2009-06-06 - 2009-06-07 Water Training, B-License, camping and jumps 74-78

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.

2009-05-24 Memorial Day Weekend 2009 Jumps 62-69 and Jumps 70-73

Sunday
My buddy Keith C from up north was down for the weekend with the specific intent of skydiving. He was doing his first tandem jump, and after a few false starts, it was finally going to happen. I popped by our buddy Keith S' house to collect him, and off we went. Since I was planning on doing 10 jumps today, we drove in separate vehicles. While I'm not normally self-conscious about driving 55, with someone behind me the whole way, I was a bit stressed that he was going through speeding withdrawals. Anyway, as we got closer to the DZ, I realized that no matter whether he had a 9am reservation, we weren't going to be jumping for a while.  The cloud cover was pretty thick and low, but reported to burn off by about 11. I called, just to make sure, and as a result got my coffee run turned into a coffee-boy run. With coffee drinks in hand, we walked into the office just a bit after 9:30. We got Keith all registered and I got my rental gear and went to manifest just as the clouds were starting to break. Sarah had put me on load 1 for a fun jump and Keith and I on load 3.


Jump 62
My first tracking jump. I was way behind everyone, able to stay at the same altitude, but couldn't catch up. Johny M was  kind enough to offer a solution for the next time I try a tracking jump. PLF'd

Jump 63
Keith was so cool, calm and collected. Everyone was commenting on how he had no fear. Of course, he was chatting up Vanessa the whole way up in the plane, so he might have been thinking with a different mind.

I did a 3-way with Brian and Ausie Matt. We tried to get a speed star. I docked with Brian but Matt came in too low and grabbed anyway causing the start to warble and break.

Jump 64
Solo sitfly practice. I got into a stand, but as soon as I tried to sit I went onto my back. Nice landing.

Jump 65
4-way head down with Brian, Ausie Matt and Andrew. After going head down we broke and went to belly.
I almost made the dock, but reached breakoff before I could take my slot. Great landing
 
Jump 66
2-way Horney Gorrilla with Ausie Matt. We were very stable and got a great spin going, flinging us across the sky. Great landing.

Jump 67
3-Way head-down. We took strong grips, left low right high, I and Ausie Matt were outside and Brian was inside. We rolled out of the plane and almost immediately went into a head down. I looked up and saw the earth. We broke and then formed a speed star. We all docked well. The landing was pretty bumpy.

Jump 68
3-way Hybrid with Andrew and a fellow from Elsinore. It was a lot of fun. We were in a slow spin, so I countered to make certain we were stable. Mr. X swooped in, took grips on our chest straps and went into a sit. He got the sit for a bit but then fell on his back. He was able to get back to the sit for a bit, but then we were at breakoff. Pulled at 4.

Jump 69
2-way with Brian F into Horney Gorilla. We exited in a roll, legs locked. Then we tried to go to a belly, but that didn't seem to be working, so I put my legs between his and we sat back. We were stable and so I started the spin. We spun for a while and then I released and we flew across the sky. We redocked and Brian took side grips. I then went into a track which caused us to spin, but we were out of time. Broke off, pulled at 4.

Monday
I wasn't going to jump, because I was out of money. I was sitting on Facebook when my friend Rocco sent me an IM asking me if I was going to jump. I explained my situation and he offered to help. An all-day gear rental for $50 and then $22/jump. The gear rental sounded good, but I didn't want to get myself too deeply into a financial hole, so I decided to call Sarah and ask her about the free jumps for sending three people down for AFF. When she said she'd credit my account, giving me a balance of 5 jumps on the books, I decided I'd take Rocco up on the gear rental.
I didn't realize it until I got to the drop zone, but I was really beat from the 8 jumps I did yesterday. Still, I figured I'd get as many jumps in as possible. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the 4th jump, I was exhausted.

Jump 70
2-way with Andrew. We tried to do a horney gorilla, but didn't make it. Great, on target landing--5' from target

Jump 71
Solo Sitfly. I got it for a little while, but really could use some help figuring out what I'm not doing.

Jump 72
4-way tube exit with Rocco, Andrew and Mike. We were flipping nicely for a while but then got off. I tried to help correct for it, but we ended up breaking off. We tried to dock again, but Andrew and Rocco were all over the place. Each zooming past the other. By the time they docked, we were at the breakoff altitude anyway, so we waved off and tracked. 

Jump 73
2-way with Andrew. We exited with his legs wrapped around mine, went into a back laying position.  We flew it for a little while but we weren't able to get stable. We broke off around 7k and tracked to 4.  Good landing, 15' from target.

2009-May-2 and 2009-May-3 Cinco de Mayo Boogie (Jumps 48-55)

It was time for my first Boogie--the Cinco de Mayo Boogie at Skydive San Diego--and I was really bummed. The weather in Jamul was forecast to be dismal on Saturday with lots of clouds and even a chance of rain, but was supposed to clear up by late morning on Sunday.

Saturday
I checked the weather around 9am, and I checked for a Facebook post about the weather, but there were no encouraging signs. So, I started my day not really knowing what I was going to do.

By mid-afternoon, after some shopping and other assorted activities, I decided I'd make my way down to the DZ, thinking that maybe I would even stay the night. But, then I remembered that I had not brought anything to make sleeping comfortable, so I assumed I'd just go for the party and then head home.

When I got to the DZ around 3pm, the sun was shining and the winds were light, and apparently had been that way since around 11am. I decided I was going to jump, so I give Sarah my CC, picked up a rig and jumpsuit and walked toward the packing area. Franz was there, and being that he's a new diver too, I asked him if he wanted to jump with me. We agreed and we got ourselves manifested onto the next load.

Just as I was getting things together, Katerina C. asked us what we were doing, and asked us if we wanted to do a 4-way that she was trying to organize. Apparently she hasn't had much experience organizing, so there were a lot of false starts in terms of planning, but in the end we figured it out. We'd exit as a 3-way with a floater that would swoop and dock. Jan was to be the floater since he had the most experience, and the rest of us would be in the base. We would then break the base into an accordian and switch back and forth between the accordian and the star. We dirt-dived several times, but I still wasn't really certain if everyone knew what we were supposed to do. We got our 5 minute call and suited up and headed to the plane.

Jump 48
The 3-Way exit was OK, but Jan took forever to find a slot. He circled around us two or three times before he finally docked next to me. Katerina gave the nod and we started to go into the accordian. Almost immediately Franz broke off and couldn't get back to the group. At some point I broke off, I don't recall how it happened, but I tried to get back, but wasn't able. I was below Katerina and Jan, and no amount of trying to grab air seemed to slow my fallrate enough to get back to level with them. At 6K, when it was obvious redocking wasn't going to happen, I waved off, turned and tracked. I had a great landing, with very good accuracy (10ft.)

I got myself manifested on the next load and was excited about going up again, and Katerina was organizing another jump. But the clouds rolled in and it became evident that no more jumping was going to be happening, but that meant that the party was about to begin.

The party got going around 7pm when the DJ and food arrived. There weren't many people at the party, which was kind of disappointing given that it was my first Boogie. Most of the instructors took off just after eating, and I knew few of of those who remained. Regardless, I had brought several bottles of Pliny the Elder, so I enjoyed the beer while everyone else was busy hitting the keg and I enjoyed the conversations with the folks around me.

Sunday
It was bright and sunny around 9am when I arrived at the DZ. As I walked toward the office I heard Sarah announce that load 2 was on a 10 minute call. I proferred my CC, ordered up a day rental and had my jumps put on the day's tab. I grabbed a rig and wandered over to the fun-jumper's packing area. That's when I saw Jake K. We talked about jumping together, but less than a few seconds after we agreed what we were going to do, Matt Lewis asked us if we wanted to jump with him. We made a plan to do a train exit with Matt at the head, Jake in the middle and I at the back side. After a few dirt dives, we got ourselves manifested and waited around for the call.

Jump 49

3-way with Jake and Matt Lewis.
Train exit.
Got whipped around. Jake dropped and I held on to him. We whipped around for a bit and then I let go of him. Matt and I docked. Jake came in, docked on matt, but couldn't get both arms.
Jake lost it again and Matt and I did a Horney Gorrilla before finally breaking off and tracking.

Jump 50
6-Way Hybrid organized by Matt Lewis.
3 in base (Jake K, myself and Matt. )

Exit went well, we stayed together.

3 divers tried to swoop and grab ahold of our leg straps. Only two got in. After it was clear she wasn't going to make it, the other two went into their sit which dramatically sped things up.

Jump 51
12-Way Hybrid.

Jake, I, Rigo and Shad were the base. Matt L., Erika, Mu, and one other jumper docked to leg straps. 4 Stingers came in and docked to leg grips. The four on the leg straps went into a sit. The change in velocity was incredible! The stingers broke off at 5500, the sitflyers at 5000 and the base at 4500. I turned, tracked and pulled at 3500

Jump 52
Jake and I. Julien H. came along to watch.

Jake and I tried to do a propeller, and finally got it a bit, but I felt like I was having to throw him around to make it work.

After we broke, I docked with Julien briefly.

Jump 53
Julien and I. Horney Gorilla exit and fly. Then we broke and I tried a sit, but couldn't get into it.

Good landing, about 30 feet from target.

Jump 54
Allie G, David G, me.

The exit was horrible, with Allie flipping over and landing top of me, back to back. I flipped us around and tried to get us into a propeller.

We weren't turning very much in the propeller, and I was trying to make make the spin go faster. After a brief stint, I undocked and David swooped in and docked with Allie.

With Allie being significantly lighter than me, her fall rate was much slower than mine. She and David were above me by about 20 feet leaving me to wait for them to come to me while I was trying to grab as much air as possible, but we never made it. Finally, just before break-off, David swooped down to me, tapped my hand and we broke off.

Horrible, long landing.

Jump 55
Solo jump with flips and turns.

Bumpy air on landing.

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-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.

2009/April/04 - Jumps 28-32

I rolled into SDSD at around 11:20; much later than I had ever intended. On the other hand, I had a handfull of errands that have needed to be dealt with for several weeks, so it was worthwhile to get those out of the way.

As I walked into the DZ, I saw Donald H's smiling face, which instantly lit me up. The first thing he asked was "what happened to 9am?" Yeah, yeah, at least I got those damn errands done! He pulled me off to the side and we discussed the next jump--a coach jump with him. The plan was for me to do a diving exit, dock with him, do some 360s and fall rate drills.

Jump #28
The ride to altitude seemed to take quite a while. I was sitting on the jump seat at the back of the plane, next to the door, which allowed me to see the ground as it slowly became more and more distant. When it was time to open the door, and the cold air rushed in, I was instantly brought back to the present. After a few groups of divers left the plane, Donald went out to the camera step. I got myself into the doorway and Donald gave the count. On "go" I was out the door, following him down, but I didn't kick my but enough and ended up flipping. I very quickly regained stability and Donald was right there with me. I came to him and we docked as planned. After a few seconds, he let go of me, I backed up a bit, did a 360 to the right and then docked again. Then, I backed up again, did a 360 to the left and then we went into some fall rate drills. He instantly slowed his fall rate, and I was pretty good, but I needed to slow myself down significantly more to achieve horizontal parity with him. After a few seconds, he dropped down to where I was and we docked again. At that point, he very visually adjusted his body position in such a way that it caused us to start turning. Noticing what he had done, I did the same thing, resulting in the speed of our "propeller" increasing very rapidly. After about 4-5 revolutions the centrifugal force of our spin was very strong. When he let go of me, I was flung though the air, but I quickly recovered stability. What FUN!!!

At that point, my audible altimeter was reminding me that we had reached 6000 feet, so I waved off, and tracked away, finally waiving off again and pulling at just under 4000 feet.

The canopy ride was fun with me corkscrewing almost all the way to 1000 feet. I got into the landing pattern, and as I came into land, my speed was pretty quick. I realized I was going to be a bit short of my intended target, so I went into a braked approach, and just as I did the final flare, a gust of wind did something weird with the canopy and I was jerked off to the left. I landed a bit hard but went into a PLF.

Jump #29
After dropping my canopy off at the packing barn and reviewing the video Donald had shot, I got myself another rig and manifested for the next load. I only have 5 minutes to gear check and get myself ready, so I moved quickly. Another solo jump, but I was excited to just be getting air time. I did a floating exit and pulled it off cleanly and was instantly solid and stable.

I did some 360s, flips and barrel rolls, staying on heading, finally pulling at 4000 feet.

Again, I corkscrewed downward under canopy, enjoying the ride. The landing on this canopy was smooth and soft, and I looked forward rather than down at the ground.

Jump #30
On the next jump I again did a diving exit and was stable quickly. No flip this time as I kicked myself in the butt and threw my arms out, doing a slight paddling to make certain I didn't flip.

I did some fall rate drills on the way down, but nothing much else. The canopy ride was nice and fun and the landing was smooth, soft and withing 10 feet from my target, although I had to use the brakes to get closer to the target.

Jump #31
The next jump was my Hop & Pop coached jump with Katie H. Around 5000 feet, we opened the door and after Katie spotted, I got into the doorway and got ready to jump. By the time we were out the door, we'd reached almost 6000 feet. Unfortunately, I had been holding the internal floater bar, so when I jumped, the contortion in my body made me turn and flip. But, I was very quickly stable and threw the pilot chute by 4 seconds. The canopy was open by 5400 feet, and I added a whopping 8 seconds of freefall to my time.

I had a decent landing, about 20 feet from my target.

Jump #32
I wanted to do a sunset jump, but the number of jumpers at the dropzone was getting sparce, so I switched my jump to the next load, about 30 minutes before the sun would have been in the spot where I wanted it. I was jumping the old crappy rig that I had used on the first jump. I look forward to having my own rig so that I don't have to deal with the rental crap any more.

On the way to the plane and on the trip to Altitude, I got to chat with Vanessa. It was interesting because she was telling me her story of independence in such a way that it seemed to me like she was trying to impress me.

The load was filled with instructors; I was the only non-staff jumper. As such, I was the last one out of the plane. I watched Vanessa and Chad and a few others in their fall and spotted to make certain that we were still over the DZ. I then did a diving exit, kicked my butt, swam a little and remained stable. Even though I saw the bottom of the plane, I managed to prevent myself from flipping.

On this jump, I just did some fall rate drills, and according to my computer, I managed to get my descent rate down to a solid 90mph.

I pulled at 4000 feet. Once the canopy was open and I did a control check, I tried to stall the canopy. I couldn't get it to stall no matter what I did. I just figured it was because of the size of the canopy. I went into some corkscrew turns, first to the left and then to the right. I entered into the landing pattern as expected, and upon final approach I went to half brakes to glide a bit further toward the target I set. I didn't notice much of a change in the projected landing spot though. When I was just above the ground, I flared, but got a very minimal amount of lift, and that made the last landing of the day another PLF! Damn!

In all, I had a great day of jumping, and enjoyed my interactions with Donald, Jake, Rocco, Vanessa and a few others.