2009-Apr-05 -- Canopy Skills Course with Matt Lewis

I was up early again because I needed to be at SDSD by 8:30 for a Canopy Skills course with Matt Lewis. It was a beautiful day a with clear sky at the coast. That gave me some concern because the forcast had called for winds out of the East, and that means Santa Ana conditions. Sure enough, as I rolled into the DZ the winds were causing the windsock to dance around with radical changes in direction. Yep; the Santa Ana conditions were strong so I didn't have much expectation that we would be jumping.

Matt rounded us all up, and informed us that we'd do the classroom portion today and if conditions changed, which he didn't expect, we'd jump. Otherwise, we'd do the practical portion on another date. We crowded into a small room and Matt started his lecture. He covered so many different things, and it was incredibly informative.

After the classroom portion ended, I found Donald, and we went over the A-License skills completion card and he signed off almost everything. At this point, the only things I have left to do is take the written test and the checkout jump. Donald said he'd go on two practice checkout jumps with me next week!  Then I'll be licensed and ready to do jumps with other people!!! Yeah.

I have to say that I really appreciate people like Donald and Rocco who even with thousands or hundreds of jumps respectively, they are willing to jump with newbies like myself, as well as provide feedback and tips and techniques that the paid instructors don't bother to pass along or don't have the time or focus to do so unless they're getting paid.

While Donald and I were going over the A-License skills card, some of the instructors started playing with a canopy in the wind. When they were unable to get much lift, someone had the bright idea to get the lawnmower out and tie a rope from the back of it to the harness. Soon, Matt Lewis was soaring about 20 feet above the ground, with a constant stuggle to keep the canopy overhead and himself from crashing to the ground. After a little while the canopy was somehow released and the people who were holding the rope were getting rope burns, so the canopy ended up in a tree. Then, a Chinese Fire Drill ensued as people were climbing the tree, on top of the building, pulling, falling, etc. Then Oliver, the helicopter pilot came up with the idea of using the helicopter to lift the canopy out of the tree. But there was concern that the building was too close to the tree so they started to harness up someone who would repel from the helicopter. Thankfully, intelligence prevailed and using the helicopter in the high winds was deemed a poor idea. After several more minutes, the canopy was finally pulled free from the tree.

I stayed around for a little while longer, and then decided to head home.