So it’s nearly the end of the season in Quebec and in most places actually…
Although there’s still a couple of weeks left to the season, it’s over for me at this point.
I ended it with a bang though, got my first helicopter jump done (4000 feet).
And yes, I bought beer… And rum actually haha.
To give some of you a quick description of what it’s like to do a heli jump as opposed to a normal skydive from a plane, when you jump from the chopper, you’re getting off out of a vehicle that’s barely moving, so you actually get that feeling that you’re falling at first. When you jump off a plane, the plane’s moving at about 80 mph, so when you jump, there’s wind pushing you in some direction, the wind you’re feeling (Called relative wind) starts off on the side (opposite direction that the plane is moving in) and ends up in front of you (you’re falling down, wind seems to be blowing up)
I don’t know why for certain, but, once you’re actually in the relative wind, you don’t feel yourself falling, you feel as if you’re static in one place.
With the helicopter jump, you feel yourself falling until you’ve accelerated enough to reach a speed at which you once again feel motionless.
It’s quite the similar feeling to a bungee jump.
Base jumping is also the same feeling as this.
It’s something I’d do again, but it’s not that high on my priority list…
I had a very eventful day last Saturday, it started off with my celebration jump for my B license.
We did a 7 way that went to hell, was someone’s 100th jump and the idea was that we would do a hybrid (some belly fliers, some free fliers).
The plan was that we’d have a 4 person base (I was in the base).
With 2 people hanging onto us and one stinger (He was on camera filming and would randomly hook on and off in freefly)
Our exit was fairly unstable and I ended up separated from everyone, I was falling way too slow to be able to keep up no matter how hard I tried, I failed miserably… If I had a camera, I would’ve had the best view of this jump though, I was just above everyone and saw everything… Was laughing the whole time… I found it funny to watch one of the hangers fall on someone đ
For the 2nd jump, we did a 4way hybrid, well.. attempted to, again, with the guy who was 100 lbs heavier than me, but this time with a girl who was 80 lbs lighter than I am…
Needless to say, she and I couldn’t keep up =P
I gave up on trying to keep up with the other guy (I need to practice my speed flying before I try that again)
For the 3rd jump, I participated in someone’s 900th. It was a 9 way belly fly.
We were supposed to exit the plane on red and jump on green, I dunno why, but we were already falling on red…
The jump was fairly well planned, but someone had a brain fart and ended up below us. We had a few issues and ended up zooing the jump, but was fun.
That is… Until we all tracked away and I pulled my pilot chute…
My canopy opened… To reveal:
A beautiful….
Line over!!!!!
It was off center a bit to the right, I was spinning but managed to control it.
Decided to try to land it.
Most of us didn’t make it back, with normal openings… With the fact that I lost about 1500 feet of altitude spinning and was flying a crippled canopy, I’m sure you know I wasn’t one of the people who did…
I landed just off a pumpkin patch in some soft dirt.
I had about a km and a half (1 mile) to walk back to the DZ.
Wasn’t so bad except for the fact that I was walking through a farmer’s field with my canopy.
After having gotten back to the DZ, I got an earful from one of the packers…
She doesn’t like me to begin with, and I think on top of that, she was the one who had packed the rig. She didn’t believe that I had a malfunction and was probably having a bad day to begin with.
So come the end of the day, there are still some tandems that hadn’t jumped, the sun’s setting, they go up for 2 quick loads while we bring in some cars to light up the landing area.
It was still somewhat light out so they didn’t need more than 2-3 cars to light the area.
For our jump, we had set up about 20…
There was no moon out, the sky was dark, the only light we had was the lights of the city (let me tell you, it’s beautiful up there).
We had 10 cars on each side of the landing area set up at an angle so we wouldn’t get any light in our eyes.
It was set up in two passes (a pass is when the plane flies over where we’re supposed to jump out, when there’s two passes, half the people jump out the 1st time, we close the door, fly around for about 5 minutes, then pass again)
The jump was organized in a way so that the more experienced jumpers got out first, and the least got out last. There was very little wind that day, so we only needed about 15 seconds of delay between each jumper.
Each of us had a designated altitude to open at, the 1st at 3500 feet, 2nd at 4000, 3rd 4500, etc… All the way up to 7000 feet on each pass.
I decided that after the day I had, I just wanted to belly fly and take in the view…
At that moment, falling at 120 mph, looking at the city lights from 4 km in the sky, I can honestly say that it was probably the most romantic thing I’ve ever done for myself and I loved my self that much more for giving myself that experience… (Yes, I’m romantically linked to myself and there’s no one I love more than me =P)
I haven’t had the opportunity to jump since, but I’ll keep you guys posted on my progress.
I may end up going to Niagara Falls next weekend, if I do, I’ll be jumping there for sure.
Sydney, Ashley’s Life twin, and one of my recent new acquaintances wrote a letter to our beloved sport… I know exactly where she’s coming from, and I felt that this deserved a re-post… Check out her blog here
Dear Skydiving,
Iâm going to tell you a little bit about me.
You know when you get to that place with something new in your life where you kinda shock yourself by how full-steam-ahead youâve been approaching things? Iâve been there. A lot. It happened with rowing when I jacked up my hip flexor and was out for the rest of the season. It happened when I packed up my car to move to Chicago because, holy shit, this was actually happening. And it totally happened this weekend with us. I was sitting down at a picnic table and heard something about people going back to school. And then it hit me: um, hello August, nice to see you.
So after ground school in June, you took me by the hand and were all âhi Sydney, Iâm your new life, letâs do thisâ and away we went. I havenât really looked back since I started AFF. Cue my state of shock.
People are starting to talk about their plans for the winter. Which is totally exciting (for them) but makes me totally nervous about whatâs going to happen in a couple months when season here wraps up. Nervous mostly because everything that every skydiver has said would happen once I decide that Iâm straight up and down batshit crazy about this sport has happened. Youâre addicting and I love pretty much everything about you. If it was actually possible, Iâd just have my paycheck direct deposited into my account at the drop zone because that is where all of my money goes anyway. And, Iâm okay with all of that. Every last bit of it.
But when we get back to the state of shock stuff, historically, in my little world, Iâve dealt with it in one of two ways.
One, I can keep going full steam ahead. In the instance of rowing, I didnât have this option, my fate was decided for me. In the instance of skydiving, I can keep going. Keep jumping. Keep spending every waking minute between closing time on Friday and the morning drive on Monday at the drop zone, soaking it all in. Breathing in the culture, the people, the lifestyle, the group of people that have started to become my second family. I can keep going at the pace I have, try to turn off my brain about what happens in two months, and just LIVE. Continue to dive (ew, pun) head first into what is single-handedly the best thing to happen to me in a long time. Continue to fall in love with you, and do so with no reins, love this sport like I love anything that I really set my mind to, and figure out the rest when it happens.
Or, option two, I can start to reel it in. I hate this option. This turns into the battle of what my brain thinks is right vs. what my heart says is right. If I know that everything is going to shut down once the hangar closes for the winter, shouldnât I start preparing myself for that? Shouldnât I try to start weaning myself off of that lifestyle so it isnât a complete and total shit show in my brain when I actually have to stay in Chicago on the weekends? Which, side note, Iâm definitely not complaining about staying in Chicago, because itâs one of the greatest cities on the planet, but yeah, you know what I mean. The reeling it in option sucks because Iâm cheating myself out of two months of awesome. The reeling it in option is usually the one Iâve gone with because I donât want to deal with the aftermath.
So, skydiving, a couple questions. What do we do once things shut down? Do I chalk this up to the best summer ever and weâll revisit when season rolls back around, rinse and repeat? Should I save money to plan winter skydiving trips so we can keep this thing alive? Iâm new at this, fresh off of student status. Whatâs the procedure here?
It’s been 4 days since then, and I’m still feeling the after effects of Saturday.
I started everything off by partying with some friends Friday night and got to bed around 4:30AM…
Woke up the next morning at 8:00AM to pick up some friends at the Metro (Subway) and then head to the DZ.
My mom, being a pastry chef decided that she wanted to make me some cookies and brownies to bring with me, so I had about 3 boxes of junk food with me along with my skydive gear, a small ziplock back full of cherries, my box of Gatorade powder and a huge smile on my face because the sky was just so perfectly blue!
We arrive at the DZ at about 10:00AM, I have 7 people who came along with me to do a tandem jump for the first time, they’re as excited as I am…
My buddy Alex who’s also a skydiver decided that he wanted to pop in and bring me a gift… The most wonderful gift a person can give a skydiver… He didn’t want to tell me what it was over the phone, all he said was that it’s golden and that he thought of me when he bought it.
I had no idea what to expect, in my head I was thinking “hmm, golden and he thought of me… Does this guy have a thing for me or something?”
After a few laughs at that idea, he pulled the gift out from behind his back… a Heineken Draughtkeg!!!!!
This is probably the best thing one can give a skydiver…
So I proceeded to hide it behind the manifest’s desk to be sure no one taps it open before I get to it.
(Many laughs about the disappearing keg followed later on which I’ll write about)
So i manifest myself on a first load, do a 2way with a buddy at the DZ, we decide that today we’re gonna do fun jumps that aren’t serious.
First exit: Roller coaster! I’m in front in a seated position with my legs pointing forward in front of me, his legs are on my sides, I’m holding onto his leg grips and he’s holding onto my shoulder grips.
We jumped out facing the wind instead of back to the wind, so we span all over the place going first feet forward looking down, then ended up looking up towards the plane. Was a blast!
We did some formation work after stabilizing, we grabbed arms, he satellited around me, then grabbed my arms again, then I went around him, grabbed his arms and so on.
This was his official 100th jump. (Unofficially however it was an 8way :P)
We landed exactly on point…. The instructors at the DZ however…. Landed in the soy bean fields hahahahaha!
2nd jump, two of the tandems I brought along were on the plane, one was nervous, the other was extatic.
We decided to do a head down exit, so we grabbed onto each other’s shoulder grips, jumped out, stayed head down for a few seconds, stabilized, did the same thing as the last jump, except this time after going around one side, we’d inverse and go the other side.
Again, perfect landing.
3rd jump, 2 more tandems come on (hopefully one will be doing his AFF soon)
did a 4 way with an H position exit, we were fairly sloppy on the exit (*AHEM* *Fabien* *COUGH* *COUGH*
We lost major stability and took a while to get back together… Actually, we never did, they all fell faster than I did and I couldn’t catch up before 5k feet.
Great landing though…. so golden that I had to run towards my canopy so that it wouldn’t catch wind and pull me off my feet…
Then I realize that I ran onto the runway as the plane is landing, so I have to run back….
The tandems were extatic at the end of the jump hugging each other and yelling in the field.
4th jump was another 4way, same people, same exit except this time, the person who will remain unnamed took an easier position (tail of the H only has to jump backwards, no need to position himself into the wind or anything)
The exit is flawless this time, we stabilize… Except when we started the 1st point, this same person *COUGH* *COUGH!* Sorry bad cold…
Turned the wrong way.. apparently he doesn’t know right from left đ
So he ended up face to face with the person next to him, being an open circle, we lost balance with the relative wind and split up again. Well he did, the other 3 of us stayed together… hahaha
Great landing again đ
Another friend showed up to wish me a happy birthday, she surprised me as I was walking back with my rig on my shoulder from this jump. She came by to simply do one jump with me then continue on her way.
So we did a 2 way, also with a head down exit as before.
During freefall, I turned to my right, she gripped my sides, then went around gripped the other side, then came in front of me, she turned, I gripped her sides, went around, gripped the other side, then went in front of her.
Golden landing, she then went on her way and I planned to do one last jump with the same person as earlier.
6th jump was a solo, practiced for my B license series.
7th jump was a sunset load, I did another 2way with my buddy from earlier, we decided to do some back flying. we basically just spun around in circles for fun for the last jump.
Under canopy at 1 km in the air (3000 feet) while the sun has just finished setting is one of the most amazing feelings ever!
Afterwards, we were all hanging around the DZ trying to figure out whether or not to go out for food or to order pizza.
I broughts out the keg, others cracked open some bottles…
We then realized that there were no cups to be found… SACRILEGE!
I put the keg down, turn my back to talk to someone, turn around to see one of the tandem masters as he says bye to me to then look down and see that he’s hiding something under his shirt.
His statement: “What keg?”
Similar jokes were cracked over the next 20 minutes.
The DZO set up a bonfire and then ordered pizza for everyone. We all sat around the fire, drank, laughed, etc… Until about midnight when people started leaving.
I went to an after hours with my friend and partied till the sun came up… Litterally đ
I’m still sore đ
My Factory Diver should be in this week. I also ordered a Protrack so reviews should be up soon đ
Well, as far as I’ve been able to read, as it stand, Lance has got it way better than I do in Canada…
A jump ticket here is 35$ Canadian (34$ us give or take)
Packing is only 6$ though. So if you have your own rig, it’s 41$ if you have your rig packed. Add another 30$ if you rent a rig.
It’s July, I’ve done 2 jumps this month so far, (Not kidding)
I’ve done 48 overall this year, 10 of which were my AFF, 10 were my RW course, 2 were with camera men to film my “flip” attempts and the rest fun jumps and have easily spent 6000$ so far… This doesn’t include buying a jumpsuit or helmet.
As it stands, my money can go much farther in Lodi California than it can here or in South Africa, but it’ll cost me a fortune to go there in the 1st place. (In Lodi it’s about 9$ a jump+ packing) But given the choice, I’d rather jump in South Africa… Lodi isn’t exactly the nicest looking part of the world.
As for wing loading, the DZs here don’t limit you with anything, they just want to make sure you’re comfortable jumping with whatever loading you choose.
Right now, I’m jumping a 1.16 loading and am looking at downsizing to 1.32 by the time I buy my rig next april (We can’t jump in the winter, so it’ll be the equivalent of downsizing in October).
So I stick to my grounds on saying that SA’s got it somewhat better đ
Then again, I’m not really sure of the average income/cost of living there though but judging from all the “sponsor a child in Africa” commercials, I guess I can see why it’s not affordable for most people.
Right â I guess I should start off with describing how EXPENSIVE skydiving is here in relation to the general income (Iâll try make this as easy to understand as possible).
Skydiving in South Africa has unfortunately reached a point where it is reserved for professionals. I am sure not why this is, but it a major factor behind skydiving here not being as accessible as it is in the rest of the world.
To put it in context â A jump ticket cost me R200 (roughly $26.50), gear hire and packing â $9.90 each jump. Considering I normally take home around $2000 per month after TAX (Which in Rands is a fairly decent salary).
So â By the time I pay for my car, rent, food, cell phone etc, I am usually left with around $260 to jump with đ
I canât really compare the cost side of things to the US as I donât know how much it costs relative to the average salary, however â In South Africa, jumping is out of reach for the general public đ
Other than the costs involved, Jumping in South Africa is pretty much the same as anywhere else in the world, just on a smaller scale. We only have about 6 Drop Zones in the whole country, but I plan to jump at all of them đ
As for BEER FINES, yes â we have them đ but on a smaller scale. For passing my AFF progression, I was rewarded with having to buy a case of beer, and while everyone sits around drinking my beer, they laugh at all my AFF videos. I then had to tell a story that begins with âOh SHIT, there I was â I thought I was going to dieâŚ(insert story here :-))â Then had to down a beer within 5 seconds, and if you donât finish it â pour it on your head. Haha â Good Times!
For our âFirstsâ, we have to do down-downs, not buy cases of beer â This suits me just fine because two cases of beer is equivalent to one jump ticket, and Iâm sure everyone knows â when you first get into the sport, there are A LOT of firsts!
Things are looking very promising for the skydiving future of South Africa as; recently a very wealthy business man decided to invest in uplifting the sport. So far he has built and upgraded various drop zones around the country, bought 6 ex South African Air force planes (Previously known as Atlas Kuduâs) and is currently in the process of having them all converted to turbine engines. The first three have been rolled out (My DZ currently has one). These are now called Atlas Angels and have a wicked paint job :-). The idea is that once all 6 have been converted, 5 drop zones will each have one and there will be a spare for when one goes in for a service! I love these planes â it takes just 12 minutes from take-off to 12Â 000ft, and about the same time back to the end of the run way.
Although the Angels only hold 9 skydivers, they are normally on their way back up with load 2 by the time the tandems from load 1 are landing đ
See below picâs of my favourite jump ship đ
One thing I love (Especially now being winter here), from about 7Â 000ft and up the view is amazing! To the right of the plane, we can see the Drakensburg Mountains, covered with snow, and to the left, we see the entire Durban coast line and even the arch of our new stadium!
Those are the main differences that I know of â the only other minor difference is: Here, the maximum wing loading for a âBeginner / intermediateâ skydiver is 1.0 as opposed to the 1.1 in the US, not a huge difference, but for me â itâs the difference between being able to fly a 170 vs. a 150. Meaning that now (Because Iâm in the process of buying my FIRST rig) I have to buy a 150 canopy, and look at it in the cupboard while I jump a 170 till I get my B-License đ as the 150 is going for a great price and donât want to lose out!
I havenât been able to jump anywhere other than in South Africa, so I’m just going on what I’ve read. Please feel free to add a comment if there is anything specific that you would like to know about.
âItâs the closest youâll ever get to God.â I guess my story begins with this quote from the movie Point Break, a film my friend and I watched incessantly and memorized line for line when we werenât slinginâ drinks behind the bar together back in the early 90âs. In our early 20âs at the time, with an abundance of adrenaline and a deficit of good sense, weâd reaffirm our commitment to jump together one day each time weâd watch the exciting but (as I now realize) unrealistic skydiving scene from the movie. At the time, it seemed as sure to happen as the sun rising each day.
Fast forward to Fall of 2009. Guess what? Life happened. My buddy was living his and I was living mine, and our joint skydive had not occurred in either during the 16+ years since weâd gone our separate ways. The friendship was still solid and weâd usually talk several times a year, but the skydiving promise was rarely mentioned. My birthday was coming up in November, and I wanted to do a little something different for this one. After striking up a conversation with a friend at my favorite cigar bar one afternoon, the topic came up. Sheâd done a tandem. Twice! Absolutely loved it both times. I told her Iâd always wanted to, but just never got around to it. By the time I left that evening, I was seriously considering it. As wonderful as the idea of jumping with my buddy seemed, I realized that if it hadnât happened in over 16 years, it probably wasnât going to, so this was something I was going to have to do on my own. Looking back, I must also admit that there may have been a bit of midlife crisis at play here tooâŚ..a small epiphany of sorts. âIâm not getting any younger. Iâm in good shape for my age, and most of my friends are in a different place in life right now. Carpe Diem motherfucker. Itâs now or neverâ Iâd tell myself. So over the next week, I made peace with the fact that I may actually be able to do it. I researched the specifics and began to wonder if I really had the balls to jump out of a plane. After wrestling with myself for a bit longer, I decided that my 42nd birthday would be like no other. I was going to do it. NowâŚ.how to tell those near and dear to me! Freda, my significant other, reacted with a great deal of concern, but to her credit, never discouraged me. She explained that her concern was out of love and for my safety, but if thatâs what I wanted to do, go for it. My parents both reacted in a much calmer way than I thought. My mother even stated, âWell, I always thought youâd do something like that.â My father was actually quite intrigued by the idea. I was shockedâŚ.but in a pleasant way, knowing I wouldnât have to carry the additional burdens of disapproval of loved ones up and then down with me. So it was decided. I called Skydive The Farm in Rockmart, Ga., and set up a tandem on my birthday, a Saturday in November. I was really going to do it!
The next 5 or 6 weeks seemed to drag out. I continued reading and learning about what I was about to experience. My heart would race when Iâd watch videos and think of how it must be to fall from 14000 feet. One weekend, two weeks before I was scheduled to jump, we were at a Halloween party and I mentioned what I was planning to do. A friend, upon hearing what I was planning to do, immediately said he would do it with me. I called bullshit, and he said âNo really, Iâm serious. Iâve always wanted to do it.â I looked at his wife, who nodded in agreement. So he committed, and we were set to do it together. Now I didnât have to go it alone! There were daily texts between us. 10 daysâŚ.6 daysâŚ.3 days. Finally, it was time!
My Dad and I arrived at the DZ bright and early on the Saturday morning of my birthday. My friend and his wife met us there. Freda opted to not come and watch, but did choose to receive a phone call upon my landing safely! We were pretty much the first ones there and didnât really know where to go, but a regular got there about the same time and directed us to the office. We walked in and found someone sleeping on the couch. Immediately the thoughts began to race through my mind. âI donât know about this. What kind of place lets people sleep on the couch? This doesnât look very professional to me. Is the guy sleeping going to be the one I jump with?â All sorts of other thoughts raced through my mind as I looked around. I now realize that this is just a part of life at most dropzones, but at the time it was a little unnerving when mixed with all my other thoughts and feelings. Nevertheless, things started coming to life. We read and signed the waiver forms, which as most of you know, can be quite an experience in itself. We then watched a video of what we were getting ready to do. Soon after, we were led into the hangar and given our choice of who we could jump with. They asked me first, and pointed around to a few people. One of the guys was sleeved out in tattoos, had hoop pierced ears, etc. I saw him and said âThatâs my guy.â His name was RyanâŚ..a 23-year-old skydiving badass that completely looked the part for what I wanted to associate with my skydiving experience. We met, and he began telling me all the specifics about what to do during the skydive. We got all rigged up, took a few pictures, and it was off to the bus to head to the airport, only about 10 minutes away. It was starting to get real now!
The 10 minute ride to the airport was pretty quiet and uneventful. I asked Ryan a few questions, and while friendly enough, he wasnât overly chatty. Others were talking, joking and whatnot. I particularly remember several people commenting on the fact that one of the other tandem instructors had recently lost a good bit of weight. âYeah, that methâs a helluva a drug,â he said. It was obviously a joke, and brought out a good chuckle among everyone. It was a nice way to ease the tension, but before I knew it, we were pulling up to the plane. My heart began to beat faster, my mouth got dry, and my palms got sweaty. We departed the bus and my video guy did another quick little piece before we boarded. We filed into the plane and took our seats. The pilot started the engines and the fumes filled the cabin. They were really strongâŚ..so much that they had to open the door so everyone could breathe! We took off and began the climb to altitude. There was one hop ânâ pop, so at about 5000, the red light came on and the door slid up. When I felt that cold air and looked out into the sky, thatâs when it really started to hit me. Next thing I knew, a guy took his position in the door, faced forward, and just hopped out. There one second, gone the next. Holy Shit!!! It was shockingly surreal. In my head, for the first time I was saying âWhat the fuck are you doing?â The video guy was filming and turned to me to get my reaction. âHey Allan! What do think about that? Did you see that guy get sucked out of here?â I commented, and he then said âOkay, next time that door opens, itâs your turn. Skydiving baby.â So we got to 14000 and the door opened. People, and groups of people, started jumping out. We were towards the end, and my buddy went just before me. We got to the door and I looked down. It was literally breathtaking in the truest sense of the word. I have never had such clarity of life as I did at that moment. I couldnât believe what I was about to do. Before I knew it, we rolled out of the plane doing forward flipsâŚ..two to be exact. We got belly down and stable, and the drogue was deployed. I immediately began screaming. Not a terrifying scream, but more of an âI just jumped out of a plane and am having a fuckinâ blastâ scream. Dave, the video guy, appeared in front of me and extended his hand, which I grabbed. We were spinning, high-fiving, and everything else. Then, before I knew it, freefall ended as Ryan deployed the main. This is when things got really interesting.
The deployment was a bit more violent than I was expecting. Not a neck-breaker or anything, but pretty substantial nonetheless. I looked up and saw the parachute over our heads, but noticed we were spinning. I thought âHmmmâŚ..this doesnât seem right.â Ryan didnât say anything initially and I could tell he was working to try and fix something. We continued to spin. I asked âAre we cool?â He said, âWe will be if I can get this worked out,â or something to that effect. Then he asked me to help him kick. Iâm like âKick how?â This isnât something weâd covered before the jump, so I had no idea what he wanted me to do. Nevertheless, I tried to do what he asked, to no avail. He then calmly announced âOkayâŚ.weâre gonna have to chop.â Now I didnât know exactly what âchopâ meant in skydiving lingo, but I had a pretty good idea based on the root meaning of the word. The next thing I know, he says â3âŚ2âŚ1.â The trap door opened, and we fell for a few more seconds. I then look up and see the most beautiful fully inflated grey canopy. No spins this time either. All the lines were extending to the chute in a straight, proportional and unobstructed way. Almost immediately, he announced âWell, that was #8 for me.â I said âLet me get this straight. Did we just have a main parachute failure?â âYep, he said. âAnd out of the thousands of jumps youâve done, thatâs only the 8th time youâve had to go to reserve on a tandem?â âYep,â he said. We came in and made a perfect slide-in landing. Dave was there to greet us with the camera. âWhat do think of that Allan? You got a 2 for 1! Not everybody gets one of those!â My buddy and I met, slapped high-fives and gave each other a big hug. On the walk back to the hangar, a very nice and supportive guy approached me, put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to worry about it. âItâs about a 1 in 1000 chance, but it does happen, and thatâs why there are reserves,â he stated. Although things were still going at warp speed in my mind, I really appreciated such a kind and comforting gesture from a total stranger. That was when all the misconceptions and stereotypes about skydivers began to melt away in my mind. The magnitude of what had just happened didnât really sink in for quite some time. I had waited 42 years and finally grown the balls to jump out of a plane, only to have a main chute malfunction of severe line twists that resulted in a cutaway. UnâŚFuckingâŚBelievable!!!!! As I tried to absorb and make sense of it, a weird feeling came over me: the malfunction and cutaway, in a strange and sick sort of way, had only added to the experience. I couldnât believe I was actually feeling this way about it. âI really must be certifiable,â I thought to myself. I left the dropzone that day supercharged with adrenaline and with a whirlwind of thoughts, but one thing was clear: I knew Iâd be back.
The four of us left the Farm and decided to grab some lunch. As we talked about the experience, my buddy and I decided that we wanted to get licensed together. As we talked about what weâd just done, I could hardly get my beer up to my mouth without spilling it. I couldnât believe it. Iâd just survived a main malfunction, and wanted to go back for more! We agreed that weâd get through the holidays, and would start the process sometime after the first of the year. So thatâs what happened. I got through the holidays, saved some money and started my journey in earnest around the end of February this year. My buddy had other priorities to pursue and opted not to do it yet. He still wants to, so weâll see. For me, the pull was undeniable. And it continues to be just thatâŚ.undeniable.
So as you may have gathered from the title of this, Iâm at 34 jumps and counting. Iâd planned to try and summarize everything Iâve felt and done up to this point in one writing, but as you can see ended up getting a little long-winded! For now, let me just say that this has been an incredibly defining experience for me. This will now be a multi-part memoir, so there will be plenty more thoughts and stories in the future. I hope youâll continue the journey with me in part II, which will be coming soon. Until then, enjoy the pic of me and my buddy after our tandem.
I was thinking about all these jumps and reading my SIM (Skydivers Instruction Manual) and considering/reviewing all the tiny little critical things that I learned and experienced and then all those little details just begin to swirl around and blur together and all I can remember is that I went up in the Otter a bunch of times and jumped out and some people were with me and they were nice and fun and nobody died and I passed each level and then I was done.
I do have video of two of them, so I’ll throw them up. Maybe you’ll be able to figure out what the heck happened ‘cuz I’m not really sure anymore.
That’s Level 4 (above). I just had to do some basic maneuvers to show my ability to control and direct my body in the air. It’s so much harder than you might think. (Unless you’ve been doing this a while. Then you’ll get to laugh at me, because my attempts are pretty laughable.)
This was Level 7. This was my third jump that day and also my 38th 29th birthday and a pre-cursor to the Mar gets crazy after hours in the DZ story, which will have to wait for another time.
Immediately following my Level 7, I went up on my first solo jump which was also my first sunset load and was pretty spectacular. All in all, a great birthday!
Highlights of AFF: First jump was so empowering! Figuring out how to make my body start cooperating with my mind. The first time the instructors let go and I flew alone. Hard turns under canopy (wheeee!)! Front flips out the door! And by far my favorite; the 30 or so (and growing) new members of my “family”. I love all my newdrop zone friends.
So, let’s start at the very beginning. How does one go about becoming a skydiver and jumping all by oneself? It begins with an AFF course.
AFF (Accelerated Free Fall) is a program designed to teach you in baby steps the fundamentals you need to prep for jump, exit the plane, remain aware of altitude, free fall in a stable position, do very basic maneuvers, deploy from a stable position at the right time, assess and react to an emergency, fly your canopy, and land safely. You learn these skills (and a few more I’m sure I’ve forgotten to mention) over a series of 7 specific jumps with an instructor (or two) beside you and coaching you every step of the way.
But first, before you ever jump, you train. AFF students first take a course (taught by a certified jump master and badass) in which you spend 6-8 hours learning all the fundamentals of the sport and equipment and emergencies. And it’s pretty flippin’ intense to learn all that crammed into 6 hours, because you kinda gotta KNOW this stuff or risk bouncing, and that’s BAD kids. So take ground school seriously. It’s there for a reason.
Then after they explain everything, they show you. They show you videos. they show you pictures of various malfunctions. They show you all the equipment in great detail. They put you in a harness and flash pictures at you of possible canopies and ask you to react to the scenario. You practice the belly down free fall position. You practice exiting the plane in a mock up. You physically practice everything before anyone will clear your punk ass to go on up and try it for real. And that’s a good thing.
I had the privilege of taking ground school twice. The first time I sat the class, after the classroom and practical training I was unable to jump because of high winds. All weekend I sat in the drop zone and watched other jumpers go up and come down, and I sat in the hangar with the veteran jumpers who had the same idea as my DZO: the winds were iffy, so why risk it. (Note to newbies: you can always tell what the smartest thing to do is by seeing what the veterans do. They live to jump another day for a reason. Take an opportunity like this as a good time to hang around and pick the brains of those much wiser than you. It’s kinda a good time. Some of them are even hotties. Grin.)
After a second straight weekend of being grounded due to winds and weather, I hit upon a clear and un-windy day but at that point I needed a refresher. So I did another two hours of review with another instructor and frankly, it was pretty cool. He taught a few things differently than the first guy. It wasn’t that the information was different, I just understood things better in some cases. Maybe it was just the repetition. Either way, it was worth it.
Skydiving is a sport in which you pretty much can never learn enough. Almost everybody I talk to, from newbies like myself to serious veterans with more than 10,000 jumps, all say the same thing: Learn something every time. Have fun. Relax. Slow is fast. Don’t get cocky. Be a sponge.
So, to be crystal clear: I’m going to tell you all the juicy details of my experiences and what I learned or am learning. BUT please remember – I don’t really know shit. I’m pretty damn new to this sport. I am only one source and definitely NOT an authority. Please always, always consult with and refer to your local jump masters and AFF instructors.
Next post, I’ll tell you how I failed to pass my first jump. (Rut, roh.)