PLFXpert

Okay, I may sound a little dumb but that has never stopped me from asking any question before so: What is a smokejumper? If I think about it literally, I think of someone who jumps into fires but why? Is it for the purpose of fire-fighting and if so where do you have your eqipment or anything if you're jumping into it? As far as bad weather jumps, I have one. I used to have the mindset of, "as long as everyone else says it's okay to jump then I'm DEFINITELY jumping." Well, that mindset taught me a lesson one day. When we left the ground, the was a lot of cloud coverage but there was just enough holes to make it okay to take a load up. By the time we got to altitude, there were NO holes and the pilot wasn't even sure where we were as far as the spot, not to mention it was also extremely windy that day and come to find out, having just gotton off student status a couple weeks before this jump, I shouldn't have been allowed to jump in those high winds but nobody caught me and I didn't know any better so everyone in the plane just decided to trust the pilot to be "close enough" and jump out. So I figured, "okay, I'll jump too." As I said, I was fresh off student status so all I was doing was some flips and barrel rolls, ext. I had packed my chute myself for the first time and was a little nervous about it so I pulled at 4 grand just to make sure I had enough time to cut away (as you can see, I wasn't very confident about my pack-job.) When I opened, I was still in the clouds so I just held down one toggle to spiral down in place and not drift until I could see where I was. When I got out of the clouds, I was at 2,200 feet and the DZ was NOWHERE in sight. My canopy was collapsing and then inflating again from the strong winds so it was a really bumpy ride but I knew it wasn't my canopy b/c when it was actually open it was perfect. All that was below me was swamp and trees and 1 field, pretty far away but I decided to try and go for it. I *almost* made it, I was about 10 feet short of it and had to PLF into a tree. I was more worried about hurting my canopy than myself since my gear is my baby so I reached up after my feet hit the tree and tried to pull in my canopy so it wouldn't get caught. It worked and I slowly fell to the ground limb by limb. I was not hurt at all but covered in mud. Some friends at the DZ were watching for me and were actually waiting in the field in a truck calling for me when I found my way to the field. Turns out no-one from that load landed on the DZ and the few that got close landed around this pond pretty close to the DZ. It has been my only off-DZ landing and I have to say, it was kinda fun if you don't find that wierd. What's funny is that, even after that, after I checked my gear, packed it up, put on my RW suit (since my freefly one was covered in mud) I went for another jump. Still in high winds but by this time it was about an hour later and the clouds had cleared. It was a fun day for experiences b/c again, on the way down, my canopy was collaspsing and inflating again but I landed right next to the peas.....at first...he he he...before my canopy took off with me. I pulled in one of my toggles all the way and it was still going so I pulled my other one in all the way and it was still going so I had to pretty much launch myself on top of my canopy to get it to stop. Ha ha ha. Everyone was laughing at me and we had just done a pretty awesome 7-way w/ our DZ owner and he said "I forgot, the winds are kinda high for you to be jumping today." And I was all "Gee, thanks for the notice." All I knew from a student was to check which direction the winds were coming from. No-one had mentioned that certain winds may be too high for beginner or even some intermediate levels. Nevertheless, I had a GREAT time. Ha ha ha

I feel for you, Sis. I know exactly how you feel as I lost my altimeter before. I looked EVERYWHERE for it and it drove me insane b/c it was only a week after I'd bought it. It finally turned up in my trunk where I had my gear bag and it must not have been zippered closed all the way so it must have fallen out in there. Whew! I will pray for you to find it but there's hope! Much love and blue skies, Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

Hi Fruce, Sex in the windtunnel, huh? That would mean the guy controlling the wind and the instructor would have front row seats, you exhibitionist, you. I currently live in Orlando and used to work for the company that owns SkyVenture, called SkyFun so I used to fly at Venture quite a bit. I have no other windtunnel to compare it to but I always had a great time and really love the staff there. Quite a few of them are also skydivers and can always offer very helpful advice or even jump in with you and play. If you are thinking about heading there, I think it's a great idea. Much love and blue skies, Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

Wow, this is one of many things that I hear about happening but *never* want to happen to me. I guess I'm a little too trusting b/c the only percautions I've ever taken is before we all get on the plane, we all discuss pull altitude. The freeflyers ALWAYS have gone after the belly-flyers on any load I've been on and then amongst us freeflyers we get out in order of who's pulling higher ext. I have never known, until this thread, why exactly but I've always known that when I'm freeflying, I get out last and that as far as pulling, I usually pull higher than the other freeflyers so so again, I really go last. Pretty much, I get out in the order that the other more experienced jumpers tell me I should. It's nice to know, now, though the reasoning behind it all so that if perchance something sounds odd to me, I will know what questions to ask. Cool thread. Much love and blue skies, Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

Hey guys....any new news? I came back from Spring Break last Monday morning and realized I hadn't had enough of the "Break" part yet so I took an extra week off. Ha ha ha. Actually, though, it was really for my boyfriend whose father is very sick in the hospital but he just got out and I just had to go back to class this morning, YUCK! Anyways, I just wanted to touch *BASE* with you guys. Hope everything has been going well for you all. The weather the last few days in Jax beach (where my boyfriend lives) was soooo perfect for jumping and I felt a little like a caged bird since we were running back and forth between the hospital and his parent's house and did not get to jump. But we did see a little bit of the TPC golf and it was cool. We also did some shore fishing and caught some cool fish and had a yummy dinner

I have 2 tattos and want 2 more. One of the ones I want I want to have to do with skydiving but I don't want the traditional person under canopy and haven't been lucky, either, finding something I like or drawing something I like. I have decided between 2 ideas though....you guys can tell me which you like best: 1. a set of wings going around my right ankle or 2. a really cool dove representing both flight and peace Which do you like better? The tattos I have now are a surf flower (hibiscous, my favorite) w/ ocean waves behind it on my lower back and the second one is a little crescent moon with 2 little stars on the inside of my left hipbone, kinda low. I want to add a really cool little sun going behind the moon to that one and then of course, a skydiving tattoo on my ankle. Tattoos are AWESWOME they are so artistic and can be really cool if you really think about them and make them really mean something to you. I drew all of mine and they made a carbon of my drawing and then tattooed it on me. If you aren't a great drawer, then find someone who is and tell them what you want. Make it original and actually, some tattoo artists will then pay you for your drawing if they like it and think customers will buy it. I got my surf flower tattoo real cheap b/c of that. Let me know, guys which of the two options for my skydiving tattoo you like. Much love and blue skies, Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

I'm from Orlando and used to work for the company that owns SkyVenture, the windtunnel there. I'm not contradicting the 3 points that were made above but offering up another option. You do not need to hire a coach, in my opinion. The instructors there are always willing to help you out. Thomas, Eliana, and Scott are all part of Deland Tunnel Rage, the skydiving team that won intermediate nationals last summer. Thomas and some of the others are also extremely good freeflyers. They are all very nice and would be willing to step in with you and do some 2-way RW or show you some freeflying moves. I personally have only done some sit and back freeflying in the tunnel but a LOT of RW and it is an AWESOME help. Out of everyone, I would definitely recommend Thomas. Just let them know you are a skydiver and you get a discount and ask if any would be willing to show you a few things. Also, about the jumpsuit. In my opinion, I do not believe it's necessary to have booties in the tunnel. The wind is different but definitely bring your own suit! The comment about the suits they have there is RIGHT ON! I just wore my freefly suit, even when doing RW in the tunnel and it worked just great. I'm sure booties wouldn't hurt, I just don't think they're necessary in the tunnel. Hope that helps some.

Grogs, Well, damn, that's annoying. Maybe this USPA will take me if they're a new company and looking for takers. Who knows. Thanks for the input! Much love and blue skies, Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

1. humanitarian 2. dreamer; idealist 3. freeflyer; skydiver I LOVE YOU GUYS! I like the guy who said "very, very, poor" ha ha ha....too sweet! Much love and blue skies, Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

Hey guys....wow, what an awesome response! I haven't had time to read them all yet but when I get back from Spring Break I will for sure! My behind the times boyfriend just got a laptop but still doesn't have an internet provider so I'm using a free one but it SUX! So you might guess that I'm not too stoked to be dealing with it right now but I can't wait to finish reading all the stories. I love you guys! Much love and blue skies, Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

Also, here was Frank's story (IFLYME): Carrie, I really enjoyed reading about how you became interested in skydiving... I like learning how everyone else got so wound up in this crazy sport we all love so much! For me, a buddy and I had been casually mentioning back and forth over the course of a decade... then one day he called ans said "some of the folks I work with are going, and do ya want to go..." So we did the FJC (along with one of my younger brothers), and I was totally hooked the moment I landed! They both did just one more jump, but for me I can't think about anything else most of the time! Anyone else have a story they can share?

Hey guys, we started talking about it on another thread but I figured this discussion deserved it's own thread. How did each of you become interested in skydiving and how did you come about doing your first jump. Here is my story. Some may have already read it: When I was going to UF, I lived in Gainesville and the only car insurance company that would take me with my record # of speeding tickets was a company called Florida No-Fault. Anyways, it's kinda a hole in the wall establishment and you wait FOREVER to meet with a person to fill out forms and stuff and while I was waiting one summer (2 summers ago) this girl came in wearing a skydiving shirt and since I've always been into extreme sports, we started talking. She told me she was a traveling massuse but that her real *job* was a skydiver. She said she'd just gotton back from Thailand (a country I'm obsessed with visiting) where they broke a world record and that her boyfriend, named Rambo, and her were going to be doing some stunts for a movie that would be out the following summer, called "Cutaway" and that I should watch for it. She had so many awesome things to say about the sport of skydiving and I was so envious of the traveling, record-breaking, and overall passion in the sport that I never stopped thinking about it and the following summer, I finally began AFF (this is why I planned on doing AFF right from the beginning w/out a tandem b/c I just knew it was for me.) Anyways, about a month after I did my first couple levels of AFF was when the movie "Cutaway" finally came out and I remembered her telling me about it. I wish that I could run into her sometime and thank her for taking the time to talk to me that day while we were waiting. I know when I mentioned her to my AFF instructor, Billy Weber, that he knew her but I haven't met anyone else that knew of her. Anyways, I just want to thank her. I doubt she'd even remember but it's something I'll never forget. Much love and blue skies, Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

Yey! Thank you PLFKing. Maybe our similar flare problems caused us both to pick the same name as well. Everyone tells me as they tell you, that standing up will come in time. Actually, I went all day on Saturday standing up but only b/c I waited until "OMG, I'm going to crash" before I flared...ha ha ha. Nobody seems to think my very poor depth perception has anything to do with it but you just made me feel a WHOLE lot better. Thank you

At Skydive Daytona (before it closed) everyone gave everyone gear checks before on the plane and before exit and ESPECIALLY new jumpers. I made the comment once after I'd been off student status for a few jumps and another jumper yelled "hey carrie, did keith (our manager) give you a gear check?" and I yelled, "yea, and so did Bobby, Billy, and Kelly. I got *everyone checkin my ass*." Ha ha ha....it was a joke after that...everyone was checkin my ass. At our DZ, you didn't have to ask, it was just something people did. In Deland, I haven't seen it as much but still everyone who's jumping with each other, I've noticed usually give each other a gear check. I always have my boyfriend check me just before and then check my hackie again after I stand up just to make sure it's in good since we mostly freefly. Maybe I'm overly cautious but I think gear checks are pretty important

Billy, Yea, after my AFF I was so broke and I know it's customary to *tip* your jumpmaster but I didn't have any money and since Billy Weber (my jumpmaster) quit drinking so I couldn't buy him beer, I gave him my copy of that book. He had said some things to me in AFF that sounded so similar to things said to me in that book and he told me, not even a week later, he had finished it and was sooooo thankful I gave that to him. I like how it just ties everything in together, like all religions, all people, all places, everything. It's all about utilizing your mind. VERY cool stuff. I'm glad you read it

I couldn't agree more, Frank. Although I'm a vegetarian

Thanks Billy. I don't believe in coincidence (if you've ever read the book "Celestine Prophecy" you know what I'm talking about) so I think it was foreshawdoing my future, ya know? My life is 100x happier now that I'm a skydiver

Thanks guys,......this is it, I'm on my way out the DOOOOOORRRR! (pun intended

Hey guys, I won't be posting much for the next week or so since tonight officially begins my Spring Break and I'm staying at my boyfriends who doesn't own a computer (what a nerd

Jumpergirl, That is so nice to hear

Skyhawk, Yea, 1st Base is a *really* cool video. I counted how many seconds the freefall lasted of the kjerag in Norway and I counted 23 seconds of freefall in a BASE jump. I even waited a couple seconds after the initial launch until the guy was offcially belly-down. I can't wait to try that! Much love and blue skies, Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

Venwood, In conversation, just about any that starts out serious or light can end up in a more light or serious discussion. No-one was making light of hook turns. There were some excellent opinions and information posted before the discussion took a new route. If you'd like additional information, why not post another thread and ask any questions you're interested in? I'm sure there would be a lot of response

Kaz, I'm with ya on the poor and car issues. Hang in there

Freaksis, I'm glad you brought this up. I do not wear glasses or contacts b/c I have 20/40 vision (last time I was tested, could be worse now) which is the bare minimum they say you need to drive w/out glasses. Anyhow....as far as canopy control goes, I always get to the target (never right on it but always close around it) but when it comes time to flare, I'm ALWAYS off (hence PLFXpert name.) I asked my boyfriend if he thought this might be b/c my depth perception is off but he said probably NOT and that I'd just get it eventually with more practice. Does anyone disagree or am I just flare-challenged? Much love and blue skies, Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

Hey, yea I considered that. We'll just have to see. This is a really chaotic month but I've written it on my calender so that if it's possible than I'll be there