My Third Jump
Towards the end of September my tailbone started feeling much better and I was really anxious to jump again. After my other jump I had contacted the DZ and told them about my injury and my concerns about landing that way again. They told me that by discussing this with my tandem master when I came back would allow me to come up with a way of landing that I felt comfortable with. I had Tuesday, Sept. 28th off from work so I called up and made plans to do my second IAF dive that day. Then I started fanatically watching the weather forecast!! lol Luckily it was suppose to be a nice day.
Tuesday morning arrived with some hazy low clouds but the type that usually burn off as the sun gets up. I excitedly drove to the DZ after I got my kids off to school. It's weird... I just had to hug them a little bit longer. Just in case. I mean, I sure didn't really think anything would go wrong but the veterinarian that I work for, along with a few other people, had been making comments to me about how I was being an irresponsible mom by doing this. Part of me worried that maybe they were right. But most of me was really pissed that they would even say that. First of all, from all I've read... and I've read a lot in the last few months, trust me...lol... I don't think skydiving is all that dangerous IF you take proper precautions and do what you are suppose to. Sure there are risks but you can minimize them by paying close attention and thoroughly learning and practicing what you need to know. Second, even if there are more risks than other sports, should I just deny myself something I found out I enjoyed more than anything, just to live a safe life because I happen to be a mom?? NO WAY!! in my opinion. I would rather teach my kids that you should live life to the fullest. You never know what tomorrow may bring no matter how careful you are so I think you should go out and do what you want today. I myself, would rather live a short FULL life, rather than a long boring life. I want the chance to experience everything that I want. And I would like my kids to live life the same way. I thought the feeling I got as I jumped out of those planes was more than worth any risk involved. Anyway... enough of that...on with my story...
I got to the DZ and had to wait around for a while to see if the sky was going to clear. There was one other student there, an AFF student who had made one jump so far. We got to talking while we waited and then as the sky brightened the JMs called us over to go over our jumps. I was introduced to Chris who would be jumping with me today. He went over the stuff he wanted me to do on the jump today. I layed on this big round table with an altimeter on the front and we went thru the dive. This time instead of me having my feet up as if to kick his butt he wanted me to have them out like I would in a real dive when I went solo. I was to point my toes and have my lower legs bent at about a 45 degree angle.
On my dive I was to do a COA (Circle of Awareness...look out at the horizon, check my altimeter... there were no side JMs to look at yet..), then do 2 PRCT's, look at my altimeter, 2 toe taps, check altimeter, 90 degree left turn, check altimeter, 180 degree right turn, check altimeter, if high enough do more turns otherwise just watch altimeter until 6,000 ft. and then wave off and pull the ripcord. On the PRCT's he just wanted my left arm above my head... not having my thumb touch my head as I did before and for a wave off he wanted my arms above my head and just bring them together and back out rather than in front of my face and crossing like I had done the first time. I had been practicing everything I had done in my first jump at home since August so it took some concentration to change it, even though they were slight changes. That just proves how well some practicing can train your muscles to remember certain moves.
Then we went out and practiced how we would exit the plane. Chris then asked me if I had any questions so I asked how he planned on us landing and he answered, "On our butts!" I immediately said, "NO WAY!" and went on to explain what had happened to me. He told me that was the usual way they landed and told how if one person lands and are going a bit fast that they can run a few steps but with 4 legs that just doesn't work. I told him what they had told me about working something out with the JM at the time of my jump and how I had assumed that meant standing somehow. He went and asked about it and came back and said that wasn't how they meant it and where there was virtually no wind today that a standup landing was just about impossible. I wanted to jump so bad but my butt was still sore when I easily sat down the wrong way so I just cringed at the thought of landing on it again. They suggested that I might want to hang around and wait and see if the wind picked up so I decided to do that.
The other student wasn't jumping because they were waiting for a certain reserve parachute to come in and they hadn't gotten it yet. So we hung out together and watched extreme skiing videos with the videographer and we watched a tandem skydiver jump (and when I saw him land on his butt I just knew that I wasn't ready to try landing that way again yet) and then we watched his video be edited and that was really cool. And then we watched a "how to" video on packing and I was totally lost. There were different chutes and different ways of packing and it all looked very confusing to me. The wind never picked up so I decided to call it a day and went home.... very depressed. (Though I did have fun hanging out there!!)
When I got home I decided maybe the best thing for me to do would be to wait until next spring and just forget tandems and start an AFF class. But some people I talked to said a good tandem master should be able to land you on your feet. It got me thinking and I randomly wrote to about 30 DZ's asking about landings on tandems. I got a very wide variety of responses back. Some said they preferred to slide in on their butts for the most part and others that said they almost always stood up their landings. There seemed to be a lot of factors involved from personal preferences, to DZ location, to how much wind they usually had, to how much the student weighed and to the experience of the tandem masters to name a few.
One of the responses I got back happened to be from A DZ which is real close to me. They told me they usually land standing and that they have a big sandy pit to land in that makes for a nice soft landing no matter what. Since I was dying to jump again and spring seemed so far away I decided to try a tandem there. They didn't have IAF so it would just be a regular tandem but that sounded great to me. I just wanted to jump! So I made plans to jump Saturday, October 9th. (They are just a weekend DZ for the most part).
Again I had my eyes glued to the weather. I would watch the weather channel, watch the local news and check 2 different sites online!! LOL Early on it wasn't looking too good as most of them were calling for rain. Usually they all wouldn't agree so I'd believe the one with the best report! By Friday it was looking good.... mostly sunny 65-70. But when I woke up Saturday morning it was pouring!! I ran to the computer and it did say it was suppose to clear up. I called the DZ and they said to head up anyway because if it did clear up it would be whoever was there first would get on the list to go up first. The rain stopped before I left and it looked a little brighter as I drove out there. I found out this DZ was even closer than the other one and it was a nice drive.
When I got there I was warmly greeted and given yet another form to fill out and shown to a room to watch yet another video. This one was just a guy reading thru the papers I had to sign. I just whizzed thru them, signing away. Then I was introduced to John who would be our instructor. This DZ had an actual tandem class where they showed you everything to expect. There was a guy and 2 young girls in the class. John did a great job explaining everything and in a humorous fun way. When he came to landings he talked about them as if we would land on our feet so that made me happy. Since I had done this twice before now it all seemed familiar and easy to me. For the most part I wasn't nervous at all, just very excited. But occasionally I get these heart palpitations and feel myself starting to get panicky but I'd make myself take a deep breath and get back on track and I was fine. There were a few brief moments where I worried that panicky feeling was going to take hold and run away with me but luckily I managed to control it.
We were going to be jumping out of a King Air. So John took us out to the practice model and we went over the exit. It wasn't the casa but it seemed easier than the cessna exits I had gone over before. I had no worries about being able to do it. John was so nice he even brought us out to the actual plane and we got to check that out. We were all set. Now it was just up to the weather to cooperate!! There was no rain but it was still all cloudy. We had reports that to the east, to the south and to the west all had clearing skies, so we were optimistic! I didn't mind waiting because there were lots of people (and dogs and kids) around and it was a very homey, friendly atmosphere. I read magazines about skydiving and listened to people talk and the time went by quickly.
Early in the afternoon the sun started poking through the clouds and it looked like we were going to go up! All nervousness was gone. I was just excited!! I have been amazed that all the other tandem people I have seen since my first jump all seem as calm as they do. I mean, they seem a bit nervous, but NOTHING like I was that first time! Guess they are all braver!
Gary, who was to be my TM, helped me put all the gear on. He told me he had like 6500 jumps and when I reminded him I was the person with the hurt tailbone and asked about landings he told me not to worry. He said it was windy enough that a standing landing should be no problem and even if we didn't it should be fine. He sounded very confident so I just put it out of my head.
I had called my family to let them know it looked like I was going up so they drove out to watch and got there just in time to see me before I got in the plane. I gave my kids a quick hug and I was off! As I climbed up the steps to the plane I was so psyched to be doing this again. I just couldn't wait for that moment I was looking out that plane door about to jump. God... that is my favorite moment... just as you take that first plunge!!
The ride up was nice. There were no doubts in my mind that I wanted to do this this time. A few times I took deep breaths but mostly I was calm, relaxed and excited! The people doing video on some of the other tandems were asking the TMs where they were going to land. There was a big huge sandy bowl in the middle of the airfield for landing and then there was a smaller sandy area behind the manifest building for C and D licensed jumpers. The other TMs were planning on landing in the bowl because the first group of jumpers had said it was a bit windy up there and there were some downdrafts or something but Gary didn't seemed concerned and planned on landing by manifest.
I was also thinking how nice it was not to have to do anything on this jump but to just enjoy it. I had thought of asking Gary if I could practice stuff during the freefall but just decided to go for the ride instead. Just then he asked me if I knew how to do turns and I told him I did so he told me I could do some if I wanted. Then he asked about tracking and said I could do that, too. He said he'd just follow my lead and help me out if it seemed like I needed it. I thought that sounded cool. I could do things if I wanted but I didn't have to remember any exact order or anything.
13,500 ft. We were there! Time to jump. We would be second to last to jump. I saw one of the girls from my tandem class at the door and I saw that "I can't believe I'm doing this" look on her face and I could remember so clearly how I felt on my first jump. It was so different than the feeling I had now!! Now I was just thinking... hurry up and go!! I want my turn!! lol Pretty soon we were at the door. I was waiting for Gary to say, "Are you ready to skydive?" because for the first time I was ready to yell back, "YES!!!" lol But he didn't say that. I wanted to really look out at the ground as I jumped and fully experience every sensation as I jumped but then I remembered that even though this was a fun jump I still had to think about getting into my arch!
READY, SET, GO!!!!!!! Out we went!!! Man, that is the most incredible feeling ever!!! It was still such a sweet rush!! I loved it and wanted that feeling to just go on forever!! After a few seconds, Gary gave me the thumb's up sign and I started a right turn. I thought we started going a bit fast and didn't want him to think we were out of control so I stopped it. I thought it worked perfectly. Then I started the other way but did it a little slower. I thought I felt some pressure from Gary thinking I needed to do it a little more so I dropped my shoulder further and WOW! did we spin around!! It was so cool! I loved it!! Gary had told me I could use my hands to help in the turn, too, but I forgot to try that. I stopped the turn and checked my altimeter. We were just below 9,000 ft so I tried tracking. I put my arms back and this time I pushed my legs out straight like Gary told me to try. I maybe felt us go forward a little bit but not much. I got back into my regular arch form and checked my altimeter and saw we were getting close to 6,000ft. Shit, it goes by fast!!! Just then I felt Gary tap my side so I looked down, reached for the rip cord and pulled!!
I felt the chute opening up and all I could think was... I WANT TO FREEFALL LONGER!!!!! I hear Gary say the chute is open and it is good. I then realize I hadn't even thought of it not opening and being OK. It hadn't really been on my mind in the other jumps either. Time goes by so quickly up there. I started being concerned that when I was on my own that I wouldn't be thinking of it quick enough and wouldn't be able to react quick enough if there was a problem. I'm really smart but sometimes in new situations I don't think I think fast enough. I'll get to the right answer but it may take a minute and up there you really don't have that luxury.
Gary pulled the toggles down and handed them to me and had me do a right turn. It pulled a lot harder than I remembered. The other times the TM had been holding them, too, and I guess they were helping pull or it was windier today and it pulled harder. While Gary loosen my straps up a bit he'd occasionally tell me to do a turn. The strap on my right shoulder was cutting into me a bit so he went to loosen it and I was tempted to say... just forget it... lol... because I was a little nervous it would come undone and I'd fall out! It's just a tiny bit nervewracking when you are up 4,000 ft in the air and you feel the straps that are connecting you to the person that is connected to the parachute being loosened!! LOL I did say, "Don't lose me now!"
For the first time I kept an eye on the altimeter while under the canopy. I knew I had to get used to looking at it often during the whole jump... especially the freefall. Altitude awareness is of utmost importance so I wanted to try drilling that into my head as much as possible. Since we were already real close to the airport but still up kind of high we made some turns away from the airport to stay upwind of it. A few times there was a big gust of wind (at least in MY mind!) and the parachute made big fluttering noises and I got a bit nervous thinking it would turn inside out or something. I felt safe enough being with Gary but I worried about being up there alone like that sometime. It seems to me that I'm the only student worrying about the canopy part of the ride.
When we got down around 1,000 ft. we started getting ready for our landing. We made some spirally turns and I saw what I had read... that you lose altitude kind of quickly in a turn. I was watching my altimeter closely. The last thousand feet seemed to go by so quickly and before I knew it we were about to land. I tried getting my feet up and out how Gary and John had showed me. I then realized I still had the toggles. The other times the TM s had taken them back by now. That's not to say I had them alone! Gary had a hold of them, too. Thank God!! All I could think was this is too fast!! I can't think what to do! I'll never be able to do this part alone! Gary yelled, "FLARE!!" and we pulled the toggles down and again I was surprised that you had to pull so hard. We landed on our feet but there was a little forward momentum and we toppled forward a bit. The sand was soft and thick and it didn't hurt a bit. It was over :-( I wanted to go right back up!!! LOL Why wasn't I rich???
I looked over and saw my family watching. I think they thought I was hurt. The kids looked a little worried. Colleen, my daughter, came running over and hugged me and asked me how it was. All I could think was INCREDIBLE!!
My older son and husband were anxious to get going so they left but my other son and my daughter and I hung around and watched some more jumpers for a while. They were doing some 6 way formations and I loved watching them track apart after before they opened their chutes. It just looks so cool! I can't wait to learn to track like that on my own someday! I've heard you feel like superman... or woman!!
I'd love to start the AFF course right now but with it being so late in the year I think it's best to wait until next spring so I can do it all together. So unless I make it down to Florida this winter I guess this is all until next April. Hurry up Winter!!