corpkid

Thanks all. Just to make it clear, I wasn't giving anyone a hard time. Just mentioned it (the girl who packed my rig is a friend from the wind tunnel). No hard feelings and she suggested some ways to adjust the straps for a more comfortable opening. Just did level 3 today and while still sore, the opening was much more "soft" and I was flying on my own when I pulled. Had a really fun and enjoyable ride down from 5k. I'm looking forward to packing my own chute and have been watching people pack during all my downtime at the DZ (there was a nasty incident in the student landing zone in Deland today that kept me grounded for a few hours. Spent all my time in the packing hanger watching. Level 4 and (hopefully) 5 tomorrow! :)

Exactly my thought when I read the thread title: it's his first jump, what's his point of reference? If the insides of his thighs aren't lovely shades of purple, it isn't a hard opening. In my case, on my 2nd AFF jump (yesterday) I had a nasty hard opening in DeLand (of all places) under a 280 student rig. First pull was butter smooth and very enjoyable. Second one had me seeing stars for a few seconds. I was actually worried I snapped a line or something. Landed it fine (in much pain) but both my inner thighs are bruised like hell and hurt pretty bad today. I had great body position (2 instructors holding me plus they said it was "a picture perfect dive" so that kinda pissed me off. Told the packers and they kinda shrugged it off. Tomorrow I'm going to show them these wonderfully painful welts/bruises that have developed. :) Anything I can like wrap around my leg where the leg straps are to add a little padding as I'm NOT looking forward to my next pull given those very sore bruises .

I mentioned it to the packers and they seemed surprised but noted it. I also told my instructors and they said basically "it happens sometimes". Didn't look too bad after the jump (but hurt)... Then I got home and it was all nasty black/swollen and REALLY sore. I know my body position was good (they were holding on to me + they told me it was a perfect jump). Either way, took today off to let this heal up a bit and will do some tunnel tonight w/ my coach before resuming tomorrow. Now where's those epsom salts?

First jump went great and had a nice soft opening under a 280 student rig. Great comfortable ride down. Second jump, not so much. I yanked the pilot out and about 2 seconds later it felt like my legs were going to be severed. Hurt like hell and left a really nasty looking bruise on each side of my inner thighs. I'm just wondering, being a new diver how often does this happen and is there anything I can do to avoid it? I had really good body position and heading so I don't think it was anything I did? Hurt bad enough for me to ask here how to avoid it and I'm jumping tomorrow and am NOT looking forward to putting the rig on given how my crotch feels. LOL Thanks....

Thanks - good advice! Those stock helmets are SO uncomfortable and squeeze my head. Plus, goggles are just a pain. I have a ring on my forehead for 20 mins after taking them off. LOL Makes for great pics. :)

I will start by saying I hate goggles over my glasses. They fog when not in the air, etc. Especially in the tunnel when I'm sweating like a pig in the chamber waiting for next go 'round. I've been really looking at the cookie g3 as I would not have to wear goggles, and hear it doesn't fog. Ski goggles are a nightmare for me by the way, even with cat crap all over them. I run hot. LOL Is there any DIS-advantage to wearing a full face if you wear glasses, etc? Just looking for feedback. Thanks! d

Awesome - sounds like we'll have fun no matter what. We are actually staying at a bunkhouse now very close the DZ. I'll have my car. The reason we are staying up there as being in our AFF, we want to get out super early every day before wind/bad weather. The drive can be 1 to 1 1/2 hours if there's traffic, which I-4 is notorious for. We will be going back and forth a few days over our 2 week "adventure."

He'll be here in 10 days. Can't wait. All set with the bunkhouse, and training with Chromy and Trevor down here in Deland. Should be a blast. :)

Thanks ChrisD! We are going to bunk up at the comfort inn which seems to be about 5 mins from the DZ (and has free i'net and hot breakfast). I agree with your statement re: not rushing it but we both have a lot of tunnel time, and rarely get to see each other (best buds since 5th grade (we are in our mid-30's) and 1500 miles apart) so we really do want to have fun AND knock this out so we can do some fun jumps together at Eloy next summer. It's kind of our MO (we seem to be lockstep in all of our successes like work, etc). We both work in high pressure high level IT roles, and project/schedules/etc plans are par for the course (as is high pressure!). We see this as "fun". My buddy was on his back in the tunnel the second he heard I had started back fly. That's us. LOL Finally no, I don't own an RV but we though we might rent one, but we have no idea how to manage one so we bailed on that idea (though I keep insisting it would be more fun) and went with the hotel thing. It's pretty cheap at $80/night. We are looking forward to meeting the community and just, well, having fun while progressing. Thank you so much for your advice. :)

Going to be up there for 12 days working through AFF and hopefully getting close to Class A with my buddy. We were wondering a few things. 1) Is there anything to do at night on the DZ proper (or near by)? Bonfire, etc.? 2) Where should we stay? I called and they don't have RV hookups so that's out. We could do a bunkhouse thing. We just want to be really close to the DZ as we plan to be on the first plane up in the morning every day (our goal is get the req'd jumps for a class A license in 2 weeks). I will have a car. 3) Are there places to eat nearby? It's been a LONG time since I've been to Deland and can't remember the area very well. Thanks Dominic

Agree for AFF - I'm speaking tunnel speak.. Anyways Is your name also Dominic?

I put the kibosh on the trip. Just doesn't make sense economically especially since we are doing AFF together in DeLand on Dec 3. Thanks all. Think I'll do another 15 in a few weeks on my belly to get ready for the plunge. :)

I live in Orlando and have only flown the much older style "suck air up and out" tunnel here. My coaches have all said the new recirculating ones are where it's at. My buddy lives in Mass and wants to head up to the NH tunnel (which is a newer tunnel) and split some coaching time. Would it be worth the flight up or is the difference minimal? The tunnel in Orlando is like 10 mins away from home and work so I'm spoiled. :) Thanks! PS - I'm working on back fly and belly formations.

I spent hours honing my belly flights in the tunnel. Like 4 or 5 and have used various coaches (including Ari) and they helped me so much. I really understand how it all "comes together now." I would say to keep it interesting every now and again try walking around the tunnel to get used to that (it will help you SO MUCH when you start to progress to back/sit/daffy flying) and try some different entrances. Also, playing "tag" in there with your coach is pretty fun and will FORCE you to develop all those secondary skills that you don't even realize you need. Once I seemed to get pretty solid on my belly (I'd say competent - by no means an expert) I am now learning to back fly. It's like starting all over again so you do want to get REALLY good on your belly! No shortcuts. :)

That's an excellent idea. I'm wearing a huge suit now (I think they thought I wouldn't be able to get down on my back and then up again easily, which after a few tries was actually pretty easy). I'll try and squeeze into something more "form fitting" and see how that goes next week. Thanks for all your help!

Thanks. I think the arching of my back blades is exactly what is doing it (that "reverse lat press" really does pinch them. I'm at the point now where if I don't put my arms back I can hang out in one spot for a minute or so before I start to turn or slide, which everyone is telling me is really good for only my 2nd time doing it. Of course as soon as I start moving or turning I panic and go back into my little ball on the net to stop it. :) Which is why being very high up is not really a great thing because I've already had one 10 foot fall onto my back and the subsequent super bounce. Not fun. Legs are fine from looking at the videos. It's the tits to Jesus thing that I think is causing my rapid rise. Oh, and they typically set it to about 135 mph when I'm on my back (it's one of those older tunnels where the air is sucked up from outside (Orlando Tunnel). I was doing about 120 on my belly and that felt really comfortable. Thanks again and back at it for another 15 next week!!!

In my second session of backflying in the tunnel and it's going pretty well. I can enter and exit without any problems, and am fairly stable on my back. The only problem is I can't seem to get my arms in the 45 degree angle near my head. Every time I do that and really "press" the forearms on the wind I go rocketing up (which in turn freaks me out). I'd prefer to stay about 3-4 feet off the net until I'm more confident. Is there some way to get the proper form and not go rocketing upwards so quickly? Right now my arms are almost pointing up and out a little and that keeps me where I want to be but coach is saying this is a no-no. Either way, it's a lot of fun and it's true, it's like learning to fly all over again (after getting really good on my belly).

LOL - you guys (and gals) are a trip. NO it was mogul run. Didn't even realize till a few months later. Either way it is better (thank you epidural steroids - not fun under the BIG SCARY needle stuff BTW). Just did some barrel rolls and back stuff in the tunnel and stoked for the next 30 next week to do some back "alignment" I'm all over the place and I've seen more of my coach's crotch than I want to (great guy though). I hear we will be pulling at 5k. So either way - that f'n chute is coming out before the hard deck. Thanks all! Buddy made me reschedule AFF till DEC1 (work). That's cool because now I can practice, practice and then ummm practice. The goal = don't die and pass, in that order. Fair enough? LOL

3.5k solid. That fucking thing is coming out come hell or highwater. :)

Noted. I fu'd my back and have an L5 Herination . Getting epidural steroid shots = HUGE relief. The procedure sucks balls however. AGAIN here we go!!! LOL

Thanks all. That was the one fear I had was landing. I am not afraid of jumping and pulling. I am pretty sure I have that. It's landing. But, under that mega canopy it should be pretty easy as you all say. I guess I was just second guessing this. And fairly so - I've practiced in the tunnel for hours, but this - you can't really practice in a tunnel. :) Here we GO!!!! Thanks!

Thanks all. Here's last week's HOUR (split) in the tunnel. Until I get student, they really don't want me on my back, though I've been begging to back fly.... Patience!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qus1ckggs58

My best bud will be here in 2 weeks and we are basically going to plow through AFF and hopefully get to A license in two weeks of intensive effort. We'll be bunking in Deland some nights. He just got out of his first tunnel experience in NH (an hour, over two days, with an awesome coach) and he's a natural from the videos I saw.... I've got like 5 hours with the pros like Ari, etc here in the Orlando tunnel. We have both also done a tandem together in Deland some time back. We are just stoked for this. Everyone laughs when I say this, but is it normal to be worried about canopy skills? That's the missing part. I'm sure I have freefall, etc down as I'm super stable and doing all kinds of nice turns, grips, etc. It's the last 100 feet that will kill ya!

My buddy just signed up for some time at the NH tunnel. Working off the tense. LOL. We are not looking to be superstars - just jump together at some point and wave hi to each other.... for now. :)

BEST...DAD...EVER!