schmoli

Take this with a grain of salt, as I'm still a student (Just got my A license a few weeks ago, 39 jumps into the sport). If the belly flying isn't fun enough for you (it should be, although I do much less solo stuff now and would prefer to work on my RW skills with a coach or a friend), pull high or buy hop & pop tickets and work on your canopy control. My solo dive profiles right now (and exactly what I was doing at jump 23): Try different exits and quick returns to stability (front loops out of a plane are super fun), do some turn practice, get myself perpendicular to jump run, maybe a little light horizontal tracking, maybe some loops or spins or trying new rolls (I learned I can barrel roll with only arm input OR leg input, that's fun to work on), get steady, pull (often high -- always coordinate with your load), and then do a ton of canopy work. Harness turns, braked turns, whatever! God I could do that 10 times a day and not get bored... add in a coach jump when/if you find the right person and you'll be licensed in no time and having a ton of fun. ...or just go ride a bike, those are fun too.

Two months ago I did a tandem at another DZ on a whim. Immediately hooked, I went to the internet (Reddit) looking for more information on training options and locations. An AFF instructor contacted me personally introducing himself (Brian) and telling me all about Ricks operation. The staff is great, friendly and helpful. The landing area is ample for learning and extremely forgiving. The view is spectacular, the camping is great. Go there. Having done 25 of my 26 skydives there I currently don't have much to compare them to. But I plan on continuing my skydiving education and career at Jet City Skydiving.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone on the forum that has helped me and a special thank you to Jet City Skydiving and my great instructors! On Monday (which was also my birthday), I was blessed with the ability of earning my A-license and immediately being able to be a part of a 6-way formation for jump #26 (well, it was definitely a 5-way that sort of fell apart as I opened up for #6, but super fun regardless!).

I think she's saying, take the time to do the AFF course in the first state you stop in with good weather, then you can be fun jumping through the rest of the states (wow, I'm jealous of that idea already, one more jump till solo status for me!).

Awesome, thanks everyone! Yeah I'm super excited to get some more jumps in this weekend, freefall turns are next! Also I'm committed to standing up a landing this weekend, so far the closest I've had is taking a single knee.

Is it normal when learning to go over landing patterns before I sleep? I haven't jumped since sunday but every night I'm picturing my DZ and how I can get closer to that darn X in the field. Is it Saturday yet?!?!?!

I don't know about this month, but I'm definitely going to be jumping every weekend I can, and in two weeks they will open up Mon-Tue and Friday and I'll get some after-work jumps in as it's only 30 minutes away. They were just a single 182 but just got a 206 for the summer so they have extra capacity. Jumps have been slow going because of the tandems and my need for two instructors, but now that I'm going single instructor for the next 4 jumps that should speed up. I hope to get 4 in this weekend! Thanks for the welcome everyone!

Ha thanks that was just a VLC snap from the video on my reserve side coach's helmet, so I also have the whole video to learn from. I think I'm going to try to get tunnel time soon as I want to improve my leg awareness and I'm dipping my head when I pull and losing a little stability, but with only ~4 minutes of freefall experience so far I understand it'll get better. Is it bad I can't think of much else than when I can get to the DZ next?

Hello! I did my first tandem a few weeks ago and was immediately hooked, I started AFF @ Jet City Skydiving on Whidbey Island this weekend, and I gotta say, I love the sport, I love the community I've met so far, and I love the DZ already! Weather was beautiful and it's a small DZ so I did my A B and C (1,2,3 I suppose they are called too) jumps this weekend and can't wait to continue on! I think I'm going to go get some wind tunnel time in too, just to get more comfortable with freefall. I'm loving my time under the canopy too, it's such a wonderful feeling. Also had to do a PLF on my A jump as I flared a little early and fast, glad I practiced that as it was from pretty high up, but other than a little soreness in my hips I feel fantastic!