fred

Woohoo! I'm moving up the program again. I'm on a S/L course at my dropzone, and cruised through the first 6 jumps without incident. A lot of people seem to miss their first practice pull, but I got it, and I was feeling on top of the world. Then came the 10 seconds last weekend. First, I had a bit of a cold. I was a little congested, and definately not in top shape. Second, I was dragging my (ex-)whuffo friend to take the FJC, which meant I had to get out of bed at obscene hours of the morning to get there. But hell, he's got to sit through his class, I might as well jump. It was my first 10 second freefall, and I was feeling all high and mighty (well, that might be an exageration... I'm actually nervous on every jump, but I didn't think that 10 seconds would be a big deal). Well, I got up there, climbed onto the wing, and let go. I counted, and wobbled quite a bit (is this potato chipping? I'm not sure on the terms). I pulled after my 10 count, and had a nice ride down. I wasn't sure if I'd passed or not, but thought I had a decent chance at it. Well, the JM said that I had a beautiful arch when I let go, and as the 6 seconds passed before I pulled (Apparently I was counting a bit fast), I lost my arch. No biggie. I knew I'd fail one of my student jumps, at least I'm freefalling, right? So, I sit on the ground for a couple hours and talk to the rigger (I got to pull a reserve on the ground, that was pretty neat), and I'm getting advice from everybody on how to arch and stay stable. I finally manifest to go up with my friend during his first jump. He goes out, and I can't get a good look at him (I'm still nervous on the plane), and my turn comes along. I get out onto the wing, let go, and all the advice runs through my mind. I bend my knees a little, I put my arms in 101 different positions, I try to relax, I try to arch hard. Then, it occurs to me: "I'm not counting." So I pull. The Jumpmaster would later tell me that I pulled after about 4 seconds, in an unstable freefall, leaning left, and turning right. ... a week passes ... I reserve two spots for tonight, since this weekend is probably going to be rainy. First jump, I get out on the wing, and get the "go" order. I look up at the wing and remind myself of the three things I need to fix: Keep my eyes open, maintain a solid arch, and count. And I let go. I fall for a bit, and start looking down. (1 one-thousand 2 onethousand). I catch it, and I look up. (3 onethousand). And my head creeps downward (4, 5). Snap it back up. I don't know how many times I caught myself looking down. I know that I pulled on 10 seconds, but I was in a forward dive. That pull hurt. Honestly, I probably wouldn't have passed me. My JM talked it over with a couple others, and did send me on to my second 10, but I wasn't feeling too confident. I went up again. I got out on the wing, and let go. And I just started staring out over the clouds. There were some low clouds coming in, and I just kept my head up and staired over them. I took one glance at my altimeter (although, I failed to actually look at the needle, more just a check to see if it was there), and it was smooth. I wasn't turning, wasn't wobbling, and just felt great. I had time enough to realize, "Yes. This is what I'm supposed to be doing." And I was counting. I hit 10, reached, and pulled. JM says I pulled at about 8 seconds, but it was beautiful. My frustration with it is gone. I can do this. Of course, now I've got to do turns. And, something thats more stressful to me, I've got to guide myself in for landings. I can flare by myself (In fact, I'd rather do my own timing than have the coach tell me, he has me flare too high), but guiding myself in for landing is a scary, scary thing.

I was wondering the same thing. I'm reading a lot of posts that suggest that manta's (the student rigs at my dz) are pretty harsh on openings (frankly, I hope this is true. My thighs hurt after today's jumps). During my first jump course, the coach pointed to one of the canopies and said, "That's our last 2-color canopy. It will be retired after this year." And I immidiately thought, "Please, don't let me get that canopy." I asked him about it later, and he said that they replace their canopies a lot earlier than most dropzones, and they resell their canopies to [another dropzone in michigan], who use them for a lot longer. He said that only one of the student/rental rigs has ever been patched.

Here in Gobles (near Kalamazoo), MI, USA, it's $140 for the class and first SL jump. Then, $45 for weekends/$40 for weekday student jumps.

I'm confused as to why DSL or Cable wouldn't be "worth a shit". Even with congestion problems during primetime, my experience with cable modems has been wonderful. I myself have DSL (IDSL, because I'm 16.5k from the CO), and the speed difference is amazing over a 56k dialup. Of course, I have a low latency, routed connection. Oh, and always on is a beautiful thing. I should also point out that I'm pretty darn close to a good sized airport, too.

Can you say urban legend? First, it's a friend-of-a-friend story, a telltale sign. The second thing, is if he didn't live through it, how does anybody know what he was concentrating on? I agree with the moral of the story, but the story itself sets off my bullshit detector in a major way.

Newbie question. Are the steering lines different on student canopies than on ... er ... more advanced canopies? How are they different?

65. Join the mile high club. Probably pretty tricky in a C-182, especially with all the gear. "I like to pick up girls on the rebound from a disappointing relationship. They're more vulnerable, in much more need of solace. And they're fairly open to suggestion. And I use that to fuck them some place fairly uncomfortable." "What, like the back of a volkswagen?" - mallrats

It's not for me. I've tried it, but it generally just puts me to sleep, and if that's what I wanted, I'd just get hooked on Nyquil. I still do it occasionally, but it's a rare thing. I am pro-legalization, but mainly because I think it would be a good thing to tax. (And, because I believe that what people do to their own bodies behind closed doors is their business).

As forums go (I frequent a bunch of them), the flaming here is very tame. Even my first thread, which was started in the wrong forum and asked a bunch of beginner questions, was met with friendly responses. Sure, a lot of people are sick of the posts that are just there to up the poster's numbers, but that I find perfectly understandable. Of course, I don't remember the 'good old days' that y'all are talking about. At least this place isn't full of trolls like slashdot or some of the other bigger forums.

I had a disappointing weekend, as well. Although at least I got to jump. The weather report was calling for rain, rain, and more rain, but a friend of mine was registered for the class, so I got up bright and early (Who knew that the world even existed at 6am?), and went out to the DZ. The weather was beautiful all morning. One dark cloud flew overtop, but passed by without a drop. I manifested for my first 10 second freefall. Got out on the wing and got the 'Go' order, let go, shut my eyes, and counted to 10, and pulled. It felt okay, a little wobbly, but not too bad. JM said I was tilting left, and said I should repeat it. No biggie. So I hang around the DZ, and all the jumpers are feeding me advice on my arch. Early afternoon, I manifested with my friend who was in the class, and went up. My second stab at a 10second freefall went worse. I let go, again, closed my eyes, and kept doing wrong things. I bent at the knees, put my head down, and just generally felt awkward. Then I realized that I wasn't counting. To be on the safe side, I reached and pulled. JM tells me I pulled after about 4 seconds. So I failed two jumps, and don't have much confidence. I'm going to spend my time this week practicing my arch and reminding myself that I want to see what's going on (Eyes OPEN, you idiot). I figure it just wasn't my day. My friend did his first jump and immediately manifested for a second. The rain started right after he left the plane, so he got pretty wet on the way down. Well, at least I got to jump. And on a positive note, I timed my own flares, and landed it perfectly (standing up, in the peas). I'm still not confident enough to set myself up for the landing, and I'm relying on my radio coach to set me up. I think I'm still a few jumps away from doing that myself. And of course, I walked away. And that's always a nice thing.

Really? Where? I've been looking for a decent linux job for a few months now. It seems that unless you have experience writing device drivers or hacking the kernel, there's little out there. And those aren't skills you pick up in a weekend.

Is this a good thread to ask what the ratio's mean?

A man goes into confessional and says, "Forgive me father, for I have sinned. I'm seventy-two years old, and have been married to my wife for fifty years. But last night, I cheated on her. I had sex with two eighteen year old girls, twice." The priest replies, "And how long as it been since your last confession?" "Never. I'm Jewish," he replies. So the father asks, "Then why are you telling me this?" "Hell. I'm telling everybody."

Well, I'm a real man, then. ;) Is that an overshare?

Well, I gotta ask. What's a raft dive? Is it what it sounds like?

Wow. Fantastic story, Michele. It sounds very scary to me. I'm glad I didn't read this before my first evening jump. (when i landed, the purple and orange were just starting to show in the sky). Congratulations on walking away.

Okay, I've got a few more questions. First, while I know what RW is (I don't see myself having an interest in this, though I know I have to do some before I graduate), I don't understand what freefalling is. Is that just doing tricks and tracking by yourself? If so, this is actually more interesting to me at this point, but it seems like most of the experienced divers do RW. Is there a reason for this? How is it that the two are distinct? (It seems like being a good freefaller would be a precondition for being a good RW'er.) Second, when people talk about being level 5, does that mean they're in an AFF course? How many levels is it? Does somebody have a brief outline of what an AFF course consists of? Frankly, I already feel like the SL course I'm on goes awful quick, but AFF is faster?

Word on that. I'm really hoping that I'll eventually overcome my fear of the climb (in my tiny C-182, I'm cramped, it's stuffy, and the ride isn't what I'd call "smooth"). I find it much easier to visualize myself doing the things I'm about to do than to stare out the window and work myself up. Just shut your eyes, take some deep breaths, and think about the exhilaration you're about to feel. (and, in my case, figure out what the hell I'm going to grab when that door opens) I'm on a S/L course, nervously awaiting jump 7, so I'm not sure how much my advice will be relevant, but definately ask your questions. Most of my JM's (with one exception) know to answer them in the simplest of terms and expand until I stop asking questions. They're willing to talk and chat and do whatevers necessary to help you have a good jump. And knowing the answer to that little question in the back of your mind will help you to relax. And that, to me, was the key. I saw it through my practice pull progressions (which I don't think you have in AFF), as I got more comfortable with what I was doing, my arch improved, and my motions were smoother and more comfortable. Remember, when you're out there ready to jump, you don't have to go immediately. Take a second or two (not too long, though!), and run through your release moves in your mind. Oh, and try and jump more than once in a day. Maybe this isn't the same for AFF, but I've found that the second (and third) jump in a day allows me to relax a lot more and look forward to the next one with greater excitement. Again, take my comments with a grain of salt. I'm learning differently than you are, and I'm very inexperienced. You might also check the 'newbie questions' thread that I started. The people here helped me with a lot of the thoughts and questions that I had 8-12 hours after my second jump. You're very right, these forums are awesome. One more thing. Something my coach tells me on every canopy ride down, "Don't forget to relax and enjoy the view." It's taken me awhile to stop staring down and look around at everything. It's good and well to stay on track to the target, but don't forget that there's a lot of land out there to look at.

Reminds me of Douglas Adams' instructions on how to learn to fly. Apparently, Tam threw himself at the ground, and missed. Very impressive.

I was just going to post this in my 'newbie questions' thread, but since I'm not asking any questions, I thought I'd just start a new one to tell my story. I made my last two static line jumps, and my first freefall today. Freefall was amazing. Even though it was brief (Maybe 2 seconds longer than when I was on SL), the feeling of the wind around me when my belly faced the earth was exhilarating. My next is a 10 second fall, but it'll probably have to wait until next saturday. The friend I started with got credit for all his jumps. Since the JM's all remembered jumping with him, and he wasn't trying to pull anything over (he missed his first practice pull), he just filled in the information and the JM's signed it. He need to catch up though, so he's doing his last static line and first freefall on thursday night (it's going to be really hard for me to not schedule a jump). It's very exciting. I'm starting to get the hang of bringing myself in. I'm pretty sure if I'd been without radio on my last jump today that I would have hit the peas, instead of falling short by 30 ft. On the jump before, however, I would have overshot it by a lot further. I landed all three today on my feet, and one was dead center of the peas. They have a blue disk in the middle of it, and when I landed, if I had done a PLF instead of running it out, I would have rolled right over it. I'm happier standing it up. It's amazing how much I've learned in so few jumps. On my first practice pull, they barely passed me, and describe my arch as "pretty weak, but you would've been stable." On my freefall today, the JM said, "That was perfect. Beautiful arch, and a relaxed, confident pull." I'm very proud. It helped that Scott was my JM. He's a big guy, probably 6'1", 250lbs, and he makes me so comfortable. He's funny, has this soothing southern accent, and is very patient with us. He answers every question in simple terms and provides great feedback. I am, however, covered in bruises. I've always bruised easily, but my right upper arm is really repulsive-looking right now. I asked him about it, and he's going to watch more closely next time to see if he can tell what's going on. I really have no idea when it's happening. I could very well be doing it myself when I'm in the airplane (the scariest part of the whole thing, for me). I've weaned (sp?) myself off of grabbing the plane for dear life when that door opens, since one of my JM's complained that my arm was making it difficult to spot. There's so little to hold onto, that I was grabbing the doorframe. So I'm trying to work myself into being comfortable not holding anything. It still scares the hell out of me. I'm fine once I get the "Put your feet out" instruction and I can grab hold of the strut, but sitting inside that airplane by a wide open door and just holding onto my own rig is something that's going to take me awhile to get used to. One of the students today got a reserve ride on his first jump. Apparently he went fetal after releasing from the plane and got tangled. I saw him land, but it didn't occur to me that it was a reserve (at my DZ, all the reserves are solid colors). I wish I would have been out there watching, just for my own curiousity. But that's got to be a hard experience on your first jump. Well, it's probably hard whenever you go, but I know how little I was able to think the first time I went out, and it would have shaken me. Now, after reading everything here and in my student manual, I feel a lot better prepared to think through it and execute safety maneuvres intelligently. I also scared myself a number of times. While my first time up, I was doing all sorts of spins and stuff, I've stopped doing that and am enjoying the view more (I've found that I'm very excited about watching the canopies below me come in for landings. They look a lot closer to the ground when you're staring down at them). But in 3 of my 4 spins today, I got a feeling that something wasn't right, and let them go earlier than I would have. It almost felt like in the middle of the spin I started going backward. My theory is that I was decelerating at the top of the spin? And that slowing of rotational velocity is what was giving me the heebie-jeebies? Whatever the case, I'm quite a bit more cautious under canopy now. I've decided that I'd rather not have to go to reserve after I've already had a good canopy overtop. I've also found that if I take it easy under the canopy, I don't wear out my arms as quickly and I can make more jumps. This is a good thing. Still, having done three jumps today, I'm exhausted. A few more beers, then it's straight to bed for me.

Don't worry about the beer.. I'm prepared there. I have a question, though I'm going to find out tomorrow anyway. Seems my partner in flight left his logbook on top of his car as he drove home today. It's gone. He failed his last practice pull, so he'd be repeating his third jump tomrrow no matter what, but what else will this affect? We know the DZ staff, so we imagine that he'll just start back on a practice pull, and no real harm done. But this is just our theory. How do most DZ's deal with this? What about the USPA? Since he hasn't done any actual freefall, it shouldn't affect his A license, yes? What happens if somebody loses their log on a higher jump, like #15 or 16? I'm sure it happens occasionally.

I'm pretty much hooked on skydiving pics, so please send it to me. Your email is hidden, though...

My friend and I (who took our first jumps together) are both inquisitive, and we do ask a lot of questions (probably just short of being annoying). We had a long talk with our coach bout why it took longer for the planes to get to altitude in our 100+ weather, and I learned a bit about engines. I certainly don't think that my JM or instructor are trying to shortchange me on my instruction. I think that they realized it wasn't a very important question, and that she didn't have time to answer it before sunset (which was important, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to jump). I'm one of those booksmart folk, and i've already read most of the USPA guide, and I know, in my brain, a lot more than I'm ready to actually execute. Words will never be able to explain what I'm actually supposed to 'do' when I'm up there. I take the coach's word (is that the right term? The guy on the ground who tells me what to do) as gospel. I'm about ready to say, "Piss off, I'm flaring now", but the JM seems secondary to me. That is, I ask the easy questions to the JM, and anything that affects my safety, I ask my coach.

DZBone, I certainly didn't mean to offend you. I'm just saying, that as a new jumper, I have to have faith in a lot more than just the backup devices. If they don't require me to do something, I might even be better off not worrying about them. As it happens, I probably wouldn't have been satisfied with the 30 second explanation. I'm a scientist by nature, and want to know not only what it does, but how it does it. If she'd answered our question further than the 'it's a safety device', we would have pursued until we knew how it might save our lives. She told me it was there, that it was a safety device, and I knew that I'd find out the rest later. I have to have faith in my instructors, or I would have never jumped out of that first plane. As it is, I'm still scared as hell when I step off and hang, and so long as I'm over 90% likely to land alive, I'm happy. When I gain more experience and comfort, and regain the ability to actually think about what I'm doing, I'm terribly interested in what everything does. I'll get there, and basedon the speed of the program, I'm sure I'll find out everything I have to remember before I think I'm ready.

After all I've read on this site and other places, I think this is perfectly acceptable. There's plenty of emergency maneuvres that they don't teach newbie fliers (like myself). Considering how much of what they did teach me I forgot, I don't think that advanced techniques would have increased my chances of survival. They'll explain it to me tomorrow, I'm sure. (oh, I've been meaning to ask. Are any dz.comers from Michigan? I was at the DZ yesterday and they were all talking about Quincy, which turns out isn't far away.)