Aurelius

She was, and still is, my best friend (15th anniversary in two weeks). There's no one I would rather hang out with.

I have 5 "first" jumps that stretch between 1988 and 1997. I don't count those in my jump total because they were more tourist excursion than really learning anything about becoming a skydiver. On jump #2 of those 5 (1992) I was doing a static line jump and brushed the door on exit, apparently dislodging the reserve pin. My main opened and my round reserve opened shortly after. Cut away and had a hard, but O.K. landing in a nearby field. Cutaway #2 I have posted here before. Jump #17 (not sure if that is the correct number) winter jump with gloves on. Could feel the ripcord, but couldn't feel that I also had a grip on some webbing that was flopping around next to the ripcord. Couldn't pull it out, tried twice and pulled reserve. _________________________________________ Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.

skydiving 1sts: 1st jump from a Caravan

I have been married for 14 years and have a child who is about to turn 6. I just started skydiving last year, and it was a step that I took after a lot of thinking and discussion with my wife. She has tried it, but doesn't care for it. She likes that I have something that is just for me that I am passionate about. (She is a runner and that's her thing.) My wife gets a little nervous sometimes but has stated that "if you die, I could at least take some small comfort that you died doing something you love." She understands that there are no guarantees and I could die tomorrow driving to work. I have enough life insurance that it would wipe out all of our debt and have a pretty good chunk left over. With social security they would be in a better place financially than we are now. (Obviously money isn't everything, but an important consideration for me.) I try not to be gone from home too much and only get down to the DZ about twice a month. I love it, but I love being a dad too, and he will only be my little boy for a short while. I don't want to miss it. When I go, I always make sure that I tell my family that I love them and try to leave things in such a way that if I never returned then there would be nothing left unsaid and nothing to regret. Skydiving has taught me a lot in this respect, and it's not a bad way to live when you consider each day might be your last. It keeps me from taking things for granted. _________________________________________ Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.

:3:4 Beautiful day on Sunday 1st jump after earning "A" license 1st completed 3 way 1st 4 way attempt learned how to pro pack _________________________________________ Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.

I have had pretty good luck with "Airbourne." It won't win any prizes for good taste and it appears to be mostly vitamin C, but it sure has seemed to make an impact. Just placebo effect? maybe. I almost never get sick and I don't really like to take medicine of any kind, but on the rare occasion where I start to feel off and my throat starts to get soar it has helped a lot. The best part = no side effects. _________________________________________ Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.

You are right, it probably would have saved time, but I was following emergency procedures as they had been taught to me. I asked some of the experienced people at the DZ about this and was told that one set of emergency procedures is a lot easier to remember at my experience level. _________________________________________ Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.

I am a pretty big boy and tend to fall like a rock. I don't have my own suit yet and the student suits at our DZ have little or no wing so on most of my jumps I average about 140 mph. I am learning to control that a little better but I'm still pretty new at this. On this particular jump the adjustment webbing on the harness had come out and was lying against the ripcord handle. (My instructor was flying near me and saw all of this unfold.) It was cold and I had gloves on and didn't feel the webbing at all. I could feel the ripcord handle but couldn't get it out. After two tries I look for red and pull. Somehow my reserve handle got out during all of this and is floating. I can see it but can't catch it. At this point I have nothing over my head and with my arms into my chest I am moving pretty fast. The ground is looking really big now (I had been pulling at 4500 ')and after a moment of panic I slide my hand up my chest until I feel the cable and pull. After this is all over my instructor comments that he was really having to work to stay near me and wondered how fast I was going. My neptune keeps track of all that so I looked it up. _________________________________________ Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.

I was using one of their student rigs. The people at my DZ are great and always seem to have safety as their top priority. I certainly didn't get the sense that they were doing anything but looking out for my best interest. They talked to me for a long time because they wanted to make sure that I had my questions answered and that I was O.K. I had a great stand up landing on my reserve but I was pretty shaken up. They knew that I had a pretty scary experience for a new jumper, but also wanted me to realize that my emergency procedures had worked and that practicing them before every jump is what helped everything turn out O.K. I earned my license over the course of 11 months and have waited out a lot of rainy weekends here in the NW to see it through. I think they just didn't want to see me give up on something I've worked hard for after one bad experience. I'm sure they would have charged me for the second jump and I wouldn't have expected anything else. _________________________________________ Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.

I had a cutaway on jump 19. Very scary. I passed 3000 ft. going 178 mph and managed to get a hold of my reserve handle just under 2000 ft. I was a little freaked out once I got on the ground. My instructor and the DZO spent the better part of an hour talking the incident through and advised me to get in another jump to prevent my fear from escalating. Decided I would, but then the weather crapped out. I went home, and I'm pretty sure they thought they'd never see me again, but I went back the next weekend and got a couple of good jumps in. Just recently earned my A license. Glad I stuck it out. It was definately worth it. _________________________________________ Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.

He who is good for excuses is seldom good for anything else. _________________________________________ Life is change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.