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-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/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.

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

2009-02-20 AFF5, AFF6 and AFF7

I needed a mental health day, which my boss kindly ceeded to me.  With the day off and secure that my finances could handle the stress testing, thanks to receiving my bonus check today, I headed off to Skydive San Diego. The sky was clear and the sun bright as I arrived around 11am. I headed first to Gravity Gear to buy some gloves and then headed over to pay for my jumps. With my credit card swiped and my signature on the waiver, I started the wait for my name to be called. It only took a few minutes before Vanessa called my name.

AFF5
We went over AFF5 which includes 360 degree turns and re-docking. I was pretty secure in my ability to accomplish those skills, but it was good to practice them. Vanessa also went over the gear check with me, which was good because I learned a lot about how everything works and what to look for when checking the gear. The gear check is actually pretty easy, but definately one of those things that needs to be methodically done.

The ride to altitude was pretty cramped and we ended up having to circle back just before our jump because we had gone too far past the dropzone. I was wearing both my mechanical altimeter and my new Newton 2 digital altimeter. Since I had never seen the Newton 2 in action, I wanted to make certain that there would be no surprises. However, on the ride up, Vanessa asked some of the other instructors about it, and while one said it wasn't an issue, another said he wouldn't allow it. So, playing conservative, I had to take it off and Vanessa stuck it in her pocket. I was kind of bummed, but oh well, there'll be plenty of opportunities to use it.

I had to spot, which entailed sticking my head out the door of the plane to ensure we were over the dropzone. It was kind of scary at first, but once I got used to it, I was fine. The exit from the plane was not the one I'd done up to this point. Instead, it was a poised exit, without holding onto the door frame. The exit went well, and it didn't take long before I was stable and Vanessa let go of me. I went into my turns and then the docking, and it all seemed to go very well. I was a little under aware of altitude for a while, but got back on track quickly enough. As usual, I locked my gaze onto the altimiter at 6000'/1850m and waved off and pulled at 5000'/1540m.

The canopy ride down was comfortable and enjoyable. When I got down to the ground, I felt like I flared a bit too soon, so I prepared for a PLF (Parachute Landing Fall). I was about 6'/2m off the ground when the chute stalled, so I went into a roll. All went well with the PLF, and I grabbed the chute and headed back to the packing barn with a big smile on my face.

AFF6
As soon as Vanessa had signed my logbook, I headed into the office to get myself hooked up for AFF6. I was pleased that I was going to be jumping with Vanessa again because she takes her time and makes certain that I practice the skills several times on the ground. This jump was an unassisted poised exit which meant that no one was holding on to me. I helped spot the jump location and when we were at the target, I got in the door, signaled OK, and jumped. I had to do a back flip, which I completely flubbed, but the idea is less about doing a perfect flip and more about being able to get stable after being in an unstable position. I was falling back to the earth, but flipped myself over without any problems. I tried the back flip again, but still wasn't able to get it. So, I went into the tracking (horizontal movement) and did that well. I tracked several times and then at 6K I locked onto my altimeter and at 5K, I waved off and pulled. The ride down was uneventful and the landing was softer, but I still wasn't able to stand up or run it out.

AFF7
I switched instructors for AFF7 to Shawn, who, while being a really nice and friendly guy, doesn't take the same amount of time to go over skills. With him, it's more about dive flow than about the skills, but I still felt confident that I'd pass this level and be on to C-8 jumps. The skills for this jump were forward summersault, backward summersault, 360 degree turn and tracking. After briefly showing me how to do a forward summersault, and going over the dive flow several times, I geared up and we headed out to the plane. On the ride up, I had been asked to tell him what I would do at various altitudes without prompting, and I did so. The exit on this jump was new to me. It was what is called a 'floating exit' and entails standing with the body out of the plane while holding on to the bar just inside the door. Then, in a move reminiscent of a 'step class' at the gym, taking a step backwards while simultaneously turning the body to orient into the relative wind. This exit, like AFF6, was unassisted, and all I can say is that I forgot the whole arch thing and was very unstable. I managed to get on my back again, but it was very difficult to get back on my belly for some reason that I learned about later was because of my lack of arch. I checked my altitude and started into the dive flow: forward summersault. But I ended up on my back again, and no try as hard as I could, I couldn't get turned over for quite some time. When I finally got back on my belly, I tried the backward summersault, and once again ended up on my back. By this time, I had lost a lot of time and altitude, so the freefall part was almost over. I locked on the altimeter and pulled at 5K. The ride under canopy was uneventful and the landing was perfect. Unfortunately, I didn't pass, and have to redo level 7. I'll be going out again tomorrow with some friends from work, so I hope to pass it then and get on to a C-8 jump.