vonSanta 0 #1 September 16, 2003 Just have to share this with someone. My whuffo friends don't understand and my sister is at work, so bear with this newbies overindulgence Got my C (Danish start cert) after 51 jumps Saturday and was out Sunday again. With the C I can jump non student gear, although with certain wingload restrictions (good thing). Anyway, borrowed my sister's rig and she had another and on the last skydive of the day we did sort of a two way. Other than AFF I've not jumped with others except a very conservative belly jump semi with my sis where we checked out if we could fly level with each other. The student gear wasn't FF friendly, so haven't done much of that after being scolded for sit-flying (didn't know about the FF issue). Anyway, FF friendly gear, out we go. Just watching another person maneuver around was fun. Watched her lose altitude in a backloop - got down to the same separation as before by doing one myself. Experimented with fall rate. Did as we carefully planned and trained for on the ground - next thing a double sit with lots of horisontal separation- managed to hold it on the second attempt and went from belly to sit (usually need to go turtle to get up Big shit eating grin on my face by then. Then a salute at 1500 metres, wave off and we track away. I throw the pilot chute and a nice blue canopy opens above me. We fly our canopies next to each other yelling encouragements and insults. I then tell her to get lost so I can do some practise flares and familiarize myself with the canopy and she spirals downward after yelling "even with an IQ of 6000 it's still brown trousers time" (heh, Red Dwarf quote). I do some single 360s - wicked difference from a 240. Very much faster than the 190 I flew previously too. Make a mental notice of the altitude lost - a great deal more than in student gear. I decide to fly a very conservative race pattern starting high with a long straight pattern to play it safe, remembering the safety saying "It's better to walk a long distance than to be carried a short one". But still have altitude to play with. Just pure fun and instant reactions to input. Lots of altitude still so three 360s with toggle fully down to the other side - can feel the g-forces through the leg straps; this is just too much fun. Come out of 'em feeling a wee bit dizzy, but it passes in an instant. Another mental note about that. I play it safe and do various turns to try that out - a couple of more simulated flares, then start on the race pattern. Land softly in strong but consistent winds standing up. Legs are shaking with excitement and I'm laughing loudly without being much aware of it - and without caring whether someone finds it corny or silly. Heh, and I thought flying alone on my belly was fun. Haven't been this excited about a jump since the first one. Peanuts for most skydivers, I know that. For me however it was and is a Very Big Thing(tm). So amazing that I'm not even going to try to put words to what I feel about it other than what I've said so far. Skydiving was the best thing in the world ever. Then it got even better. After getting over my worst fears and starting to enjoy skydiving I said "I've been blind and now I can see". Looks like I just had corrective surgery for near sightedness. What a sport. There are risks but the rewards are so great it's indescribable. How can one put words into what one feels when one skydives - it'd be akin to trying to explain a colour blind person what a sunset looks like. There, it's out of my system. Just want to add that I'm honoured to be able to hang around such nice open, generous and generally cool people that skydivers are. You guys rock. Santa Von GrossenArsch I only come in one flavour ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beerlight 0 #2 September 16, 2003 Cool man. Glad your having fun! Blue skies Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wingnut 0 #3 September 16, 2003 glad you are having fun!!! just wait untill you get 7 other people in a formation with ya and you are a looking aroundsmiling and just hanging out........ got to do a beach jump in florida and we did a nice 6 way BFR (big fucking round) and it was so awsome being over the ocean and looking around during sunset to see 5 other peole jusyt hanging out there and having the time of thier lives.... just wait.... every jump leads you to something else... it never gets old as long as you don't let it... ______________________________________ "i have no reader's digest version" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
