2009-06-06
Water training apparently doesn't happen with as much regularity as is needed, so when I saw that Nick Roti was putting on the class I jumped at the opportunity. It was one of the only things I needed for my B-License, so it made sense to take the class.
The B-License is a bit of a strange certification. It doesn't really change anything except for allowing me to jump at night. To be honest, I don't really have any desire or need to jump at night. There's something about being able to see the ground on the final approach for landing that makes jumping in the dark seem crazy. Maybe after I've got several hundred jumps it will be more interesting, but until then, I'll stick to daylight jumps.
The only useful part of the B-License, as far as I can tell, is that once I have 100 jumps I can take a Coach course and become a skydiving coach. That effectively makes skydiving a job, and as such, I can include it in the services I offer through my business, Zen Monkey Adventure Services. Having skydiving as a ZMAS offering means that I can deduct my business expenses (milage, gear, training costs, etc.) on my taxes, thereby reducing my taxible income.
The water training course was intended to start at 4pm, but things being what they are, we didn't get started until around 5. After a brief stint in the classroom learning about different water related issues, we got into our cars and drove to the "College area" where Donald H. has an appartment complex with a swimming pool. Jake rode with me, and we had some interesting conversations about socialization, politics and other stuff on the way.
I was selected to be the first to jump into the pool. The best part about that was that I didn't have to put on a cold, wet rig. Once I was in the pool, they threw the canopy over me and I had to first surface, pushing up with my fist to create an air space. The second part was I needed to submerge again and extract myself from under the canopy. It was fairly easy in the pool, but I could see how it would be easy to get tangled in all the lines in moving water. Yeay, I finished the last requirement for my B-License!
After everyone was finished with their time in the pool, pizza and beer were served. Unfortunately for me, no one thought to order a pizza without all sorts of dead animals on it, or beer that wasn't fizzy and yellow. So I just drank some of the beer I brought with me.
After a bit of socializing, Jake and I headed back to SDSD. It was getting dark, so I was really appreciative of Jake's assistance in setting up my tent. After it was up, I bid him farewell and went about getting my air mattress inflated and the other comforts of home into the tent. The night was beautiful, with the sounds of frogs and birds and a full moon overhead. I enjoyed some fine potato vodka and laid on the air mattress looking out the window at the moon and the few clouds. Somewhere around 1am I finally fell asleep.
The sun came up early, waking me around 5:15am. I certainly wasn't ready to wake up, but there's no way to hide from the sun in a tent. Still, I tried to hide, covering my head with my sleeping bag--prefering to suffer from over-heating than suffer from a lack of sleep. I dozed in and out of sleep until around 7:30. After getting dressed and grabbing some breakfast from the cooler, I broke down the camping gear and packed it away in the car.
People were starting to arrive at the DZ by this time and before I knew it, I was manifested on the first load of the day.
Jump 74
Solo jump. I practiced sitflying with limited success. There were a lot of clouds, so I deployed higher than I would have liked, above the clouds. It was really cool to be able to clearly see the jumpers below me in freefall highlighted against the white clouds. I had to come through the clouds under canopy, so I went into a right hand spiral. It was scary but really beautiful to go through them, and when I came out underneath them, it was like a opening my eyes. I had a long landing.
Jump 75
Another solo jump. It was still cloudy even after a weather hold, and I didn't realize we were so far west. Again, I opened a bit higher because I realized I was at the southwest corner of the lake. I wasn't certain if I'd be able to make it back, so I put myself into a rear riser glide and tucked into a ball and rode the winds back. I made it to the DZ, but just barely, making an arc rather than a good landing pattern. The landing was soft even though the air was really bumpy.
Jump 76
3-way hybrid attempt with Jake and Ausie Matt. Jake and I went out linked and Matt tried to dive down to us. He took too long to dock, making it to us just as we got to 6000 feet. So, we broke off and tracked. The canopy ride was pretty bumpy, but I had a good, soft landing.
Jump 77
Another solo jump, but this time bellyflying. I took a moment to just look out at the horizon instead of down at the ground. It was really beautiful to see the ocean and San Diego, Tijuana, Chula Vista and the mountains. I took it all in, in a way I've never done before. The air was still bumpy under canopy, but I had a good landing.
Jump 78
Another solo bellyflying jump. I was pretty tired so I just did some flips, turns and barrel roles. Good landing.
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