bluetwo

Yeah, for sure, that was great. Thanks a lot for the detailed response. And I had it right in my head just wanted to take it a step further and describe it in a different way. Someone mentioned a canopy might experience a complete lack of flight if the tailwind was strong enough and I really didn't get how that could happen so I tried to feel it out... I'm not so great at it though. _______________________________________

It's been educational, of course I know that there are serious skydivers who know what they're talking about here, whose advise should be heeded and there are goof balls who no one should listen to. And there's everything in between, so I try to take what makes sense and leave the silly shit for someone else. It seems like the most important thing to understand was that a tailwind doesn't really push you, rather it just provides a sort of negative resistance situation where you're not fighting the wind or cutting through the still air... maybe I suck at explaining the way I see it or I could be wrong. Somebody let me know if I'm on track please? _______________________________________

If your home dropzone does anything like mine you wont really have to trust yourself on the important things. Like landing for example; that's something someone on the other end of a radio will do for you and if they're experienced they will probably talk you into a nice stand up landing and have you do some turns and stuff to build your confidence in the equipment. Last weekend after my jump I realized that even though I jumped with an instructor I'd never jumped with before everything went fine. It wasn't like I was looking to this guy for the nod on every little part of the jump. I just knew that I had my equipment and was ready to fly. Looking back I realize that I climbed out of the plane, went from the step to hanging on the wing strut then let go just like that was something completely normal to do. I said to myself: of course you'd climb out and drop off the plane. _______________________________________

I'm really glad you posted your story (OP). Brand new jumpers like me have so many scenerios we've never even considered... I hope there'll be more good things to consider in the future. _______________________________________

Welcome to the forum, it's cool to be able to learn from your experiences! Hope you get things sorted out and enjoy. _______________________________________

Very nice, thanks for sharing! _______________________________________

Awesome job! I mean it's coming from a newbie but still, I hope I'll be able to think and react just as quickly. _______________________________________

Congrats and welcome to skydiving! Looks like you got the bug. Honestly I was just as excited too. The instructor said I pushed off the wing strut which put me into a roll but I don't remember pushing. I mean I wont do it now but all I remember is coming off then rolling sideways and asking myself WTF is going on? A good canopy is a beautiful feeling and there's nothing quite like the ride down. _______________________________________

Cool! And I think it's hilarious that 3 people voted they wanted their 30 seconds back.... _______________________________________

THREAD REVIVAL! I started reading The Book Of Canopy Control and I plan to move on to the others sometime. Thanks guys. _______________________________________

It's really cool that you're so into it and welcome to the forum! Skydiving hit me really hard and I got completely into it too. There's so much to take in and lots of info that is best for students to learn in time, at least that's my take on it. Basically I'm taking it as it comes but reading up on things here at dropzone in the meantime. I kind of had to try not to get ahead of myself. It's easy to look at the exciting stuff but you gotta learn everything in the course before you move on. I'm not preaching at you by any means and don't mean to slow you down. Just figure out how fast you learn and go from there. I'm not the fastest learner so I'm not trying to cram things. As I understand it some people get their A license in a short time and that's great but we don't all do that. _______________________________________

Thanks!! I forgot this board doesn't automatically make hyperlinks... I'm so used to vBulletin car forums. _______________________________________

To be honest I got queasy on my tandem and felt a little off for a minute after my first skydive but every jump since then has been so much better. Reasons might just be because static line jumps are only at 3500 feet and there's no head down freefall or wild turns to upset a virgin skydivers stomach. Ha ha... My super-huge student canopy literally wont do anything fun with my weight under it. Ya gotta start somewhere though right? _______________________________________

That's awesome man. Changed my life for sure.... _______________________________________

Just wanna know what people think about it. Honestly the song annoyed me the first few times I heard it but after I caught the lyrics and got the point of it it grew on me. Click: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAXV7iBGX4Y _______________________________________

Welcome home and glad you're getting back into the sport. I'm curious about the premature opening too! _______________________________________

Big congrats! ...I'm so jealous right now. That's awesome though, enjoy. _______________________________________

Honestly I only went to Skydive Walterboro because they could get me in soon, without a month long wait but I'm glad it turned out that way. My girlfriend took me skydiving because she'd been twice and I had never been but now going every weekend and working on my license... she says she has created a monster... I'd totally recommend it to anybody though.

So... to clarify, and for curiousity, do swoopers intentionally do downwind landings for more speed or do they tend to avoid it too? If its a dumb question, hey, I'm new here! _______________________________________

Very nice! I wish I had a wind tunnel close by too. It would be awesome to really learn and know what I'm doing in that respect. Congrats _______________________________________

Holy crap, I got three people helping me? That's cool though. Thanks for recommending students read that. It does seem like a lot at first but surely it's good to know. _______________________________________

Help please. I did a search for the Non-linear Nature of Parachute Performance but all I got was this thread... Can somebody point me to it please? _______________________________________

Welcome to the site mang! Grats on the 2nd jump, glad to have ya here and hope you love the sport and stick with it. _______________________________________

I feel like what people do comes down to the DZ they go to/start out at. I found Skydive Walterboro when my GF and I decided we wanted to go jump - I consequently got hooked on skydiving - and that's where I started. So if your DZ encourages students to start with AFF that's cool, more power to ya but there are those of us who start out doing SL jumps too. _______________________________________

Good luck over there. Definitely get to a dropzone when you get a chance. I know it sounds kind of simple but... it's so awesome!! _______________________________________