Hi All,
Just wanted to share my experience jumping level 5 IAF last saturday. The freefall portion went w/o any problems, enjoyed that part alot. It was the first time i was released in freefall, it rocked. Well, after getting under canopy & checking the canopy, etc. i made out the dropzone & headed toward my entry point. Started my pattern fine. On final, noticed that i was pointed in the general direction of a pond (this is at Blue Sky Ranch in Gardiner, NY). Now, as a beginner, I had already realized that its hard to judge how far ahead i will actually land or how fast i'm going relative to the ground. I've been told that experience will change this.
Anyway, after i'd gone half my final leg & probably eaten up half the height, i noticed that i was going to come closer to the pond than i'd actually realized. At this point, i tried to judge if i would land in it & figured that i would land in front of it.
Radio person told me he also figured the same thing. Right before i landed, i thought, SHIT! i'm going to land like 5 feet away from the edge. I figured, ok, thats alrite, it'll be close but no biggie.
Flare, flare flare & i got that little upswing & swoop & went 20ft out over the pond & SPLASH! Treading water in a 20ft deep pond with a 30lb harness & container & reserve. Luckily I'm a big guy, 190lb & very comfortable in the water so i didnt panic & pulled myself out.
I learned a few things.
1)If I have a question, any question, Its MY responsibility to ask it until i get the answer. Specifically, i was confused between "No turns under 1K feet" and what minor adjustments means. I could have easily given my left steering toggle a little pull and landed 5 feet to the left of the pond. (This is much easier to judge as a beginner). I shouldve have been working my canopy skills during my previous levels until this was clear to me. The difference between taking tandems for fun & going for your A license thru a cert program is critical to understand. I'm responsible for my own ass from now on! I need to clear EVERYTHING up thats not clear before i jump, period.
2)Avoid obstacles means avoid obstacles. Ultimately its my ass on the line & the radio person can't always see exactly where i'm headed & they definitely cannot see what i can see. I already knew that i couldnt judge how far ahead i would land, exactly.
3)Practicing emergency procedures is one thing, actually doing them is something else. I WAS EXTREMELY LUCKY. if i was smaller, if the chute landed on top of me, if it was a river w/ current, if i couldnt swim, if any of those things were true, i couldve been screwed, ie dead. When i was treading water, i couldnt get my chest strap off. Standing around getting your chest strap off & doing it while treading water are 2 different things. In that situation, i shouldve released my main & swum out. I am really comfortable in the water so i just got on my back & worked the strap. When i couldnt get it off, i pulled myself out using the rope that 2 bystanders pointed out to me. But, i hadnt released my main which made it much harder to get out. I was told that the reserve probably has a little air in it which helped me stay afloat for a minute but who knows how long that is or how it will feel when water gets in there. Will i get a sudden sensation of 20 more pounds being added to my container? Who knows if i wouldve survived that. I was alone in that pond for enuf time to go under.
4)A wet canopy is so heavy, it feels caught on the bottom! It wasnt caught, just full of water, i could barely pull it out. 3 others that ran up, had to help me get it out.
I was able to walk away from this one thank God for that! Of course, everyone made fun of me for the whole rest of the day, with the forseeable knicknames, PondBoy, PondScum, WaterBoy.
Interestingly enuf, when i was walking out to the loading area with my jumpmaster, before the jump, i asked him, hey, how deep is that pond anyway? I guess someone was looking out for me so that i'd know it was deep. Guardian angel or not, I'm going to drill my emergency procedures alot more from now on!
I want to say again that as beginners we've got to ask ALL the questions we've got before we jump so that there is no confusion. We wont always get a chance to come here & post about it.
blue skies! -Rainier
Sparks Brother #1 // "I vaguely heard someone yell "wait!" but by that point i was out the door." Quote from dz.com somewhere
