Sunday, May 28, 2006

Accelerated Free Fall Graduation and 3 Solo Skydives

On May 1st I jumped the aff level 7 and completed the requirements for AFF graduation. Sweet.

Level 7 requires flips in a frontward and backward motion. Like level 6 I got to do a free exit. I met up with the Patrick around 11,000 and did two flips in each direction. Back flips are the funnest thing ever.
At about 8,000 feet patrick introduced me to a new hand signal which looked similar to a flying man carrying a big block of ice. On the ground I was informed that this hand signal means "case of beer," and it's time to celebrate a graduation.

May 6th-8th was the Skydive San Diego Boogie. A Boogie is a party for skydivers. They normally have discount jumps, contests, etc. This one had that and helicopter jumps. Joe and his younger brother Martin joined the party on Saturday night and from about 7:30 to 4:00 in the morning we mingled at the drop zone with skydivers visiting from Nor Cal to Europe. There are a lot of really interesting personalities there. One company was selling a black shirt with white lettering on the back that said, "does this canopy make my ass look fast?" Funny stuff.

Dodgeball was played.
Pinatas were slayed.

I did my first solo the next morning at 9 am. This jump was from 10K because of clouds. I was the last to exit the plane and again, exited way over the lake. I jumped a Talon 230 canopy for the first time and a couple things about this took me by surprise. This is the smallest chute I've jumped and the slack in the slider (a rectangular piece of canvas that slides down the lines to make them open evenly) makes A LOT of noise when you size down.

It came down, and caught a strong gust of wind and began to make a loud banging noise. While checking out the slider banging noise, I learned a lot about the performance the comes with more weighted lines. This was a little sketchy.

I was really far over the lake and I felt like I was getting low. I pulled at 4800 and it took a while for this chute to kick open. At 2600 I was still checking out the riser and twirling around I remember thinking that I'd be doing my first cutaway and water landing if this didn't pass the control check. Control check went o.k. and I had to ball up to get back to the dz again.

2000ft got stretched a long way with a very friendly ocean breeze and ended with a fun and greatful landing.

On May 28th, today, I jumped twice. Both jumps were fantastic. I was in the first 10 people to leave the plane both times -- there were a lot of students and tandem jumpers on both flights. I flipped, I arched, I spun, I arched, I checked my altimiter. It was nice to just hang out and fall and look around. Today I saw the islands off the coast of Tijuana and got great looks up and down the coast. The sun just makes everything sparkle.

I jumped the Talon 259 on jump 9 and then the Talon 230 on jump 10. It was great to be able to be playful with the faster canopy. You can get sideways pretty easily and that gets fun like instantly. The harness just feels like it's grabbing you a little harder and around and around you go.

Had so much fun I don't know what else to say.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Accelerated Free Fall Levels 6

This continues to get even cooler.

AFF Level 6 is an introduction to disorienting air movements during decent. The level starts with a solo exit from the aircraft and a self stabilization. Once in a controlled flight, you are required to do a series of barrel rolls - one over each shoulder. Dependant on the time or altitiude you successfully complete these, you may continue to fly freestyle for a couple thousand feet before waving off and pulling.

The main goal of this level is to perform 2 complete disorienting movements and get stable -- pulling out the pilot chute at an appropriate altitude without assistance.

Getting out of a plane was more complicated than I expected. In previous jumps when I had exited the plane I was able to stand in the doorway to do my exit. I didn't realize how much that helps you keep your hips square to the wind when you step out. It took me about 6 seconds to get stable after getting blown around after exiting the plane.

I met up with Nick and did a few barrel rolls each way. You just rotate your shoulders past vertical and the wind coming up just rolls your body over. It's a really neat sensation.

This instructor Nick is a really talented skydiver. He makes things seem easy with his attitude and his style. It's a trip to see how each one of these instructors add something different to the entire experience of going through aff school.

I pulled at 5000ft on schedule and but was even further over Otay than last time. Had to haul it back up the lake to get back to the dz. The ocean breeze is never so welcome.

Landed on my feet. On to Level 7. Dun dun dunnnn......

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Accelerated Freefall Level 5

This week's jump was another awesome skydiving experience.

AFF Level 5 requires that you are able to fly yourself in a stable controlled decent without any negative or positive drift. Once you gain this positioning you are then to complete a series of 360 degree turns in each direction. The pull altitude is 500 feet lower than the previous jumps, but the altitude awareness checkpoints are standard.

The jump went really well. We had a good exit at 13000 feet. The training is moving toward 'diving' out of the aircraft opposed to just stepping out. Within 1000ft of exit Patrick, one of the Brazilian instructors, was in hover in front of me and that is the sign that he and I are stable in flight and it's time to do some spins. I practiced spins for 6000 ft while Patrick was going in circles around my position. It is enlightening to see someone fly that way while you practice turning around. :)

I liked the parachuting part of this jump a lot. When my canopy deployed I was some where over Otay Lake. It was really fun to ride the ocean breeze back to the drop zone. Landing went great.

On to level 6.