Orange1

also just remember to keep your fingers spread to make finding it (whether hacky or tube) easier... and so you don't, like i did on one jump, get a finger caught in the middle of the tube Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Similar to what i was told at the Dal - about 10% to first f/f and 10% of those get an A. Hey, I'm in the 1% (or will be when i finish these damn ISPs) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Ah, I love dz.com. Thanks Tonto - a very useful bit of advice that I've not heard elsewhere! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I started off on SL. Got goggles, but only cos I wear contact lenses - those who didn't have contacts didn't need. I think altis got provided after 10-second delays, till then the count was considered sufficient, and I believe it is also thought that visual altitude awareness gets engendered that way. For under canopy - while AFF students are taught to fix problems by a certain altitude, SL students were given a different rule (other than the malfunctions where you do reserve drill immediately, pull reserve if either 2 tries don't fix problem or if no improvement after 5 seconds) - I'm sure you would have been taught something like this on your FJC? Jumping without an alti did teach when to enter a landing pattern via visual awareness rather than checking alti, and i now just use my alti as a kind of doublecheck for that. Oh, and welcome to the sport Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I force myself to eat breakfast - and I mean force!! - before I leave for the DZ, because I often forget to eat while I'm there, but always drink a lot of water. I've lost most of the real nerves (which overwhelmed me enough to result in a ride down with the plane early on), but every so often in the plane up i'll still start thinking "wtf am i doing - do i really want to be a skydiver?!" (the answer comes as soon as the door opens, of course ) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Is that a function of #s though - do more people at JSC start SL than AFF? When I finished AFF at SCT one of the instructors mentioned that a lot of people finish AFF and then don't come back... personally I'm still not entirely convinced that switching to AFF was the right move for me even though it achieved the goal I was after at the time, of getting through progression faster. I like the idea that the DZs down here have, of one SL before an AFF, at least we don't get the typical AFF fear of the hop'n'pop that way N, whichever you choose - have fun!! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

happened to me on my first couple of jumps - then went away, i guess you get used to it welcome to the sport!

That's pretty much how I got myself through progression too! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Just newbie advice but then again i'm still new enough to remember the fear I found what helps with confidence is KNOWING your dive - go over your dive right from climbout, all the way to landing (go out on the DZ before you jump, look at wind direction, look where you'll be holding, plan your pattern, plan what to do if the wind changes, plan what to do if you open somewhere different than you expect - even if you're on radio it will help if you know it yourself anyway) and visualise it all - again, from exit right down to that perfect flare. If you jump in an area with occasional unpredictable winds, or even if you don't, have a chat to your instructors about the best way to handle a bit of turbulence on your canopy and a collapse. I had a partial collapse on jump 8 or 9 (probably caused by thermic activityl) - it is scary but just like your parachute wants the air when it opens, it wants it when it's flying too. Good on you for the packing, you understand how the canopy works - i'd second the suggestion to read Germain's book. Knowing and trusting your equipment, and knowing and trusting yourself, is imho one of the best ways to get confidence at an early stage. Good luck, and have fun! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

To be honest, I was kind of on autopilot and not "thinking" very much - it was off SL so it was jump, arch-thousand - 2000 - reach-thousand - pull-thousand - 5000 - check, i vaguely remember being marginally surprised that the ripcord was longer than the dummy ones , and that the slider was still coming down when i looked up. had enough SLs under my belt that I knew what to do from there

Jigs, so good to know you are having fun btw re 'not feeling' forward movement - i think it's normal till you get a bit more experience. i had a backsliding issue on one of my AFF jumps - i didn't feel at all like i was moving, and was looking at my instructor thinking "where's he going??" - LOL! it was only when i got the "straighten legs" signal that i realised what was happening and this was because of this: I'm betting you now understand why people say that even though you have to repeat a level it can still be a "successful" skydive. Keep us updated! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Are you sure you mean Protrack and not Cypres ??? yes - i've reread the manual . also hook probably talking about eco mode which does switch it off 14 hours after last jump or last used, and which mine was set in anyway [double ] the flying/driving high can apparently lead the protrack to move to 'jump' mode and then it would have to be switched off and on again before you actually jump edited to add: I may be a newbie but I do know the difference between an alti and an AAD!! Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

hmm... i'm pretty new as a protrack owner but i seem to recall the manual saying it only loses the date when you change batteries, not switch it off? you are advised to switch it off when driving through mountains or taking commercial flights ... Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

off the thread, but how do you do that? I thought you had to manually switch it off? (I did RTFM but i obviously missed this) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Hi Callie Welcome to the sport! You're probably aware there a few people from JSC on the forums, and some of us from down south too Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Yes, skydiving was only gonna be something I was gonna do once ... then again, none of the 5 friends who did the FJC with me stuck it out - 2 jumped once, 2 jumped twice, one jumped 3 times. But after I rode the plane down on what would've been jump 4 or 5, the JMs did think I wouldn't be back (though they only told me that after the next time I'd jumped) ... the wierd thing was that I lost a lot of fear after doing that... Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Just another recommendation for the Germain book. The second part on the pyschology is very interesting, but the first part on canopy control alone is worth getting it for imho. Elisha, I was taught that rear risers are the best way to make it back from a long spot, but also warned that it's far more tiring unless you happen to have strong upper arms! Luckily our spots tend to be pretty good here :-) (in my entire oh-so-extensive jumping career the only bad 'spot' i had was when i was first out on first load of the day and was the WDI discovering the upper winds ) edited to add: just saw that the question you asked was re downwind, so maybe disregard the bit above about the long spot... we generally get taught on a downwind long spot to look for a safe out Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Jigs... firstly, if it's any consolation, I also battled with turning left! And as you know I and many other people here have also repeated levels. But I am a bit concerned about your last post. You've said before how much you love this, breathe eat sleep dream skydiving - like most of us here I guess. It has to be something, surely, you do because you want - not because you think it will make your father proud. For what it's worth, your father will probably have no idea of what is involved, or know anything about AFF levels etc. All you need to tell him is that you are training and you have done 11 (or whatever it is by the time he gets there) jumps. From my experience with whuffos, 11 jumps will be enough to impress, if that is really what you want (heck, my friends think I must be super-experienced with my jump #s!!! lol) Sounds like you'll continue with this after your parents leave: If you love it enough you will continue, just like I am through my current frustrations with repeating ISP (coached RW) jumps and like many other people here have. If you really are only doing it to impress your father, you shouldn't be doing it. Personally, I find it difficult to believe that you would have gone through all this if it wasn't what you wanted. But only you can know what you really want. I wish you strength, and you know that there are people here willing to listen and offer advice when you need it. Feel free to PM me if you wish. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

There are some threads in gear and rigging on this - do a search. I also wear contacts and jump with the very basic flexvision (? i think that's what they're called) goggles and they work fine - but i do tighten them up fully before every exit. (I loosen them slightly once under canopy, but not much - in case i need to do EPs) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

nice way of looking at it. Any tips for getting used to it more easily? And yes, Icarus - I figured getting Manny to measure me up would be easier than possibly getting measurements wrong and sending overseas for something. Reginald - yes, i've been told up to 10 jumps to figure it out. I certainly found turning much faster, once I got over the initial wobble. Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

There have been some threads on jumpsuits and speed recently... I got my own custom jumpsuit finally - I thought the club suit I'd been using fit pretty well (tight) but wow - just the change in jumpsuit has seen my average speed (without weights) increase from 109mph to 120mph! Now, has anyone else jumping with booties for the first time found dive exits more difficult? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

I'm jumping a pilot (club gear) at the moment but should be test-jumping a Sabre2 soon... will see ...Pilot openings are generally very soft, but definitely susceptible to packing too!! No-one's yet answered my question: all other things equal, including make of canopy, does the size make any difference to how hard it might open? Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

Then again you could argue it shouldn't be participant as such but per drive/jump... not so? Torture the stats till they confess!! Renee, welcome. As skymama says, there's quite a lot of moms here , hope you can "join the club" soon

This is possibly a dumb question If a hard opening is caused by bad body position, will the size of the canopy make a difference? I know some canopy types are said to be more forgiving, but if a jumper has the same body position will different sizes of the same type of canopy make any difference? (Edited because I feel obliged to add that other than my first 2 AFFs where I went head-down as I pulled, my body position on opening is not a problem! Just something I was wondering about) Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

32 days (combination of away on holiday and bad weather). I remember that distinctly: me asking "one day over the limit, are you going to make me do recurrency training?" "YES!!!" Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.