MORE JUMPS
The weekend of Sept. 23 and 24th was a washout but we did go out to the DZ anyway and got in some practice with packing. By the time the next weekend rolled around I was dying to jump!! The weather forecasters were calling for an absolutely beautiful weekend and for once they were right!! So what could go wrong???? I got a stupid head cold, that's what!!!
I debated back and forth about whether to jump or not. Saturday I had a baby shower to go to that took up most of the day so I figured I'd wait until Sunday and see how I felt. I woke up Sunday and didn't feel too bad but every once in a while I'd sneeze and my ears would all block up and no matter how much I'd try they would still bother me. We decided to drive out to the DZ anyway and see what people said about jumping and Boomer could jump anyway. On the ride out the sky was so blue and the weather was so warm and my ears drove me crazy as we drove up and down the hills.
Some people told me definitely not to jump, some said it might be OK and then someone came up with just doing a low altitude jump. That sounded like a good compromise to me. Boomer went and made a jump from the King Air and had fun. He was still a little shaky in free fall but did a few manuevers and was nice and stable at pull time and had a good canopy ride. He flared a bit high on landing but it worked out OK.
He had said he would come with me in the Cessna to do a low jump but they only have one big boy rig and it was real busy that day and someone was waiting for it so it would be quite a while before he could get it again. Every time I walk by S/L John he gives me this look and shrugs his shoulders like.... well... when are you gonna jump?????? So I finally got up my nerve and went and asked if I could get on the Cessna load with some S/L students. I was in luck. There were just 2 students (one on S/l still and one on a 15 second delay) plus their instructor so I could fit. I was a little nervous because I didn't know any of these people and I had only been in the Cessna twice.
I went and talked to the S/L I to make sure she didn't mind me crashing in on her load. Her name was Sage and she was really nice and said no problem. She said they were making one pass at 4,000 ft. and then going up to 5,500 where her and the 15 sec delay student would get out and that I could get out after them. I told her this was only my 4th jump off student status and that I'd only been in the Cessna a few times. She said to let her think about the exit order for a bit then.
I went and got all my stuff together and got geared up. Then I went and found Sage again. She said she had decided I would go second on a second pass at 4000 ft. That sounded OK to me. I would have liked more height since 4,000 still seemed awfully low to this AFF graduate but I figured less was better with my ears and plus this way I wasn't last out of the plane. I know it sounds a bit wussy but I still feel kind of lost now that I'm off student status and on my own. I feel kind of like an imposter. I'm suppose to be a real skydiver now but there is still so much I'm unsure of. I know it will come in time. I just think that the infrequency of my jumps because of weather and family commitments hasn't been helping. It was kind of nice to feel like Sage was taking me in under her wing.
I got a gear check from Dave, who I hope to be doing some coached jumps with soon and then Sage checked me again, too, before we boarded the plane. The 4 of us headed out to the plane. The pilot was someone I had never seen before. I heard Sage tell him the plan and also mention that the second person going was experienced. Who me???? Ummmm I don't think I'd say that! In fact the 15 sec student has a lot more experience than me in exiting this plane! He climbs in and goes to the way back (like there is a WAY back in a Cessna but you know what I mean!) of the plane. Then I climbed in and sat behind the pilot. Then Sage got in and was kneeling next to me while facing the other student who was sitting next to the door.
I loved riding in the Cessna because I had this nice window right next to me so I had a great view. I could see everything as we took off. It was so pretty out. The trees were just starting to change color so the green was speckled with red and orange and yellow. I got all excited when I saw this brown field with orange spots and realized it was a pumpkin patch. Sage gave a few big whoops and yeehaw yells that really helped pump me up. Instead of being nervous about jumping it made me really psyched to get out there. It was a great feeling. I felt so lucky to be alive and to be doing what I was about to do!! How good can life get???
I felt my ears block up a bit and some pressure on them but nothing too bad. Since we were only going to 4,000 we were there in no time. Sage yelled door and the plane was soon filled with fresh, crisp, awesome smelling air! I saw the S/L student climb out on the strut, hang there and then fall away. I felt this little surge of adrenaline run threw me. Sage tells me we have to switch places and she tries to move towards the back of the plane while I try to move between her and the pilot's seat to get up by the door. It's just not working. The next few minutes I imagine we look like something from the "I Love Lucy" show. I have trouble even pulling myself upright onto my knees with that huge manta pack on my back. Then I just can not fit between Sage and the seat. My pack is caught. I am trying desperately to pull myself forward yet also protect all 3 handles. Since the handles are on both sides of my body and I need both hands to cover them that makes it a tad difficult. I try just covering them with my arms while pulling with my hands but I'm still not fitting. I'm starting to sweat bullets. I feel like it's taking forever. I struggle and struggle while yelling out, "I can't do it!" I can only imagine what the pilot was thinking or that the 15 sec student was thinking, "Gee,this doesn't normally happen on my jumps." I finally make it after what feels like 20 minutes.
Sage turns back around and throws open the door again. The step looks real far away and different as it was a different step they had put on there (for the S&A nationals someone said). I feel myself start to panic a bit and when Sage asks me if I'm ready I say, "NO!" I feel foolish and try to pull myself back together. I don't even dare glance at the pilot. I bet he's thinking..... I thought she said this was the experienced one????????? Sage talks to me for a minute and I nod that I'm ready now. She tells me I can climb out any time. She tells me to take a good deep breath and I do and I feel good again. I'm gonna jump!!! Yahoo!!
I start to climb out and she tells me I can just dive out but I've only dived out of a King Air and am not sure what to do in a Cessna so I climb out on the wing. I feel very comfortable out there and I'm not nervous at all. All the panic from a few minutes ago is gone. I let go of the strut and feel myself drop away. I had thought I had I had told myself to arch but something must have gotten lost along the way because I feel myself start to go unstable. I'm not worried for a second because that is so typical of my exits but then it dawns on me that I'm at 4,000 ft and not 13,500 ft and I just think, "Where the fuck is my ripcord????" I reach for it and pull as quickly as I can without any thought of trying to get stable first. I pull it and feel something... lines?... risers?... whip across my face and before I can even think about if it will open OK I feel that familiar tug (maybe a bit sharper this time!) and find myself under an open canopy with about 3 line twists.
I easily untwist the lines on my big, docile manta. I can only imagine what Sage and her student must have been thinking seeing that exit!! I probably gave her a prime example of how NOT to do it. I get nervous thinking she will come down and demand to find out who the heck ever cleared that stupid skydiver, who knows shit about exiting, off student status. I think of all the ammo I have given her for the S/L vs. AFF debate! lol I laugh! What the heck. I had a blast anyway!
I have an incredible canopy ride down. September in New England is so gorgeous. I have no trouble knowing which way the wind is blowing and where I should be. This will be the first time I'm landing without a radio at Orange and I'm very excited to see how I do and to see how close I can get to the "X". I turn onto the final leg of my landing pattern and can tell from the accuracy trick that I will land long so I do a few short "s" turns and check again. It looks pretty good. Just then there is a little gust and it slows my canopy down. Oh well... guess I'll be a little short. I get my hands all the way up and prepare to flare. When I think the time is right I pull the toggles all the way down and do this perfect (well in my mind!) step down landing and turn around and collapse my canopy. WOW!!!!!! That went so great!! I feel like a pro!!!! What an awesome feeling! I am so pumped!!! Man this is fun!!
I see Sage come down and she hops in the back of the truck with us and I kind of cringe waiting for her to say something. After a bit she goes, "So how do you like pulling on your back?" I start to explain what happened and she cuts me off and laughs and tells me she knew exactly what had happened and that she had been laughing so hard in the plane! We all laugh and I feel much better. I'm so glad she isn't upset and just takes it as one of those crazy student (or novice in this case) stunts. I guess she's seen it all. I ride back feeling really good. My ears are still blocked a bit and a bit uncomfortable, but not painful at all....more just annoying. I'm so glad I decided to jump. I think I made the right decision. I started thinking I could have probably done one from the King Air but then Boomer pointed out that with opening so quickly I really didn't have much free fall at all which is when they probably would have been the most effected by the quickly changing altitude and that it might be a different story all together if I jumped from 13,500 and free fell for 10,000 ft. It's getting late and sunset is coming earlier now and the last few loads are filled so we call it a day. A good day.
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The next weekend my daughter, Colleen, has a soccer tournament. They are calling for crummy weather so we decide we can take her both days and not worry about jumping. It is cold but both days the clouds and rain hold off and we sit at the games staring at the mostly blue sky. We have a good time watching Colleen and her team play but our minds are never far from skydiving. I've never known anything else to be SO addictive!
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That next Friday night is Friday, the 13th, and there is a fullmoon and they are having night jumps. We can't jump as you need to have a B licence but we decide to go up and check it out anyway. It is really cool to see everyone with light sticks and lights taped to themselves and their altimeters. You can feel the excitement and tension in the air. I get to go on the first load as an observer. I get fitted with this pilot rig. It is so much lighter and more comfortable than my big, old manta. But then I find out it has a round chute in it. I joke that they are just giving me this one so they know I won't sneak out! Most of the people on the first load are night jumping for the first time. For once I got to be the least nervous person on the plane.... well besides Billy, the pilot.
Gary is coming to spot for everyone. He's our GPS (Gary Pond spotting!) They are making 3 passes. One at 6-7000. Then one around 10-11,000. Then one at 13,500. I'm sitting way up front near the pilot. The plane is really noisy. You could almost reach out and touch the excitement and nervous energy it was so thick. We make the first pass and 3 or 4 people dive out. When we hear they have all safely landed we make the second pass. That group dives out and after they are safe we make the third pass. As we are on the third pass I move from my seat on the floor up front to the bench and down near the door so I can see better. It is so eerie seeing them go out the door into darkness.
Gary is down on the floor by the door and waves me down to look out. The plane is starting to head back down now and I can feel it banking and I'm afraid I'm going to slide out the door. It is one thing to have a good parachute you know how to use on and be near that open door but quite another to have an emergency round parachute on that you pray you won't have to use and get near that door! Gary is pulling my arm because he wants to show me what all the landmarks look like in the dark so I will know what to expect when my turn comes someday but I'm being a big wimp and hanging onto the leg of the bench with all my might. He finally says,"Ok, look up here out the window." We move to the bench but the window is one of those tinted ones and everything is distorted and you really can't see anything in the dark. He drags me back down to the floor and finally pulls me enough near the door that I can see. He shows me the airport runway and the lights and the high school and the town of Orange and explains where the bowl is in relatiion to everything. It's a lot darker than I imagined but I can figure it out and I'm so glad I got this chance to see it ahead of time. Originally I had thought it sounded fun to make a night jump but after seeing it first hand I think it's a lot more nerve-racking than I imagined! I hope I'm brave enough... let me change that... I hope I have enough self confidence to try it someday!
We head back down and hear there was a cutaway Oh... do I have to take a drink just for writing that word??? (I hear there is a new version of the Bob Newhart show where while watching "Cutaway" you have to take a drink whenever they say whuffo or cutaway or show 1-800-SKYDIVE... I imagine you get pretty sloshed playing it!) Luckily the person lands safely.
The next group that goes up is planning on doing a 13 way and I watch them from the ground. We all brought our vehicles out to the bowl and turned on the headlights so they could have more light to land. Glenn, who is on the dive, has a huge light on so he can videotape it and you can see it really good from the ground plus this green glowing clump next to it. It was pretty exciting watching the canopies appear out of the darkness and land. It was a pretty ummmmm "interesting" dive from what I heard and later saw on video. :o) They got up enough people and did one more load and we watched them land, too.
We are sure that after 2 nice weekends that there will never be a third but the next day, Sat. Oct 14th, rolls around and it's beautiful out! It is even suppose to get up to 78 degrees! They are calling for winds 15-25 MPH in the afternoon so as soon as Colleen's soccer game is over we head directly to the DZ. We used to hate that her games were at 9:00AM but now we are happy!
We arrive at Orange to find things in full swing. It's my turn to go first so I get my name up on the board. I see Chris and ask him if he's available to do coached dives. He is but he is already doing one with Leslie. I'm hoping to do a couple dives so I plan on doing a solo and then hopefully a dive with Chris. I find rig #6 (my fav) and ask Brian, the rigger, if I can have it. He says yes so I check it over and then go get ready. I'm feeling the normal butterflies but basically pretty good, especially considering the fact that it has been 5 weeks since I made a real jump.
They call our load and we head out to the plane. Bonnie, the S/L instructor is there with another guy and they are working on AFF dives as they are both planning on taking the AFF instructor course. They will go out first. Then Leslie and Chris. There is another solo, Aaron, who is recently off AFF and working on his "A", too. I ask him when he plans on opening and he tells me 3,000 so I tell him to go before me because I want to open at 4,000. Gary is on the load with an AFF IV student and they will exit after me so I let him know when I'm opening.
I watch the first 2-ways exit. I'm finally brave enough to do that. It used to kind of freak me out. Then Gary gives Aaron the nod and he just gets off his bench and dives right out with no hesitation. Wow! Then Gary nods at me and I waddle over to the door and pause a second and then fling myself out. I try hard to keep my feet up and arms out and it's not too bad but somehow I spin around and end up facing the other way. Not really sure what I do here. It's not terribly unstable but it's not right either. I get stable again quickly and feel good. I'm just falling straight at first but feel like I'm drifting towards the DZ. It's quite windy up here so I'm hoping it was just the wind pushing me and that I wasn't unintentionally going forward. I do a couple turns and they feel good and stable. I wave off at 4500 and pull at 4000. My canopy opens nicely and I have a fun ride back. It's pretty windy down lower to so I'm careful to stay upwind and I think I do a pretty good job on setting up my landing and do an awesome stand up landing 9meters from the X!!!! Wow!! This is getting to be a piece of cake I think!! I have these landings down! They are so easy and fun! (Take it from me... be careful what you say!)
Colleen is starving so I take her to go get something to eat. I come back to find Boomer planning a coached dive with Chris. Guess Chris had come looking for me after I left and Boomer offered to take my spot! I kind of hung around them while they went over the dive so I'd have a better idea of what to expect if I got to go on a dive with Chris later. Chris is a Skydive U coach and was starting right at the beginning with just foreward movement and docking, then he'd back up and we'd do it again. We would keep doing that until 4500 and then we would do a 180 turn and track away for 7 seconds, wave off and pull. Sounded simple enough but neither Boomer nor I had done poised exits in a while, never mind stable ones. Plus we didn't have much experience tracking away but then again... that's why we were doing these.
Chris went over the exit. He said we would take turns being front and back. This time we could have back to make it a little easier. There was no more in, out, go, instead he will just mouth the words ready then we'd rock forward and up and then go. Boomer and him dirt dive until it's time to meet the plane and then off they go.
Colleen and I go out to the bowl to meet Boomer. He gets almost close enough to the "X" for it to count towards his "A" but doesn't stand it up. He's very happy about his dive though. He says it was a lot of fun! He messed up the exit a bit but then did pretty good on forward movement and got to dock about 4 times. His break off and tracking went OK and he had a good pull. He said it was much nicer jumping with someone and having stuff to work on.... then you weren't quite as focused on just trying to maintain stability or quite as aware of the ground rushing up at you. It gave you other things to think about. We went back and watched the video Chris had taken (he wears a camera on his helmet for coached dives). It was really good to be actually able to see the actual jump. We hadn't had video since our AFF level I jumps. Boomer could see he still kicked his legs a bit on exit. He could also see just how hard he docked on Chris and that he needs to slow it down a little earlier and just coast in to dock. We both thought the video was really helpful.
Chris said he had time to do a dive with me,too, so we got on the board and then he went over everything again with me. We would do the exact same dive but because I'm such a wuss he let me use 5,000 ft as the cut off to turn and track away instead of 4,500. I PROMISE I will work on bringing my opening altitude down. I know I need to for jumps I will be making soon but for right now I don't see the harm in giving myself a few extra seconds. I am very careful of making sure everyone knows my opening altitude and there have only been students and tandems after me. The other thing is..... I REALLY love flying around under canopy and I like it to last a little longer.
I tell Chris I'm lousy at exits and that I haven't had a good one since AFF V. He promises me that is over. We practice our exit on the mock up quite a few times until we are leaving together at the exact same time. We do some dirt diving and then I go back and work on the "new" exit myself until it feels good. I decide I even like it better than the old way.
Chris gets geared up even before me and I'm happy to find someone else who likes to be ready well ahead of time. I hate putting things on at the last minute even though that manta pack is so heavy. I like to be able to go over everything a couple of times. We head out to the plane and it's kind of nice going with someone rather than alone. Our load isn't too full because there is a guy from NESN there filming and he will be coming on this load and taping the 4 way, B&B. We are only getting to go to 11,000 ft. There were 3 more loads that needed to get up and we were losing daylight so they had decided to go to 12,000. Once in the plane the pilot mentioned 11,000 and we said we thought it was 12. He said 11...12 same thing! OK... 11,000 it is. We end up sitting on the bench and I find I don't mind it anymore, in fact, it's more comfortable and I know I won't have to struggle to get back up.
We get on jumprun and B&B do a big whoop and climb out and exit. A 2 way goes and then it's our turn. I follow Chris out and watch for him to say, "Ready". He does. We go in and up, then out. I'm a bit behind him. I forget to look for the plane like I had wanted to. I end up spinning around and going in the other direction. I get stable and look for Chris. I finally see him and I try to move forward to him with just my legs and not my arms like I'm suppose to. I'm not getting very far. I try again and really stick my legs out and push out and it works. I slowly move towards him and eventually dock. He nods and we break off. He backs up and seems really far away. (We see in the video later that I also backslid at the same time.) I start towards him again and I see I'm at 6,000. I hit 5,000 before making it to him so I go to turn to track away and I don't know what the heck I'm thinking at first but I almost flip because of the way I start to turn. I'm so used to waving off at the set time and never done this tracking stuff that I think my mind just gets all scrambled. The turn I almost tried to do was like that of a swimmer as he hits the wall and turns! Luckily I caught myself in time and turned correctly and tracked but it wasn't a very good track and I didn't hold it long enough. I just get so obsessed with pulling at this time. I know it is something I really have to work at in the future...not rushing near the end!!
My canopy opens fine and I have a nice ride down. The only way to see New England fall foliage is from the air like this!! Those people crawling around in their cars just don't know what they're missing!! The wind is still strong but I stay upwind just a little too long and can see I'm going to be a little short for my landing pattern. I turn in a little quicker than I planned and know I'm still short but hope to make the edge of the bowl anyway. Then I realize that at this edge of the bowl there are a very little bush like trees and that right after them there is a ditch!!!!!!! Where the heck did that ditch come from??? I'd never noticed it before!! And I am heading right for it!!! I'll never be able to land there! I will get slammed right into the side of it! I give up all thoughts of getting any where near the "X" and turn towards the left. I'm down pretty low so I turn only as much as I have to but don't think quick enough to try a flat turn. Luckily my manta is so big and docile it turns pretty flat and gently anyway and I just miss the ditch. Problem is, I've been so busy missing the ditch that I had forgotten about flaring and I flare too late and kind of crash in! It's sandy and soft and I don't get hurt at all. (Now who was it that had JUST said this landing stuff was so easy and a piece of cake?????)
I had fun and I'm feeling much more comfortable in free fall again but I feel like I did such a crummy job. Botched the exit, only docked once, didn't track well and then flubbed up the landing. We go back and I see Chris and he asks me what I thought. I tell him. He said for me to come up with one thing I did good on and one thing I most wanted to work on. I told him I couldn't think of anything good but I definitely felt I needed to work on exits. He agreed with the exit thing and said we would work on that but that he thought my forward movement was quite good once I got going and that I stayed on heading which was good. Bless his heart for him to find something for me to feel good about! Then he showed me the video and we could see how I dropped my left shoulder on exit and that's why I turned...plus the fact that I was a little late leaving. I could see that initially my legs weren't straight like I had imagined when I tried to go forward and then you could see me finally get them out good and the difference it made. He pointed out my backslide after docking and that's why we got so much distance between us. It was so nice to actually be able to see the things I was doing wrong. He agreed my tracking needed work too.... I hadn't gone very far and I wasn't straight. I was still feeling bad that I had only docked once rather than 4x like Boomer but then Boomer pointed out that he got out at 13,500 instead of 11,000 and that they went to 4500 instead of 5000 so that made me feel better.
It was too late for Boomer to get on another load so we headed home and fell into bed exhausted by 9:00. Our sons had gone to play basketball at the nearby gym and we were praying they would get home soon so we could go to sleep. We felt like it was a role reversal day. They had each reffed a bunch of soccer games that day which they get well paid for while we were off having fun. Now we were in bed while they were still out! We felt bad for leaving them again tomorrow but figured with winter coming we should be around more soon.