The airplane, often seen from a distance, but now so up close and personal. The ride up, in the beginning seemed to be that last slow walk down the green mile, but later becomes an unbearable delay from your own sweet release. The open door at altitude, the doorway into another world. Freefall, where you finally spread your wings and fly. Pull time, when it all gets serious. The canopy, is it there and is it square. The ride down, can this thing do a cart wheel? The landing pattern, downwind, base, final.. then.. wait for it… wait for it… FLARE!

Yeah, thats how a skydive works in my mind. But “skydiving” transcends the “skydive”. After all, every tandem student has done a “skydive”, but do they understand “skydiving”? So if not just the skydive, what else is there? Well, a lot! Not the least of which is the dropzone’s atmosphere itself!

The friends, the students, the Coaches and Instructors. It’s a beautiful spring day spent waiting in the shade, casual chatter all about. Idle time spent learning about aviation from the pilot and teaching new students about the skydive, explaining the difference along the way between fact and and your own opinion. Enjoying the day at the dropzone, not skydiving, just relaxing.. and waiting for the skydive.

It’s not easy. It’s took me three years to get used to it and another year to learn to enjoy it. It’s hard to understand, much less appreciate this part of skydiving in the beginning -- when it’s all about the skydive -- but now, a fine spring day, spent outside with friends.. that’s enough to make me smile any day of the week -- of course, getting some altitude at the end of that wait is great too!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk8cSEnEd6E

Some find winter hobbies: skiing, ice skating, or snowboarding. Some travel: mostly to boogies all over the south and out west – though this past winter many jumpers I know jumped the ocean and landed in Puerto Rico! (lucky bastards) But mostly, we just sit around, look at the sky, and pout.

So when does it end? Well, when the new season begins of course! But when is that, exactly? Is it the big get together all the skydivers had in the winter where you discussed some of the changes coming this year? nope. Was it a couple weeks ago at Safety Day when we all got together and figured out how to keep our asses alive this year? nope. Is it the “opening day” date on the website? nope. So when, when do you ask? When is the moment that new season begins? Well here is a clue.. First you hear someone yell “DOOR”, then a few seconds later…

A little green light comes on. Your trusty S&TA checks the spot and you look outside of that open airplane door for the first time in months, only slightly scared (not that you would admit it), and you remind yourself that you’ve done this hundreds of times before. Your friends climb out, you know they’re waiting on you to start the count, so you take a diving stance, look up at them, smile and nod.

The 2010 season is here!

The swoop club event was scheduled for Monday morning, but alas, the clouds and rain just didn’t want to let it happen. Well the rain paused for a moment, so we decided to quickly get the Cessna up and test the ceiling. Well, we were able to get up to 4,000 feet, but it sure hadn’t stopped raining up there! I’m sure someone might have considered not proceeding.. but the next load was already manifested.. and they had already setup the swoop course.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvHq_xvoDWY

Now for a bit of my personal history, I am not a swooper. I hadn’t ever participated in swoop club before. I was on the load for a quick hop-n-pop and I saw the course setup, I thought I’d just use it for a bit of accuracy practice. Of course when I landed, Ryan said I was the only one that had even scored in the round, putting me momentary in first place, so I decided I should stick around and finish it -- couldn’t hurt to learn a bit more about my canopy! Many thanks to Ryan for answering all my questions that day, the rules, scoring procedures, the different rounds, etc.. I really learned a lot.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNgoHY24g-4

Mostly I focused on just hitting the gates with an accurate approach. In the first round (above) I had a 77′ swoop followed with a 42′ swoop in the second round. The rules changed in the third round (accuracy) so I just tried to land in the square Ryan showed me and in the process I hit three of the four gates. At this point, I was the only person to score in each round and I might have had a chance at placing first or second.

Hellfish Swoop Club 2009 - 3rd Place Medal

However for the final round I decided to put a bit more effort into it and hit all four gates, which I did, but landed 10′ early in the “no mans land” area just before the target landing area! Oh well -- How much can you learn if you don’t try hard enough that you might fuck up? All in all, it was a good end to the boogie weekend. One that will be well remembered by myself at the least. And, after a few calculations by Ryan (you’ve gotta love a weighted scoring system) I ended up placing third -- in my first try at swoop club!

I’ve got pretty good range with my own jumpsuit, but with all the warnings I was receiving, I thought I’d better grab one of the bigger spare suits in the back. I ended up with giant blue and yellow balloon suit that I could have fit into twice! I was able to do two jumps with the student. The first, I went out poised with her diving behind me. As I released and glided down the hill, I recall wondering if she had let go of the plane yet, she had, but was.. well a bit floaty! I de-arched and “hugged the beachball” as quickly as I could, but to no avail – I was able to keep myself from falling any lower, but couldn’t get back up! I had to turn my head sideways and watch her do her turns from 20 feet below!

The second jump I knew what to expect. I had her go out poised and dove out two seconds behind her and instantly de-arched and then let myself slowly sink to her level. This went much better and I was able to stay on level and watch the dive. The student herself did very well on both jumps, I was easily able to check of her objectives. Unfortunately, she’s had a hard time going through the progression as many of our Instructors and Coaches have had a hard time falling slowly with her.

Anyhow, the definition of good hump day at the dropzone? Being there to help out the anxious students.. the ones that can’t wait until the weekend. Getting more instruction myself from the current Instructors – my Coaches from years past! And ending the night down at Muk’s – 1/2 burrito, hot, sour cream & hot pepper on the side and a tall Labatt – that will be missed as much til next season as the jumps!

So, a perfect day? Almost. The gopro has starting acting up on me a little bit. Each jump the camera didn’t turn on until I thought I was turning it off – two long clips of me flying the canopy (in a huge balloon suit), so every will have to wait until the next post to get their video fix!

As soon as I got to the DZ I could tell the day was a little more hectic than most, Franz was running manifest himself, and it seemed the phone was ringing off the hook.  Rather than bug him to see the next load I could jump on, I just hung out for a moment, next up to the counter was a student looking for coach, good timing. We were quickly manifested and starting some ground training for his jump. Kent had a good jump and was able to get an adjusted fall rate & dock and a swoop and dock checked off his A card.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEsQJuQCEV0

After that, Dale was putting together a small way with some of the newer jumpers around this year, I of course, was glad to jump into the mix!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_Z_ffcRcYw

The sad part about days like these?  For me, I know they’re numbered.. my boys will be back to school in a few weeks, and I’ll be back to a weekend jumper :(

The Inaugorial Jump for Diabetes at Canton Airsports in Ohio!  I’d been looking forward to this weekend and a chance to really come down and get to know a new dropzone after having had a brief introduction a few weeks previous.  And as expected, I came away with a lot of new skydiving friends that I’ll be looking forward to jumping with again.  At first take Saturday morning, things weren’t looking to well. We had expected a Caravan to be flying loads by 10AM, so after waking up to get there bright and early, we were disappointed to hear the Caravan had been delayed due to maintenance and would not be arriving until 2PM.

So with 4 hours to spare, we had time to plan the best ever four-way dive.  Then someone asked to join, so we planned the best ever five-way dive.  Then someone asked to join… and yes, we went to a 6 way then 7 way, before finally settling on an 8 way before the plane finally arrived at almost 5PM!!  The finally dive started with a BFR (Big Fucking Round) then with two going into a two way base, with four people sidebodied off the base, with two stingers on either side, next point the stingers come into the be the base, the satelites turn 90′s to sidebody the new base, and the old base backs out to be the next stingers!  It’s a fun dive when it goes well, lucky for us that day it’s also fun when it doesn’t go well!  Luckily that video I forgot to turn off so I didn’t upload it.. it’s one for the personal archieves!

Next was a three way cat fly-arounds with Ashley and Fuzzy.  Log book entry says simply enough “Exit Good”.  This shows why you need to keep positive pressure on a grip (don’t pull/hang on it) else when you let go of the grip, you’ll fly off backwards!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t4WArK33jk

Next up was a fun two-way with Ashley, basically, the goal was just to play keep way, and no -- she never caught me :)  Of course today, now wearing her booties for a few jumps, she seems to think she could catch me.. that will be a jump for another day!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUww06GQVE0

The next morning started with a fun five-way with me, Ashley, and a few new guys we had met there, Dennis, John, & John. They each easily outnumbered me in jumps and experience, and I think both me and Ashley were able to learn a lot from the dives we did that day with them.  In the first one, I know we had a dive plan, but Ashley was determined to come onto my side of the formation at exit, so the rest of us did a bit of improv to keep the rest of the jump going.. spider, round, open accordian… who says it has to be slot specific anyway!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqzWRAf4NA8

After the previous success -- aww shit, I showed you the video, didn’t I?  We decided to increase our odds by adding three more into the mix, enter Fuzzy, Dave, and Don.  Now I won’t name names.. but found it rather funny (actually hilarious really) that the ONLY person that went low on this jump, was the 50 jump wonder who swore he needed five pounds of lead to keep up with us..   As an extra challenge to myself, as the group exits, you can hear my turn and give a two count before I followed.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA3pBrFFw9I

Next we decided to downsize again and tried to be serious.  Down to just Me, Ashley, Dennis, Fuzzy, John, & John. I think we did a lot better.  The spider exit came off the door so well, I actually went low anticipating I’d have to catch up with a tumbling mess, but once I got back into the formation (on the second attempt -- first try I almost came up under the formation, I had to back out and come up a second time) we got a three way donut, each with a single whacker, then the donuts released and we flew each donut/whacker pair into the reverse with the previous whacker become part of the next donut (yes, I know this probably sounds really confusing for my non-skydiving audience -- more reason to come jump and learn!) then we got into a round before breakoff.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nonNkcQApJ4

After that success (yes, we finally had a success!) we decided to debrief and try the same jump again, which once again, went off much better.  The next exit didn’t go quite as smoothly, and by time the formation built I was on the wrong side of it, none the less, I think we had a good jump, and a good end to a great weekend of jumping.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=By-GzBRFOCQ

This post would note be complete with out mentioning Rich Simenc.  The Jump for Diabetes was of course hosted by Canton Airsports, but it was the brainchild of Rick -- he spent many months organizing and recruiting venders, supporters, donators; he sold raffle tickes, 50/50 tickets, and jumped his a** of (as he had many people donating on a “per jump” basis).

All in all, after the prizes were paid out, he was able to make close to a $5,000 donation to the American Diabetes Association.  I salute your efforts Rick and as you know, I among many have already volunteered to both attent and assist in the 2nd Annual Jump for Diabetes next year -- just let us know when, where, and what you need us to do!

Starting back two weeks ago I had a great day jumping at Tecumseh – as I’ve been jumping out of town a lot lately, I really appreiciate the days that I get to jump back at home.  On a Wednesday, the weather was great, and the Otter was flying!  As soon as I drove into the dropzone I saw people gearing up so I rushed out of the car to see what the call was.. 5 minutes!  Sure, I could make that ;)

I jumped with Rob, whom although still on student status was just knocking off the last few jumps to 25, he already had his A license card filled out, so we just went up and did a simple dive, sidedock, round, sidedock, round..  he is still working on staying in control of his levels, but the jump went well with four points.

As soon as I got down on the ground Manifest pointed Ben, a fresh AFF grad student my way.  After going over his log book we decided we would be doing a Category G dive.  We had to wait for the gear he needed to be avaible, so while he waited, I jumped the next load to go up with Dale, Jon, and a few less experienced jumpers.  It was a fun jump – one that pointed out that the amount of fun has nothing to do with the number of points.

Once back on the ground, I went through the ground prep with my student Ben and we got geared up for the next load. He did really well, completing both docks requiring an adjustment in fallrate, as well as one swoop and dock.  Then at the bottom end of the dive, signaled breakoff right on queue and turned his 180 and had a great track away.

After landing I thought that would be the last jump of the day, but Dale was trying to get one last load up before sunset.  It was about time I finally figured out what was going on with my camera, it had some how filled itself with just the canopy flight (not the freefall!) from the first jump, nothing else had been recorded!  Anyway, with the days video’s lost I thought I would test out the picture mode on the GoPro for the last jump, we ended up doing a sunset six-way full of experienced jumpers – 4 points :)

A great way to end the day.

The first jump were some fly arounds with Glenn and Ashley, always a good and fun jump to practice fall rates.  The second dive was a tracking dive with Ashely.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB47BuD6WoE

www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MdxCWxa4ec

The first jump was with Larry and Glenn, a classic three way Larry special skydive -- a circle into an open accordion, then breaking the grips, and rotating the pieces.. over and over.. :)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kYqtAo9UK4

On the previous jump Neil was on the plane doing his last student status skydive to jump his first pack job.. upon landing he earned his A license and was able to jump with us for his first licensed jump, his first jump with non-instructional staff, and his first four way… (haha, can we say BEER!) This was the first time I’d seen him jump and was really impressed with both of his docks. Also, watch his exit at about 12 seconds into the video, he had his legs out a bit too much which was causing him to roll forward and loose stability, but with some quick thinking on his part he grabbed his knees and tucked into a front flip and then came out of it right back into a dive.. very nice Neil -- but next time keep your feet on your ass when diving! ;)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aimUDjIRFpQ

Not sure what happened to Glenn and Neil after the last dive, but it was down to me and Larry for the last dive of the night, we tried the same dive plan that me and Jon scored 29 points on a few weeks ago, and it went off well, not quite as many points, but still a great dive. The video cut out just before we got the 12th point, but as i recall we finished that cycle right before the end of the dive, would have been 15 points.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5eazjDaXnE

With that dive done, it’s put me at 275 skydives so far, so I’m starting to put some thought into where and what I want to do for my 300th skydive.. any ideas? Also, yes I’m aware there is an awful whistling sound in some of the video’s this week. The locking mechanism of my GoPro camera got a small crack in and I’m waiting for the company to send out a replacement part. Until I receive the part to fix it, when the wind catches it right… well, you can hear what happends.. :(

I had plans to drive down to Ohio for the weekend to meet with Ashley Mead from SkydiveChick.com and take a small tour of the local dropzones in her neck of the woods while helping her check off the last few items on her progression card and hopefully to be there when she got her license!

The first stop was Cleveland Parachute Center for a few jumps from their Cessna 185, the first jump was Ashley’s hop-n-pop from 5,500 feet followed by my exit.  Watch carefully – you can see how I figured out that the step on a 185 is about six inches higher than a 182!

The second jump was an interesting one.. but no story about it here (go watch the video, be observant), you’ll have to come find me around the bonfire to hear me tell you the story about it!

After the second jump we took off back to Cleveland to meet up with Shawn at http://www.voodoomonkey.org/.  We know how many skydivers wear  a closing pin necklace.. but how many of them would put that pin on them permanently?  Only two that I know of..  but who among us couldn’t use a little good luck charm on that pull hand?

After the tattoo’s it was back on the road the Canton Airsports to meet up with the crew there just after sunset.  I got to meet a lot of great people and couldn’t wait to come back Sunday morning to jump with them.  First jump was with Rick, Christa, and Tkoa – we never quite built the first round, but a fun jump anyhow!

Next I got to fly outside camera for a hybrid attempt, it was the group’s second try at it and they were pretty sure they were going to get it.  The were so sure, they made two of us squeeze onto that camera step to do the video for them!  I couldn’t keep up with the fall rate once Rick stood up under the two way, but I love the footage I got of the first camera guy colliding with group at exit!  I tried to go into a sit, but I just couldn’t hold it stable, I need to practice my free flying abit more for these situations…

And finally, the last jump.  All during Sunday we’d worked on getting Ashley card checked off, three ring maintenance, packing (I got to jump her pack job on the first jump of the day), and she was on the plane during the second jump during her check dive to get her A license!  We thought that was the end of the day, but a few more tandems walked in, and we had just enough to send the plane back up.  For her first licensed jump, she said she just wanted to do something fun.. no learning, no practice.. so I offered to just spin her around and see how far I could throw her across the sky!  This was a great end to a great weekend.. A great new dropzone to visit, a newly licensed skydiver to jump with, a new skydiving tattoo.. it doesn’t get much better than this.