juliebird

Hey Carlos, I'm halfway through AFF and I started with two tandem jumps. I also think at least one tandem is good before moving into jumping with your own chute. The freefall environment is one that is unlike anything else you'll ever experience and at least for me, the first jump was nothing but total sensory overload. AFF 1 is kind of a busy skydive (& AFF 2 even busier), so you don't have a lot of time to zone out. A tandem is a good way to get your feet wet, and then you're all the more prepared when you decide to go for AFF. ;-)

I spent the weekend at Street Scene, so no skydiving this weekend. Next time I spot you there I'll say hi! ;-)

A friend of mine (and one of my instructors) have also recommended toe taps. I guess I'm still freaked that doing the toetaps will cause instability. I'm still in the "arch and freeze" phase of learning to skydive. ;-)

Thanks Nate! I think I might have seen you get pied a couple weeks ago. Was that you?

Hey all, I'm new here... finished AFF 3 yesterday at Skydive San Diego (great place with excellent instructors, by the way). I'm hoping some of you might have suggestions that'll help me improve my body position at pull time. My position has gotten better over the course of the few jumps I've done (I had to repeat Level 2 because of problems with leg awareness). Level 3 went REALLY well... totally stable on my own (albeit a little whirly). But on all of my videos, I notice that when I reach back to pull, I drop my right leg down. My legs are FAR from coordinated at this point (always seem to be flopping around in different directions). So far it hasn't been a huge concern, because I've got two jumpmasters holding onto me for the deployment. My concern is that if I haven't corrected this by the time I'm pulling without anyone holding onto me, I might throw myself into an unstable body position at the most important point of the skydive. None of my jumpmasters have mentioned this (4 assisted solos so far), it's just something I've noticed. Leg awareness seems to be my biggest issue... I always intend to work with it but somehow, I forget that I even HAVE legs up there. Any thoughts?

Melissa, I'd be happy to. You can email it to me at [email protected] and I'll resize it and send it back to you. ;-)

I'll be sure to tell Tigger you all say hey! He jammed a finger on a jump a couple weeks ago, so I haven't seen him around much since then. He's great, though.

Thanks everyone! With help, I figured it out and got it posted. Thanks for the welcomes! ;-)

I'd a hell of a lot rather jump out of an airplane than stand on top of a tall building and look down. Weird, huh?

Ha! Erasmus, being also new to skydiving (currently AFF Level 3), I've experienced similar things. I've found that I think about skydiving CONSTANTLY. I also have a graduate degree in psych and I know, from those studies, that these are all symptoms that also accompany addiction. I've heard people talk about skydiving being addictive and for me, I think it is. My guess is that as you get a little further in the sport, you'll find that everything alleviates a little bit. Likely, what you (and I) are experiencing is natural, and simply due to our new participation in such an extreme (and adrenaline producing) thing. Happy landings... lots of them! ;-)

Hey! I'm new to skydiving (5 jumps so far) and to dropzone.com. I'm really glad to find that such an excellent resource exists! Also, I'm having trouble resizing my photo so that I can post it with my profile... I can get it down to 65X75 pixels, as required, but it's still 68KB. I'm fairly graphics-savvy and I have Photoshop, so I think I just need a little direction. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks! ;-)