GRADUATED ON B-DAY!

[herv 0]

Hello Everyone,
This is my first post and I am so pumped I figured I would bore you experienced jumpers with my Sunday. Started my training about 6 or 7 weeks ago at Above The Poconos in Hazleton, PA. I graduated on Sunday (my Birthday) on my second jump of the day! I've been wanting to do this for so many years it's not even funny.
I left the military in '94 as a jumpmaster (static line T-10's) and every year said to myself, "self, this year you are going through AFF". How hard can it be. I already know how to land safely. Yeah right numbnuts, welcome to RW, ram airs, arching, flaring etc...etc..etc.
I have to tell you, the only things similar is that you leave an aircraft while in flight and you WILL land. Thanks to the crew in Hazleton so much. I only live about a 40 minute drive from the school so every day after work I was on the phone "How's the winds? The clouds? Can I jump?" After pestering Don and Darlene everyday, I figured I'll just show up. If I go up great if not, practice packing.
My two main instructors Darlene and Frank are incredible! I had a real problem arching (kept dropping my left thigh, here we go round and round la la la la la la). Finally one day it just clicked and I was actually in control. That was cool. Once I got novice rated I kept going up with coaches for extra work just to get better at the RW. Had great coaches thanks Jerm, G I Joe and Sal. I even got Don Kellner to coach me once (of course that was a case of beer). Don has a unique way of letting you know when you do well and when you don't. You just have to experience it. He's great! And then there is Harry. Rigger extraordinare, can this guy pack! He also teaches DZ etiquette, i.e. "That's a case of beer!"
Anyway, when I realized that my b-day and my grad jump would be happening close to the same time I thought it would be cool to graduate on my 35th b-day. So I did everything on Tuesday night and announced I would graduate on Sunday. The weather sucked the rest of the week and I thought I might miss the opportunity. But then Sunday came and it was gorgeous! I was trying not to break any speed limits getting to the DZ (I failed). I got to the DZ and it was rockin! All kinds of jumpers I hadn't met before, tandems and everything. I decided to go up for an RW to work out any last minute cobwebs before I made my grad hop and pop. Great dive, stood the landing. Then I was ready.
No shit, there I was....oh yeah you people have heard that a few thousand times. Anyway, I was sweating it (I probably always will) and then all of the sudden I hear myself saying "door"...there's the tennis court...."cut"...I'm out, tap the strut, great exit! clear and pull! Beautiful! What a pretty canopy! WOW! Now all I have do is land safely and I'm no longer a whuffo (or leg as we call it in the Army). Follow my flight plan stick the landing, there it is! I'm now an honest to goodness skydiver! Man was I pumped!
Make another jump stick the landing. Man I'm getting good at this. Go up again. Decide to really concentrate on using the accuracy trick to land in the center of the circle. Approaching the DZ, easy Herv, don't hook turn, that's it brake turns....oh shit! I'm heading right for the center of the circle I've got this! You know how everyone says not to tunnel vision on where you want to land. Well, they're right. I wanted that center so bad before I knew it, I was counting the blades of grass. Oh shit! FLARE! They tell me it was quite a sight. My final flare was just as my ass touched the ground so I kind of skipped like when you throw a rock across the water. Swooped back up and landed on my feet. Does that count as a stand up? LMAO
I then link up with a guy I never met before named Tony. He says let's go do a two way. We'll just fly and try to stay fingertip to fingertip. I'll remain stationary and you come to me. I say "Yeah Great!" Inside I'm thinking Wait till this guy sees me fly, he'll probably wonder if I even know how to say relative work. But, we go up and it's beatiful! Not perfect mind you but I'm moving to him getting fingertip with Tony and having a blast! Then we pick up another jumper named Jennifer and decide to try a 3 way. Tony and Jennifer come up with a pretty easy basic plan. Tony and Jennifer would be on the strut, I would be in the door and I would call the jump. We would then close the circle with me and Tony coming together. Then on the nod from Jennifer we would release, do a 360 in place and come back together. Keep doing that as long altitude permits. OK great. I think I can do this. Now remember Herv, tuck your legs up on exit until we level off so as not to flip the group over. OK Got it!
READY, SET, GO! Nice exit, leveling off, go to normal arch, Tony and I are coming together.....just about there....Why am I looking at the sky above me, the ground, the sky? Our 3 way suddenly became a 2 way with a solo watching from a distance. I think I reached for Tony ( I know, don't reach dumbass). Once I was stable again I decided to watch Tony and Jennifer continue on (at a distance). We all pulled at the pre-determined altitude and everything was beautiful.
I decided screw the damn circle on this one. I'm just going to make a nice baby soft landing and prove that the last landing was a fluke. After all it's my own rig I think I've found the sweet spot on my canopy for the final flare. I've stood up a little over half my landings. And I've watched the video a few hundred times. Final approach, damn the flag is barely moving, flare, flare, flare, fla... BASEBALL SLIDE! Landed right where the rain from the week before collected to make a 1 inch deep puddle. Don may hold the worlds record for the most jumps but I think I hold the record for the longest baseball slide in history!
So, as I walk back to the hangar with a wet right leg and buttocks, who is there to greet me but my former instrctor Frank. With a big grin he says "So, what's up Skipper? Know what you did wrong?"....screw you Frank.
I know this was extremely long but if you had time to get this far I want to thank the whole crew at Above The Poconos Skydiving. Darlene, Don, Frank, Harry, Rev, Tammy, Heather, Dave, Greg and Matt. Also thanx to everyone that uses the DZ who are becoming some great new friends! That was the best birthday I've had. I now am licensed, have 32 jumps, and am having the time of my life with some awesome people. Blue Skies!

[Viking 0]

dude thats awsome i did my AFF lvl1 this sunday and loved it and did very well. Everybody that i jumped with were friends that i had made over the course of 2 months of hanging around and lending a hand and taking pictures and basiclly being a menace
so when you buying your rig?? Remember when Sex was safe and skydiving was Dangerous?

[herv 0]

I bought my own rig about 4 weeks ago. One I had done a few ctp's I knew I was hooked. Bought a used Infinity with a Sabre 170 main, cypress, rsl, and reserve.

[Donna 0]

Congratulations and belated Happy Birthday, Herv!! Nice write up! Thanks for sharing it with us!! I enjoyed reading it. We had to do our hop & pop right after AFF level VII. I was pretty nervous doing it but it went pretty good and it ended up being my first stand up landing!
Skies,
D

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Cool and groovy. yep, you should have gone ahead and started while you were in the service. Back in '94 we were all skydiving for FREE (well, $10 per month: almost free)and we taught the entire FJC for $110. That included gear rental until you had your A-license. But hey, better late than never! Welcome to the sport.
Chuck
D-12501

[DZBone 0]

Right on, Herv!
What a difference a few dedicated people can make, eh? Kudos to the experienced jumpers who took you out and started showing you the ropes. I remember going through this with some very special people at my first home dz, and it made all the difference in the world. If they could see me now, the would be ashamed, hahaha, but back then, wow!
Remember that when you are the experienced sky god, and the new guy/girl gets off student status, and is looking for people to jump with!
YAAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[SpeedRacer 1]

Hey Herv, that is so weird: I graduated AFF on my 35th birthday too!
It was at the Halloween Boogie in 1999 in West Point VA (I was born Nov. 1 ,1964) I celebrated by drinking a few adult beverages of various types and jumping over a bonfire. I came to the Halloween party dressed as Speed Racer, hence the name. Click here for photographic evidence
Speed Racer
"De plaene!! De plaene!!"

[herv 0]

That's totally cool. Man I wish I had started this a long time ago. But at least I'm finally doing it instead of wishing I had. BTW I made a stand up in the inner circle today! Woo-Hoo!

[SpeedRacer 1]

First time in the peas = BEEEEEEER!!
Speed Racer
"De plaene!! De plaene!!"

[DZBone 0]

Doh! I thought he was talking about a freeflying thing!