Hello All, I'm new to this sport and just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. I've done two tandems so far and this weekend I am taking the AFF level 1 course at skydive Orange in VA. It's been a long time coming and I'm pretty excited that I'm finally taking action. On my first jump, a tandem at Skydive Delmarva over two years ago, I really didn't know what to expect. I came along with some old friends and decided to jump. I first felt the weight of the situation when I started signing the waivers, seeing the constant references to potential death, but kept going because I've always been fascinated by flight in any form and hell everyone dies. I had to try it at least once just to say I did it. I got suited up and did a 15 minute course on what to do with the guy I was jumping with (Unfortunately I forgot his name). I got all the gear on, demonstrated an arch, and we finally walked to the plane. I think it was a King Air but I could be wrong. Very small and cramped with about 6 jumpers on board, not including us. I remember being in front of two jump masters with an AFF student. I must have looked pale white on the ride up because they all gave me strange looks and kept asking if I wanted to jump. I peeped back "yes". Did I just say that? Shit now I gotta go.. We get to altitude and all the others make it out but I don't really notice, I'm crawling to the door on my knees and get one final question "are you ready to skydive" "YES" I yell and out we go. Tumbling for a few then stabilizing and it's like I just fell down the rabbit hole. This is nothing like I expected. Sensory overload big time. The roar of the wind was almost overwhelming and it all goes by too quickly. The deployment was kind of hard almost knocking the wind out of me but I recover quickly. Under canopy is awesome. We float around then spiral down, he points out the DZ and the ocean not far from there. We come in on final fast and he yells "run run run" and I try but next thing I know I am face planting. w00t. I lived. But I didn't go back too quickly. My next tandem came in August of this year. I kept feeling the pull and I had to know, did I want to continue doing this? I picked Crosskeys because they seemed to have a great DZ, real professional and a nice SkyVan to jump out the back of. It was about a 3+ hour drive but I think it was worth it. I do this tandem with the same buddy that jumped last time. We get manifested and then the weather just goes to shit. It rains for about 2 hours and we think about leaving but I came too far to go home. We wait it out. Finally there's a break in the clouds and we get our 15 min notice. This time I'll be jumping right before my friend on his tandem. I meet the guy I'm jumping with, Dave Pancake, and he puts my fears at ease. He comes off as very professional. We get loaded up and on the way up I'm not as scared. I sign Bob Marley to myself to relax and it works. The light goes green and the door comes down. I see the solo jumpers and some freeflyers go out the door and the plane rocks. The tandems in front of me start disappearing and the plane is nosing down from the weight change. I walk to the door asking "are you ready" kind of hoping he'll say "No wait, we can't go!" and I'll get to ride it back down but the dick says "yes". So we step out the door and down we go, no tumbling at all. This time I keep and eye on my alti as I'll be pulling the student rip cord at 5k. I watch the feet zoom by and keep looking at the ground. Pancake taps me and points out a rainbow from the passing storms to get my head up. It's amazing. A real life changing event. Hard to describe in writing. I'm flying (of sorts). Then all of a sudden my heart drops. Pancake has dropped his legs beside my body pointing them straight down. Is something wrong? I panic a little but keep checking the alti. Then he slides back onto my back and gives me two thumbs up. I figure he was probably clearing the drogue but I never found out for sure. At 5k I pull the rip cord hard and we get a nice easy canopy opening. I can't hear that well because one of my ears has clogged up but I hear myself saying "You're my fuckin hero". We play with the clouds some and then enter the pattern, align on final and here we go again. But this time no face plant. A perfect landing. I'm so stoked. I know I'm hooked and I drive home with a 2 week grin. So I finally saved some money and now I'm heading down to Orange, VA this weekend. It's closer and I've read some good posts about it and I checked it out a few weeks ago. Now I'm singed up for AFF1 and I even took off a week in October to jump. I figure if it gets too cold I'll head down to Tampa and finish at ZHills, living on the couch at my friend's house in Florida. I feel a bit nervous but I think I can handle it. I keep going through the dive in my head. I even bought Dr. John's Mental Training book to help me overcome the fear and anxiety and I think it's helped. But we'll see this weekend I think the most useful has been this site and all the people on it. I find comfort in other's AFF/student stories (especially the ones by Michele which I compiled and printed out BTW). Anyway, end of rant. Wish me luck
