2009-Apr-18 Jumps 37-41

#37
I did a diving exit, and immediately tucked my legs in and grabbed my knees causing me to do flip after flip after flip. It was a blast! After that, I tried to sitfly. I was able to get it for a little bit, but then slipped onto my back and did some barrel rolls.

I downsized to a 210 sq. ft. canopy from the 230, and the time under canopy was noticably shortened. I did do some corkscrews on the way down which was a lot of fun. I also played a bit with the front risers to descend on final when I realized I was going to overshoot my target significantly. I ended up about 30 feet away.

#38
This was my first jump on the Caravan as opposed to the Otter. It's a lot smaller, with no seats--only some beams on the floor that jumpers had to straddle. My buddy Brian F. was sitting in the right-hand seat, next to the pilot because he's been hired as a pilot. It was fun to see someone I knew in the cockpit. I also had the opportunity to chat with a guy, who was trying a new wingsuit, about what it's like to fly a wingsuit. I am now more thrilled about getting to the point where I can try one myself.

I was the second to last person out of the plane, with the wingsuit jumper the only one left after me. Again, on this jump, I did a diving exit with tuck. Lots of flips again, and I was able to keep myself from tipping over on my side like on the previous jump. The flips were very fun.

I had forgotten to tighten my sunglass keeper, and so my glasses were moving all over my face. It was very uncomfortable, not to mention distracting. So, even though I had plenty of time to do other things, I ended up just arching and enjoying as much of the fall as possible.

I didn't do much under canopy. Again, with the 210, the canopy ride felt too short for me. I guess I'll have to start braking more to extend the ride.

During the landing I went into half brakes a bit to high, so there wasn't much lift to be had when I went to full brakes. As a result, the landing was a bit hard.

#39
I did a diving exit again, but this time I wanted to get stable immediately. Everything worked just right so I decided to ditch some of the stability to try out other things. I put my hand or arm into various positions to see what would happen. It was fun to get flipped and spun around. I went into a sit for a little bit, but quicly lost it and went onto other things. All in all, this jump was sit, spin and rock! Super sweet jump.

#40
Back on the Caravan again for this jump, and this time, I was the last one out of the plane. I went back to the diving exit with tuck because it was so much fun. Flips, turns, and fall rate were what I worked on. The canopy ride was fun and I had a great landing, 5' away from the target.

#41 - A License Checkout Jump
When I first arrived at the DZ, I told Blake I wanted to do my A-License checkout jump. I had really wanted to get it done on my second jump so I could have the rest of the day to play. Unfortunately, there were a gazillion tandems scheduled, so he couldn't do it until late in the day. That sucked, but I figured I'd just have to jump all day long, maybe getting to do a bandit with Rocco or a simulated checkout jump with Donald. Things just didn't work out that way though. Donald was busy filming Pack'D all day and Rocco and I either were on a flight full of instructors or he had arranged to jump with someone else. After four jumps I was getting a bit tired, so I tracked down Blake to see if we could get it done. Finally, he gave the thumbs up, and I set the manifest team into action. The moment of truth had arrived after a day of jumping.

At first Blake started by asking me to tell him everything I knew about the parachute rig I was going to use. I wasn't exactly certain what he wanted me to tell him, so I just started babbling about this and that. I guess I was giving him all the information he needed, so after a few minutes he said to get my rig on and meet him over by the packing barn.

He came out in his rig and asked me if I knew what all the different aspects to the pre-jump and jump that I needed to accomplish to get my license. I threw out a few things, at which point he interrupted me and told me all the things I needed to do, and the criteria by which I needed to pass. Of course, in typical Blake style, (or is that lack of style) he bluntly stated that if I fucked up A, B, or C, that I'd fail even if I did everything else perfectly. We finished going over the skills I needed to demonstrate and then we started in earnest.

The first order of business was a gear check on him. Of course, I knew that he was going to try to trip me up, but there's not much to a gear check that I'd miss. So, the first thing I noticed was that his chest strap was just looped through the buckle, but not properly. So, I pointed that out and continued with the check.

His rig was significantly different than any of the student gear, plus, I normally would have done the gear check of the back first and then the front, from top to bottom both times. However, now I was doing things backwards, so I was a bit disjointed, skipping from here to there. I covered everything, but it wasn't smooth. He mentioned to not just check all the things that are there, but all the things that weren't too. That was a bit tough, because I had never encountered a rig that didn't look like all the student rigs. He doesn't jump with an AAD or an RSL. I assumed that because there wasn't the window showing the AAD, that there wasn't one. But the RSL I completely didn't think about. The disjointed order probably was the cause of my lack of recognition, but the fact that the rig was already on him rather than sitting on the ground in front of me could have had an impact too. In any event, I finished the gear check and we headed out to get on the plane. We were joined by Candice, who was shooting video of my jump.

On the ride to altitude, I tried to calm myself and make it seem like I wasn't nervous by asking Blake about any mountain biking he's been doing recently. After a terse statement about a ride done early in the week, and a lack of any interest in anything about me, I just looked out the window and enjoyed the ride.

We were the last to leave the plane. Candice climbed out onto the camera step. Blake got into a rear floating position, and gave the count. I dived out after them, but somehow, I completely flubbed the exit and spun around. Recognizing that, I did a fast flip and got stable. Then, I descended to where they were and came up to Blake. When I was a few feet in front of him, I did my front and back flips. Then I docked for a second, let go and did a 360 to the left, docked again and did a 360 to the right. I was just about to dock again when he waved me off. We were still above 6000', so I'm not certain why he waved me off, but I turned, tracked and pulled by 4000'.

The canopy ride was nice, but nothing spectactular. I did a few corkscrews and then I was at 1000' and ready to get into the landing pattern. The wind had completely died, and I turned a bit soon into final, so I knew I was going to be long. I grabbed the front-risers to lose some altitude, but I was a bit scared to drop too much. I got to about 20' and went to half-brakes. Unforunately, that was way too high, but I held it until just at the ground. Of course, because I slowed down so much, I didn't have the speed I needed when I went to a full flare and had to PLF.

We went into the office and Candice put the video on the big screen. We watched the whole thing and then he asked me how I thought I did. I had done everything I was supposed to do, even if it wasn't as smooth as I'm capable of doing, so I knew I didn't have any problems. He gave me a few pointers on how to do some things better (like my tracking), but told me I had passed.

So, now I've got my A-License. I figure in a few weeks time I'll get my B-License, since I already have 41 jumps. So, I'm not even going to send it in until I finish the B-License (plus that way I don't have to pay for the A-License).

2009-Apr-12 Jumps 33-36, A-License Written Exam

I had not planned on jumping today. I had other things to do, but poor weather yesterday threw a monkey wrench into the mix. I had called the DZ several times yesterday to see if conditions there were amenable to jumping, but the clouds never cleared. In Leucadia there was scattered rain showers and gloomy, gray, low-hanging clouds. So, mountain biking wasn't really an option

Jump 33
Bandit 3-way attempt with Rocco and Mitch. It was planned that they would jump out and I would follow immediately afterwards. We were to be the first out of the plane, and I was sitting at the end of the bench, facing backward so I wouldn't be noticed by any of the instructors on the plane. Rocco and Mitch jumped, and wanting to make it appear like I wasn't jumping with them, I waited too long to jump. I did a diving exit, and got stable, but that slowed me down a bit too much. I tracked down to them, slowed down and then tried to get into position. Unfortunately, in trying to get into position, my fall rate increased too much and I descended below them. I slowed my fall rate and waited for Rocco and Mitch to come down to me, but then they dropped too quickly, so I ended up above them again. I tried to glide into the dock, but was moving forward before moving down. I misjudged what I needed to do to get to them and ended up going over the center of them, my food hitting someone as I glided past. At that point I turned, waved off since we were at about 7000 feet and there was little reason to keep trying at that point.  We tracked west. Just after I pulled, I see someone fall right in front of me, maybe 30 feet away, and pull. Kind of scary! I was really long on the landing.

Jump 34
Solo jump. Diving exit. Stable immediately. Donald asked me later what my intent was with the exit, and when I said to get stable, he said I was perfect. Did front and back flips and barrel rolls. The canopy ride was fun. Landed 10 feet from my target.

Jump 35
Solo jump. Diving exit with fall rate drills and 360s. Nice canopy spins.

Jump 36
Donald asked me about my plan for the jump. I didn't have one, so he suggested I work on instability. He told me to grab my knees as soon as I jumped out and to allow several flips before becoming stable and then going into several barrel rolls.

On exit, I grabbed my knees and went through 5 flips before opening up to get stable. It was a lot of fun, so I immediately went into barrel rolls, going through 4 of those before then getting stable again. Did some fast 360s and fall rate drills.

The canopy ride was lots of fun, with some great spins with the toggle as far down as I could hold it.

On final, I used some front riser to improve accuracy and ended up about 5 feet from my target.

A-License Written Test
After my last jump, I decided I'd try my hand at the A-License written test. Blake gave me the answer sheet and exam before he headed off to do a jump. I sat down and started to answer the questions. It was pretty easy, especially after reading sections 3 and 5 of the Skydiver's Information Manual. I ended up missing 3 out of 50 questions, so with that passed, now all I have left is my check jump, which I will do on Sunday the 19th.

2009-03-28 Jumps 23-27

I started the day off slowly, lounging in bed until almost 7; for me that's late. A slow breakfast and the this' and the that's which conspire to pass the largest possible amount of time while accomplishing very little, made the process of leaving the house extended until well after 9am. I got the car packed with all the things I was going to want for the day--food, clothes, skydiving gear, beer, ice, dark chocolate... When I finally got my ass into gear and moved out, I still needed to stop and buy some coffee.

After a semi-quick stop at the Pannikin, with the Saturday morning line starting to form, I headed to Skydive San Diego with a combination of coffee to drink and a Theobroma cacao confection to eat. When I arrived, the parking lot was already full. I headed right to the office to pay for my rental, then, went to see if they had a 230 square foot canopy. I was in luck, and got the last one.

I got myself onto the next load, which didn't give me much time, but I didn't need much time. While I was going through the check on the rig, I couldn't get the Cypres to turn on. I tried and tried, but nothing was happening. So, I took it back to the gear room, and the gear bitch pressed the thing once and it started working. Damn, I felt really silly, but better to be silly than stupid.

Jump 23

It was a bit chilly, but I decided that I would jump without gloves, a move I would regret when I got to the door of the aircraft at altitude. We were only at 10,000 feet, and I was third in line to get out the door. I did a diving exit, and even though I was certain I was doing everything correctly, I was quickly flipping heals over head. I went with it, did a few more flips, then got stable and did a few more flips. I just had fun with the freefall. The canopy ride down was fun because I did some nice corkscrew turns that really threw me out with a lot of force. The landing was bumpy, with a bunch of turbulence. I don't know why, but I was looking at a pretty hard landing, right in front of a gaggle of instructors, but somehow, I pulled it off, sliding on my feet before coming to a stop. It was one of those freak things where the I somehow pulled it off, and even got a comment from one of the instructors about it being a good landing. If only he knew...

Jump 24

By this time, my ground buddy Jake had shown up, and I started to pack my chute. I was glad Jake was there because I still haven't gotten the flaking thing down yet. Right in the middle of the pack job Blake comes over and tells me that I can't pack my own chute unless I'm faster, because there aren't enough rental chutes available. I was miffed that he would say something like that, since I had rented the chute for the day. He didn't say anything about getting a refund when I rented it for a day two weeks back, but only got to do 2 jumps due to the weather. Oh well... I got the chute packed and manifested on a load 35 minutes away. In the interim, I grabbed some water and chatted with Jake and some other folks.

On this jump, I brought my gloves. When we got to altitude, 13K this time, I was again 3rd in line to exit. I did a diving exit again, but still flipped like a loopy kid. I was getting rather annoyed at my inability to get stable right out of the plane. I played around with some turns and tracking and flips again, and pulled at 4.3k. The canopy ride was fun again, with more turns. This time the landing was picture perfect and within 15 feet of the target.

Jump 25

It took quite a while for jump 25 because I agreed to go with Rocco to pick up some fuel for the helicopter. His GPS took us the long way around, so a 5 minute drive turned into an hour and a half. It was ok though, since the friendship and interaction was enjoyable.

I had turned my chute into the packing barn, because I wanted to jump quickly. Ghouli apparently got right on it which was nice. But, since I wasn't there, it didn't make any difference. Fortunately, I was able to get the same rig when I got back. I got manifested on a load with little more than time to zip my jumpsuit, do a gear check and put the rig on.

The jump was fairly routine. I did a diving exit and as hard as I tried to will it not to happen, I still got flipped over onto my back. I recovered quickly, but it was really frustrating. The rest of the freefall included flips, 360's, a good opening, and a really fun canopy ride followed by a great landing. It didn't get any better than that.

Jump 26
My own pack job again, with some help from Jake again. Rocco conspired to jump with me, so he got us onto a fun-load with the intent that we would exit last. He floated while I dived. Again, I flipped over, and in the rapid back-to-the-earth freefall, I quickly lost sight of him. I just kind of hung out, slowing my fall rate, and he zoomed down in front of me. I then went to do the dock. I docked without any trouble. We flew the dock for a bit and then I undocked, did a 360 to the left and then a 360 to the left. By this time, my computer was telling me we were at 6000 feet, so I broke off, turned and tracked and pulled at 4300 feet.

The canopy ride was nice, but I was to the north of the dropzone, so I headed over the lake and around to the other side of the lake.

On the debrief, Rocco pointed out that I kept my legs straight when I jumped out which was the cause of my flipping.

Jump 27
I sent the rig in for packing and I enjoyed myself with conversations. After the rig was packed, I got manifested, again with only a few minutes to spare. This time I did a diving exit and was instantly stable. I kicked my feet back and put my arms out and no flip! I did some 360s, barrel rolls. I pulled at 4300 again.

Lots of corkscrew toggle turns on the way down and a good landing.

2009-02-28 Jumps 12-15

It was a beautiful day when I looked out my window this morning. High whispy clouds added detail to a brilliant February blue sky. The sun was raising in the sky and I could tell it was going to be warm and the palm trees were gently swaying in a light breeze. But, the Weather Underground forcast for Jamul's "Pio Pico" called for weird winds out of the south and >30% cloud cover. Since Leucadia and Jamul have very different weather patterns, I called the dropzone to find out what the jump situation was like.

As seems to be normal for a Saturday morning, Sara answered the phone with her folksy good nature and friendliness. There's something about her voice that is titilating; without a doubt, her smile can be heard though the phone lines. The sweetness of hearing her voice was combined with the great news that the weather was absolutely perfect at Skydive San Diego.

I called Divya R. from work. She and her husband were planning to come out to do tandem jumps. I was excited that I was able to get someone else was interested in jumping, so when she said she was still on, and would meet me around 9am, I was really happy.

I rolled into SDSD at a minute before 9am and looked around for Divya and her husband, but they weren't there yet, so I grabbed my stuff from my car and went to wait near the office. There were only a few people hanging around at this hour. The first load had already gone up, and Sarah was giving the 15 minute call for the second load. That's when Divya and her husband showed up. Today was just going to be Divya jumping, so I got her going on the registration process and then after she was finished, I paid for an all-day rental and four jumps.

We were scheduled for load 4, so we hung around chatting for a little bit before one of the instructors started giving Divya the run-down on what she needed to do on her jump. I went and grabbed my gear and ran over the gear check. While Divya was getting harnessed up, I was approached by a young woman named Katie, who asked if I was interested in jumping with her. I explained that I'm doing C8 jumps and not allowed to jump with anyone, but it turns out she is a coach, going for her AFF instructor certification, so it was OK. She asked me what I was going to be doing on the jump, and since I hadn't planned on jumping with anyone, I changed the jump I had planned and decided I wanted to try the dive to dock exercise. She gave me a few tips on how to exit the plane and how the dive flow would go. We got the five minute call, so we geared up and headed out to the runway.

Jump 12
The plane wasn't terribly full, which was nice. Divya had that "I don't really know what to think, but this is exciting and I'm scared" look on her face--completely normal for a first time jumper. I felt a little scared too. I'm not certain why, but even Katie mentioned it when we were reviewing the jump. I suppose it was the prospect of doing something new and not getting it right with a bit of the "I'm going to jump out of an airplane." Katie got outside onto the camera flyer step and I got in the doorway. But everything was wrong. I didn't let go of the grip and I had my right foot forward even though I was going to jump toward the back of the plane. I didn't give a clear count indication (even though I thought I had). In any event, once I got stable, I tracked to Katie and docked. I then undocked, and we both backed up and then I docked again. We repeated that pattern several times until it was time to pull

The canopy ride down to earth was enjoyable with nice views of San Diego and the Pacific Ocean in the morning sun. My landing was good, but not as accurate as I had hoped. I met up with Divya, and she had a huge smile on her face. We chatted for a few minutes before she and her husband left to go take ski lessons. I then met up with Katie and we talked about the jump and how I could improve. I really appreciated her feedback and critique

Jump 13
I decided to wait around for a little while before going on my next jump. I filled out my logbook and then did some people-watching. Then I walked over to Gravity Gear to check out some jumpsuits. Bonnie was busy with a few other customers, so I looked at the used suits she had in stock and after not finding anything that I liked, I said I'd come back later. I sat around for a little while and then managed to grab an instructor to ask a few questions. Then, I went to Manifest and gave Sarah one of my flight coupons. I roamed around for a little while, chatting with a few people before getting my gear. I was jumping a 259 square foot canopy again, and after the gear check, I got myself ready to go. While hanging around waiting for the 5 minute call, I struck up a conversation with a guy named Doug who was trying to finish his A-license today. However, he didn't have the Skydiver Information Manual with him, so he didn't have any way to study the appropriate information he'd need for his test, so I told him he could borrow the sections I had in the car.

On this jump, the plane was filled with tandem jumpers and students, so I ended up having to sit on the floor at the back of the plane. Once again, a new situation introduced a bit of trepidation on my part, but I soon got over it. This jump was only to 10K feet because of air traffic, so we got to jump altitude fairly quickly. Two groups of two jumpers went, and then it was my turn. I waited until the last group of divers were out of the way and then I dove through the door.

On this jump, my plan was to do some flips and tracking. I managed a really good backflip, but my front flip ended on my back again. I easily fliped over and did some tracking. By that time I was at 4500' and pulled. The canopy ride was pleasant, and even though I undershot the place where I wanted to land, I had a good smooth and soft landing.

Jump 14
After waiting around again for about a half hour and chatting with Rocco, I went and visited with Bonnie to talk about jump suits. I had kind of decided that I didn't want to get a jump suit because I was more than happy to just use the SDSD jumpsuits since they didn't cost me anything. Still, the idea of having my own suit was drawing me in, so I started asking her some questions. She asked me what type of jumping I was interested in: Relative Work or Freeflying. I wasn't really able to answer the question because I haven't had any opportunity to do either. Freeflying is probably a bigger draw to me because of the format, and as someone wrote in an article I had recently read, "Relative Work is work." On the other hand, another article I read mentioned that the skills learned in Relative Work create stronger Freeflyers. Bonnie's suggestion was to have one of each type of suit. Of course, at >$300 per suit, I have to think hard about whether I really want to do that. Fortunately, Bonnie said that if I want to freefly, I can start to do that in street clothes until I get good and then get a freefly suit. We then started talking about RW suits. She mentioned the benefit of buying one from a company that's not distant because of shipping times and the strong potential of needing to return the suit because of incorrect workmanship. She then asked me about my fall rate. I mentioned my speed based on what I get out of my Pro-Track jump computer, but she didn't understand the correlation and said I needed to ask one of the instructors about how my fall rate compares with other jumpers as that would determine what sort of fit I would need on the suit. I mentioned I had jumped with Katie in the morning and she said I should ask her, as well as getting some more jumps under my belt before I invest in a suit.

I then went and got myself manifested for the next load, grabbed a rig and got ready. Rocco and some of his buddies were going to be on the load too, and he asked me what I was planning for the jump. I wanted to do a floating exit and then practice the flips again. I was to be one of the first jumpers again based on my positioning in the plane, and this time were were going all the way to 13,000 feet. When it was my turn, I spotted to make certain that the previous jumpers were out of the way and that we were still over the correct location to jump. I then got out of the plane and did a "floating" exit that was really more of a bad sideways hop. The instability took me some time to control. I then did my flips, and then went into a track that was fast and furious. The canopy ride was nice and the landing smooth and soft.

Jump 15
After filling out my log book, I met Rocco. He immediately commented on the poor "floating" exit and showed me how to do it correctly. Wow, that should be much easier! No hop, just present myself to the wind and float off the plane. I got myself manifested on the next flight and went to get some gear. I wanted to downsize my canopy a bit, but the 230 square foot canopies were all in use. So, I went with the 259 again. On this jump I was going to be on the second Twin Otter, and there were only about 8 of us, so there was plenty of room for a comfortable ride. When we got to 13,000 feet, a group of 3 jumpers went and then it was my turn. I waited until they were out of the way and then I positioned myself for a floating exit. This time I simply floated out of the plane and I was stable immediately.

The freefall was fun. I did a back flip, and then another, and then I did a front flip and this time I went all the way over! Then I did some tracking and pulled at around 4500'. The landing was smooth and soft.

I really wanted to do another jump, and Katie approached me and offered to do another jump with me, but at that point money was more of an issue than anything else. I figured I could do another jump today, but that would reduce the number of jumps I could do next Sunday, so I decided to wait.

Jump 15 Fall Rate Profile