Well, July 2009 has come to an end, but what a great month it was – in more ways then one!
The month started with jump number 229 on the 3rd, a pseudo coaching dive with a Christian, a jumper back from a 7 year layoff. He’d already done a recent recurrency jump with an Instructor at another dropzone and then another with an Instructor at Skydive Tecumseh. But on this jump we were still working on some basic fall rate and docking skills. This jump definetly cemented my decision to enroll in the coach course later in the month. Later that night we did a 13-way dive that had experience levels from 43 jumps to 12,142 – I remember there was a plan, but the video just shows a big ball of shit!
The 4th of July was very special – a six point nine way, a five point nine way, a four point eight way, and one of my best sunset tracking dives! Thats my camera on the leader and it’s me docking on the left. Most importantly, we did night jumps on the fourth, and no matter how much I try, I can not explain how patriotic I felt watching hundreds of fireworks and dozens of grand finallies covering the ground beneath me. I got video of my solo night jump, but you can’t really see much – hey, it was night time! But I forgot to turn on the camera for the following four way group jump on the next load! That Sunday continued the many more bigways, up to a fourteen way skydive!
USPA Coach Rating card
Jump number 250 was my first jump flying outside camera for a four-way (they got three points). Being a part of Brian’s 1200th, Margret’s 1200th, and Mike’s 1800th skydive was very rewarding, and was a very well done skydive! On July 16th & 17th I was able to enroll in a Coach Course by Bram Clement at SkydiveRatings.com and got my Coach Rating card in the mail a few days later!
The next day brought my first experience as a Coach – telling my student they were grounded due to weather – even while everyone else was still jumping :( But she took it well and I was able to do my first Coaching jumps the next day on the 19th.
The jumps got lean towards the end of the month, but the quality surely improved. There was a 29 point two way with me and jon; and finally ending the month with Greg back in the air and a five way missing man dancing spider!
All in all a great month… Night Jumps, Big ways, Coach Rating course, my first (and so far only) student, first outside camera jump, and a lot of quality fun jumps in between for a total of 38 skydives!
Tags: 8-way, coach, experienced, jump numbers, Skydive Tecumseh, tracking, weather
After only getting one jump last weekend I was really hoping the weather yesterday would cooperate. Luckily by early afternoon the overcast clouds that had hung around all morning began to break up. Although we had plenty of Tandems, enough to help send the Otter up three times – not bad for a weekday – I only got two jumps myself, after having to pull myself off the second load to deal with a minor equipment issue.
The first jump was a five way, first point to be a round, then open accordian, then break the two pairs of the ends, rotate them 180, then bring it back into the round. After getting a four way together our fifth man was just too low to get back up to us, so I keyed the point to move into the open accordian, that went well, but Greg on my left had to clue what to do when I keyed them to do the rotations as he was flying solo on that side! As you’ll notice, there is no exit in the video, as I’d somehow forgotten to turn on the camera before exit, but realized as I came down the hill and just waited for a good opportunity to turn it on!
The second jump was a bit better, Ian had come into the dropzone saying he needed a real fun jump, so he gathered us all together and decided on a “dancing spider”. This is a great jump for a five way, one I’ll have to remember and try again. There is a single man in the base, with each of the other four jumpers taking a single handed grip (an open accordian off the front, and a wedge off the back). With each key, the jumper off the base’s right leg becomes the next base and everyone else rotating clockwise into the next slot. There is a lot of flying for everyone! We lost a man after the first point, so the four us tried to finish in “missing man” style, holding the empty slot for him on each rotation, not the easiest thing to do with this dive.
Without further ado, here are the video’s, hope you enjoy watching them as much as I enjoyed the jumps!
Tags: 5-way, experienced, GoPro, launched exit, Otter, Skydive Tecumseh, Tandem
Most anyone that knows me could tell you that one jump in a weekend is not enough to pacify me. However this weekend, a single jump did just that. I hadn’t planned on going to the dropzone at all, but at the last minute the weather changed, plans changed, and basically the stars aligned just perfectly, allowing me to go out and get a a jump. I got there just in time to catch the last load and after a quick dirt dive, I think we had a pretty good jump! Below are both inside video’s of our two-way, each taken with our helmet mounts GoPro camera’s. First my view, then Jon’s. Just one jump for the weekend, but I think that will hold me off until next week!
Tags: 2-way, experienced, GoPro, points
Honestly, I’d been a while since I’d read through my old notes I used to keep, quite awhile since I’d closed my eyes and thought about my first jumps as a student. That first time I ever saw an open airplane door at altitude and felt that nervous anxiety of knowing you were about to jump out of a plane. Perhaps I, nay, perhaps we all, take it for granted. Yes, we can all non-chalantly take a plane ride, many of us dozing off, or just closing our eyes and wishing we could. Looking out the window.. bored, all the way to altitude. More worried about how many points we’ll make, then to even consider “omg, we’re jumping out of an airplane”.
Perhaps becuase I did just recently get my coach rating, now was a very good time for me to read back and remember. And, in the process of that, I’ve went back through my own log book, and the notes I kept then, and have added those stories here. For any that are interested, here is the journey I took in June, July, August, and September of 2007.
How many of you take your experience for granted? Do you remember the racing hearbeat of your first jumps? What was your experience before jumping out of an airplane was just another day?
Three years into the sport and there are lot of things I’ve figured out about the sport; and a lot i’m still working on. I can fly my body well enough I think, I can sideslide, backup, and float to get back to my slot when I need to (#243, a 3 point 11-way). I fly with a lot of newer jumper to help them build their group skills, and now I’m rated to fly with unlicensed students to help them build those same skills. One that I haven’t quite figured out all the are the beer rules.
Now skydivers are certainly a thirsty bunch and I would say all of them (with just one or two exceptions to prove the rule) would take an ice cold beer at the end of any jumping day. And do you know what makes that beer taste better? If another skydiver has to buy it for them! Enter the beer rules.
It starts with the “first” (as anything should). The first skydive. The first skydive with a friend. The first skydive out of a Cessna. The first skydive from a turbine. The list goes on.. and on.. and on.. It is obvoiusly the most senior of the skydivers (in their abundant wisdom, they might say) created these rules, as the vast majority favor them. The exception of the “first jump on new gear” rule, most skydivers only get stuck by each rule once, in the beginning – right when they’re getting stuck with all other ones too. However, as each skydiver grows within the community – you’ll hopefully find yourself drinking more beer than you’re buying. Which is just fine, you’ve paid your dues.
After a recent most successful skydive (#253 a 4 point 8-way) I was challenged by the skydiving beer rule! As I read through my log book, I did start to get a little worried.. I found a lot more 4, 5, 6-ways than I remembered.. It certainly seemed as if I had made that accomplishment before. Finally as flipped through the last half dozen pages, the jumps I recalled came out: #232 a 6 point 9-way, #233 a 5 point 9-way, #235 a 4 point 8-way, and even #243 a 3 point 11-way! Sorry Rhonda, but I’m glad to say that thanks to good logging practice, I do believe I’ve saved myself a case of beer! To note though, I’ll have ice cold case ready for the first 16-way I can get into, points or not!
Tags: 16-way, 8-way, beer rule, experienced