F*#&$D up spots

[homer 0]

Yesterday was a FUCKED up jump day. I only did 2 of the 3 lifts done yesterday before things were closed down. I'm going to be a bit long winded about this so please bare with me. The fog had finally lifted enough to get a first load up about noon. On the way up we asked to pilot for an upper wind reading. The shit was blowing 46 mph plus at just over 5.5K. We compensated and all went good for the jump except the one cutaway we had with everybody but the one who went for the main landed at the DZ or next to. It was her first and she got her reserve out just below a grand. The next lift we had a new pilot and he had no clue of the uppers and how fast they were blowing. Well the first group went out and I got ready for my rodeo jump and we went out. Not looking at the ground and after a few tumbles I let go. HOLLY SHIT! we over a mile and a half past the DZ so we both started tracking back to the DZ. No luck going into a 46 MPH head wind. Well my buddy threw out at 6K and knowing we had planned to pull at 3.5K I thought something was wrong so I pulled too. He was fine just thought he would have a better chance to get back if he was under canopy WRONG! If you can't track into the wind there is no way in hell we were going to do it under canopy. Well I looked down and the other group was landing at a high school 2 miles from the DZ right into a soccer game. As for me I'm still 4K above and drifting over the Columbia river (For those that know there rivers it's in the nations top 5 largest). Front risers didn't do a thing so I said screw it and ran with the wind across the 1/4 mile wide river and into another county. I picked my landing missed it by a half mile due to the winds and opted for a farmers field after burning off another 1K doing spirals. Well the winds did a 180 at just under 2K and I went for a nice freshly plowed field to land in. I stood it up but my buddy did a face plant. We got lucky with a farmer who herd the pilot talking about wayward jumpers on his aviation radio and came to give us a ride back to the DZ. In all we landed around 5 miles away. It was 15 by truck to get back.

To make things worse and this is where the post gets its title. The next lift was spotted by the DZO who took my place on the load and had not jumped yet that day didn't correct the pilot and sent everybody out. Nobody crossed county lines but the nearest landing jumper was a mile away at a school and his buddy with only 62 jumps had to do a 90* hook into a construction site for his landing. He later said it was his first hook & swoop and he had never been so scared jumping before. The rest landed 2 miles farther into town and had to land on a main street in front of cars stopped at a red light. They called to DZ from Jiffy Lube to give there location.

In the end we had quite the interesting day with 1 reserve ride, 2 landing in another county, a 62 jump newbie hooking his diablo 170 into a construction site and to top it all off there was only 1 beer left in the fridge.

CSA #699 Muff #3804