Jeth

I've only jumped solo ONCE! Jumped solo & pulled high on my pack job for my A, and have never jumped solo since!

One of my instructors gave me this advice when I got my A - he recommends mixing it up a bit - jump with people who are much better than you so you can have some successful skydives, and see how it should be done. Also, jump with people who are at or near your level, so you realize how much your instructors and the people who are much better than you are compensating for your lack of experience, so you really know what to work on. I find I'm most likely to have fall rate matching issues when I'm jumping with other newbies. I'm not arrogant enough to think it's (entirely) their fault - I realize it's because the more experienced folks are much better at compensating for my fast fall rate and I need to continue to work to get better at slowing my fall rate. Yep, same here. I quickly learned how awesome my instructors were when I started jumping with other rookies! But I think it is good to jump with them so I have to work harder to fix my problems. (But then if I want to actually have a chance at completing the dive, I'll definitely jump with someone A LOT more experienced than me! ) "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Well then I think you need to jump with me! Of course, I will probably screw up whatever it is we're trying to do, but I'll have fun trying! I actually feel very fortunate to be at SDC where many, many experienced and downright AWESOME skydivers offer to jump with newbies every day. I was doing 2-ways and 3-ways right after I graduated!

Congrats!

I hate my job. I am totally bored with the work and the clients are pissing me off. But I voted for 3 cuz at least I'm still working in the industry and I make pretty good money (it pays for skydiving!) But I hope to find a new and better job in 2005. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Don't feel too bad, I had lots of repeats.

Ah! So they put them on the Trib web page! Oh well, they were also available on pressdisplay.com, the entire paper is. Thanks, craichead, for posting them, though.

Don't worry about it too much. I didn't stand one up till jump #17. I tried on earlier jumps and ended up twisting my ankle pretty good. You will learn to feel the flare more and then you'll know when to do it. I think most students flare too high (I did). What helped me was to hear on the radio "not yet!" over and over till it was time. I would look out (not straight down!) at the ground and try to remember what it looked like when it was the correct time. After I got off radio, I would say that to myself when I felt the urge to pull down and I knew I was too high. Good luck. I'm sure you'll get it eventually.

Does anybody have the whole article? I missed it but would like to read it. Thanks! Edit to add that I found it online at pressdisplay.com. Not a bad article. Honest, but fair. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Wow, me too!! Realizing I could go unstable and get back to my belly okay was such a breakthrough for me, too. Not to mention starting with this jump was when all the "fun stuff" started (flips, rolls, tracks). I was so much more relaxed for these jumps I was just cranking them out! "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Hi there, I'm just a rookie myself, so I can't really offer advice. But I just wanted to let you know I totally sympathize with you. And from my meager experience, I would agree with the people saying you are WAY over-analyzing everything. For me, I made 200% improvement in everything -- body position, awareness, remembering dive sequence -- when I just relaxed. I know its sounds too simple, but it really was that way for me.

This is a great answer!

Woo-hoo!! Me and Mike ROCK!! Don't worry, Doug, if you keep practicing one day you can be as cool as us. (Of course, mine was a total one-time fluke. ) Way to go, Mike! Wasn't that fun!

LOL, I second this! Dude, you must really like green, eh? I would maybe choose a more appealing shade of green for that main color. That one is pretty bad! (If for nothing else than resale value.) "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Yep, same here. I set up for every landing with my feet and knees together. Then I usually end up sliding/rolling onto my hip or back and sliding the landing (But I can PLF it if I have to). Sometimes if I don't have much forward speed I will touch down feet first and then fall back onto my butt (softly). I stood up a few landings on the student ZP canopy, but since I got my F-111, I haven't been able to. But I am not going to risk my ankles to do it, I'm hoping I will just "feel it", like I did on the ZP. I definitely don't get the lift from the flare like I used to, and I still have some forward speed which I'm tentative about trying to run out. But I hope soon I can get a few on it. It is nice to know that there are many other people landing on their butts, too!

I was there at SDC, but not by the pond when it happened. But according to someone who was -- The guy was there to canoe. But I was told he was swimming with friends when he suddenly went under. His friends called manifest and Donovan and others came out. They resuscitated him and he was alive when the ambulance left. (But people were worried about his condition because he'd been down for awhile.) Just tragic. Such a young person. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

I was just thinking about this this weekend. Being a newly minted A-license holder, I am constantly learning. One of my many challenges is figuring out my pattern and landing safely. I do a plan in my head beforehand, and if I get a decent spot that usually works. But if I am far out, or if the winds shift, then my pattern is useless. My coaches told me that landing is a dynamic thing, and I have to always be evaluating the situation and making decisions. One of the big things they told me was to watch the more experienced jumpers below me who are landing. See which way they're going and go the same way. So I've been trying to do that. The thing is, most of them swoop and its just like Billvon said! I was watching them land yesterday and I thought they were all landings the complete opposite direction than we'd discussed. I was getting worried because I was headed the other way. But then at the last second they hooked it and landed south. (There was no wind, so it could've gone any way, but the load had agreed on a south landing pattern.) I see so many of the experienced jumpers land and they hardly ever do a pattern. They come diving out of the sky and swoop, or they are going one way and do a 180 very low and then land the other way. So it really doesn't help us rookies to try to copy their landings! Not to mention it makes me totally paranoid to set up my pattern over the HP area. When the winds are out of the north, my pattern should come over that area. But I see some people diving from pretty high and I don't want to be anywhere near that when I'm under 1000. So then I end up landing really far away or too close to the runway. Yesterday as I was up at 2500 I also saw 2 people landing completely opposite of each other (towards each other). They looked pretty close, too! I guess its just hard to fit into the pattern when the pattern is hard to see sometimes. And there are definitely too many canopy collisions between swoopers. I think it would definitely be safer to not have that stuff going on in the pattern. "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Thanks for the Smirnoff. My pleasure. Thanks for the jello shots.

So did I see ya yesterday? You were supposed to introduce yourself! "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

you should be able to get enough jumps for your A too. so you better get a keg BTW, I paid my beer debts this weekend, so whoever wasn't there missed out on some free hieni's and Corona's! "At 13,000 feet nothing else matters." PFRX!!!!! Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109 My Jump Site

Congrats, dude!

No money for that. But I read a lot of reviews of this canopy, and all those people said it was a great beginner canopy. I like the way it flies. Theres gotta be something I can do to it to slow down the openings, I'll figure it out eventually.

Glad you had fun! Me, too.

Congrats on an awesome day!

1:7:0 Had some good jumps this weekend. 5 jumps for the rookie scrambles on Saturday. That doesn't work very well to keep switching teammates. But it was cool to jump with Rook. Sunday took it easy and did 2 jumps. Finally got to jump with my buddies!!