bocabruce1 0 #1 July 12, 2009 WOW, okay (smile) Ground school was good and grueling. An overload of information. Three or four loads went up before I finished the day, but by afternoon the weather would not cooperate. And besides, all the fun jumpers had left. So, I went home and could think of nothing but dive flow. Could not sleep and woke at 5:50 this morning thinking about guess what, position, check in, check out, prop, up, down, arch! Got to the DZ at 8:40 am and after getting settled in with manifest I began rehearsing the level I jump. You know how it goes. My AFF instructors are great, Pip and Matt. By 10 am, beautiful blue skies, we reached altitude of 17k. We were the last. Exit went well, was not aware of altitude as well as I should have and got shook like a blanket in the sky! Had hard time locating on practice touches. Pip helped me out! Pull was late, 4500'. Opening was hard! OUCH! Canopy Check...picture perfect, now I can have some fun...good approach and good landing (on my butt, but good nonetheless) Good flare at about 8 feet. Okay, WOW...so thats what its like...OMG! What have I done? The rush was awesome and all I could do was smile and thank everyone...then we celebrated with COOKIES!!! Debrief, gezzzz, I heard it all...the freefall sucked...I wasnt aware enough, but I did experience good canopy control, and the landing was sweet. On to Level II: Good exit! Good altitude awareness, Good arch, 2 practice touches (good) left turn, dropped shoulder but turned. Same with right turn. Forward manuver. Altitude check every 3-5 seconds. Circle of awareness (good) 6000' locked on, 5500' wave off and PULL. Canopy check ( good) Square, stable and steerable. OK where am I? Good pull, soft opening...but I couldnt find the drop zone LOL OK there it is. WHat direction am I heading in...crap, where's the red/white circle??? OK, theres the hanger, theres the north landing area, theres the south, ok, I am suppose to land in the south side...wheres the sock, hey the radio not working. Gezzz, no sock, no radio and I am coming in fast 1000' base turn...wheres the sock? NO wind. ??? Not sure if there is or not. 700' too high for final I thought so I turned to do a short figure eight, but turned outside instead of inside. OKAY! final approach, gee I am coming in fast...man, I am coming in down wind...fast, 30' partial flare...oh no theres the Tarmac approaching and a big wet, sloppy plot of ground to my right at about 18' I completed my flare and bounce a couple of time on my butt and got dirty....I was way down on the east end of the south side...got to my feet, looked to the sky and waved at Chad coming to get me LOL Debrief! AWESOME!bocabruce Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 2 #2 July 12, 2009 Congratulations! Now stop landing on your butt. A cracked coccyx or compression injury to your spine is no fun, and at "our age", takes longer to heal. Rock on. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mellow 0 #3 July 12, 2009 it was great reading your story.... keep at it, it just gets better and better!!Jennifer don't ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. and then go do that, because what the world needs is people that come alive. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
