sandyeggo

Thank you all for the well-wishes and encouragement from my last post. I made my 3rd jump today and didn't fall off the step..woohoo! I practiced on the ground, established a good technique, and once I got up there pretty much told myself to suck it up and get it done :) Now I need to work on my landing. I scared the crap out of the guy on the radio when I flared for landing way too early and almost ended up eating grass. I tumbled pretty hard and got a nasty bruise on my shin, but hey-lesson learned. So here's my next question: how can I improve my depth perception? Sandra

Thank you!!

I'm having difficulty with my static line exit. On my first jump it was so hard to move against the force of the wind to climb out of the plane. Once I got out onto the step I was terrified of hanging from the strut. When I stepped off from the step it felt like my body just dropped, instead of blowing behind me in the slip stream. My second jump was worse, I fell off of the step before I was ready. I went into a good arch, but my instructor said I really put myself in a precarious body position. So I've been analyzing my exit over and over again in my head trying to figure out what I'm doing wrong and how to overcome it. When I'm up in the air it seems like I'm just not strong enough to push my body against the wind. My palms get sweaty and I have little hands and I don't feel like I have a good enough grip on the strut to step off of the step. After my last jump my instructor had me practice getting out of the plane while it was grounded. He gave me some great advice about turning my feet when I step out so that I'm not sideways. He also suggested squatting on the step and then stepping off so that my upper body is already supporting some weight before I let my feel go. After I got home I thought that maybe I could try some gloves to improve my grip. That might help me feel more secure about my hold and less hesitant to step off. Can anyone offer other suggestions? I absolutely love flying that parachute but I'm starting to hate the static line exit. I don't want to become afraid of falling off the plane or stop pursuing a sport I'm beginning to love. Thanks in advance for any advice, Sandra