zen_mtn_climber

And I should care about either of these movies why ?!? "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

+1 So few people can accept that shit happens sometimes and so many people feel the need to assign blame and responsibility (and therefore liability) "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Speaking of great but WTF movies . . Memento (2000) "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Yeah, I think there are lot more good people in the world than we give credit for

Nice . . myself got a older javelin container, triathlon 175 w/pd-r 160 reserve and cypres1 with a couple years left on it. Can't wait to jump it this coming weekend as well! Enjoy your new rig! "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Same here!

Maybe they need to be licensed . . do only solos until they have enough experience and show the requisite skills for group activities . .

1. 35 2. 1 3. Partial - packing error resulting in spinning line twists on jump 13. "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Sorry but loving what you doing and loving teaching isn't enough . . probably necessary but not sufficient. My point is that teaching is a separate skill. I agree that often times a natural in any field is not a good instructor. Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you can explain it to someone else. But you don't have to stuggle at something to have empathy and understanding of what a student is going through . . we all struggle at certain things in our lives. And just because you struggle and figure something out for yourself doesn't mean that same line of thought is going to resonate with someone else. A good instructor knows that different people have different learning styles and can teach to these styles. Some are auditory learners, some kinestic, some visual as their dominant learning style. A good instructor has learned to quickly pick up cues from their students as to their learning style and can then tailor what they are trying to teach to their students in a way that person will learn easiest. And a good instructor should also know their subject inside and out. They should know their subject so well that they can explain it in a number of different ways so they can teach it in a way that their student will 'get it' When you say the easier it is to discover something the harder it will be to explain it . . that's not necessarily true . . and just because you've made sense of something doesn't mean you can explain it in a way that someone else can understand. The best teachers will have taken time to really understand their subject, whether it was easy or hard for them at first. I guess all I'm saying is the "best" instructors are those that know their subjects extremely well, empathize and care about their students and are really good at the independent skill of teaching, so that they can really pass on that knowledge. "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Sorry to split hairs but actually I would say that in any field, natural ability and teaching ability are independent of each other, not a "one or the other" type thing. Some could have both, some may have one or the other ability. I would state it as "A natural skydiver is not necessarily a good instructor/coach/mentor" You may find that someone with natural ability who just got it the first time but also has a disposition, understanding of the topic they are teaching and a natural gift for teaching that makes them a great instructor. "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

I can chime in a little re: finishing your A as well. I just finished my A end of June at Skydance. I was pretty slow in finishing due to money, family commitments, long drive to Skydance. Agree with you that after finishing AFF that its easy to feel kind of adrift. I wasn't quite sure how it all worked at first and how I was going to get my card finished. AFF is so structured and then suddenly bang . . no structure. Did a couple of solos, was kinda floating on my own and then finally just had manifest set up my first coach jump for me based on who was around that day and not too busy. Once I did my first coach jump, things started to fall in place. What I found in all cases were that my coaches were all really helpful and supportive. In each case, my coach would look at my card, see what was left and we'd plan a custom dive flow based on what I'd completed so far and what I might be able to get checked off. Once I realized this, had some great talks with coaches about what I felt good about, what I was struggling with . . started to enjoy the more freeform nature of post-AFF. So hope you have a good time with the canopy course this weekend. I'm out of town or I'd be there myself. And hope your jumps w/NWFlyer help you on your way. I'd also say chat with Keith and Lisa after your course . . they're a great source of info and encouragement. Last, once you finish your A I'd be happy to jump with you sometime. I'm still figuring it out myself so I won't be able to teach you stuff like a coach or experienced jumper . . but I'm low stress and looking for someone on my level to jump with

I'm a recent A license guy and have been sticking my landings pretty much perfect since jump 4 or 5. Not trying to rub it in or anything but seeing all this talk of people's difficulties landing I've tried to understand why I've had no problem. I think the one major thing that's really helped me is my ability to judge my height off the ground. I'm a long time rock climber and even longer time semi-extreme skiier. I've been jumping off cliffs on skis for half my life. I know what 20 ft off the ground, 10ft off the ground, 5 ft off the ground really looks like. Pretty much ingrained in my soul. So I've been quite successful in timing my flare at the proper height. I'd say, get ahold of an old mattress or two and throw them down out in the yard. Then get a 10 ft ladder and stand at the top of it . . practice standing at the top and looking down . . jump off it lots of times onto the mattresses, get used to what your feet being 10 ft, 5ft off the ground really looks like. Work on building a mental sense of how high up 5-10ft off the ground really looks and feels. When you jump off the ladder, don't look down at your feet . . look ahead toward the mattresses to train yourself to keep looking ahead during landing . . basically trying to simulate your landings as best as possible. Other piece of advice from my AFF instructors that helped some was if you are flaring too high, as most do, when your brain starts screaming at you to flare, say a quick mantra of "oh shit, oh shit, oh shit" then flare. Basically try to compensate for your brain sending the flare message too early. Good luck, K

I'm 41 . . just got my A license a month ago . . First jump was on my 40th birthday . . took awhile to get my A due to life, job, money, DZ far away etc . . keep with it . . 33 too old? Bah! Please . .

Yeah, signals a little weak in the hangar . . much better if you're hanging out in the grass in front of manifest Cheers, K "Whatever the future holds down the road, being true to yourself is something you won't ever regret doing. " - airtwardo

Electronic backup is an excellent suggestion! Starting to transcribe my logbook into a spreadsheet up at Google Docs right now. Thanks for the suggestion! Cheers, K ---------- No electrons were harmed in the creation of this post

Just about done my A and I've been in a similar situation as you all the way through. Due to limits in $$, scheduling around my kid (single parent) and a 2.5 hr drive each way to my DZ, I can only get down to jump every 3rd weekend or so. One thing that's helped me is that I always plan to start my day with a well planned warmup jump. Gives me a chance to work on my exits, get comfy in freefall, consolidate skills and just get in the proper headspace before doing any coach jumps. At least this way, I feel prepared to focus on new skills when I'm with my coach and can maximize our session together . . Cheers, K