emmiwy

I'm so incredibly tempted! I have a coupon for a free balloon jump with this company so have been thinking about doing this. The bad news is I don't have my own gear yet, and afaik they won't let you jump rented gear. What sized canopy are you jumping?

I think you're halfway there by realizing what may be wrong with your body position. At least you are cognizant of how your body is in freefall so don't feel discouraged! At this point, building muscle memory is the primary lesson we learn as new skydivers, so nothing more than jumping more or some time in the tunnel won't remedy. While it is easy to want to relax into the wind and just fly, maintaining positive pressure with the right muscles is what keeps you stable. What one of my AFF instructors taught me that I found very helpful when thinking about body position is not to just limit yourself to thinking about the arch. There are three major components to stable body position in the air: check (1) arms, (2) hips and (3) legs. Be positive with all three, you don't want to be overly rigid as you have already noticed, but you also do not want to let the air push you around :) Your instructor should give you the clearest idea of what you are doing wrong. If he said its just your hips that are too flat, then visualize an exaggerated arch for next time. Otherwise he will give you the appropriate signals to help you correct your body position to maintain stability, so trust that. Good luck!

I was lucky enough to get Karl for that load, I was hoping he would give me extra altitude but I guess I had to tell him personally :) I'm going to miss you Spot.

To think that getting my A license was awesome at 25, 100 was even better. It really is true when people who have hundreds, thousands of jumps say it just gets better and better. In the grand scheme of things, some say that 100 will feel like nothing but for me one of the best experiences I've had so far. I chose to do an undie hundie and it was awesome. With the temperature being in the 80's I was really glad I chose to do it, uppers weren't blowing strong at all so it wasn't cold on the ride up. :) More so, that this experience has been a milestone more so for my own personal growth. It wasn't as evident after 25 jumps, but looking back now I can more easily see how much I have grown in the past few months not only as a skydiver but as a person. It has helped me outgrow inhibitions, grow comfortable with myself, with people around me. I'm learning how to enjoy life freely and with less reservation. Much love to Jack, Crystal, and Justin for organizing, to Lisa and Majus for the pie in the face and throwing me into the pool, and everyone who has watched me pour my sweat and frustration into packing a new canopy, for attempting my sitfly, for learning how to stay on top of a tracking dive, for learning harness turning, front riser diving and spiraling on a sport canopy much against my reservations. There's always something new to learn and that's what I will continue to love about this sport. Thank you to everyone at Elsinore for making my 100 a memorable experience and only look forward to many many more awesome jumps to come. :)

Not my favorite quote but posting because it made me laugh: Friend: "I gotta get my shit packed" Other friend: "Dude don't repeat that, that didn't come out the way you wanted"

This happened to me on one of my jumps! I was stable until pull time I started to go into a tumble but before I pitched too far I already had pulled. As people have already said, sometimes you have to go through a "scary" moment like this to realize that skydiving actually requires a lot of discipline if you want to stay safe. That means being cognizant of your body position and everything else we've learned through AFF (i.e. try to remember "arch, reach, pull" on every jump) or training as novice skydivers. Be proud that you corrected it and you pulled stable and got down safely. :)

+1

I didn't go into a wind tunnel until I reached AFF level 3, at which point my instructor recommended I go into the tunnel before level 4 which is the most common level for students to not pass. From an economic/utility standpoint, it may save you some money repeating levels if you go into tunnel and grow comfortable flying your body. The 15 minutes of tunnel time translates into roughly 15 skydives, so it definitely will help body stability as you will have spent more time flying your body in the air. But as some have posted already, clearly people can successfully complete AFF without going into a tunnel, without repeating levels, so it really is up to you. A tunnel doesn't simulate real freefall in the sense that you are inside a tunnel, where there is no sky, there is a net below you and walls surrounding you. Thus you feel "safer" and don't have to worry about altitude awareness, pulling, canopy flight and many other important things that we learn in skydiving. With that said, tunnel is VERY fun for that reason, all you have to worry about is flying. I highly recommend it :)

Yeah I know he lurks around here somewhere...

I would call it typical American fare. It is NOT a high-class place. Annie is a Brit so go and discover. JerryBaumchen Good to know :) I've been looking for more of the local places to eat everytime I'm there [beyond Tacos Elsinore and Gina's].

DSands if you read this PM me please! Or if anyone happens to know this sprightly gentleman could you please point me in his direction? Thanks. :)

I'm on my way to my A! 10 (or so) more jumps and I'm there! Andrea Congratulations Andrea! If you think it's fun now, wait until you're licensed! :) In which case don't be a stranger if you ever make it down to Elsinore.

I also want to say that it is mentality/attitude/complacency. This idea has come up many times already I'm sure. For me it just takes an experienced jumper to put me in my place when I am not rigorous enough in terms of how I approach my own safety with this sport. Whether it is a misrouted chest strap or not wearing my helmet on take-off; things that I experienced but am lucky enough to still have my life to speak of but enough to illustrate our own mortality and that only we are in control of our own lives...I'd rather be a nerd with safety than be cocky/complacent about rules that keep us safe in the sky [and were invented for a reason].

I'm jealous of the fact that your problem with packing a new canopy is the wind, and not the slickness or canopy material. I had a very difficult time packing about a 100 jump canopy on a rental rig today. Not brand new but a very slick canopy It's like relearning how to pack all over again!

After much soul searching, I decided to skydive, do a tandem jump on New Year's Eve 2009. I came back from a short winter break to campus where no one was around and thought now was the perfect opportunity to do this. The feeling of flying, is all I wanted to experience, to know what it'd feel like to overcome fear and all other anxiety I'd expect from skydiving was more a challenge to myself that I could overcome my own inhibitions. Needless to say it was the best thing I've ever done. Perhaps very naive and stupid, but I wasn't afraid of the most logical thing that scares people [that the parachute doesn't open and you fall to your death]. I just wanted to fly. Didn't want to complicate the memory and experience with a videographer in front of me. Saw mountains, ocean, the islands off the coast it was beautiful, peaceful. I can never forget the quiet and calm once under canopy. It left me literally breathless and with an experience much more than I expected.

+1 The canopy piloting instructor will have very customized advice/knowledgeable about downsizing, based on him carefully watching your landings.

Nice thread :) If you don't mind, I'm going to use some of these ideas too. I've heard SUNSET high altitude hop and pops are awesome. Though sunset track dives are my favorite jump...I finally was able to keep up with the formation for the first time last weekend on a sunset track dive it was amazing, it was the most euphoric feeling for me. You can jump in a costume, or jump at a new dropzone if you haven't already? Or do a kisspass [I've heard a lot about them on dz.com but haven't actually heard anyone do it where I jump].

Thanks Dustin! I took the Flight 1 canopy course with Lou two weeks ago and it helped, but also pointed out where my canopy landing skills need lots of work. In fact I'm probably going to take the canopy class again this weekend when Jonathan Tagle will be there. Hop and pops are fun I agree, I'm never going to complain about a soft, sub-terminal opening :) I read Germain's other book "Transcending Fear" but will probably read the other one too for reference...

Thanks for the reply your explanation helped clear up a lot. I've also been confused because I've watched other jumpers [new and experienced] who don't follow the traditional [downwind-base-final] pattern. In other words, some enter the base or even final approach immediately without a clear down wind approach. So I'm going to have to stop relying on what others do and figure it out myself.

Hey everyone, So I took a canopy piloting seminar Sunday and am still not quite understanding landing accuracy. The last jump I made I made my turn to final approach too early and overshot my target. The reason why I shortened the base leg so much is (1) because of the higher wind we were experiencing and (2) I felt I was going to cross the runway. But it turns out taking both of these things into consideration did not help me land my target. I am aware of the accuracy trick discussed in thread http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=265521;search_string=basic%20landing%20accuracy;#265521 , but haven't had a chance to try it yet, as we were grounded due to bad wind conditions. What I have learned is in higher winds, start your pattern further upwind of the planned target, which should effectively lengthen your downwind leg [also confirmed by the USPA SIM, Sec. 4.C.F.] But from what I understand in the post above, the wind behind you should carry you down to the altitude to turn to your base leg in less time, and thus shorten your downwind leg and final approach. The post seems to also imply that in high winds, you can enter the pattern at the same point [i.e. only a few hundred feet to the side and downwind of your target] as if you were landing in no/little wind, but you will have to turn to base and final sooner? I'm confused. :-/

Don't give up! If I can do it I know you can. I was sweating bullets when I was practicing, but with like everything else we learn in this sport, practice [building muscle memory] makes perfect. So don't give up on yourself! If it's just the part about getting the canopy into the bag that's giving you problems [that's the part that gave me most trouble too], just pull the canopy out of the bag once you finish your stows and practice that part again. Repeat until you are comfortable. I was also worried about bringing an unpacked rig back to my DZ, but then it became more motivation for me to to pack myself. Not only does it save me money for paying packers [no disrespect to all you AMAZING packers out there], but I like the feeling of learning and doing something on my own. That's what makes this sport so incredibly fulfilling. One last thing I've noticed, is many experienced skydivers using a sport canopy use these black rubber bands for stowing the lines. They are much more durable and much easier to stretch. This helped me a lot when I was learning to pack. I'm still very new so don't know if these are a special kind of stowing band but you should inquire with the packers/instructors at your DZ. Good luck and keep it up!

Or if Elsinore borrows Perris' Shark planes, you can get 3 Otters turning and best of both worlds. No skyvan though :)

+1 if there is a proshop nearby your DZ I would talk to them, they normally do suit measurements and know what material will work well for your body type. But as the previous poster wrote, your coach will know what works best for how you fly. I am still waiting for my RW suit to arrive, but the suit that was ordered for me [I am very floaty] is made mostly out of spandex, which is the slickest material you could get to make you fall faster. Basically the lighter and tighter fitting the material the more helpful in making you fall fast.

I've never jumped a Sabre1 or what is considered a fast-opening canopy. How specifically is the reserve designed then, I'm now curious, to open faster ?

Um, there's a hole on purpose? It makes it come out faster