gale

Ah, I have an attitude problem! OK, yes, you're right. I need to try to be more positive. I'm just getting discouraged. And yes, I know coaching in person is important, it's just that when I ask my coaches about it, they don't really have anything to say! (I've been doing coach dives recently.) I guess I'll try to wrangle someone new into helping me. I wish I lived near a place where there were canopy control classes but there's nothing like that in Canada (that I know of). Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Ok, so I can't land. I admit it. Canopies confuse me. Yeah, pull right toggle go right, left toggle go left, both flare...but it still seems a mystery. I'm flying a Manta 288 and I can't stand a landing. I'm really started to get upset about it too. My landings aren't dangerous, I'm not limping off the field or anything, but I'm just not standing. I've even landed downwind without any problems. Part of this is fear on my end, I'm scared of hurting myself (jump #11, bad sprain - flared high and I didn't PLF) But I really don't know if it's a standable landing until I'm on the ground saying to myself "I could have stood that with a step or two". What do I do? I can't jump anything smaller until I get better, and I seem to be stuck. We only have these rigs to jump and they are 8 years old with I don't know how many jumps on them. Other then that there is a Call Ralf 210 and a Hornet 190. (A bit of a "jump" wouldn't you say?) I'm in the process of buying a Tri220 (this will still give me a less then 1 to 1 wing loading) for myself but I can't jump it until I get better. HELP! Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Interesting, I was the opposite. (We all know that online polls are terribly accurate ) I was a yo, Adrian with the guys and a Ozzie and Hariet with the girls. Hmmmm, traditional girl on girl..there's something to think about.... Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Wow. Nice dissertation. It sounds like you're someone worth being around. I honestly think very few guys your age have that kind of maturity. I hope you find someone wonderful who appriciates it. It's not about being "nice" or "bad". If some girl gives you a cavelier answer like that she doesn't sounds like much of a person anyway. It's about being yourself - trite and overused, I know. But I am now in a relationship that proves it. It's the most relaxed relationship I've ever had, it's also the best. I'm myself, he's himself. And for the record - he's a "nice guy". If you feel like all your macho friends get these "great women" understand that they're probably not all that great to begin with. The issues that lead them to dating bad boys would probably not make you happy. Be happy with yourself, the rest will come. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Well, we may be looking to move people to the Praries (there are good reasons no one wants to move there - think Arazona but freaking cold in the winter.) but not the cities. A British couple I know have been trying to immigrate for two years. And they have money. It's rediculous. They're just the kind of people a country would love to have and they have to spend thousands of dollars and wait forever. But of course, if you stow away on a boat and land on our shores we feed and clothe you. ARG. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Don't feel bad, my size isn't even on the list! Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

At North Eden he also is a dealer of Triathalon stuff. (Airodine research I beleive) (According to their website) Yes, I agree, it's frusterating having to get stuff from the US because of the exchange rate but I don't really think that the market in Canada warrents much more then we have. I don't think an online dealer would be able to buy things in big enough quantities to make the savings worthwhile to the Canadian consumer anyway. Guess we'll just all have to head to the sunny south for gear buying and year-round jumping

Well, I was out just looking to have fun for a couple of years and kind of outgrew it I think. It was fun, but I got over it. Now I'm in a loving relationship and wouldn't want it any other way! (He's a skydiving too.) Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

I wonder what lucky people got to pay for the study that found these groundbreaking results. Lucky them. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

OK, so this guy (if it's true) wasn't too bright or too safety-oriented (say, I don't know, checking your handles before you leave...) But what about the other people ON THE PLANE? The pilot, the jumpers, ANYONE! How could they not have noticed???? The whole idea that someone would not have pointed this out getting INTO the plane let alone before getting out of the plane is unreal. Man, we really have to learn to look out for each other. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

I wanted to get a big suit to help me slow my fall rate and Tad's helped me pick the options that would best help. They gave me detailed information and I got it in TWO WEEKS and that's with shipping from Australia. My suit is beautiful and much cheaper then most (if not all) the ones made in the states. The only downside is the booties which they seem to make a little big. I would recommend the company to anyone who needs an inexpensive RW suit.

OK, so I don't jump at the best dz in the world. I get that. But the weather here is perfect and we HAVE NO PLANE! We were told that we would have 2 cessnas for every weekend in September becuase of the lack of planes (tough to get in the air) the rest of the summer. (Doesn't really make up for it, but whatever) But we don't own a plane. We lease them. So the dz that ownes the planes had one break and recalled one of ours. Then the dzo decided to take the other one with him to a party. So, NO PLANE! Oh, yeah, and did I mention the weather is perfect? It won't be for long, though. ARG. (By the way, I live on an island and the nearest one cessna dz is four hours away and they don't have coaches (which I need) there. Or I can pay $100 to get off the island and back to a DECENT dz but I can't afford it) ARG. My skydiver self is PI$$ED OFF. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Really interesting discussion. We didn't use nearly as many signals when I went through PFF. If a student doesn't know their altitude the instructor shakes you - that wakes you up - hard to misinterperret. If he wants you to arch more he taps (hits, whatever) so you can feel it on your back. These issues are resolved before moving on to levels where you are released. It seems like 10 signals would be really confusing! I know how overwhelming it is just being up there let alone learning a whole new language. By the way, we don't have a pull signal. If they don't think you're going to pull, they pull for you, but if you see them track away (higher levels) then that's the pull signal. Same for coach dives. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Someone with many more skydives then me gave me some really good advice once: "if it doesn't feel right, don't do it" It doesn't matter if you have 1, 100, or 1000 jumps, if you think it's time to ride the plane down - for WHATEVER reason, then it's time to ride the plane down. It doesn't make you a baby, p*ssy, or anything else, it just makes you someone who listens to their gut, and that just might keep you alive someday. Oh, and if anyone ever told me I was a baby for being scared of JUMPING OUT OF A PLANE, I would make sure they were made very uncomfortable at the dz until they left. Find some other dz to pollute with that macho garbage. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Hmmm, these are some pretty amazing stories. Our farmer doesn't like us much but I don't think he'd get a gun... Here's the story that comes to mind though... We rent the field we land in from a farmer. It's not next to the airport as we can't get permission to land there. We rent this field for a LOT of money and each year the farmer makes the field smaller and smaller by planting more crops around it. (Occasionally you'll be landing and see his farm vehicles driving on the field cutting grass, bailing hay, etc. I couldn't beleive it the first time I had to land there as a student with a moving truck on the Landing area) Anyway, we were doing night jumps one night and I went out to watch. There is a little access road to the field that the farmer uses for his vehicles and that we don't normally use (we walk up to the main road) and that he puts irrigation tubes accross sometimes. We know this and planned to drive the vans onto the field around the irrigation stuff. We get there, and they're blocking the field and won't let us drive the vans out. The skydivers are already IN THE AIR and there's no light at the dz. We first calmly (then angrily) explain to the farmers son (blocking the road) that we know about his equiptment, and will drive around it and PEOPLE COULD DIE if he doesn't f%$#ing move. It amazed me that he didn't seem to care. Well, there was a bunch of silliness (trying to contact the plane...trying to move the farmer...) and in the end all was well and the night jumps did happen. But yeah, someone who would put live in danger when we pay them for ACCESS/USE OF THEIR LAND is an as***#@. Screw you farmer McNasty, and farmer McNastys everywhere! Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Hmmmmm, normal? Well, that I wouldn't know, but I DO know that my first PFF jump went badly and I had already done 7 or eigh IADs! It went a little something like this: I exited badly from the plane which sent me falling back-down, this also made me loose my right instructor right away. It took me a few seconds to remember to arch (actually it was only looking up and seeing the sky and thinking "that's not supposed to be there, oh yeah I was supposed to, ARCH) and then actually managed to do two practice pulls. By then it was around 5500 and I was supposed to pull around 5000 (that's 2.5 seconds away). However, it was at this time that the instructor that I lost came back and docked kind of hard sending me flailing downward. At some point, the instructor I had left managed to flip me over, and pull for me. (This was above 2500) I didn't understand what happened, it seemed to take only a few seconds for the whole thing to happen. I considered that dive a success, here's why: 1. First freefall (BEER) 2. Managed to do at least SOME of the exercises. 3. Landed in one peice. 4. Actually exited an aircraft from 10,000 knowing that the chute wouldn't just automatically open. Conquered some BIG fear there. 5. Learned how NOT to do a poised exit. All good stuff. I think you could make a similar list for your dive. I've now graduated from the program and have 28 dives. I've never lost awareness like that again, not even close. My coaches say my altitude awareness is great. All I'm saying is, one mistake doesn't dictate how the rest of your training will go. Mistakes are absolutely serious when they happen at 10000 feet, but try not to beat yourself up about it. Just listen to your instructors, try hard, and learn. Oh yeah, and all those people telling you to relax are right, it really does help (I still have to remind myself). Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Your doctor absolutely is the one to ask. They are the only ones that can evaluate YOU on YOUR medication. I can take something and have a severe reaction and you can take the same thing and have none. Always check it out. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Oh, I've been going there a while and I do know them, that might be what ticks me off so much. But, that being said, I will go out and try again tomorrow. And, worse comes to worse, there are always other dzs. Bigger planes, more skydivers, sounds good to me. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Yes I can jump solo. But I have to do four more coach jumps to get my A. (Here we have a solo level before you get your A) But I can't afford to just fun jump because I feel like it, I'm trying to get my lisence so the jumps are at least a little less. And we manifest oursleves, there is no manifester during the week usually. It just pissed me off because they saw me there are could have done a freefly 2-way (there were freefliers) and didn't. They just left me sitting there. And politics did have something to do with it as one of the guys won't get on the plane with me because of who I'm dating (yup, he hates my boyfriend that much) and another guy won't get on the plane with my coach just because he hates him! It's #($* infuriating. Aren't we all just there to jump for god sake. There's no one saying that if you hate someone you should have to jump with them, but not even get on the plane? Come on people. Where's all the peace, love and grooviness skydivers are supposed to exibit? Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Well I just got home from the dz. Spent 3.5 hours there and no jump. I'm at one of those cessna dzs and there aren't a lot of skydivers there, particularily today for some reason. I go out nice and early (being 4pm, nothing goes on before that) to make sure I get on something, I'm doing some coach jumps right now. I get there are there are four other jumpers, one of whom I ask to do a coach jump with me, he says yes, and I manifest us,. Now all we need is another two to fill the load. Well, two of the other jumpers were going up on the single slots left over on the tandem loads. No biggie, we'll just wait for some other people to arrive. So two other skydivers arrive and they manifest themselves on a different load with one of the skydivers that's been there all along. Another skydiver arrives, fills out the load, and off they go - leaving me on the ground. Yup, three and a half hours later and I leave after exhausting all possibilities of a load. I'm so upset. These people supposedly are the "cool, friendly" skydivers. Now I know this was all political, but I wasted a whole afternoon and it left a very bad taste in my mouth. I'm nice to everyone there and I don't get this. I'm actually really hurt and mad. I would have very happily made two jumps today but instead I left the dz having done none. I'm unhappy. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

I'm not crazy about the teal. The red and blue are cool though. Maybe you could add another type of blue? Just a thought. You're the one who's going to jump it though so your opinion is really all that matters. I just bought a jumpsuit and I the reactions to it have been mixed, but it's mine and I LOVE IT! Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Hi, I'm a newbie (28 dives) and I know about the fear stuff. I'm amazed that I ever made it past the first 10 dives, and if you read some of the other people's posts on here you'll see that it's not rare to think that. I don't know how the fear subsided I only know that it did. Here are some things that helped: Listen to your instructors, and ask lots of questions. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask. Even if they have to tell you three times to get it to stick it's better that way. Mental rehersal rocks. If I can mentally reherse what I'm going to do (even while sitting at work!) I find it really helpful. Exits are good to visualize, as are landings, think about that in the plane instead of how scary it is. There should be people at your dz who can help you with this. Relaxation exercises are good in the plane too. Practice everything on the ground more times then you think you need. Relax, have fun, and smile. It took me four freefalls before I smiled at anyone and it was the best feeling ever! Oh yeah, and when people told me it would get better I didn't beleive them. They were right. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Hi, I'm just a little newbie, but I will tell you about what I've done. I started out doing IAD's and then moved to PFF on my 8th jump (like AFF, but in Canada). I think the IADs were great for me because it got me used to getting out of the plane by myself. I was a VERY nervous jumper and the more times I do it, the less nervous I get. I did switch to PFF because I kept screwing up my paper pulls and was getting frusterated. The change was tough though, and VERY scarey. Obviously it was good enough for me to continue, but I think if it wasn't for the IADs I would have been too scared to continue. So, my $0.02. Take it for what you will, I think IADs do have value. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

I so glad to read your post. I can't land either! I've at least gotten past the point where I smash into the land (although, never had the bruises you describe!) but I don't stand them either. Ever since badly spraining my ankle I don't really even try. I don't know how to get over the feeling that I'm just going to do it again. Yesterday I landed really softly on my butt and I could have stood it, too bad I don't realize that before hand! Anyway, I'm glad to see that not everyone gets this landing thing down quickly and easily. Good luck. Wish I had a canopy school to go to. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind

Well, I'll be dropping by as I've never been to a boogie before (yup, BEER). I'm a little newbie though. Just curious to see what the good skydivers do. Gale I'm drowning...so come inside Welcome to my...dirty mind