mdrejhon

Could have easily been this too BBC.CO.UK: Birth of an Otter http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38671000/jpg/_38671013_wean.jpg Seriously, the flying Otter's are fun to jump from!

Thanks! I wish you luck! I was on an AFF-type program, so I did a bunch of solos after this. Most of my jumps between jump 13 and 24 were solos, but now I'm making it a point to do a lot more RW jumps.

A warning from another newbie.... While waiting to begin.... Go to the gym, or rollerblade, or cycle, or jog, or whatever.... GET YOURSELF INTO SHAPE IMMEDIATELY!! You're gonna be wearing a 25 pound backpack for many hours a day. I'm aching after doing 9 jumps in one day. (12 jumps in one weekend) I'm now on a once-every-two-weeks habit now, which should allow me to reach my 100 jump goal by October.

Wait till you get your license, yes... You really want to be off the huge student canopies and onto the dropzone's novice canopies, before you buy one of the same size (or almost) as the novice canopy, with the dropzone's approval... The instructors at the dropzone just downsized me from a student sized canopy to a novice sized canopy, and I'll be buying one of the same size hopefully next month. (after clearing the rig specs with them, and getting it inspected of course!) Definitely need to talk to them before thinking of buying rig... I can't wait... it's damn expensive... but at least I'll save the rentals. :-)

Ever since I fixed the manifest computer (spyware, viruses removed, backup restored). Downloading 30 megs of updates over a dial-up connection is painful too. And for another computer, I successfully did a hard disk to disk copy of important skydive photos (stubborn hard disks that would co-exist only in PIO rather than DMA mode)... people at the dropzone are asking for me computer help now. I guess I'm the official dropzone "computer geek" now...! Are there other people here who have become the dropzone "computer geek"?

Welcome to the world of skydiving....wind holds....wind holds.....me too in previous weekends! You'll get some blockbuster weekends soon enough. Keep visiting the dropzone!!

Wow... newbie like me with some grand goal. I have a goal too....I'm aiming for a deaf skydiving group event this October after I've got 100 jumps. (their posted minimum) If I pass their "training camp" (includes windtunnel training) I might be qualified to go ahead on becoming a part of at least one of the Deaf World Record attempt (Probably something like a 20-way RW out of a single Casa). It's no bigway like a 300-way where you need thousands of jumps of experience, so this is a low enough bar that I can realistically aim for. I have the funds to do so, just barely. I did 33 jumps in about 1.5 months, so I can reach the 100 required by then, maybe even 150 if budget allows, with a really heavy focus on being a safe RW flyer in increasingly bigger formations. Sometimes I'm almost refusing to jump unless someone is available to jump with me. As a result I'm focussing on RW jumps and not bothering to learn much, if any, freefly this year. (That's for next year.) I don't know about you, but talk to the best people at your dropzone. And get your jump numbers up with the correct required disciplines. 5 continents is a stretch but if you buy your airplane tickets at the last minute and don't mind flight route changes to adapt to weather forecasts so that you fly to a sunny city instead of a rainy city, that might give some flexibility, assuming you fly to flexible countries with non-restrictive visa requirements. Some of the instructors would warn some high altitude countries will cause you to land harder than you're accustomed to (fly a bigger canopy?).... these little things can all build up. Definitely err on the safe side and talk to many people including those at the dropzone.... Rehearse by going to multiple dropzones in your country to familiarize yourself with unfamiliar dropzones so you adapt more quickly to future unfamiliar dropzones. Etc. Heck, don't even listen to me. Definitely check with the best instructors at your dropzone. They may even say it is unsafe for you to attempt this. Longer term goals are a great incentive for a newbie as long as they are SAFE and EASY to achieve...and you're ready to cancel if you're not ready...

This was the best weekend ever! Before this weekend, I was at 23 jumps. I am now at 35 jumps. Lots of firsts (yes, beer beer beer). First 2-ways, first linked exits, first downsize (Sabre 190 @ 1:1), first consistent series of accurate landings (student-league "somewhere in the bowl" anyway), 25-jump milestone... I can go on and on about some of the successes, but then I'll be called a 100 jump wonder...err...35 jump wonder. So let's not go there. Gimme slack for being an excited relative newbie wanting to post about his experience.... And definitely, there's always mistakes to learn from. A bunch of little mistakes though, I screwed up a lot of my bellyflying. 7 of my jumps were 2-ways (with 5 of them being contact) I'm still flopping around like a flounder sometimes, too slow faller, trying to adjust fallrate, had to dive a few times to catch up, need to pratice a harder arch....I had 4 different 2-way volunteers on 7 separate jumps. (I was only able to do solos during the last weekend which was a boogie and everyone was busy. Developed a few minor bad habits I think.) Some of the 2-way jumps went reasonably well where I did get two 7-point 2-ways in (not the most graceful, but it was very educational!) Finally off a student canopy now. Lots of fun flying the Sabre. Lots to learn though, pulled high to test it out and pratice with it. A couple of accidental early flares (1 or 2 feet too high) on the new canopy but fortunately softer landings than my former student Manta 288 (Note: I did an intermediate-step 230 downsize to verify how I flew). That's a near textbook-exact 1:1 wingload now as weighed on the scale fully geared-up, which is probably just about right for the next 100-200 jumps for me, as I REALLY want to get to know my first non-student canopy now... and buy a rig the same size as this one, perhaps identical canopy. Finally my accuracy is getting much better, probably now resembling a beginning novice now rather than a total student... The farmers must breathe a sigh of relief now I'm not hitting farmland anymore (the farmland adjacent to the landing zone, just a hundred metres away).... landed in the bowl four times, landed close, never landed further than 50m in my worst accuracy of the 12. I'm apparently getting close to meeting the CSPA B requirement already of 15 jumps within 15m.... I'll blame the excellent weather and predictable winds for that. I didn't do it, the weather helped me more than I did. One thing though, I can't get my A until I buy my own rig since this dropzone has a policy of pack-training not on rental rigs, for the packing requirement of CSPA "A" (but....This is well MORE than made up by the free volunteer 2-way coaching by appropriate qualified jumpers, I'm getting though, an advantage of a nice cosy Canadian dropzone like this one). Anyway, I'm glad to be finally off a student canopy. I hope I stay on the same canopy for about 1-2 years (over 100-200 jumps)... I want to get REALLY familiar with the canopy now for the next hundred-plus jumps. Not to worry, I'm sticking to straight-in approaches though during the final leg... with some tiny S-turns, only as needed to get myself aimed to the bowl... The dropzone made sure of that. Strangely, I find my landings are better on the Sabre's than the Manta's, and usually much gentler on my feet whenever I flare well, I guess that's because the Sabre planes out much better than a Manta during a plain identical straight-in approach at my wingload. It has a LOT more lift than a Manta in identical straight-in approach! Imagine my pleasant surprise when I flew about 10+ feet further forward in 2 more seconds of flat flight at near grasstop level than expected and landed soft on my first Sabre landing, ground sure took its time reaching me in comparision. (Clearly, it flies faster than the student canopy and I'd hurt myself more if I forgot to flare...but thankfully that's never a habit I developed!) But I've still got lots to learn about flying it, obviously (as I read). I ought to get Brian Germain or Scott Miller course sometime...! I really got LOTS to learn. Regardless, I'm sticking to the conservative approaches I've been doing over the last long while. (I cancelled attempting to land in the bowl twice, one of them because of an unusually long glide from a bad spot. I was more concerned about landing safely...I was warned against target fixation. Still, for a change, it was really easy to land within 50 meters thanks to predictable mild/moderate winds.) I envy the accuracy jumpers that can land within centimeters, but at least the farmers must finally love me now for staying off the adjacent farmland! Now I know what everyone is saying about the original Sabre having harder openings... Tolerable yet uncomfortable, but not painful. Not my favourite part of the canopy but I LOVE it regardless....fun to fly and land. It's probably nearly identical to the rig I'll probably be buying in late July, once I find a suitable one in my price range... Hopefully Sabre2 though. Cannot get overconfident, cannot get overconfident... (especially with a little scary turbulence for a little bit at 750 feet on one of my jumps. AAAAGH! I hate turbulence! And the door monster still attacks me sometimes...!) So this has been a REALLY educational weekend... and the most fun one I've ever had skydiving!

:12:5 First 2-way dock (exit was unlinked) First linked exit First downsize (Sabre 190) First nonstop series of 12 landings less than 50m 25-jump milestone 12 jumps in one weekend. This was a record for me. My jump number went up more than 50% from 23 jumps to 35 jumps. I intentionally jumped my ass off on Saturday, and relaxed most of Sunday. Every other load, and I appreicate the packer for packing adequately fast enough to let me jump every other load. A big thank you to all the volunteer coaches/instructors willing to jump 2-ways with me! Edit: I have my jump experiences posted at: http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1676548

A newbie like me isn't allowed to use a full face helmet until "B" license or later... I think you should get something like a Mindwarp or Guner.

Great to hear! If I go in late August, definitely the Orange boogie is attractive. However, the offer of a friend to host with me for a specific dropzone can easily dictate things, or a group of jumpers. You've all given me some great info to continue researching from. Plenty of time to decide and plan. I'll need to know the date of my non-skydiving travels but I have a little bit of flexibility to fudge the date around to coincide with skydiving-related circumstances... PS -- Adrock -- Although I'll have the "A" by then, I am not sure I'll yet have the "B" necessary for a helicopter jump (don't you need a "B" for heli jumps though?). Although I'll definitely have a bunch of hop-n-pops by then, and probably well beyond 50 jumps...

I'm ready to do 3500' hop-n-pops (same as my solo graduating jump) and while I think my dropzone is ready to get me a little lower, I'll be doing a few more of that level first... Not a SL trainee here. I'm an AFF-type wuss on solo status now.

Hi, I am looking to travel to Virginia for various reasons, probably August (or late July). These would be bonuses: - Open during weekdays - Has a camping area However, if either Skydive Orange or Skydive Virginia (or another good area dropzone) is planning a really cool boogie, I may fudge the dates around or pick one or the other. Who I am able to jump with may dictate things. It looks like Skydive Virginia would be the one to go to (heard of some people who go there, that I would like to meet). Also heard of those "jump-all-you-can" boogies, do those happen at either place? I tried checking calendars, but didn't see anything at Skydive Virginia's website, but I heard about the August 19-21st boogie at Orange. Although the $17 weekday Super Otter jumps are indeed very tempting, I could "jump my ass" off at that price... (Please don't flame the "other" dropzone. Just say what's interesting about a specific one. I'm just looking for opinions about my upcoming trip). I'll certainly have my "A" or "B" by then, and my own rig by then too. Expect me to be at my 60-70th jump by then. So.... Skydive Orange or Skydive Virginia? Boogies? Plans? More likely to have people interested in jumping with me?

New Hampshire? Finally, maybe a windtunnel within a few hours driving distance of my home.

Me neither, but I just want to bring up an important point. I have noticed that us sub-100 jumpers are flying big canopies that often get blown away from the DZ (myself included) more easily than the higher performance canopies during a bad spot. That happened to me where I couldn't make the DZ and had to land flying backwards in farmland more than a mile out! Also students should usually be out after the experienced solos because students pull higher. So all of us newbies are more easily prone to a bad spot (assuming similiar pull altitudes). That's my observation anyway. Most of the time I am going to be jumping out of Cessna's, with the occasional Twin Otter (fun!) I can see how the bigger dropzones often deprives you of spotting opportunities, especially if you jump at a big place like Perris...

Maybe on the Moon if it had atmosphere. Or some low-gravity planet or moon.

Now I'm tempted to vacation just to go to Perris (and see LA too while I am at it). It won't be until I've got plenty of jumps though, a couple years down the road. Repaving the runway, taxi tests, simulator time, test flights, etc. They seem rather serious on eventually flying the jet. I don't think they'd fly the thing often, maybe a couple times per weekend at the most, but it would be such a novelty to try a jet jump! And they'll start having some really big boogies, because of all the Perris attractions... With the Perris upgrades and spinoffs caused by the jet, they'd also attract hosting of world record attempts (even not using the jet) as well as big events such as WFFC, etc. So even if they don't fly the thing often, they'll benefit in other ways... Maybe I'll be there 2007 with some locals... I know that I'll start involving dropzones during my vacation travels at some point...

Let me guess: Generous boyfriend/hubby?

23 for my first tandem. 29 for my second tandem. (Geez, why did I wait so damn long) 31 for my progressive freefall program.

I have a complaint about my CSPA logbook...I don't have enough space to describe my jumps (just a one-line text field), so I have been logging details in a separate notepad (8.5"x11" page per jump) to help keep me track of what I'm learning. Once I get more experienced, quarter page or half a page of details would be nice. I think the USPA logbooks are more well-designed for adding jump details

No! No! No more horseshoe malfunctions! Anyway, one of the confusions I have had with horseshoe was whether or not to cutaway before pulling reserve, and how an RSL would interfere with a horseshoe. This post has provided some useful information, of which I'll confirm with instructor, since I'm going to be quizzed again on EP's this weekend. I also re-read some literature regarding horseshoes.

After my first turbulence experience (fortunately became smooth by the time I went to 100ft), I'd rather jump 20mph steady wind and land backwards, than to land in turbulence with near-zero wind 2mph with sudden 14mph gusts. I also have already landed backwards before, once (standup) on a lightly loaded student canopy. Others may want to correct me on which is safer, but this is my gut feeling even as a newbie...

Skyride-purchased tandems usually means less pay for tandem masters.

Let's just say Lawnmower Man 1 was GOOD compared to Lawnmower Man 2.

Lawnmower Man 2 (the sequel). Not to be confused with the original, which was a lot better than the sequel.