RaXz

Last time I tracked pretty fast from a 2-way. I realised in time that I was tracking precisely on jumprun, when that hit me I pitched it fast in full track and I felt something hitting my rightfoot. Maybe I put my right foot somewhat higher when I was stressed to pull fast, even so, it kinda shocked me. Normally I don't slow my tracks before pitching, maybe somewhat. But from that experience on I will try slow my tracks way more before pitching.

Great article! Grain of salt opinion follows: I can sometimes feel that smugness creep onto me, I count myself lucky that I love the psychological aspect of the sport too. I try to guard myself from that kind of mentality, I rather look up onto things with an open mind. In my eyes it's the same danger as getting complacent, I am almost hitting that number now. When I am about to jump, I think to myself that it could be my last jump, just to accept that possibility, it keeps me on a edge. Of course, I try to balance more to a optimistic state of mind, but I don't want to loose my sight on the negative side of things, lest it bites me in the bottom. It's just like when I was a kid, I thought myself as invulnerable, until shit hit the fan a couple of times. It's better to realise that upfront instead of getting reality to learn you a lesson.

Congratulations, now the real fun starts. And maybe skydiving will become a obligation in itself.

I am really glad you survived it, but besides that I am questioning some things as a noob. Do I understand it correctly that you've had your shoulder dislocated a while ago, and in the mean time you have had a shoulder operation and did AFF again. And you're still are jumping with this question? I really can't imagine that you haven't had the time to ask around at your DZ. Then it is really natural that this niggles (huge understatement?) you.

Worth repeating in these cases. Very true, I will keep that in mind, afterall I am a newbie that has a lot to learn. But who says that I didn't do that already? Didn't meant to be coming off to advicey but moreso to share my own experience with it, my fault.

Just don't battle (you can't say that battling is relaxing) and listen to your instructors, and in a lesser extent, to the good advice of others. I know, easier said than done, I had/have troubles too when it comes to moving foward, gotten into a battle with it too. I went up instead of fowards.

Why in such a hurry? With a lower wingloading you have more time to take care of things, and I presume that you can learn more when you've got extra time. It sucks to hope that you get the good reflexes instead of the bad ones like panic turns close to the ground when shit really hits the fan. I will happily stay at my 0.97 WL, I don't have to get the extra speed to enjoy myself. And I really dislike comparing myself to others with lower jumpcounts that are at a much higher wingload. Still, I haven't got a real painfull landing, and I don't have to scold at myself when laying in a hospital because I downsized to quickly.

The main selling point of the wii is the new type of controls, it's just an upgraded Gamecube. I am glad that I;ve bought mine, I really dislike all that next-gen crap that focuses more on graphics than gameplay.

That was not what I was trying to relay, I don't think that autistics can't be greedy and lying. Sorry if it was a bit unclear, my skill in english is rather dusty.

Don't forget we are talking about a whole spectrum here, and a spectrum is a lot of colors! The diagnoses only cover a couple of colors, people are unique (special ) . so it's difficult to compare them, they mostly compare the known symptoms. I think the best treatment against autism is acceptance, but that's not the strong point of many societies, a lot of people tend to be xenophobic, in my opinion. It's the way the system works, it seems that greedy and lying people aren't diagnosed because they are good for the system, sometimes they even are idolized. Maybe we should focus a bit more on the whole picture instead of only the negative traits of these diagnosis.

Yea, hanging around works great, even if you don't say much. Don't be to hard on yourself, and skydiving is not a sport for rushing things. Just take it at your own pace, I can relate somewhat to the troubles of Ether. I have social anxiety, but I see it as a chance to work on it, and I even give myself assignments to learn to cope with it. Social anxiety is my main bottleneck, still haven't got my A license yet. But then again I am not in a hurry, and I am having fun jumping. I have to force myself to go to the DZ, and staying there is another challenge. But afterwards I am happy that I've done it. Have fun, be safe and be as you are

An own race, with an own religion, something like gravity worship. Isn't mutation another term for evolution? It is a entertaining thought though, that skydivers are the only ones that evolve.

Never had any trouble with it except when I was jumping for the first time with leather gloves, with a clear and pull from 3500 feet. Put almost my whole thumb in the tube, took me a second to get it out and grab the tube again. Normally I just grab it at the side, I grab the tube a lot of times before the jump, it's kinda baked in and maybe it helps not to get my fingers in it.

I have to fight the temptation to jerk on the chest strap of others, I don't wanna be a jerk, so I only watch.

I've got the same symptoms. And a couple of years ago, long before I started jumping, I climbed a antenna on a small military ground at night, (the guards sucked 'cos I did it without getting caught) it was about 100 feet high, when I almost reached the top I looked down and clearly remember that I thought to myself "hell, I have to climb down too!"

Don't we use parachutes for retardation? I guess I've got a sense of humour, even though I am diagnosed with a form of autism. The term in itself is neutral, but it's raped if a majority of people use it as something negative. That's one reason I wouldn't sling it at people, I dislike group mentallity, and the negative use of the word 'retard' suggests that there is a group who feel they are mentally and/or psychically superior. Still, I don't mind if people call me a retard, they may think of me what they like.

It was a loan jumpsuit of the club I jump at, no worries for me

True, at least in my experience, I have had a plane zooming past me around 40 feet away at the same height I was on. I only heard it when it was about to cross my flight path. (I flew crosswind, and the plane downwind, heading straight over the DZ.)

I really don't see a reason, the engine of the plane and the wind already sounds like music in my ears.

I think you are right, so I take your advice at heart.

Some jumps after the jump I described in a previous post, I did something that made me mad at myself. I was open a fair distance upwind of the 1000 ft. line, and I saw a lot of congestion at the landing pattern area, some that still had to enter the pattern were on the same height as me. And I was flying in clear airspace as far as I could see. I couldn't get much speed with flying into the wind, so I feared that I disrupted it if I went for the pattern. I chose to do a spiral from 3000 to 2500 and went straight in to a corner of the landing area. The others were mostly on the downwind and crosswind legs, although there was a good separation between me and the other jumpers. It felt as if I failed, even though it felt relatively safe I was mad at myself for the fact that I didn't abide to the rules. But coming to think of it, squeezing myself with force in side a landing pattern sounds a bit like doing stupid things just to land into the wind. I don't know if I am right though, I am still a newbie. The only complaints I heard at that time were from myself.

I heard a mind boggling tale about an jumper, that went for the reserve because she tought that she would go up when a parachute deploys to buy some time, seen it on tv I guess. Of course, she was grounded after that, if I remember correctly.

Great post! Some people have difficulty grasping the concept of separation, once I had someone directly on top of me with less than 10 metres vertical seperation, when I was about to enter the landing pattern. I only kept a close eye on him, next time there's gonna be yelling too to stay the f*ck away from me. This week I was on a boogie, kept my head on a swivel. I saw a jumper somewhat higher than me, and I was flying around 1800 feet. I was too fixated on getting to the 1000 ft line, I had to fly into the wind because I was dropped a bit upwind. The other jumper started spiraling at a height I am not comfortabel with. And stopped spiraling at he same height I was flying, to top that she was heading straight at me! We had eyecontact, she was a bit at the right to me. So I decided that the best course of action was a small turn to the left instead to the right. She did the same and we zoomed past each other with 40 ft horizontal seperation. That was really a wakeup call, I assume that people follow the rules, but still acknowledging the fact that they don't always do so. I've had a talk with her about this, and her reckless spiralling. And about mine mistake to fixate on the 1000 ft. line instead to stay away as far away as other traffic permits.

Maybe I have to focus more on that, I tried it with a center turn and I turned faster than I was used too. As though back riser stalls aren't fun enough alone, I am eager to try this when I can go back in the sky. I will talk about it with a instructor. It sounds like a lot of fun.

I tried it again a couple of days ago, and there was no flatspin in sight.