Unconventional Boogie - Skydive Perris - Day 1

Alo everyone,  It’s day 1 of the Unconventional Boogie at Skydive Perris.  The plan is to make some jumps (of course) and make some new friends.  I hope to get in about 10 jumps in a two day period.

Jump #27 - 1st Licensed Jump / 1st Hybrid Jump

It was pretty quite at the DZ when I first arrived so I decided to just get geared up and head up for a solo or connect with someone of the ride up.  While in the loading area I met Kevin aka “Cowboy”.  He was out visiting from the Ranch in NY.  We agreed to jump together.  I now can’t recall what our original jump plan was as it all changed once we were heading up to altitude.  On the plane we hooked up with “Moo” (like a cow) and decided to do a 3-way hybrid.  Very nice, first licensed jump and I’m already trying a hybrid.  The plan was for Moo to exit holding on to Cowboys chest strap.  He would be flying vertical, feet down.  Cowboy would be flying belly, while I sat on Cowboy’s back and rode him, well, like a cowboy.  I would exit out holding on to the back of Cowboys rig holding on as tight as I could.

We get out the plane and I some how manage to hold on and climb up on his back.  We are spinning on our sides.  We finally got vertical for about 2 seconds.  Just as I’m about to let go of Cowboy’s rig and just hold on with my legs wrapped around him we go into a spin again.  After a few more seconds we break apart (around 8K now) and proceed to fly around each other, Cowboy and I on our bellies and Moo on his back. I deployed at 3500 and barely make it back to the DZ.

After the jump I check my Alti-track and it says we hit a top speed of 192MPH!!

Jump # 28 - 1st Sitfly Attempt

I loaded up quickly after the last jump and made my way over for another solo.  I wanted to try Sitflying on this jump.  I’d been reading a ton about it and watching lots of video so I was excited to give it a try.  I did pretty good for my first time.  I got into the sit position a few times and was able to hold it for about 2-3 seconds.  I had a hard time keeping my feet down and would fall onto my back, but it was lots of fun!

Jump # 29 - 2nd Sitfly Attempt

After my first taste I had to get up for more.  This time I was armed with a bit more experience so I was hoping for more progress. I tried a new exit as well, one which is best for going straight into a sit position (exit back to wind and in the sit position).  I had about the same amount of success as Jump # 28.  Need to keep the feet down.

Jump # 30 - 3rd Sitfly Attempt

This time I had a bit more success being able to hold the position for about 5 seconds on two attempts.  I also spent sometime on my back on this jump, just trying to get more comfortable with that position as well.

Jump # 31 - 4th Sitfly Attempt

By now I’m getting a bit tired and hungry.  This is the 5th jump of the day.  I didn’t do to well on this jump, probably because I was a bit tired.  Everytime I would get in the sit position I would then fall onto my back.  After this jump I talked with Danny (Freefly LO at Perris) he suggest that instead of just shorts and a t-shirt I should try wearing a sweater to give me some extra drag up top.

Jump # 32 - Horny Gorilla and Malfuction

Last jump of the day.  This time I’m heading up with Justin.  He’s out here from NY with Cowboy.  We decide to do a Horny Gorilla exit (see Link for details).  After we get somewhat stable we then let go of each other’s straps, but still kept our legs wrapped up.  Next we banked our arms in opposite directions inducing an awesome spin.  We then kept our legs together for as long as we could (till about 8K) before the centrifugal force ripped us apart, flinging us about 50 feet from each other.  From here we both just got stable and proceeded to fly around.

I deployed at 3500 feet and wham, nice hard opening.  This was a first for me.  On my current canopy (Pilot 190) I can usually finish my 5 count after throwing the pilot chute and look up and see the chute still sniveling as it opens, about 3-5 seconds later.  This time just as I hit 4 on my initial count I was open and under canopy.  Only it wasn’t a very good canopy.  I could see that I had a line over malfunction.  At this point I’m already in the process of reaching for my toggles when the canopy starts to accordion on me.  As I see this my instincts start to kick in and I begin going for my cutaway, but just as I’m about there the line over corrects itself.  When the canopy started to accordion it created some slack on the line which allowed the line to slip over the canopy.  I quickly went through my canopy checks to make sure it was indeed good.

So that was nearly my first cutaway.  It was interesting that everything was going in slow motion.  I’m happy that I was doing everything I should have been doing by shear instinct through all the repetitive training we do.  I’m also happy that I wasn’t freaked out by it.

Blue Skies.

SkyDiving in blighty (England)

I’ll be honest, this is more of a rant than an actual skydiving post, but it does have a purpose (of sorts) other than to just let me spew a load of vitriol and bile out there…

So, I returned from LA, leaving the good old Perris Valley a long long way behind me, a little too far to just drive down and jump for a day or two (about 5500 miles ;o), but I figured it would be no big deal, skydiving is an international sport and there must be plenty of places to go and jump in England and I could just pick up where I left of with no problems. Well, I was half right.

Yes, there are loads of places to jump over here in England, certainly enough that no-one should have any problems, but, to be honest, if you’ve started learning elsewhere then they really don’t want your business. There seems to be a very arrogant attitude at the UK DZ’s that if you’ve started learning with someone else, then they don’t want to touch you. Also, what the heck is up with making you do static line first? They just want the cash for the extra jumps you’ll have to do… Not surprising I guess, seeing as it seems to cost twice as much to jump over here as it does anywhere else in the world…

Don’t even get me started on the bureaucracy, the forms, the doctors note, the insurance, the hair pulling teeth gnashing nanny state of it all… and I thought the video taped disclaimer I had to do in the U.S. was over the top… Oh, and that USPA member ship you have? if you aren’t already A licensed then it don’t matter for crap, back of the line, take out a BPA membership (after you’ve filled out all the forms in triplicate and had them verified by the queen… okay a small exageration).
AirKix seemed to be the best candidate, but after the first e-mail reply asking where I had made it up to, they couldn’t be bothered to return any contact, the other DZ’s have basically said that as I didn’t start training with them, they would only be willing to take me on if I started from scratch including doing some static line jumps. Now, call me stupid, but the free-fall is the best part of the skydive, so I begrudge spending the whole cost of a jump plus instructors to not even get the benefit of my favourite part.

Anyway, all is not lost, I plan to just get a cheap flight over to spain and a spend a week training there… I will make it even if it kills me (but hopefully it won’t).

Consol - Jumps 24 - 26 / 12,500ft

So it’s Friday and a week since my last jumps.  The plan was for me to jump again Father’s day weekend and get my A License then, but the thought of only being two jumps away is killing me.  Being I’m none to productive at work I decide to skip out early and head to the DZ.  I’m about an hour and half from the DZ so I figure I easily have enough time to get in at least two jumps.

Jump #24 - First jump of the day.  I’m no longer that nervous but for some reason I feel really wobbly this entire jump.  I’m not sure if it is the smaller chute (180), but it is the same container so I doubt that.  No the less, I still do my usual (flips, rolls, 360’s, and tracking).  I pull @ 4000ft.  seeing as I’m on a new smaller chute I decide to play with it a bit.  It definitely is a ton more responsive.  So I’m coming in on my final and find that the winds have shifted and will have some fun with a downwind landing.  You’ve got to love Perris and the variable wind directions.  I’m literally thinking great, this is my first jump on a smaller canopy and I’m coming in for a downwind landing.  Thankfully at the last moment the winds shift again and I’m able to have a nice gentle landing, although I’m off target having been pushed further along by the winds at my back.

Jump #25 / The big “25″ - So I’m nervous for the big 25, but only because I will be jumping out of the Porter, and I’ll be the first one out.  Up until now all my jumps have been from the Otter.   For some reason I’m always nervous when having to do something for the first time.  Even if it is as simple as manning the door.  I’m probably just worried about screwing something up.  Luckily there are experienced up jumps on the load and they lend a hand as usual.

I dive out of the porter and have decided to work some more on my tracking.  I track east and west and does it feel great.  My tracks are real stable now.  I pull @ 3500ft and have a stand-up landing, although I’m a little short of the target.  I just need to get used to the decent rate of the 180.

Jump #26 - I wanted to get in one more jump prior to taking the oral quiz for the A license.  This will be another jump from the porter.  No worries this time though.  Same as usual.  I pull @ 3500ft and have a stand-up, on target landing.  I’m really liking this new chute.  will most likely be on it for about 25 jumps before I can think about going smaller.

A License - So I past the test with no issues.  James gave me about 25 questions.  As expected I bought plenty of booze and got chucked into the pool.  Unfortunately the guy who threw me in “Barrel” also got pushed in as well.

So on to the next challenges.  B-License and sit-flying.

Blue Skies

Consol - Jumps 19 - 23 / 12,500ft

So I realized the most sensible thing for me to do today was to skip work and go jump out of a not so perfectly good airplane.  My goal is to see if i can get in 6 jumps and a Hop-n-Pop.  A lofty goal, but let see if i can get there.

Jump #19 -  First jump of the day and it’s business as usually for me.  Apologies if this is getting a bit redundant for any readers.  I do a floating exit and pull off a few 360’s and do some tracking.  I’m a little wobbly with the tracking today.  I pull @ 4000ft and land on target albeit face first.  I can’t wait for the my next jump with Gail.

Jump #20 - On this jump I’m jumping with Gail Simms. I’ve completed all my necessary RW work for my A license, but just want to jump with someone to make sure I’m not picking up a bad habits, like back sliding.

On the exit Gail goes first do a floating exit.  I (as planned) pause for a second and then dive out after her.  I go into a track almost immediately and catch up to here in about 5-8 seconds and then dock.  Next we do a 360 to the right and dock again.  She make me work on adjusting my altitude to match here.  Which for me is grabbing as much air as possible to slow me down.  We release and do another 360, this time to the left and dock again.  This time she is way up there and man did she make me work.  We’re at 5500ft by this time so I break off and track for about 3 seconds, then get stable and pull @ 4000ft.

Jump #21 - Back to my solos again on this jump.  I do another front-flip then decide to track west for while and 180 and track back east.  Tracking feels alot better this time.  must have been first jump jitters earlier in the day.  I pull @ 3500ft and land off target, abit to high on the final approach.

Jump #22 / Hop-n-Pop - Ok, time to get the hop-n-pop out of the way.  My only nerves are really manning the door for the first time.  I ask some of the guys at back of the plane if they could assist and their readly oblige.  I get the green light and check the spot.  Wait for a couple of seconds to make sure I get out where I had planned.  I’m out the door and pull in 5 seconds (as was the plan with my instructors).  I pulled a little head down, but my exit was good.  I was aware that I was a little head down, but thought that it was not too much and that it was important to pull at the planned altitude.

My chute deploys at 4500ft and I begin my long decent to the ground.  Only the winds are not cooperating.  I must have been sitting at 4000ft for about 5 minutes (no exaggeration).  At one point I was beginning to decend and was at 3800ft only to get a huge up draft and be back at 4000ft.  During all this I’m turn as aggressively as I feel comfortable with.  I’m starting to worry about someone falling on top of me as well as the rest of the load is surely almost on jump run by now.  I finally get down though.  I beat the other jumps by only 30 seconds though.

Jump #23 - Last jump of the day.  I’ll be two short of the necessary 25, but oh well.  For this jump it the status quo.  360’s, rolls, flips, and tracking.  I pull at 4000ft and have an on target, standup landing.

All that’s left for the Proficiency Card now is two more jumps.  I’ve also been cleared to move down to a 180 from a 210.  My new wind-loading will be about a 1:1.

Blues

Consol - Jumps 15 - 18 / 12,500ft

Jump #15 - So this is my first jump of the day, which I’m always most nervous about, and to top that off it will be my first jump on my own pack job.  Well sort of.  I did most of it, but had my instructor double checking every step along the way.  Additionally I got some help with stuffing it into the bag and the first few stows.

I’ve got approval from my instructors to pull at 3500 ft now, but for this one I’ll pull at 4000ft.  I jump out using a floating exist and get stable fairly quick, but still have a wobble when going out, whereas everyone else seems so fluid.  I pull off some 360’s, front flips and do some tracking.  I pull at 4000ft and have an uneventful ride down.  I have a stand-up landing on target.

Jump #16 - Second jump of the day and second one on my own pack job.  This time I get a little less double checking, but still need help getting it into the bag.  Man, what a tiring job it is to be packing a 210.  God bless the packers, they are worth every penny.

I jump out doing a floating exit again.  Same results again.  The wobble is nothing that I don’t feel comfortable with, but when I start jumping more with others I want this to be a bit smoother.  I do a few front-flips and barrel roles on this jump and pull again at 4000ft.  Another on target, standing up landing.

Jump #17 -  Third jump of the day and third on my own pack job.  This time it is all me.  They are just there in the room to help if I ask.  I get the chute into the bag this time, but it looks a bit messy.  I’m sweating like crazy and getting tired fast.

This time I talk with one of the guys about my exits and we do a little dirt diving before I load up.  I’m told what I should do is jump out and look back at that plane.  See the door and hold my arch.  What should happen next is I should swing around and be in a nice stable position.  I give it a try and it works great, it was pretty cool to look back on the others in the plane.  I do a bunch more front-flips and tracking.  Pull @ 4000ft and have a nice stand-up on target landing.  After the jump I review my Alti-Track and find that even with all the flips and tracking I was still able to get my avg. fall speed down to 122mph.

Jump #18 - Last jump of the day.  I’m exhausted from the packing so I pay a packer at the school to pack for me on this jump.  Another floating exit and what a blast to see the jumps still on the plane looking back at you.  I do a bunch more front and back flips along with barrel rolls and tracking.  I pull @ 4000ft and land within the circle, but off target from where I was aiming.

Can’t wait to get my license and start jumping with others.  I might even pay for a coach jump next time just to have some company.  So here is what is left on my Proficiency Card.

• Complete Hop-n-pop
• Complete 25 jumps

Blue Skies

Missing - Having you seen this blogger?

Now many of you who may happen to read this blog may think that the blog was setup for just myself.  However this is not the case.  In reality it is setup for two skydivers / bloggers, myself and Seri.  Unfortunately Seri seems to be very lazy when it comes to blogging.  by reading this blog you would think that Seri has only jumped once.  When in fact he actually has I believe 10 jumps.  What a slacker!  So please everyone, chime in with your comments and encourage Seri blog his thoughts on these jumps before he forgets about them.

Blue skies!

Consol - Jump 14 - 12,500ft

First jump of the day.  This is always the hardest one, but it is getting easier now.  My plan is to get in five jumps today.  Unfortunately the weather didn’t end up cooperating, but more on that later.

I exit out last at just over 12,500ft.  I do a diving exit and get stable pretty fast.  I’m getting better at this now exit now.  I plan practicing a slightly different exit on future jumps to prep for my Hop-n-pop.  I usually keep my first solo jumps of the day pretty tame and this is one is no different.  I only do a few 360’s and concentrate on slowing my fall rate.  I also do a bit of tracking as well.  My fall speed is getting better as my avg on this jump was 125mph.  I pull at 4,000ft with no issues.  The ride down is fine as well.  Just as I’m landing though the winds begin to kick up.  Before going up I discussed this with my instructor and so in preparation for the jump we re-reviewed the RSL procedure for cutting away once on the ground in case of high winds.  Fortunately I don’t have to worry about this.  Unfortunately because the winds are so variable I end up off target, but still have a stand-up landing.

The DZ ends up getting shutdown for most of the day do to high winds, so I spend the rest of the day learning how to pack and working with my instructors at Jim Wallace Skydiving checking off items on my A license proficiency card.  I now only have left 3 things.

1. Complete a hop-n-pop
2. Complete two more on target landings
3. Complete 25 jumps total.

With any luck, and $$$ I’ll have these done by June.

Consol - Jump 13 - 12,500ft

Last jump of the day.  It doesn’t dawn on me till I’m on my way to altitude that this is lucky number 13.  I decide on this one to try the forward flip.  It’s funny as it is now that I’m jumping by myself and doing flips and barrel rolls that my wife is starting to get scared.  I jump out second to last on what seems like an eternal 2nd jump run.  It was a full plane, but we had initially two hop-n-pops.  Then on the initial jump run at altitude there is an instructor with two students.  The first is doing his first solo.  He is the first one out the door and takes at least 15 seconds before jumping.  Next out is the instructor and the student doing is AFF level 4.  They take about 20 seconds to get into position and jump.  Next we get two more groups out before the light turns red.  I look at we still have half the plane full and are already doing a go around to start another jump run.  To make things worse most of the remaining jumpers our going solo.  We extend the next jump run a bit and the pilot is literally yelling for us to get out.  I get out the door second to last.

My exit is OK, but I get stable and go for the front flip.  I pull out to early and end up on my back.  I get back stable and check altitude.  Still high enough so I go for a second attempt.  This one goes great and is quite enjoyable.  I spend the rest of the jump tracking towards the holding area as we are way out there.  I have a clear vision of the jumper that went out ahead of me so I keep a close eye on him trying to not get too close.  I pull at 4000ft with no issues. Stand-up landing on target (4 for 4*).

*one includes a nice bounce off the ground.

I’m spent and done for the day.

Blue skies!

Consol - Jump 12 - 12,500ft

Jump # 3 of the day and I’m feeling more confident in my jumping ability and more at ease now.  I decide I’m going to work on the rotating on all axes section of the proficiency card.  This means I need to do a back-flip, a forward flip and a barrel roll.  Even though I got credit for the back-flip on stage 6, it didn’t go as good as it could have.  So I decide on this jump I will try the back-flip.  I figure I should have time for at lease 2 attempts.

I’m out the door and stable fairly quick (diving exit getting better).  Go for the back-flip and this time pull it off a bit better.  I get a little sideways though.  I’m happy with that for now and still have a lot of altitude so I begin driving forward and initiate the barrel roll.  Though it is a little wobbly I felt good about it and also quite enjoyed it.  I spend the rest of the jump practicing my tracking.  I pull at 4000ft.  No issue with the chute deployment this time and I’m on the ground in no time with an on target (3 for 3 for the day) stand-up landing.  It looks like I should have just enough time for a 4 jump.  Although I’m getting quite tired by now.

Blue skies!

Consol/RW - Jump 11 - 12,500ft

So I’m heading up with Gail to do a coaching jump.  This will be jump #2 for the day.  We decide that I will follow her out the plane and then I’ll move towards her and dock.  Next we release and I do a 360 to the left.  When I come around she is about 10 feet away, I move forward and dock with her.  We release again and I do a 360 to the right.  This time when I come around she is about 30ft away.  I drive forward and dock with her.  I’ve gotten much better control of my forward movements now by using my legs more that my arms.  Gail also says that I did a good job of flattening out my track to keep the same fall speed and altitude as her on the last dock.

It’s 6000ft I turn 90 degrees to the east and track forward.  This is my best track yet, not a bit of instability and I get up to about 156MPH.  I pull stable at about 5000ft, at 4000ft I look around, signal and pull.  the chute comes out and as I’m checking everything I can see some line twists starting.  I was stable at pull time, so it was just one of those times for this to happen.  This is by far the worst case of line twist I had yet encountered, but I felt I could get out of it fairly quickly, which I was able to. 

Now I’m looking for the holding area and holy crap it is far away.  I see the north field is a bit closer though.  I’m at about 3000ft and the wind is at my back so I decide I can make it to the south field, which I’m able to do.  While under canopy and over the holding area I start to experience a ton of turbulence.  I takes me pulling the left toggle half way just to keep myself heading straight.  I check my chute again to see if there are any problems, but no it is just turbulence.  I’m heading in on my final approach and directly on target, but having to keep my left toggle and half brakes to keep it straight.  As I get close I’m reminded that I should not be in a braked position prior to flaring as I won’t have anything to flare.  As I do this I immediate turn to the right, I quickly flare, but hold on this is going to be rough.  I bounce a little, but all in all am ok.  I know now I should have kept that brake on.  There is saying I will come to learn as a result of this.  “Good judgement comes from experience, experience comes from poor judgement.”

 Even though I bounced I was still on target so Gail gives me credit for an on target jump on my proficiency card.  Let’s head on up for jump #3 of the day.

Blue skies!