revsbech

I made the switch from SL to AFF for roughly the same reasons as you. I realled wanted to go to a boogie at another dropzone, but I was only doing my 10sec pulls in the SL program, and thus could not go the full 13000 feet that was required to participate in the boogie. I took the 7 AFF levels in 2 days, and I must say that I'm really glad I did it. I found it very helpfull to have the two instructor by my side, not so much because I was scared that I could not get into a stable position, but more because they were able to help me correct the small errors I was making. I think having done SL might help you a little with the "door-fear" you mention, but what I really found out helped me, was that I had more experience with flying the chute that the other AFF students. I could concentrate on just doing the program in the fall, and not so much about what to do after the opening. That helped me a lot. I'm glad I changed to AFF (although it was very expensive doing 7 jumps in two days ), and can only recommend it to everyone who can afford the price.