deltablue

heh , I've been kicking around the idea for a new tat myself. ~He who looks outside his own heart dreams, he who looks inside his own heart awakens - Carl Jung~ My Space

1. Actually stop dreaming about it and DO IT. - done. 2. Do a training progression - I started this around the first of the summer , however , thanks to a few issues I had with a DZ owned by our friends Ben and Cary and their notorious "no refund" policy.... I basically only attempted and completed level 1 and 2 IAF . The people there were awesome and although I felt the instructor did a fantastic job ,I was very unclear about adjusting the landing pattern when it didn't work out exactly as explained (no one could explain this to me). I got hurt on the 1st jump due to not being able to hear commands , the instructor unable to hear me screaming that my legs were stuck and I couldn't hear him, being a bit confused about what to do while knowing my feet were seconds away from being broken if we didn't slow down and just finally taking things into my own hands and looking ahead ... using the hanger's bathroom door as a frame of reference as I did the brake / flare myself to reduce speed / land (since I was unable to lift my legs out of the way). I didn't realize I had sprained my neck & back , so I went on to pass level 2 during the sunset load after deciding that my instructor would yell into my ear.....the following week I found myself in the ER with an ex military jumper as a doc explaining how the opening shock of the 2nd jump likely made things worse. I realized that after level 3 , I was going to exit with one jumpmaster and still didn't feel I had a clue what I was doing. (Call me paranoid , but when someone marks exit off your dive flow and says it will "confuse you" for AFF 4.... I knew that I at least wanted the feeling of leading us out of the plane ... just to know how it felt with that safety net before it was for real. I also felt rushed and the main reason I wanted to go the IAF route was to get some canopy basics down in case the raido failed later....I just wanted to cover as many bases as I could.) I became somewhat upset about all this to say the least as I looked back on the chain of events. The altimiter I used on the first jump rocked so violently I had trouble reading it....only to be told that it was the "best they had." then told that if my feet were trapped like that again , there was nothing they could do. I'd paid $900 up front and done 2 jumps so I asked for a refund of the balance (even if it meant being charged full price for those 2 jumps) , only to be told of this unknown policy against refunds. They lied to me repeatedly and even after I got the Atty. General and BBB involved , they lied to them also. I wound up out almost a grand with a final letter saying I was welcome to come back anytime within 2 years to finish at a place I'd said I didn't feel safe. 3. A little lighter in the wallet , but much wiser , I'm searching for another DZ to just start over in 2006 , do one tandem to get oriented, research, spend more time learning about their training methods and then go straight into the traditional AFF sometime next spring starting with AFF 1. I hope to make a trek to a wind tunnel sometime between the tandem and the FJC. I'm VERY excited about this prospect , but I still wish there was a way to get some of that hard earned money back those bastards stole from me. 4. I've started an exercise program that incorporates strength training, flexibility, and cardio.... not so much to do with skydiving , but it's making a huge difference in other areas that I know will carry over. 5. I'm still reading as much as I can and again taking the expensive piece of wisdom I bought and just looking skyward for the spring. This cat's not a quitter. ~He who looks outside his own heart dreams, he who looks inside his own heart awakens - Carl Jung~ My Space

I'm very much digging these , man ! Nice work !

Nice man ! ~He who looks outside his own heart dreams, he who looks inside his own heart awakens - Carl Jung~ My Space

What I started doing a few months ago is largely based on a book called "Body For Life" by Bill Phillips. I have a basic flat / incline bench with leg attachment I found at walmart for less than $50, an adjustable dumbbell set , a barbell and a curl bar set up. Mon , Wed , and Fri I'll focus on a pre planned free weight workout (switching up the upper and lower body ie: one week I'll do upper twice and lower twice the next.). Tue , Thurs, and Sat I'll focus on cardio (walking / jogging outside or treadmill.)...ab crunches/twists every other day. Sundays I just take off totally. Stretches everyday..... It's going to be great to see how this effects skydiving next spring , as I plan to march on after a false start earlier this year....( I attempted and passed IAF 1 and 2 but walked away from the DZ for certain reasons I don't want to get into here...thus the DZ is absent from my profile). Regardless , It feels wonderful to actually be getting in shape. I totally fell into the apathetic category as well , once lol. :) Can't wait til next year ! ~He who looks outside his own heart dreams, he who looks inside his own heart awakens - Carl Jung~ My Space

I've kind of ran into a situation with this all too late. First off , I don't with to bad mouth anyone personally in any way as each of the cats I've encountered seemed very cool as people...... I do seem to have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth , however. I did my first tandem months back and it really had a positive impact on my life in a myriad of ways. I had found out about the DZ initially through web research and believed the site when it spoke of their state of the art training methods and equipment. Earlier this month I made the 4 1/2 hour trek to camp out over a weekend and do my first couple of jumps in the IAF tandem progression. Although I passed the first 2 levels and basically had a blast as far as the dives went , I noticed a few problems......for one , The altimeter I was given for jump 1 was shaking so violently on top of my wrist that I had a VERY hard time reading it. This was especially troublesome as we got ready to land and I couldn't even see it and keep the toggles in my hand.....on final approach I noticed I couldn't hear my TI other than "lift your legs and full flight". I was not able to lift my legs more than a chair sitting positon (something that wasn''t even a problem on the fun tandem) and no amount of screaming this seemed to get a response.......finally as the ground continued to rush past and I could see the picnic table off in the horizon straight out from my knees I began to flair simply because I couldn't hear and had no clue how the hell else to slow us down and save my feet. Once down , my TI told me I could have used my hands to lift my legs up by the top of my jumpsuit which obviously begs the question why didn't he scream this into my ear and tell me not to worry about the landing while we were first entering final and the full flight position ? When I asked about the altimeter I was told it was the best working one in the school. I don't have to tell ya the kind of crazy thoughts running through my head at that point. The result of my flair was a nice canopy stall and a fairly nice smack to the rear end with a jerk forward which I would later learn sprained my neck and back. When I asked what could be done to protect my feet I was told basically nothing if I was the one piloting and to listen to his comands (which I couldn't hear) if I broke my feet , then well , I just broke my feet. (dead serious). A couple of hours later we did level 2 with a borrowed altimeter and a better landing , yet aggravating the injuries I still wasn't aware of. I realized I still had many questions about our adjustments to the landing pattern that I wanted to understand more fully in case of radio failure before going into level 3 as AFF 4 would be with my own rig and one JM and 3 would be my last time with a instructor under canopy with me. I realized at that point I had not even looked down at the ground in freefall or assisted with the exit in any way (the part of the L3 dive flow for next time about "unassisted exit" was marked through) and I was just a bit wigged out knowing that my first one was going to be with one person hopefully holding on to me. I also began to REALLY understand that many of the risks of the sport had grossly been downplayed and that this "ground school" I was told I'd go through based on the one I'd sat in on earlier in the day was a little shy of 3 1/2 hours (not the advertised 6) and not even taught by an instructor. The EPs were just brushed over on the ground saying their harness wasn't up and PLFs were taught by simply hopping in the air and falling over. Maybe this is normal but personally I'd rather drag something out into the grass to jump off of and really spend time with exactly how I would land if something went wrong (radio or whatever)..... I was remembering things I'd read in books like "the skydiver's handbook" and Tom's book "jump" only to be told that the books were cheesy and it was actually dangerous to read anything outside of their instruction. The more questions I asked , the more I was told it was just "experience" and it would come later. I finally after being forced to lay out of work a week with my neck decided that this school school was not for me as I could not see myself leaping from a plane with one JM next to me in 2 more levels.....as well as a bad taste in general. (the place seemed to be more concerned with their one time tandems than spending time telling me how not to kill myself....imo , if there is anything you should rush through , this wouldn't be it). Long story short....... I simply did not feel safe there anymore at ALL....even the idea of doing fun tandems (which they wanted me to do in lou of a refund) At the end of the week I did simply asked for a refund of what I had not spent (I gave them $900 up front out of the blue with no reservations) and thanked them for their hospitality as they were honestly great in all other aspects. Their response was to tell me that they had a policy of no refunds (which I was never told of) and that there was no way whatsoever I was getting my money back..... saying this was "strict" and never budged from. How this is supposed to reflect on the sport in general and customer service I do not know. My understanding of their refund policy was based on the tandem video I'd seen the first day which said I was entitled to one at any time prior to suiting up....... I was later told this was not their video and had nothing to do with their policy. Of course , it was also some time later that I discovered that this was one of the DZs actually owned by the skyride cats and quite a normal policy/reaction from them. I notified both the BBB and the state's AG office with a positive reply from both , so we'll see how this plays out. This has REALLY put a bad taste in my mouth and I really wish it wasn't there. I honestly did have a ball on those jumps and would love to someday be able overcome this bad experience and reach my goals. anyone have any similar stories or advice that I might not have thought of ? ~He who looks outside his own heart dreams, he who looks inside his own heart awakens - Carl Jung~ My Space

Heh , my instructor kept giving me the "relax" hand signal on the ride up and I'd take a deep breath.....he'd pat me on the back and say "yeah , just like that" :) I'm working on it. It's just going to take some time :) Thanks :) ~He who looks outside his own heart dreams, he who looks inside his own heart awakens - Carl Jung~ My Space

I made my very first tandem jump back in march as kind of a late birthday present to myself and I can honestly say it changed my life. :) Ever since , all I've done has been read every friggin thing I can get my hands on , save the $ and this past weekend finally was able to sign up for an IAF tandem progression....passing the first 2 levels Sunday afternoon!!!! omg I'm VERY VERY sore still but ecstatic ! :) Seems like the biggest thing for me right now is learning how to RELAX in that arch while concentrating on my objectives and maintaining everything else that goes with the dive.....along with overcoming a few fears that tend to rear their heads... (everyone says that will just take time and the main thing is I AM facing them). I can't wait to go back!!! ~He who looks outside his own heart dreams, he who looks inside his own heart awakens - Carl Jung~ My Space