Jessica

Good job.

I feel exactly the same way. A while back, someone in the forums told a story in which his shirt was flopping up around his handles in freefall, and how he'd been worried that, in the event of an emergency, he wouldn't have been able to perform his procedures. Well. As it happens, I had done my first jump in a floppy shirt just a couple of weeks before that, and I'd been treated to a nice, loooong lecture by experienced jumpers on dealing with material covering your handles in freefall. So I passed along the information, which I felt was pretty useful. No one else had addressed that part of his post, which was actually an aside in a longer story. I've been a watcher and a listener in this sport, and I may have picked up a nugget or two that might help my fellow low-timers. So I'll sure pass that on. But I do agree that there are folks who think they know a lot more than they do. Luckily, there's a large population of wrathful posters here who will generally challenge bad advice. We've got a good system of checks and balances around here. No, it's not updated.

8.8 percent. You know what they say about us quiet ones.... No, it's not updated.

Donald Duck cursing! I understand every symbol! And a @!#%&^* to you, too! No, it's not updated.

With great power comes great responsibility. No, it's not updated.

YAH, MILK AND CHEESE!!!! There is but one truth -- MILK AND CHEESE TRUTH! No, it's not updated.

I just got my first issue of Skydiving magazine! *hugging magazine to chest, racing around apartment* They say you can tell a lot about a person by what magazines they read, and I tend to agree. Here's what I subscribe to, or read on a pretty regular basis: Parachutist Skydiving Glamour Cosmo (I'm so ashamed.) Maxim (For the articles.) Companion Parrot Quarterly (No joke!) Too Much Coffee Man The Writer That's all I can think of...besides the random Gen-X-pandering mags I pick up occasionally in Borders. There's this cool new one called Ready Made -- anyone seen it? Um, anyway, anyone else? No, it's not updated.

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Yep, they should have cranked it up for you. The Airspeed guys were bent in half with their crazy arches, and they sure weren't hitting the mesh. No, it's not updated.

Heh! In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess I just realized that BOTH those pics are from day three of the camp. It's not my fault, though -- that was during the "rough-up-the-student" drill! No, it's not updated.

*giving Chuck a cookie* Um, I have more jumps than posts. What? Isn't today OPPOSITE DAY? No, it's not updated.

I'll be there too. I have no idea where I'm sleeping, either. PTiger, you can huddle with me for warmth. No, it's not updated.

YES! As soon as I get my firstborn back from the pawn shop. No, Frank, you didn't sound negative -- I'm just constantly justifying the cost to myself. No, it's not updated.

LOL! You win, I had two in FIVE jumps. It certainly could happen on your next jump...but it probably won't. I look at every jump as a 50/50 chance of a mal: either I'll have one or I won't. Get back up there! And buy gear so you can cutaway your own stuff! Luv, Cutaway Kid No, it's not updated.

What did you do? What did you DO? You cutaway the malfunctioning relationship! You weren't even getting LAID! What was he good for?! No, it's not updated.

*tying Lisa up, putting gag in mouth, cutting phone cords* *giving her a beer* *realizing futility of beer with presence of gag* *removing gag* No, it's not updated.

*tackling Lisa* Don't fucking do it! No, it's not updated.

Oh, and I'm no "master," hehehehe. I'm "less likely to completely FUBAR the jump." No, it's not updated.

I'm almost positive they've had a FF in the camp sometime in the past, and I bet they're more in the works. Try the Skyventure site. Frank, I was in the tunnel for a total of 100 minutes. Sixty were included in the camp; that's the $1100 I was referring to. Everything else cost extra. Yeah, it was a huge chunk of change, but let's look at what I got. Sixty minutes of freefall = about 60 jumps. That's around $1080. Video on all of them would be what, another $600? I have no idea. Coaching by Airspeed. God, I couldn't say. Regular SDU coaching is around $30, so maybe, conservatively, another $1800? Anyway, my point is that for the same amount of money spent skydiving, I wouldn't have gained a fraction of the benefits. Yeah, it hurt, but it was very well spent. I have nary a complaint.

So today I made my first skydive since getting back from Airspeed tunnel camp. And I was pretty damn nervous -- all that money, all that work later, would any of it translate into the sky? I have 60 jumps, and I SUCK in the air. I've always had a horrible backsliding problem I couldn't seem to solve; I was just completely unaware of my legs and what they were doing. The backsliding was so bad that it dwarfed my other problems: fallrate issues, unintentional sliding and orbiting, flying with my arms in a big ugly W, reaching for grips (on the rare occasions I was close enough to take them). Etc. I was hopeful, after tunnel camp. You see, you can't fake fallrate in the tunnel. So I fixed that the first day. And you can't backslide in the tunnel, because you slam into the glass and the whuffos laugh. There's nothing more irksome than being laughed at by a whuffo. So I fixed that pretty quick, too. It was almost easy, with mirrors everywhere and Jack Jeffries constantly in my face. I learned to turn and fly with my legs, to keep my arms forward, to arch properly, even to stay stable and maintain altitude in a burble. So today was the test. A guy who'd been at the same tunnel camp offered to jump with me. Cool. "If you see me backsliding," I told him, "fly up to me and scream 'YOU WASTED ELEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!'" He laughed. I was serious. We decided to do a sidebody exit, then just do a bunch of sidebodies alternating with docking face-to-face. Stuff we'd done in the wind tunnel. I did it fine there; I've never done anything remotely that complicated in the sky. We manifested, got in the otter, rode it up. I was as nervous as a whore in church. Got in the door. Jumped out. And boom. Every part of the skydive was exponentially better. My exit was the most confident it's ever been -- leaping into a wind tunnel over and over and over again will do that for you, I guess. We didn't funnel. That's amazing right there. I'm a champion funneller. I get so overwhelmed on exit I forget to arch. Not this time. I flew around in front of my jump partner. We docked. Again and again. I was acutely aware of my legs. I was actually flying instead of falling. Yeeha! So, long story less long, yes, it translated. In spades. The tunnel camp was an incredible tool. I really think I learned more my first day there than I have in a year and a half of sporadic jumping. There're a lot of reasons that come to mind offhand, some of which we talked about at camp. First, the fear and stress inherent in throwing your body from a plane is removed. Second, you're nose-to-nose with a world-champion skydiver for every moment you're in the tunnel. Third, you get about two minutes of flying time at a stretch -- that was pretty darn cool. Jump today seemed kind of short. And fourth, every moment of flying is intensely debriefed. You can't get away with anything sloppy. And that's the way to learn. So! I recommend it, obviously, and just wanted to share my happy happy jump with y'all. I even almost stood up my landing. Oh, and here's some proof: Day one. Day three. No, it's not updated.

(Cross-posted in Safety and Training) So today I made my first skydive since getting back from Airspeed tunnel camp. And I was pretty damn nervous -- all that money, all that work later, would any of it translate into the sky? I have 60 jumps, and I SUCK in the air. I've always had a horrible backsliding problem I couldn't seem to solve; I was just completely unaware of my legs and what they were doing. The backsliding was so bad that it dwarfed my other problems: fallrate issues, unintentional sliding and orbiting, flying with my arms in a big ugly W, reaching for grips (on the rare occasions I was close enough to take them). Etc. I was hopeful, after tunnel camp. You see, you can't fake fallrate in the tunnel. So I fixed that the first day. And you can't backslide in the tunnel, because you slam into the glass and the whuffos laugh. There's nothing more irksome than being laughed at by a whuffo. So I fixed that pretty quick, too. It was almost easy, with mirrors everywhere and Jack Jeffries constantly in my face. I learned to turn and fly with my legs, to keep my arms forward, to arch properly, even to stay stable and maintain altitude in a burble. So today was the test. A guy who'd been at the same tunnel camp offered to jump with me. Cool. "If you see me backsliding," I told him, "fly up to me and scream 'YOU WASTED ELEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!'" He laughed. I was serious. We decided to do a sidebody exit, then just do a bunch of sidebodies alternating with docking face-to-face. Stuff we'd done in the wind tunnel. I did it fine there; I've never done anything remotely that complicated in the sky. We manifested, got in the otter, rode it up. I was as nervous as a whore in church. Got in the door. Jumped out. And boom. Every part of the skydive was exponentially better. My exit was the most confident it's ever been -- leaping into a wind tunnel over and over and over again will do that for you, I guess. We didn't funnel. That's amazing right there. I'm a champion funneller. I get so overwhelmed on exit I forget to arch. Not this time. I flew around in front of my jump partner. We docked. Again and again. I was acutely aware of my legs. I was actually flying instead of falling. Yeeha! So, long story less long, yes, it translated. In spades. The tunnel camp was an incredible tool. I really think I learned more my first day there than I have in a year and a half of sporadic jumping. There're a lot of reasons that come to mind offhand, some of which we talked about at camp. First, the fear and stress inherent in throwing your body from a plane is removed. Second, you're nose-to-nose with a world-champion skydiver for every moment you're in the tunnel. Third, you get about two minutes of flying time at a stretch -- that was pretty darn cool. Jump today seemed kind of short. And fourth, every moment of flying is intensely debriefed. You can't get away with anything sloppy. And that's the way to learn. So! I recommend it, obviously, and just wanted to share my happy happy jump with y'all. I even almost stood up my landing. Oh, and here's some proof: Day one. Day three. No, it's not updated.

Hi everyone, I jumped out of a plane today. IT WAS GREAT!!!! Hooha! No, it's not updated.

I would be utterly charmed by a flower. Most of my first dates are, "So you can meet me at the bar, right?" No, it's not updated.

I AM home! My paternal grandparents are from British Columbia, but I am Texan through-and-through. No, it's not updated.

Sure, go ahead! I'll put up with a LOT in the name of moving up a post ranking! No, it's not updated.