Favorite Skydiving Stories!!!

[mountainman 0]

Since I haven't been able to start training yet, I pretty much LIVE off the stories that people tell/write/etc. The best ones are always the best (of course) and I know that whoever has them LOVE to tell them.
So, here goes, tell us about your FAVORITE jump! I know this has probably been here before, but I would love to read them over and over.
It kind of gives me my fix (apart from sticking my body out the car window) until I can start jumping myself. Also, for instance, take FFF's story about the clouds. How many people want to try that sometime now?? This is a great chance to share ideas and such.
Can't wait to read them...blu skyz
NEW AND IMPROVED!!!
http://home.woh.rr.com/brandonandlaura/

[Yooper 0]

Brandon,
My favorite jump so far was jump#104. It all started on a warm, sunny day in Upper Michigan. We were in the plane, circling the dropzone at about 500ft or so when the pilot looks off in the distance and see's a couple hundred people in the back yard of a farm house. At which point he turns around and tells me that he see's a party and asks if I want to crash it. I, of course, jumped at the chance. No pun intended. Anyway, we climb to about 7000ft and he let me out right over the house. I pulled at about 4 grand so that I could give the crowd a good show under canopy. I landed directly in front of the crowd, doing a mighty fine swoop I might add. Everyone was clapping ad snapping pictures. I was so proud. Imagine my suprise when the bride and groom came strolling out of the crowd. Yep, I had just crashed a wedding recption. The couple kindly invited everyone from the DZ over to have dinner. A few weeks later, they sent me some of the pictures that people had taken of me in a nice frame, along with a thankyou note. That was by far one of my most memorable jumps.
Mizhakwit,
Chad
BTW, I just made Enthusiast! Yaahoo!

[mountainman 0]

That is awesome!! Do you have your PRO rating??I want to do that sometime like for my 5 yr reunion or something. Make an awesome entrance for something like that.
Thanks for sharing!!
NEW AND IMPROVED!!!
http://home.woh.rr.com/brandonandlaura/

[Zennie 0]

Chad - Oh man, that's perfect.
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[mountainman 0]

come on Zennie...take the time and shareI wish I had some to share. Although my one tandem hardly qualifies (although it was SOO awesome!!).
Bluz
NEW AND IMPROVED!!!
http://home.woh.rr.com/brandonandlaura/

[Zennie 0]

This one isn't mine, but it's a funny story nonetheless.
My rigger (and instructor) used to hang at a dropzone where one day a bunch of folks decided to do a naked jump. Now, this DZ doesn't have a lot of outs. But there is a parking lot just down the road a bit where people will land when they wind up short. Now the pilot, having a sense of humor and all, decides he's gonna spot this naked jump load a tad short. Everyone, does their jump, figures out they're short, and heads for the parking lot.
Now the really funny part. It just so happens that this day was Sunday, the parking lot was a church parking lot, and everyone landed right as services were letting out!
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[Deleted 0]

Zennie,
Where was that? I swear I've heard that story before. Peace.
Mizhakwit,
Chad

[Greg 0]

Started off as a normal Saturday morning, my brother and I got to the DZ @ 8:30a, the air was
brisk, but not too cold and there was a distant drone of one of the first loads of the day circling
above. The forcast calld for partly cloudy skies with an afternoon high of 70 degrees. The DZ was
packed but the mood on the ground was very relaxed and calm. We met up with a bunch of jumping
buddies who had gotten there early, spread out a tarp, and secured the perfect spot right next to
the main landing area. After a brief period of first jump jitters, one of my friends says "were up" and
gathers our tickets, it was time to get geared up for the "coffee dive". We manifested on the same
load with 6 friends that we like to jump with. We then found ourselves talking and joking at the end
of the runway, then, in the distance, comming our way, there it was, the hero of the day, the
Skyvan!! As we plie in the mood was almost electric. The next thing you know, we are 10,000' and
its time to get ready. My heart was pounding! After trading smiles and good wishes with the other
jumpers I looked at my altimeter and it read 13,000'. After a brief delay the exit lights begin to flicker
and there is a noticable change in airspeed, then the yellow light flickers and then burns steadily.
The door to the Skyvan opens and the back of the skyvan fills with bright light and the unmistakable
sound of the relative wind. We all begin to shift around and fold up the seats to clear the door for
exit. Then, the green light ignites and the yellow light fades out, its getting close!! After patiently
watching the first group exit, the next thing I know, my bro and I are standing in the door. I notice
one of my friends moving up behind us, and the camera is rolling! The view out the door was
excellect, and so was the spot!!! There were some thin high clouds, visibility was great, but still
almost "misty". The feel of the "refreshing" cool air......the smell of adreniline(sp) and jet fuel filled my
lungs to bursting. After a 10 sec delay we are ready to exit. As we link up, the simles were ear to
ear!! One last big deep breath and Ready...Set....Go!!! We exit in sort of a "stack" with my brother
"standing" below me legs pointing straight out and me in a "hand stand" on his shoulders with my
heels pressed firmly to the back of my legs. It seemed like we were on the "hill" for ever!! We
flattened out @ 11,500' and held it for a bit. We again noticed the spot was perfect. The view was
breath taking, with the sun still quite low in the sky with the panaramic view of mountains, and fields
below. We finally broke formation and landed in smooth and calm winds @ 5-7 Mph. Ahhhhhhhhhh!!
WoooooooHoooooooo!!!!!

[Slowfaller 0]

One of my memorable jumps was my AFP level 7 repeat ( wasnt current ). My jm weighed about 90lbs more than and we couldnt find a weight belt. He said to do your best and ARCH! So i did my diving exit w/ my jm hanging out of the plane. we get some horizontal seperation goin so i start to fly over to him and as i do he drops way the hell down there. i say screw it and start doing my 1/4 turns to the left and to the right. when i come around the 2nd time i see a dot way the hell out there and way the hell down there. i arch so hard i think my thighs were hitting the back of my head. Finally got rid of the vertical seperation i check my altitude and im at 3k, shit 500ft lower that i should be so i wave and pull. the canopy ride was uneventful and i realized i was far from the landing area and i noticed im at 1k and nothing was said on my radio i set my landing pattern up, flared and surfed the ice! I just stand there for a minute looking at the dot the hanger was. After about a 10 min walk in 20 degree weather i made it back to the hanger and was debreifed by my jm. The jump was good and i now know the true meaning of fall rate.
blue skies, cold beer
chris

[Deleted 0]

Jump # 10 was my favorite. It was my first clear and pull from 3500' and the clouds to the south were about 1000' and the sun was kinda setting as well. Got out made the pull, and came in with an unassisted flare and stood that puppy up for the fisrt time. The DZO came up later and said congrats you are know offically a skydiver!!!! Oh Yeah!
Pete

[mountainman 0]

Man...I love these kind of stories. The training stories are cool too since that is what I'll be going through them here in the not-to-distant future. Anyway, thanks for the contris and I can't wait to read more!
NEW AND IMPROVED!!!
http://home.woh.rr.com/brandonandlaura/

[mattb 0]

My favorite jump was a sunset load I was on that went to 16k. I did a solo and laid on my back and watched the plane fly away and then went into a sit. When I finally flipped onto my belly thinking I had to be getting close to the ground I was still at 7-8,000 ft. (no wonder the dytter hadn't gone off). Really relaxing dive.

[Viking 0]

Matt your story reminds me of when i wake up before my alarm and i still have like an hour to go. I love that!!! Remember when Sex was safe and skydiving was Dangerous?

[lazerq3 0]

Since I only have seven jumps , i'd have to say my best jump was level 7 AFP. It not only was it the sunset load but it was my graduation jump from AFP. The reason I thought it was te best was because to complete the jump you had to incorperate evrything you learned in the last 4 jumps to this. Exit was a superman dive( its a lot diff from looking ahead off a strut to looking down at the ground) into a front flip, stable out ,lft 360 rgt 360, one back flip, and then into a full tracking position. pull at 3500!!!(oh yeah there were some alt checks in there too). It just feels really great when it all comes together in 40 seconds!!!
jason

[skybytch 273]

One of my friends organized a demo jump onto the sand spit at Morro Bay, Ca. during the city's Harbor Festival. Steve had "connections" and managed to get a King Air for us to jump out of and Tom Sanders and Jan Davis to come jump with us.
We planned an easy dive, just an eight way round with 3 of us wearing smoke and Steve and Tom flying video. We dirt dived it a couple of times, then all 10 of us loaded onto the plane.
It was almost an hour drive from the dz to Morro Bay but we were there before we were even at altitude. Jump run was straight up the coast. I'd never worn smoke before so Jeff fired it off for me and told me to put that foot out the door. Ready, set, go! and I'm still looking at my smoking foot. The five people behind me pushed me out the door and I went off in my patented freestyle exit.
Found everyone else and swooped down. Docked on Clay then Jan came in and closed out the round. We hung there for a second, then broke the round and started opening it to a line. Steve came into the center and did a 360, just slow enough that we all could geek the camera. Then him and Jeff slid away and dumped so they could do some CRW. The rest of us hung out 'til 4500, then tracked away from each other.
I opened up over the Pacific Ocean. There was a mist of fog covering the top of Morro Rock (a very big rock - several hundred feet tall- that sits at the harbor opening) and the harbor was filled with all sizes and shapes of boats. I turned toward our sand spit landing area (which runs north-south from the Rock with the harbor on the east side and the ocean on the west side - the "crowd" was on the shore on the east side of the harbor) and saw Jeff and Steve heading over the north end of the sand spit transitioning from a side by side to a downplane.
Watched them until I realized it was time to set up a landing. The winds were a bit squirrely but I managed to pull off a stand up landing 20 feet from the water.
As we gathered together near the shore we heard the King Air. It came at us out of the south at "around" 100 feet and buzzed the sand spit, then pulled up and to the right in time to avoid hitting the Rock.
A Harbor Patrol boat was there to pick us up in a few minutes. We cruised across the harbor and started scouting for the beer booth as soon as we were back on land. Free beers were soon in our hands, newspaper photographers wanting our picture, it was great!
We managed to find our way to the cars our ground crew had brought and made the long drive back to the dz. The party started shortly thereafter and went on long into the night.
Then another time....
pull and flare,
lisa

[what42 0]

Wow...great stories everyone. I can't wait to jump next week sometime. I went to my AFF1 class but it was cloudy and rainy so I haven't been able to jump yet. These stories are making me want it even more. I'd love to jump over the beach one day. Amazing. Wesley
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I want to fly!

[wingnut 0]

wooo hoooo it's my turn!!!!........
okay the da started out like anyother. i was hanging out at the dz and making a few jumps. it was getting later on in the day and peopl were starting to filter out and leave. it was just a few of us regulars there, ya know the ones that are always there when the weathers shoty or only good enough for some low hop and pops. well there is one last load on the board at the manifest table. (yes we have a table and a whiteboard for manifest) it is labeled "auslandungen" which in english means "outlanding"...a demo jump. one of the tandem masters my friend, helmut, comes over to me and askes if i would like to jump on it. i say sure and he then fills me in on the details. there is an airshow at a nearby town. we are going to jump into it and then get some free food....this is all great, my first jump not on a dz and this was going to be jump number 46! we get ready to take off and he askes me if i would rather be a floater of a diver, i'm like what i'm going to jump with you guys? he says we are going to do a 3 way with his tandem! so i get to be a diver from our cessna 206. jump run at 11,000ft...... it's sorta hard to see the landing area good due to some clouds so we circle around a little...finally a huge hole opens up and we see the airport. man abou 30 planes are parked down there it was so cool. we exit and i leave a little to late. get down to the formation just in time for break-off at 4,500. back slide away from my slot around 50ft and watch the tandem dump....get some clear sky at 3,500 and throw out. great canopy. look at the windsock at the airport and its blowing just in line with the crowd. gona be a nice landing right along the crowd line......set up for final and if there wuld of been some peas to land in i woulda hit them dead center! got a little surf outa my pd210 (amazing i know) and landed just in front of the crowd about 50 ft away. came in sliding on my a$$. they all claped like hell, it was so cool. we packed and then went to find the orginizers of the airshow for our free food cupons. got some nice pork steak (schwank) and a coke. then we got back on the plane and the pasanger that stayed with the plane switched with the tandem pasanger and we headd off back to the dz. we buzzed the crowd at about 50ft off the runway as we turned to head back...they all wayved at us as we left.....(probly calling us crazy too...) got over the home dz at 11,000 and it's jump run time again...i dove and got to the formation a little quicker this time. the tandem student seemed to be having a blast even though her face might not of showed it too well! we landed and i got with in 5m of center of the peas. packed then we all went home........
sory but i got another one to tell it's sorta a tie on which was cooler........there were some hotair ballons taking off from out airport (public german airport) and i got some video of them inflating them and taking off into the setting sun. it was so cool to see them go off silently with just a few burns now and then......we take off to do a "fun jump" from 6,000. we only endd up at 4,500. (it was getting late and the airport closes at 8pm) we flew right past the two hotair ballons at about 1,000 agl and it was so awsom they just hung there, we were maybe 200ft horizontal from them, we opened the door and waved, we also got the camera guy to film some....on jump run we had a student go out first and we all wtched him jump...he was funny looking when he tried to get stable (proly better than i did at that many jumps though) and then we all exited. the club president and his girlfriend jumped first the exited linked...(see sex in freefall thread) but were clothed and then it was me and marco. he flew camera and i dove out. tming was perfect. he got me all the way down the hill. many i was helling when we exited and he got my face...it was so funny, i did a few turns and then got a little closer to deploy. landed right in the peas and sorta showed up the other american that was there. he has over 100 jumps and biffed his landing in the peas earlier in the day. i made a nice standup with him watching and was like oh yey!!!
sorry i sorta told a couple stories about 3 jumps but hey, isn't every jump worth a good story?......maye we all have many more jumps and stories to tell.....see ya guys around the bonfire..........

"if dreams are like movies, then memories are like films about ghosts"-counting crows

[mountainman 0]

wingnut...those are great stories! They all are really. It is so awesome how versatile you can be with skydiving. Some whuffos have told me that they think it would get boring jumping out of the plane over and over. I told him about all of the disciplines, exhibitions, etc, etc. Then I told him that he does certain things over and over and never seem to get boring...(see wanker thread).Anyway, I am loving these stories and keep leaving them. And Wingnut, there is no limit. The more, the better.
Blu skyz
NEW AND IMPROVED!!!
http://home.woh.rr.com/brandonandlaura/

[des 2]

10 years ago,with 2 novices from another dz,early morning ,a bit foggy.usually when fog starts to clear it's gone in 10 mins,so we take off for a 4 way.could see enough to spot,can't remember how the jump went,but when we opened.8/8's fog!couldn't see jackshit,except for some of the higher hills.but god,it was beautiful.just blue sky and canopies!we were all going off!
knew the jump run and where we exited,so took a guess,and f*** me,we came out at a few hundred feet,right over the dz.
jumped in a lot of beautiful places,but those visuals beat them all.
des