gman

I had the same problem during my early AFF jumps, here's an idea that really helped me. Practice arching in front of a mirror at least 15 minutes every day. I would arch with my eyes closed for 15 seconds, then look into the mirror to see if my legs/feet are located correctly, close my eyes and hold for another 15 seconds and repeat until my back muscles got tired. Rest for a few minutes and repeat again. If you do it long enough, it will become natural. My JM's used to say my arch needed work, now they say "nice arch". -G.M.L.-

I think it's time for a joke, I'm going through AFF and I have a hard time relaxing during the jump, people would send me jokes on the advice that humor would ease the tension. Here's one I recently got: Three old men were sitting around talking about who had the worst health problems. The seventy-year-old said, "Have I got a problem. Every morning I get up at 7:30 and have to urinate, but I have to stand at the toilet for an hour 'cause my pee barely trickles out." "Heck, that's nothing." said the eighty year old. "Every morning at 8:30 I have to take a dump, but I have to sit on the can for hours because of my constipation.It's terrible." The ninety-year-old said, "You guys think you have problems! Every morning at 7:30 I whiz like a racehorse, and at 8:30 I take a dump like a pig." The eighty-year-old looked at the seventy-year-old, then looked back at the ninety-year-old incredulously and asked, "So what's your problem?" "I don't wake up till eleven." he replied.

Well...I was watching the 11pm news last night and the story I heard was that the "cutaway" was performed, but the reserve was not deployed. The story only lasted about 15 seconds so I don't have all the details, sorry. I wasn't feeling too well after watching the news. -G.M.L.-

I finally got that monkey off my back, I passed AFF#4 last Saturday. I seem to have an "arch" problem. For several weeks the advice I've been getting is to relax. Well...I relaxed so much that I flatten out my belly. I didn't know it until that moment. Throughout the dive I relaxed, lost the arch, and worked to get it back. This happened 3 times during the freefall. I couldn't believe it, I'm not spinning. I took a quick glance at my altimeter and it was time to deploy. As soon as the canopy opened, I took the toggles and did lots of spirals and figure 8's in the sky, I was that happy. As soon as I got to the ground I asked my J.M. "sooo...did I pass?" His response is "Yep!" Words can't describe what I felt there and then, you just had to be there. Now for the "Not so Good" part. I felt so confident, I wanted to do the level 5 jump the same day. After a 1 hour rest I went through the briefing session as to what I had to do. I got on the plane and kept telling myself to arch hard. As soon as I exited the plane I did just that, "Arched Hard". I arched so hard that I started "chipping" and couldn't stop. Basically screwed up the jump. Got to the ground and the JM told me I got a "relaxation" problem. The arch was perfect, I was not spinning, but I was too stiff. Geez...if I relax, I lose the arch. If I arch hard I start chipping. "If it's not one thing, it's another". Maybe I didn't get rid of that monkey after all. Anyway I'm just happy to be at level 5. -G.M.L.-

I'm at AFF#4...again, and again, and again. I've repeated this level so many times that the school has put me in the frequent flyer club(I get a discount for level 4 jumps). The strange thing is that whenever I get into a nasty spin, I start telling myself "hey, it's not that bad, I kind of like this sensation". I tell the Instructors "I'll keep jumping until I get it right or until I run out of money". Anyway, I'm doing another jump this Saturday and hopefully I can move on to #5. -G.M.L.-

I posted a response in "Safety & Training" before I saw it here. Give it a read. -GML-

I went there a few weeks ago. I did 5 sessions for $120. They are very busy during the weekends and take no reservations, so go early. Did it help? I don't know yet. I'm stuck at AFF 4 so I went there to see if I can fix my problem. I have a bad habit of bending sideways at the hips and sticking my arms too far out, causing a spin that I can't stop. I seemed to have fixed the problem by session 5 in the "tunnel". I'm repeating AFF4 tomorrow and I hope that my problem is fixed. If you're going to be in Vegas, try it at least once. It's a lot of fun. If you're going to do more than 2 sessions, I recommend bringing your own water. It gets warm in the tunnel. You're wearing thick baggy suits and heat coming off of the electric motor(that's driving the propeller blade) tends to stay in the tunnel. Hope the info helped. -GML-