Skylord and the A license on Honeymoon

[skylord 1]

I can't describe the feeling, if I try, I'll not do it justice. This is a demanding sport, and harder than almost anything else I've done in my life. Words fail me, as I sit here and try to explain. Rather than a complete recounting of my whole AFF adventure (you can get that if you want by doing a post search on my user name), let me just hit some of the highlights.

I would NEVER have made it had it not been for the support and training I got at Elsinore. That is not unique to them, but they are my birth DZ, and always will be. I never had to deal with attitude, sky gods, impatient instructors, or anything like that. As a matter of fact, everyone I EVER met was nothing less than completely supportive and helpful. I got to jump with skydivers who are known around the sport, and who spent time with me as if I was the most important person in the world. Wow.

I did a mid week coach jump with Shark, hoping to get my A check dive done next, but since the Air Force cancelled out, they shut the school down for the rest of the day. Undaunted, I went to Bill, one of their packers, for my refresher packing class. He made that jumble of fabric and lines easy for me to read once again. It took me four tries, and finally over an hour and a half on my last try, but I packed that bitch. It helps if you call the canopy a bitch going into the bag, but when it is coming out of the bag later on, call it honey, sweetie, sugar plum. If the canopy asks if the bag makes it look fat once you have it in there, the answer is NOOOOOO! You look hot!!!!! That is just the way it works.

I finished up, dizzy from the sweat I lost in the 100+ temps in an un-airconditioned packing room. As I stowed the pilot chute, and turned the rig over to do one final go over, Bill looked at me. I looked back at him. "What do you think?" So I thought. Set brakes, walk the lines up, steering lines clear, flake nose one through nine, a lines one through five, b lines one through five, slider, little guy, big guy, tail, tail, tail, c lines set, d lines, fold, other side same thing, slider in the middle, grab the tail, check slider and set, roll, lay on floor. Press the air out, wrap, s fold once, s fold again, call canopy "bitch", and then tell canopy you love it after two stows.

I told Bill I was confident to jump it. He said that was good, he felt the same way. Wow. That feeling was amazing. Here was my pack job, waiting for me to come back on Sunday morning. Bill told me to put the rig against the wall, and put a note on it so no one else would jump it. I did. I wrote, "Skylord packed this parachute and will jump it on Sunday." That sure as hell kept everyone away, and explains why I found NTSB business cards stuck in the flaps when I showed up on Sunday.

I preflighted the rig, and got on a load. I drew the Shark. This is my A check dive. A big deal to me, and I am nervous. I hook up with Shark, and as we start the oral quiz stuff, he walks off, and suddenly motions me over to the student landing area. A HUGE dust devil is there, and he tells me he is pulling us off the load. That was a GREAT call, and one I would have made too. The debris funnel was at least 1,500 feet high.

So I chill for a few more hours. The temps drop, the winds seem good, and Shark asks me if I'm ready. Yes I am. Let's go. On to the next load. We rehearse the dive, it is identical to the last dive I did with him earlier in the week. I'm set, I'm ready. In the plane, and it is a hop 'n pop, a two way, and then us. The hop 'n pop goes out, and one of the tandems asks, "Where'd he go?" to me. I said he's gone, out of there, bye bye. Great video for their lifetime memory. I'm answering her question while soiling my jumpsuit.

To altitude. Door open, and it tries to hook me again. I refuse to fear it. Refuse. I respect it, but I will never fear you again. I'm a skydiver, door, and I belong here. Am I here because of you, or are YOU there because of ME???? The door cringes in fear and asks for its mommy.

Shark positions himself, and I position myself. I nod OK, and the count. Out, in go.............

Mmmmmmm. Freefall. I arch, relax, and there's Shark. Legs out. Out harder. Fly toward him, arms back a bit. I make forward progress, and we dock. I start to back up a bit for my 360, but get motioned back to the dock position. Hmmm. Did I screw it up? Next thing I know, I am grabbed by my risers, and I am FLIPPED over and around the sky! I saw the devilish grin on Shark's face as I flew away, arched hard, and recovered, while laughing my ass off. Check altitude, wave, turn 180, and track. Pull at 4,000.

As I reach and pull, it occurs to me, this is my pack job!!!!!!! Why didn't I pull at 12,400?????? PPPPlllleeeeaaaasse OPEN! I love you canopy! I didn't mean to call you a bitch and slut! Have you lost weight? Boy you look good! The canopy opens, softly and sweetly, control checks are good. Oh man, was I worried, though.

I land, and start walking to the packing area. I felt like I did OK, but you never, ever really know. As I come into the infield area, I hear the PA system click on. Shark has the mike. I am welcomed back, as long as I already brought the beer, as the most recently licensed skydiver at Elsinore. The cheers go up from the whole DZ. Not for my accomplishment but because I already had free beer.

What a day, I will remember it forever. So, I had lied about already having free beer. My good friend Ryan was there when I got down. We headed over to a local store, got beer, and then decided to do a jump together. Wow, my first two way. I was very apprehensive. We get on the sunset load.

We coordinate, dirt dive, and gear up. Up to altitude. Wow, I'm doing what I've watched so many of you all do. Ryan watches the group go, he's outside, I'm inside. Into position, and I take grips on him. He asks, "Ready?" I nod yes, worried I'll screw up. The count is great, and we exit. Wow!!! I fall much faster than most realize, and we rotate about 180 degrees. Then I completely screwed up the dive.

I forgot completely about my body position, and keeping legs out. I let go of Ryan about 10 seconds into the jump, and from there on in it is solo for me, and where the hell is Ryan??? My legs were so far in, I am surprised we even saw each other again. For some reason, I tend to get overloaded on a new type jump and revert to old habits. I sucked.

So, what I learned was that I.........suck. Not bad or irrecoverable suck. The search and rescue jump wasn't bad, I just need more jumps with people like Ryan who are young mentors even to us old farts.

Thank you Ryan, for my first two way. You are a class act, and a great jump partner. I'll do better next time.

So, to close, my undying gratitude to Darcy, Rosa, Frenchy, Dom, Doug, Jake, Rich, Marie, Lob, Betsy, LaDonna, Lou, Mel, Erin, Tom, Robert, JP, and Shauna as well for all of your support and help. Special thanks to my good friend Mark the Shark whom helped me through so much. I would not be where I'm at without all of you.

So, I am releasing an interactive DVD called, "The Door Opens, and I Must Barf". $49.95. I teach how to throw up into your own shoe.

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[sd-slider 0]

Congratulations are in order!

Soooo......CONGRATULATIONS!

See you in the Sky!

Anvil Brother #69

Sidelined with a 5mm C5-C6 herniated disk...
Back2Back slammers and 40yr old fat guys don't mix!

[Shark 0]

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Next thing I know, I am grabbed by my risers, and I am FLIPPED over and around the sky! I saw the devilish grin on Shark's face as I flew away, arched hard, and recovered, while laughing my ass off.

Actually it was your arm grips that I used as a fulcrum. I did hint that we would work on recovering from instability, didn't I?

That's cool that Ryan allowed you to jump with him without a camera. Oh, was he the first licensed skydiver you jumped with? At least you must have been the newest jumper he's jumped with. Don't worry, we've already lined up some Level 8s and some A license check dives.

You better get in the tunnel with Erin/Marie/Melanie soon! It's already full for this weekend!
The Excel Camp awaits you....

Congratulations!

[tdog 0]

Congratulations.

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I forgot completely about my body position, and keeping legs out. I let go of Ryan about 10 seconds into the jump, and from there on in it is solo for me, and where the hell is Ryan??? My legs were so far in, I am surprised we even saw each other again

You are not the only one...

You can look at my jump numbers and see I am a total novice too. The only thing that saves me from being a total clutz in the sky is the 4 hours of tunnel time and 110 4way training jumps... But I never cease to amaze myself on how I can screw up a perfectly good jump.

I have jumped with 3 people as their "first A Jump." You would think I want their free beer, however I think it is so fun to see them try something that is not a coach dive.

And... Because it is fun to try to keep up with them as they backslide away.

Seriously, 3 out of 3 newly minted skydivers backslid away from me, I figured out the trend and started preparing for it...

Now I tell my friends who are newly minted, don't let go of me until they feel no pressure on their grips. Instead of me telling them to legs out in the sky like a coach would, I let them "play with it" until they find neutral. They usually have my hands in a two-way... I tell them that what I want to see is them slowly let go and have a small airgap between their hands and my wrists. If they can't maintain the airgap then they are pulling against me...

The last person I tried this trick with spent 3/4 of the dive slowly letting go then grabbing back as he started to backslide, but once he got it, we stayed perfectly relative and he smiled as he figured out he did it on his own.


I just thought maybe it was a DZ specific thing, but what I hear, a lot of skydivers backslide at first...

[drdive 0]

Great job, and great post. It only gets better from here. Remember, lots of screw-ups are coming. It's great when you screw up a jump, and the thousand plus jumpers who are with you laugh it off, tell you they had fun, then give you some constructive criticism.

I haven't jumped in 3 weeks, and it's driving my crazy - can't wait for the door to open tomorrow morning.

Ed

"We saved your gear. Now you can sell it when you get out of the hospital and upsize!!" "K-Dub"

"

[skylord 1]

The grips? My bad, I was busy getting tossed like a rag doll through the atmosphere. And yes, you did hint at instability and I wondered what you were going to have me do!

Thanks again for the ride, see you this weekend!

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[mattjw916 2]

If you want to take sucking to a whole new level, just try freeflying. Ask me how I know.

Congrats, have fun!

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[VanillaSkyGirl 6]

Congratulations, my dear Bob! Btw, thank you for the nice mention, but you are a friend and fellow skydiver. No thank you is necessary. I will always give you both my support and my friendship.
I hope to see you in the tunnel (or sky) very soon because I would love to fly with you. Don't worry, I have a weight belt and can arch pretty well. We'll have a blast in the tunnel, until I begin to fly in the sky, again. If you stick mostly to the sky, then have fun, my friend!

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[skyyhi 0]

Congratulations. . .and ITS ABOUT DAMN TIME TOO. . .

Silly boy, I always knew you had it in you. You were so good at talking yourself out of jumping that I really wondered if you would EVER finish. . .Now you got a license and everything. I am just extremely sad that I could not be there to share it with you.

Enjoy the sky. Lots more jumping to come. . .Hugs!

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy

[skylord 1]

I'm a jump whore now. Went up with a member of Gravity for a two way last weekend, wow! There I am in the air playing follow the leader with a member of an advanced 4 way Team. I love it!

Come out and play!!!!! I miss you!!!

From Guam,

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[Frenchy68 0]

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There I am in the air playing follow the leader with a member of an advanced 4 way Team... From Guam...

Long spot, uh?

"For once you have tasted Absinthe you will walk the earth with your eyes turned towards the gutter, for there you have been and there you will long to return."

[skylord 1]

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There I am in the air playing follow the leader with a member of an advanced 4 way Team... From Guam...

Long spot, uh?

Well, the upside is I got REALLY good at tracking!! Frenchy, you didn't show up for all the beer I bought!

FGF-2

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[Shark 0]

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There I am in the air playing follow the leader with a member of an advanced 4 way Team... From Guam...

Long spot, uh?

Well, the upside is I got REALLY good at tracking!! Frenchy, you didn't show up for all the beer I bought!

FGF-2

....like the Great Circle route?