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!

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!

Four point Eight way!

I generally don’t get to jump on the weekends I spend with my sons, but this weekend worked a little differently.  This week my little sister Allie (yes, your friends might call you “Lexy”, but you’ll always be little Allie to me) came to spend the week with me.  So on Sunday night after taking Austin home, Allie, Cole, and I headed out to the dropzone – it’s nice to have good sitter come to visit!

When I first arrived, I was told the winds had been bad all day, very turbulent and gusty.  I’d been hoping to get at least one jump in, as it had already been four days without a jump and I knew it would be five more until I would be able to again.  Dale’s group was there and had appearantly been working towards a goal that day. They had timed out their jumps perfectly to align the numbers.. the next jump would be Brian’s 1200th, Margrets 1200th, and Mike R’s 1800th skydive!  Not that I knew it then!

Once they’d gotten packed back up for another load, Dale asked if I would be joining them for the next load – nonchalantly as ever.  We went through the dirt dive and while we were getting geared up, Ian was nice enough to let me know the jump I was getting myself into.  Talk about putting the pressure on!  But the jump went great, we had a four point eight way – a fitting jump for those numbers!

My apologies for the bad video etiquitte, once again I forgot to turn off the camera once I was under canopy.   Especially since that was one of my worst off target landings all season!  I’m still wondering what kind of pattern Pete was in there, but rather than turn into my crosswind at 600 feet right in front of him, I let him go by then turned 135 degrees onto final at 300 feet, which put me promptly out in the bean field! Better a long walk than a quick fall!