive.html

There's no weather expert quite like a skydiver (except a pilot)! I have three different weather sites and 2 different winds aloft pages bookmarked on my phone... Welcome to the sky and to SDAZ! It may be a bit breezy this weekend, too; it tends to be windy in the spring here. I'm down there most Saturdays; I'll be there this Saturday for some tunnel whether I get to jump or not, and I'll be back again on the 21st after my vacation. I did my student work at SDAZ two years ago and it's been home ever since. Let me know when you get your A - I can introduce you to the Load Organizers, and I can make some jumps with you.

Hard to believe but I rode the plane down three times as a student. Once before my first full-altitude freefall (I started with IAD and going from that to full-altitude AFF... yeah. No. Couldn't climb out); once before my Cat E; and again after my first solo - couldn't make myself do the second. Each time, I found a way through it. Did another tandem, then made that first AFF jump. Did some wind tunnel (and a couple days of thinking), then went back and made that Cat E. Made myself QUIT thinking and went back the day after the aborted solo, did 5 coach jumps and some more wind tunnel, and then finally did that second solo. And by then, I'd figured out how to let go and commit. So many times in the early days, I doubted. That moment in the door never seemed to get easier, especially if I went awhile between jump days. That gaping exit hole into the sky that just swallowed up everyone who went out before me on each pass was the Door Monster rather than a friend. I was told many times that maybe I wasn't cut out for skydiving. Maybe it wasn't for me. Sure people got scared, but not THAT scared. None of THEM had been that scared. They couldn't understand why I'd be that scared. But there were also a few people who believed in me, and backed me the whole way. And one instructor, who hadn't even yet worked with me, who took me aside after that third ride-down and told me that hey, it happens; and "here's my fear story..."; and how he knew at least one world-class skydiver who'd ridden the plane down more than once as a student. What matters isn't the fact that you're scared. What matters is why. What is it that you're really afraid of; and what do you REALLY want? It wasn't the concept of the jump itself that scared me so badly; it was what it represented - both an immense letting-go as well as the acceptance of complete responsibility for my own life. I didn't want to let go. I didn't want to make the choice. But underneath it all there was nothing that I loved more than being up there, flying my body and then flying my canopy. And when I thought about it, every time I thought about it, I knew that if I walked away from it I would forever regret it. That the world would seem less colorful and less bright without skydiving in it. That skydiving made me complete in a way that nothing else ever had. And I think, ultimately, I was just as afraid of THAT as anything else. I did finally learn how to let go, how to accept the decision that I'd made - because it was MY decision - to skydive. And when I reached that point, the exit was no longer a terrifying thing, and the door was no longer a monster; instead it became the realization of perfect freedom, every single time. I'm not saying it's right for you, or wrong for you, to go back up there. That takes some soul-searching. But being afraid - hell, being utterly terrified - doesn't necessarily mean it's not for you. You're not the only one! The sky isn't going anywhere. And if you go back because you know you NEED it, rather than just because you think you SHOULD, the moment you're actually back in the air, it'll feel like coming home. :-)

Dan B-C modified the second half of his incredible book (Above All Else) to be skydiving-specific and published it in Parachutist as a 6-part series. This is the first part: http://parachutistonline.com/feature/on-the-line-part1 Change the part number (1-6) to read each section. Fantastic stuff when it comes to 4-way, from initially building the team to training plans to working together. SDC RhythmXP also has great resources on their website. Here is the link to their Articles page: http://skydiving.how/resources/articles-links

There's another picture in this article, on sport gear. When you hover the mouse over it, it pops up as "misrouted RSL" but it's actually a 3-ring flip-through. Compare to the parachutist photo in gowlerk's link. http://www.skydivemag.com/article/gear-checks

Lots of visualization. Aside from that, rock climbing works many of the same muscles, from your core (hmm, freefly?) to your arms (think canopy), as well as the mental aspect of in-the-moment focus. Hiking will improve your cardio and your glutes (better arch) as well as strengthening your ankles and knees, which may keep you from injury on a rougher landing.

Eloy still allows CRW and CF jumps; just has to be cleared with Manifest. During boogies and otherwise busy-busy weekends, it is usually not possible to do that kind of jump because there are too many planes flying (except for the sunset load; hard to beat a sunset high pull); however during any regular week especially in the morning, it should be possible. http://www.skydiveaz.com/docs/default-source/safety-documents/opening-high-exiting-low.pdf?sfvrsn=0

I don't know about CAMPS, but AXIS Flight School at Skydive Arizona does flocking and CRW training. I've done a few flocking jumps with them. Since you have experience Nik could probably take you right into some more advanced stuff (the "More" part at the bottom of the page). Worth shooting AXIS an email if you don't find something else. http://axisflightschool.com/_coaching_canopy.html#Flocking Skydive Perris (CA) also just had a 4-day CRW boogie earlier this month; I'm sure their staff know who might be offering CRW camps.

AXIS Flight School in Eloy has draw generators for all FS, MFS, and VFS on their website. Generate an 8-way draw and then click on the pictures link and it has color-coded diagrams for every formation. http://axisflightschool.com/DrawGenerator.php

Skydive Dallas fields a LOT of teams and has a large, super-awesome sky family. I live in Arizona and jump entirely at SDAZ, but was lucky enough to fly 6 of 10 rounds as the alternate for a Dallas 4-way team at Nationals this year in Eloy. I'd just met the Dallas crew but I felt welcome and at home with them right away. There is contact info on their webpage for people interested in teams (link: http://www.skydivedallas.com/experienced-skydivers/). And on the looking for a team note: I don't think it's ever too early, and I'm in the same boat - in AZ! Most experienced flying Tail but willing to learn a new slot, 4 1/2 hours 4-way in the tunnel all with Airspeed coaches with more coming this month, and a solid 250+ belly jumps (and now competition experience). Looking for an intermediate team for 2016...

I'll have to time it the next time I jump it, and since it usually makes an appearance during the fall/winter boogie season that should be sometime fairly soon; but from the several times I've taken that ride so far it doesn't seem to take any longer than the Skyvan to climb to 13k - just a lot more comfortable of a ride!

I don't say "good luck" - I want to keep luck as small a part of a successful jump as possible! "Have FUN!" is typically what goes around the planes at my DZ along with the hand-slap-fist-bump. Might seem cliché but if you aren't having fun up there, what are you doing up there...