MY AFF LEVEL VI JUMP
On Sunday, August 20th, we finally headed out to the DZ again. After being weathered out on 2 weekends and "Quincy"ed out (most of the instructors were gone so they had no AFF) on another, we were really anxious to jump again. We had just come back from vacation in NH where we were just a few miles away from Skydive NE in Lebanon, ME. We had toyed with the idea of trying to finish our AFF there but decided against it. One, it was suppose to be a FAMILY vacation, time to spend with our kids who we have kind of abandoned since this skydive bug caught us. Two, we didn't know how good an idea it would be to switch to a new DZ, new instructors, different ways of doing things etc. midstream. Three, the landing area there was a LOT tighter than what we were used to and we had heard there were not a lot of outs. So we decided ..... maybe next year after we had a few more jumps under our belts. But that sure didn't help much as our ears constantly stayed attuned to the sound of their Otter and our eyes continually searched the sky while we were there.
Anyway, we went home a day early so we could hopefully jump on that Sunday. We even thought that possibly we could get in both levels VI and VII and maybe even our hop'n'pop and get off student status! The day started out mostly sunny but quite cool, especially for this time of year! (Where the heck is summer???!?!) As usual, (I'm sure you're all getting sick of hearing this!), I woke up a nervous wreck. In fact, I hadn't even slept well. I was so pissed at myself! Why do I have to be like this?! I tried to eat a bagel but only managed one bite. Meanwhile (as usual!), Boomer made a big breakfast including bacon! We tried to head out early and didn't do too bad. I did stop and grab another bagel from Dunkin' Donuts on the way that I hoped I'd be able to eat once we got there and I calmed down
As we drove into the parking lot, we were surprised to see it almost completely full! We immediately saw Ron, one of the guys from our FJC. He had been there for about 15 minutes (arrived about 8:40AM) and told us there were already 3 or 4 AFF students in front of him on the board. We groaned. I had Boomer run in and hurry and get our names up there. There was a load coming down right then and we were happy to hear that was the second load already. Things were off to an early start anyway. We found out Ron hadn't gotten to jump in quite a while either and he was on his level III.
As we headed over towards manifest we started hearing about an AFF I student on that load who ended up over in the trees and was thought to be caught up in one. We soon found out it was indeed true and people from the DZ as well as rescue personnel from the town were soon on their way to help her. It took a while but luckily the student was fine and they got her down and she was in good spirits.
We had heard on the weather channel that it was suppose to get a bit windy and sure enough, it was. The few gusts we had been having were coming more frequently and getting stronger. They soon grounded all students. (Surprisingly enough, I was then able to wolf down my bagel no problem!) A few more loads went up with experienced jumpers and tandems. They had everyone land out in the big bowl though instead of the small landing area behind manifest. Even then because the winds were being variable and causing turbulence down low they decided to suspend ALL jumping for a while.
To say we weren't really disappointed would be a lie, but I tried to look at it in another view. Here was a chance to hang around and get to talk to a bunch of other people who loved to throw themselves out of airplanes... and not have to be nervous and totally focused on my upcoming jump. I really enjoyed being able to talk away about skydiving to people who actually enjoyed listening (instead of whuffo friends and family who I've totally bored to death by now!) I loved hearing others' jump stories. It was sunny out and quite a bit warmer than earlier that morning. If I couldn't actually be jumping..... what other better way to spend a day? I even enjoyed watching some of the people who had come for a tandem. One was a little old lady who was just so excited and couldn't wait for her turn. She cracked me up!
At lunch time Boomer and I took a ride and grabbed some burgers. I had no trouble eating mine. We came back and the wind was still holding things up. By now the AFF class that started the night before had finished and technically all those students got to go ahead of us. Alan, another AFF student we had become friendly with and who was on his level II and right below us on the board, jokingly suggested that because of the winds that it would be a better idea if they allowed students to start jumping again that they should start with the highest AFF students and work down. He said it only made sense to go with the ones with the most experience because of the wind. That way he would be 4th in line after Boomer, me and Ron. Boomer and I thought it sounded like a grand idea but when Boomer (jokingly) mentioned it to a few different instructors they laughed but said that's not the way it works. The AFF I students have first rights and that day, that not only included the students from that morning's class, but also the few that showed back up from last week's class that had gotten weathered out. It was looking bleak. Even if the winds did die down we doubted we'd get a chance to get up.
They did tell us that they had decided that they wouldn't be taking any new AFF students this year. Between the bad weather and the stupid airport restrictions on only using the bowl on Sundays that they were just getting too backed up and it wasn't fair to the students they already had. They were working hard on getting the airport to allow Sat. too and hoped to have permission by September anyway. That would be great! I think jumping 2 days in a row would help so much! I had been so pumped up for my level VI a few weeks back but now was feeling a lot more anxious about it since so much time had gone by.
We got reports that the winds in surrounding areas were dropping so they had hopes that jumps would start up again soon. One of the JM's came out to talk to Boomer and I. He said they had been talking and they actually thought it was a good idea to let us go first of the students because of the winds. Ron was standing by and he asked what about him because even though he was only on level III he had 50+ jumps. He had done some skydiving many years before and last summer he had started doing S/L and then this summer switched to AFF. Since Ron was originally ahead of us we stuck up for him and agreed he should get to go, too.
The winds were still too variable with gusts too high for jumping so they pulled out a gyromachine thingy (like you'd see at a carnival) that they had there and put on some music and people started taking turns spinning themselves around in that. It looked fun but also seemed like quite a bit of work to get spinning well. It was now getting close to 4:00PM and our dog was still at the dog kennel from our vacation and was suppose to be picked up between 4 and 6:00 so we decided one of us should go get her and drop her off at home and come back. I decided to be nice and sacrifice myself and let Boomer stay. Actually I had heard some of the experienced skydivers talking and heard their concerns about the wind and decided I'd let Boomer try them out first! I didn't want to be the second one in a tree that day! Well, we had originally decided he would get to go first anyway.
Just as I started to head out they started planning on jumping again... made a 15 minute call for the next load. I headed out quick and drove as fast as I could to go get the dog.... staring at every flag and anything else that would show whether it was windy out or not. I got the dog, dropped her off and picked up my daughter and headed back. It took me about an hour and 15 minutes. Just as we pulled in we saw a load coming down. We went over to watch them land and thought we'd see Boomer. He was no where around and I could hear the plane had pulled in and it sounded like it was going to go right back up so we ran over to see if he was on that load. As we turned the corner we saw him and Chris, one of the JMs, running out to get in the plane. We yelled to him but he didn't hear us.
Jeff, another JM, was heading out to the bowl in the truck to do radio and asked us if we wanted to come. We were about to hop in when Bob, our FJC instructor, came over and started to talk to me and told me they were trying to get me up next. He asked me if I had ever jumped the Raider instead of the Manta and I told him, "No." He said he thought it might be a good idea with the wind. It would cut into it better. I told him I was heading out to watch Boomer come down and asked if he thought I should stay instead. He said I should have enough time. Jeff said we could ride up front with him but Colleen loves riding on the open back so we climbed up there.
Shortly after we got out there we could hear the sound of the jumpers in free fall. That sound just floors me every time! I can't believe you can actually hear them whistling through the air. It freaks me out! Soon canopies were popping open. I never realize I'm holding my breath until that last canopy opens. I was happy to see Boomer's student canopy up there looking fine. Jeff asked him to make a right turn as soon as he was ready so we'd know he could hear us. He did. Jeff told him he'd just leave him alone unless he thought he needed help. Boomer seemed to be doing a great job and Jeff only said a couple things when he was coming in for his landing. He did a beautiful stand up landing not all that far off from the X either. We found out after that he hadn't heard a thing. He had never turned his radio on. He told me later that he thought it was off and decided to just not turn it on. He wanted to see if he could really do it all on his own. I thought he did awesome! I was envious! Why couldn't I fly like that???
We hop back on the truck and head back. Boomer is really pumped! He said he had a blast. He loved the back flips and thought everything went well and was sure he passed. He was so happy and I was thrilled to see him so happy after a jump. As soon as I walk in I see Jay and he asks me if I'm ready to go. I really didn't think they were going to be able to squish me in so I hadn't really thought about ME jumping. I felt my stomach do this huge drop. Jay looks at me a bit bewildered because he expected me to just look thrilled like I was suppose to. What's wrong with me? Why am I feeling like such a wuss? Boomer encourages me to go. Then someone tells Jay that they think he's scheduled for tandems and probably can't do an AFF. My stomach drops again. I WANT to go! Jay comes back and says we are on. I run out and get my suit. We do a gear check.... on a manta. He asked if I had used the raider yet and when I said no, he asked if I just wanted to stick with the manta and I said, "Yes." I put it on. We are hurrying so he is helping me. He does the chest strap and I can see it's threaded correctly but the little black elastic is on the other side of the altimeter and the extra strap isn't quite long enough to knot around the main strap. I question it and Jay tells me it's fine. I look for "my" scuffed white helmet. It's not there!! What happened to it?? No one else ever picks that ugly one! And just when I'm in a hurry! I quickly try a couple on until I find one that fits pretty well.
We go outside to dirt dive a few times. Jay was the one that originally went over the level VI dive with us so I know just what he wants me to do. Chris had had Boomer do it a little different. He wanted 2 backloops and then just one good track. Jay wanted 1 backloop and then track for 3 seconds making sure perpendicular from the jump run. Turn 180 and track again as long as you have time. I know I'm growing because small differences used to really throw me off but now as long as I have a few minutes to go over it I don't feel threatened by them any more. I remembered when being asked to do a double wave off instead of a single threw me into a tizzy. I used to get paranoid about doing it exactly right. Now I know from the JM's attitudes that little differences in sequence don't matter all that much. Everyone has personal preferences. Just keep the main objectives of the dive in mind and do your best.
Jay goes into manifest and comes out to find me fiddling with my chest strap. He asks me what I'm doing. I tell him I just wanted to tighten it a speck and fix it to my liking. He smiles at me and I wonder if he thinks I'm totally nuts. Then he sees me fiddling with my helmet and asks if I need help. I tell him it was a touch loose and I've read about helmets popping off or sliding down so you couldn't see. He helps me tighten it. I'm afraid he thinks I'm neurotic so I just tell him I AM neurotic and I think about every fatality story I read. Little did I know at this time that it was going to be an awful weekend for fatalities... and one involving a chest strap. That one really haunts me. Jay takes me seriously and does another complete check of all my gear.
We climb on the plane and I feel good. I know Jay had been a little concerned because I was so anxious about going before but now I'm more excited than anything. I get my favorite seat on the floor across from the door. I love looking out as we take off. I can't believe I'm the same person that was afraid of flying not long ago. I had thought I only wasn't afraid now because of the parachute on my back but on vacation last week we took the kids on a scenic plane ride of Lake Winnipesauki and I loved every second of it and had no fear at all.... though both Boomer and I thought it was kind of a waste of money to go up in a plane and not jump!
In the plane we go over the dive and do another gear check. I compare altimeters with the girl next to me. We have matching ones. She is in a 2-way and will go out first and then us and then the tandems. In no time we are on jump run. The 2 way dives out and I get into a crouch, as I know Jay is climbing out. He nicely had offered to take the left side and block the wind for me. Again, I had been picturing him on my right but I have no problem doing it this way instead. I'm grateful I don't have to fight the air stream. I have no problem climbing out or doing my exit count. This will be my first SOLO exit. My first time leaving the plane without anyone else hanging onto me!!! I'm ready!! Off I go!!
And I tumble and tumble and tumble!! I keep trying to arch but I can't seem to stop tumbling around! What the fuck???? I thought my "good" arch was my strong point! This can't possibly be happening to ME! How come I can't get it right???? I wasn't nervous at first but as time goes by and I'm not getting stable I start to get a bit panicky! I fleetingly wonder if I should just pull since I'm starting to think I'm out of control. But then I glance at my wrist altimeter and see I'm still real high (I think it might have said 11,000... thank God I didn't pull!) I realize I'm still altitude aware and plenty high and I arch with all my might and it works!! Whew!!!! I'm still a little shook. I take a big breath and pray I stay stable. I see Jay in front of me signaling to do my back flip. WHAT???? You've GOT to be kidding I think!!! Get UNstable AGAIN after that??????? No way!! Doesn't he think I should just stay EXACTLY as I am until pull time??? I see him signal me again. OK! OK! OK! I steel myself and throw my head way back, push down with my arms and pull up my knees. Wheeeeeeee! I think I went right over. I come out of it fine. I wasn't even aware of watching for the ground to come around again. All I know is I'm BTE and stable again. Whew!
I check my altimeter and see I have plenty of time still. I look for the airport and make sure I'm turned 90 degrees from it and I start my track. I pull my arms back and straighten my legs. I go about 3 seconds. I feel like I'm going forward a bit but not like I had expected to feel. I wanted to feel like superwoman but I'm still a little tense about the unstable business and I'm doing it a bit tentatively. I check my altimeter and see I still have time. Hmmm free fall seems to be lasting longer these days! I turn 180 without even consciously thinking about dropping my shoulder etc. At least I can't remember thinking that. I just remember looking and thinking about which direction I wanted to go in. I try tracking again and try to be a bit bolder and more sure of myself this time. It feels a little better but I'm getting nervous about altitude so I don't hold it too long and check my altimeter. It's a little above 5500 so I just watch it. When it gets a little below 5000 I figure it's close enough to 4500 and I start my wave off. Look, reach, pull!!!
I feel my chute start to open and something whacks me in the mouth. Ouch! I look up and watch my chute unfold. OK, I'm thinking. You can go a tad faster than that!! It seems awfully slow to me. I'm thinking I do NOT need a malfunction now!! No problem. It looks fine now! Now to concentrate on flying back to the DZ and not end up in a tree. I know because it's windy I have to be real careful about NOT getting downwind. But this time I'm not clueless like last time. I know exactly which way was jump run. I know which way the wind had basically been blowing. I knew where I wanted to stay and pretty much how I wanted my landing pattern to be.
Between my last jump and this one a bunch of stuff had just clicked for me. I read this booklet called "Flying Your Ram Air" put out by USPA and found it very helpful. I had gotten a picture of my DZ from terraserver.com and now had it as wallpaper on my PC. Somehow it just seemed to come together. Sometimes I couldn't believe how dense I had been. On the windsock, all of a sudden it dawned on me to just think TOWARDS the pole instead of thinking in terms of the little end towards the big end and it was so EASY! Another thing I hate to even mention because I'll look REALLY stupid is that you basically land the opposite way you are flying back to the DZ. As long as the winds aloft are similar to the ground winds you should be landing in the same direction the plane flew on jump run. Boomer couldn't believe I hadn't already just known that! Now that I know it, I can't believe it either! Maybe I did really kill off all those brain cells drinking during college!
Anyway, I know I will probably need to fly facing away from the DZ for a while because otherwise I'm going to fly right past it. I turn in the direction I think I should be and Jeff just tells me to turn a bit more right. I fly like that for a while occasionally practicing turns but just making sure I end up facing that way again. I try heading back towards the DZ for a few seconds but still feel like it's too soon so I turn around again. Around 1500 ft. I'm thinking it must be about time. Just then Jeff tells me I can start heading in a bit. I do but still stay in kind of big "S" turns pattern. Around 1000 ft. I'm over the DZ and I'm right near the 2 runways they use and I know you aren't suppose to cross the runways below 1000 ft. so I get a bit nervous. I know the plane hasn't landed yet and I'm looking for it. I also see a bunch of other canopies but they are all way off to my right as everyone else on this load was landing in the other landing area. I enjoy watching them from this perspective. I head over to my right to get away from the take off runway and I've let myself pass over the other runway so that should be OK but I don't want to go too far right as that's where the other student ended up in the trees. I'm getting close to 500 so I turn crosswind and I'm trying to figure out when to turn into the wind. I wait a little too long so Jeff tells me to turn and head straight for them. As soon as I turn I know I won't make it into the sandpit. I had wanted to really check out the accuracy trick at this part but my mind is so busy thinking about my feet and legs and flaring and to remember to pull that one toggle in AFTER I'm on the ground and then just hoping I get close enough to the bowl that the ground will be soft and sandy. I see Little Jay running towards me and see I'm going to land pretty close to the bowl but in what looks like to me from the air to be this high grassy stuff. I decide on my own when to flare and I think I time it pretty well. I do a real soft step down landing but it's into these bushes like stuff. I could have easily kept standing if my feet didn't get caught up in little branches. Instead I just sat down softly.
Little Jay appears and goes, "I hope you don't think I'm coming in there after you!" lol He asks me if I can get up and carefully pull the canopy out. He says that way if it rips he had nothing to do with it! It slides out easily and he has to start the daisy chain off for me but then I have no problem doing it. I thought this was complicated????? Maybe I had some unknown brain virus the last time.......
We head back to the truck and who was there to witness my bush landing???? Bob!! My FJC instructor!! I laugh and say, "Oh, geez. Figures you'd be here to see that!" He says, "No problem." and asks me how my jump went. I tell him about tumbling and tumbling on exit and he just keeps going, "And??" until I finally say I stabled out. He smiles at me and nods. I talk about getting whacked in the mouth and wondering what could have hit me. He says he bets it was my chest altimeter. Ahhhh. That makes sense! I had been wondering how the heck I could have gotten hit by a riser or something on my mouth. I hate my chest altimeter anyway. I can hardly ever read it. It never stays in a good position. I think I'll see if I can just use my wrist one next time.
After we get back and I put my gear away I see Jay heading out for another jump. He asks me what I thought. I tell him, "Wild start!" He laughs and asks me if I had fun. I tell him , "Yes." and he says, "Good." He tells me we will go over the dive as soon as he gets back down. He starts to head out to the plane and then runs back and whispers to me that I had passed in case I was wondering. I find Boomer and tell him. He tells me he passed, too, and with flying colors. Chris had told him his backflips were perfect. Dead on! He stayed on heading and everything. He had a good track and overall was pretty stable. He had turned over briefly on exit but had gotten stable again real quick. It was his best dive yet. He was really psyched about it.
This is what his logbook said, "Good climbout - dipped left shoulder on exit - barrel roll and quickly stable. Excellent 2 back loops on heading. 90 left turn and good track. No wave off but good alt. awareness and pull @ 4,000. Cleared for level VII"
I saw Jay when he came back down and he asked me if I wanted to take a ride out to the bowl with him because they needed someone to do radio and we could debrief out there. I said, "Sure!" They had been trying to get everyone who had been waiting all day up in the air now that the wind had calmed down some and before it got too late. Little Jay is already in the old pickup. Jay and I climb in and then his younger son, Casey wants to come. Both boys are arguing over who's turn it is to "help" drive. I'm laughing because my 2 boys are 21 months apart and fight constantly. We start heading out and then realize someone took the radios out of the truck so we have to go back and get them. We get the radios and head out again only to find out the dog is following us and she will cut across the runway so we stop to catch her. By now I'm laughing so hard because I feel so at home. This is what my everyday life is like... right down to the dog.... mine is always slipping out the door especially when I'm late and we have to stop and chase her around the neighborhood. I love this drop zone. I really feel at home here. It's great! One of our most favorite pictures is of Boomer's first AFF dive that shows Little Jay and the dog running out to meet him as he lands. There is just something so precious about it.
Jay looks over at me and asks, "So.... what did you think of the dive?" and we both laugh like crazy! After I catch my breath I start telling him how I knew the objective of level VI was to show you could get stable after being unstable so I figured I'd go all out right from the beginning and make a good show of it!! We laugh some more. We arrive out at the bowl and see the plane and hear it cut back. Perfect timing. In between talking to the student (who it turns out had 50+ jumps and was just doing a hop n pop because it had been over 90 days since he had jumped so he didn't need much help) we go over the dive. Jay tells me he thinks I was trying to see the ground and then get stable and that's what was causing me so much trouble. He said next time to forget about the ground and just push those hips down and arch hard. I thought about it and it made sense and I think that's why I finally did get the arch. I gave up thinking about where I was and just really concentrated on arching.
He asked me if I went all the way over on my back flip and I said I thought I had. He nodded and then said they didn't have to be perfect... that wasn't the point.... just something to show we could get back stable again. (Get the feeling mine weren't as good as Boomer's? lol) Then he went over tracking with me. He was telling me how you could turn during tracks and showed me how you'd want to do that if you saw someone tracking next to you. But then STRESSED how before you started to turn the other way that you needed to LOOK! We dirt dived some tracks (Oh... in case you're wondering... the guy he was radioing down was already on the ground at this point). He showed me how to dip a shoulder to turn. I'd practice tracking and then he'd come up on one side of me and I'd show how I'd head off the other way AFTER LOOKING. He emphasized how important it was to be able to track good and straight (guess I had been inadvertently turning in mine a bit).... how important it was to be aware of other jumpers and where they were and to LOOK. He said it would be one of the most important skills to have to save my butt someday.
This is what he wrote in my log book. It was kind of hurried as the other skydiver was patiently waiting for us to finish so we could head back. " Excellent climbout, tumble exit, got stable, back loop, tracking, wave and pull, excellent altitude awareness, cleared to level VII"
When we got back I saw Ron and he was talking to Chris and I thought they must be debriefing and that he had gotten to go, too, so I was happy. Then I found out he hadn't gotten to go. Boomer and I felt really bad about the possibility of having bumped him somehow. We all talked about it but decided it was probably more the fact that he needed 2 JMs vs us only needing one. He was really nice about it. Hopefully he will be up first next Sunday.
Now comes the big decision.... what kind of beer to buy!!!! because hopefully Sunday will be nice and we can do level VII!!!!
