I’d be hard pressed not to simply admit it. I’m a horrible blogger. I truly wish I had the time and/or dedication to keep this as up to date as I wish I could — mostly, because I presume one day I’ll be old and gray and will need this record of events to look back and remember what I did when I was still young enough to do it.
The season of 2011 has been a good one — albeit, very busy with life and kids — and with what time I have to even think about skydiving, I’ve used to actually skydive – not sit and write about it. Though today, I simply had to find the time to write a few quick notes about such a fantastic weekend; and the progress made over the last several months.
Last I’d posted, I’d gone through the a canopy course with Brian Germain – which I would highly recommend for any skydiver. I followed that with a dozen 7,000 feet hop-n-pops to work on the skills learned, then focused entirely on coaching and two to four way skydives — I was trying to prep myself for the AFF course taught by Bram Clement. I could have written a dozen posts about that course – if only I’d had the time. At different points throughout that week I’d thought I was surely going to fail, followed by the next day when my ego would tell my I was head and shoulders above the class, followed by the next day of certain eminent failure.. At least for me, that class was a week of extreme skydiving. Not to mention the heat wave Mother Nature decided to give us!
The 95 degree weather, with just as much Michigan humidity, surely didn’t make it easy – but I managed to pass three of my four evaluation skydives; with all thanks due to awesome Instructor Examiner, his wonderful assistants for the course, each and every one of my classmates, and even one quick prayer to God after landing on my last eval! But by that point in late July, I’d managed to almost fulfill one of my largest desires since first jumping out of a plane five years ago – I was an AFF Instructor. At least my membership card said so.
Real life, as it often does, quickly stepped in; I found myself back into a daily routine.. work, home, and kids.. barely enough time to even look at the skies with wanton lust. August and September soon passed, with barely a few jumps, and none using my new found Instructor rating. Then my unspoken prayers: If only, there could be one more summer weekend – in October.
Well damn it, there was. Seven days of supreme weather made for skydiving; and even more (yes, more!) my schedule for work and children seemed to part like the Red Sea and I found myself at the dropzone. A few coaching jumps and then I got to funnel a two-way train exit into another sit-fly attempt, and then my trusted DZO approaches me to tell me I’ve been cleared for AFF – a privilege previously withheld pending review of my competence for the task – and that’s it. As quickly as the autumn leaves turn from green to red, yellow, and brown – I took to the air today with two first jump students. I was very pleased with both students performances, as well as honored to look across those students and see the Instructor, then a Coach, I met on jump #12.
Today marks the beginning of another long journey for me. No more than my first skydive made me the skydiver than I am today; did my first Instructor jump today make me the competent Instructor I wish to become. As much as the night after my first jump four years ago, I’ll end this post with a simply thought in my mind… I wonder what comes next.
Blue Skies.
As in many other things, it is the same in our sport. The day you stop learning, you’ll start forgetting. Keep doing that long enough, and you might as well find your rocking chair and start telling students about the good-ole-days when you used to jump!
I had the excellent opportunity to be in Brian Germain’s Canopy Course over this past weekend and not only did I learn so much more, but I think I gained a glimpse into how much further I can go in this area. Not only was I able to expand on the things I now know I know, but the things I now know I don’t know, grew just as much! And as you will also learn in Brian’s course, both of those are surely outweighed by all the things I don’t yet know, I don’t know yet!
The course began promptly at nine Saturday morning and began with some basic topics, what is pitch, yaw, angle of attack, etc.. As our class was composed of several jumpers still on student status, a few more with the ink still wet on their A licenses, and only two experienced jumpers including myself; if I was initially a tad bit concerned I might not gain as much in a classroom with such a wide range, those concerns were quickly relived. If anything, the skill I saw displayed by Brian under canopy and in freefall, and his vast – nay, from my perspective, I’ll just call it his “infinite” knowledge about canopy design and control, aerodynamics, human psychology and it’s relation to skydiving; all may be overshadowed by his ability to teach and convey that information others.
Those basic topics were quickly built upon in the classroom and expanded in the air – we were again some very lucky Michiganders with two days of perfect weather; and by perfect I mean jumpable all day (a bit cooler and less humid would have been nice). With two canopy skill hop-n-pops from 7,000 feet on the first day, and four more jumps on the second day it was an amazing learning experience! The last jump on Sunday (#426) was truly memorable – a two-way tracking dive followed by two-way canopy relative work with a true “celebrity” of our sport; surely a perfect time for my first try at carving some turns in unison with another canopy!
Though I’m proud of the advancement in my canopy skills this weekend, this post wouldn’t be complete without admitting a mistake of season’s past. As Brian drilled several “new” concepts into me – some started sounding familiar; my own local S&TA (of re-re notoriety), had tried explaining the method and importance of lowering my slider before; and our Rigger on staff took his time as well to explain the dangers of uncoordinated turns in turbulence. Though I’ve truely found joy in every second of freefall (well.. except the last few seconds on jump #4), I’ve always viewed the canopy ride as just a safe way to ground so I could start dirt diving the next jump. I think when I stopped enjoying the canopy ride, I stopped learning more about it, and hence, began to forget some of the lessons I had already been generously taught. It’s time to listen up to the experts that already surround me.
Overall lesson learned this weekend: I need the same attitude upon landing as I do when I exit an aircraft. I’ll still PLF when if I ever need too, but until then, I’m gonna smile at the ground, lean into it, and dare it to try and catch me.
Good luck Mother Earth – I’ve had Planetary Avoidance Training now ;)
It’s hard to believe that May is now behind us, the first two months of the season gone, and only five short months remaining. But May went out on good terms – after losing many weekends to torrential downpours and other horrible weather here in Michigan, Memorial Day was delivered to perfection: 90 degrees, clear blue skies and a steady breeze. I could tell you about jumps 418, 419, and 420 – but I’d rather you go check out the Video Fan Page and tell me what YOU think about them!
For today’s post.. I’m going to tell you about a few other jumps on my mind.
Jump 1: I will always remember my first jump – especially when I see my FJC Instructor across from me on skydive. I’ve met a hundred other Instructors since, but it’s hard to imagine following anyone else out of the door on that first jump. Brenda gave me the confidence that day to take my first one-way plane ride to altitude, and somehow, in eight short hours of instruction: she made me believe I could fly.
Jump 149: It’s all fun and games until suspension lines start snapping. I can very distinctly remember sitting in the saddle at 3,000 feet looking up at my busted parachute. I’d already had a high-speed malfuction and cut-a-way, but this three minute canopy ride was the longest of my life — choosing to land a busted but working canopy, rather than cut and take a chance on a reserve ride, was seriously one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in the sport.
Jump 239: Solo Night Jump, Forth of July. To be alone, falling at 120 mph, slowly turning, watching every firework display for 50 miles around. Simply amazing. I’d never felt how “big” that holiday is – it’s not just your city shooting fireworks into the sky – but the entire Nation at once! You just have to go up a few thousand feet to get a good view of the show.
Jump 371: Over four hundred times I’ve “held my hands up high, feet and knees together, prepare to PLF, and get ready to flare”; it may have been easy for us all to recite those words (or some version of them) when we first got our A license – but are you ready, I mean really ready, to PLF on every landing? Whether it be pilot-error, funky winds, or a hundred other things, sooner or later you WILL have a rough landing – you may break your back, twist an ankle, or just roll it out, stand up and go manifest for the next load — the quality of your PLF makes the difference.
Jump 390: I’ve done Cat-Fly-Arounds dozens of times (it’s my favorite three-way), but when recently asked to sign an old log book entry, I just couldn’t picture the jump. Flipping back through my own log book, I was able to verify the jump – but I still can’t quite picture it in my mind. What can be learned from a jump I can’t remember? A reminder to slow down and value each jump a little more.
Jump 413: Getting coached by a student. As I equaled or surpassed the experience and currency of some jumpers I initially looked up to for guidance, I noticed some tension when I started returning to them – giving advice rather than taking it. Those tensions quickly fading as they realized I was merely trying to help them as they had helped me. The shoe was on the other foot early this year, as I struggled to quickly rebuild my currency, and had a previous low-timer with a fresh Coach rating point out some basic body position errors in my flying. I don’t think I took it as gratefully as I could have, I’ll have to do better next time, all I’ve got to say about that is… “it was April”, and… Thank you. Feel free to signal me some toe-taps anytime. ;)
It is great to be back in the air! Sorry for the lack of posts so far, but I think I really needed the first few jumps this year to just clear out some of those cobwebs that seem to grow all winter long!
The weather has been less than perfect through most of April and May, but I’ve been able to get 17 jumps in so far! With a weak last season, a long winter just behind me, and only getting one or two jumps a day, the first dozen jumps were all four-way or smaller and without my camera. Gladly, the weather blessed us last weekend and I was able to get six jumps, including a few bigger groups, and 8-way that went well and an 11-way that could’ve been better. But thats okay, we’ve got a lot of season left in front of us :)
I also picked up the new GoPro Hero HD, so look forward to some really great quality video’s this year! Of course I couldn’t resist putting it right on my helmet, so without further ado, here’s the first video for the year:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150198312734413
Looking forward to a lot more jumps with everyone… so next time you see my cam in freefall, come say hi!
Yeah, I know it’s not the first time you’ve heard that word, but maybe we can think about it for a minute. To most people, winter is simply the season after Autumn and before Spring. Some people love it (those crazy snowmobilers), most people tolerate it, some people move to avoid it! Generally speaking, Skydivers, we despise it.
Winter is more than a season, it’s more than bad weather and snow shovels. It’s the long void between one great season at the dropzone and the next. It represents many months of seeing good friends less and your family more. No more long summer nights discussing the days successes and failures or cold spring mornings waiting around for enough skydivers to make a load. No more quietly sitting back and watching the new Tandem students nervously pace around as they wait for their ticket to be called.
I have come to believe, that “Winter”, to a skydiver, is more than just the season of winter from December through March. Winter and all it’s cold, dark, and lonely glory; can be found nearly anytime of the year just where you would expect it – far away from the dropzone. See for yourself.. stop skydiving from July til September, trust me – you’ll start feeling Winter while it’s still hot enough to sweat.
In my few years around, I’ve seen people come and go from the sport, some jump for a year or two, then take up hang gliding or rock climbing instead, they merely prefer spend there “Summer” elsewhere. But sometimes others are forced to take time away from the sport. It’s easy for the weather, career, family, kids, life or a new wife to step in the way. Thats Winter. An unmovable object, keeping you from the things you love.
Luckily, no matter how it appears from the depths of it, Winter is a temporary object. It can fade away slowly for months or years, or even give you few weekend breaks before it suddenly ends one day. It can last one season, or it could be a twenty year stretch.
When a long and slow winter finally begins to wane, it’s good to know the sport you love is still there. When you start hearing the birds chirp, know that you will fly with them soon. Winter does end, Spring will come, just close your eyes and smell the jet fuel. You know when you get back to the dropzone, your friends will be waiting for you, as if you just took too long to pack; no hurry, there’s always room for one more on the next load. Once Winter ends, it’s as if it never even happened.
It’s been a long, long winter. But it’s almost over now.
I’ll be skydiving tomorrow :)
Jeromy