2009-07-25 Jumps 95-100

Today was destined to be the day I hit 100. I was talking it up with a bunch of people, but when everything came together, I thought about doing a helicopter jump for the 100th. That would have made it really special in a selfish way because I would have been with a small number of people. Instead, Yoyo went through the effort to organize an ambitious 17-way snowflake. In the mean time, I had 5 jumps to do before the 100th, so I was jumping like a mad man.

Jump 95
This jump started off with the intention that I was going to lurk, but I ended up solo. I did some back and sit practice and got into a straight down delta. The head down position was really cool because I could tell my lower body was in the slipstream of my upper body. It got really quite too which was really cool. A good landing at 10'.

Jump 96
I decided to try the head down position again and again got into that slipstream. It felt very cool. 206mph. A good landing at 10'.

Jump 97
A tracking jump with Travis and Shane. It was fun, and we were able to keep together and on the same level. I felt pretty good about my track stability. Long landing at 30'

Jump 98
Another solo head down. It would be nice to see what I'm doing. A good landing at 15'.

Jump 99
2-way back flip exit with Heyka. We did several flips then to belly. Tried to do a propeller, but couldn't get it to work. Long landing at 20'.

Jump 100
Yeay, the big #100. Now I can feel like a hotshot. :) Yoyo organized a 17-way snowflake. I was in the base, so there wasn't much for me to do to make this happen other than not screw up the exit. Well, I didn't screw up the exit, but still only 12 people were able to get grips. I guess one problem was that we were fairly dearched in the base, so it was flying really slowly. Tracking was kind of crazy with so many people in the sky. A good landing at 15'.

I got to watch the video that Donald and one other guy made of the jump on the big-screen. It was way cool.

2009-07-19 Hot and Sticky! Jumps 90-94

It was a hot and sticky day for sure. The temperature must have been over 100°f, and even hotter in the backdraft from the propellers while waiting to board. But that didn't stop Cindy, Matt and I from jumping the whole day.

Jump 90
I met up with two guys on the way to the plane and we decided to try a  3-way head down then to belly and 2 360's.  We managed it which was cool. I had a great landing within 5' of the target.

Jump 91
I got to lurk as Matt and Cindy did a linked tracking jump. In the middle they did a  flip, together, and it worked very well. We reversed direction and tracked again. They waved off, tracked and went in for the landing. Again, I had a really great landing within 5' from the target.

Jump 92
 3-way hybrid attempt with Matt and Cindy. Matt was supposed to come in, dock and grab chest straps and go into a sit. He was too slow in docking, so we never got to have him go into a sit. Good landing, 10' from target.

Jump 93
3-way belly with Cindy and Troy. We were just going to do 360's and docks. We actually got three 360's and two docks before the clock ran out. Good landing, 10' from target.

Jump 94
5-way  sit train attempt. Heyka and I stayed linked because I forgot to let go of her harness. I enjoyed the spin we got into. I don't think she did though. We were falling faster than the rest, so I was able to see one other group of 2 still in the sit train above us. Heyka and I got into a belly and waited to see if anyone else would join us. The landing was a bit long at around 30'.