Congratulations to Bryce Yates on passing his AFF… Just the A license now!

Co-founder, friend and sky diving buddy Bryce passed his AFF and did his first solo jump on this momentous day, Saturday the 22nd of March 2008… I wait for him to get to jump 24 so I can witness the A license jump!!!

Congratulations Bryce, I’ll be there myself soon!

Consol - Jump 9 - 12,500ft

So it’s now time for my first solo jump.  Yes solo jump, meaning other than a few jumpers a 1000 below and above me, I’m on my own.  On this jump I’m mostly nervous about the exit.  To date I’ve only exited out of the plane 3 times with no one holding onto me.  The first one (which I’ve only done once by myself) is the floating exit where you hang onto the outside of the plane (AFF Level 6).  The second one is the diving exit (which I’ve done twice) which both times were less than stellar.  I decide to get Jim Wallace’s advice on which exit I should use.  He tells to do whatever I feel most comfortable with and if that is just grabbing my ankles and rolling out of that sucker then go for it.  Ultimately I decided I would do the diving exiting seeing this is the most common and the one I need to work on most at this point.

So leading up to the jump everyone is asking me what am I going to do on my jump, a 360, track, back-flip, etc.  I decide on this jump that I will keep it simple and just do some simple 360s.  Truth be told, as we are on our way to altitude I’m asked this same question again by James (one of the instructors at the school) what am I going to do on this jump.  This time it hits me.  I tell him I’m going to be checking my altimeter like a Mother F’er.

 So I’m now at the door and I decide I’m going to give the guys before me a ton of space (I’m the last solo follow by an AFF - Seri, and some tandems).  It’s time to go and ugh ugh oh crap I hesitate for just a second and then see ya.  I get stable pretty quick, still need to get out the door a little cleaner, I check altitude and turn towards a eastern heading.  Next I decide to do a 360, then another in the other direction.  I check altitude and we’re at 9000ft.  So I decide to start looking around and check out the scenery.  This is the first time I’ve really had a chance to do this and it makes the jump that much more enjoyable.  As I’m looking around I decide to look down for about 3-5 seconds.  And wow the ground comes up quick.  I check altitude 7000ft, still  a lot of time.  It seems like an eternity before I hit 4500ft and decide to pull.

The canopy ride is uneventful and I have stand-up landing, only unfortunately it is about 50ft off the landing area. but hey I walk away with solo jump # 1 done.  Just 15 more jumps till my A license.

 Blue Skies!!

AFF Program - Stage 8/Jump 8 - 12,500ft

So it is finally here.  One of the most anticipated jumps of my short skydiving career.  AFF Level 8.  Level 8 is a lot like level 7 in the fact that we will be working on adjusting fall rate.  In addition to this I will be required to track to my instructor and dock with him.  Also on #8 we will have the same exit as on #7 only this time instead of the instructor following me I will be following the instructor out the door.

For this jump I have a new instructor, his name is Darryl.  We talk about the challenges I had with the diving exit on level 7 and he suggested that when diving out that I should get my right elbow up and present my chest to the wind and to also, for just a moment, bend my knees so that my feet hit my butt.

So were at the door and Darryl initiates the count (I need to be leaving the aircraft at the same time he does and ensure I don’t hesitate, which up to this point I have not yet done) and then we are out the door.  I’m able to get my elbow up an chest to the wind, but seeing this is the first time I’m trying to bend my knees so much I accidentally tuck my knees into my gut, producing a horrible arch and a wild ride.  After about 5-6 seconds I’m able to get stable.  I find Darryl and track towards him and dock.  He then releases and increases his fall speed.  I increase my fall speed a moment later an move in and dock again.  He slows his fall speed and motions for me to dock.  I slowly decrease my fall speed and move into dock.  On this last one I’m having an issue getting that last 1/2 foot to dock so Darryl just reaches out and grabs me.

 It’s now 6000ft, so as planned I do a 180 and track.  At about 4500ft I pull stable and then at 3800ft I pull my chute.  I was suppose to pull at 4000ft but I was given an extra task on this jump prior to pulling, which was to look around for other jumps.  This was the reason for the slight delay in pulling.

The canopy ride was uneventful and I have a stand-up landing about 25ft off the landing area.  Except for the slightly low pull everything went fairly well.  And I’m clear off student status.  Mission #1 - Complete AFF is now done.  Now on to the A License and my first solo jump.

AFF Program - Stage 7/Jump 7 - 12,500ft

It’s a big day today.  With any luck I will complete stages 7 and 8 of the AFF program today and take my first solo plunge.  Compared to # 6 numbers 7 and 8 appear pretty straightforward. To quickly summarize the goal of 7 is to learn a new exit (diving) and adjust your fall rate. 

For #7 I will be jumping with Gail Wallace (Jim’s wife) for the first time.  I get my safety check and am all kitted up so let’s go jump.  On this jump I’m only nervous about two things #1. the new exit and #2. it’s been almost a month since my last jump, so I’m asking myself, have I forgotten what to do. 

We’re at the door now so let’s go.  With this exit I get a little inverted (looking straight down), which is normal and have a bit of a spin, not normal, but I’m able to get stable in about 5 seconds so all is good.  I see Gail swing around in front of me and she gives me the signal to make a 360 to the left.  When I come back around she is a bit lower than me so I just arch a bit more and just like that we are level again.  I then get the signal to make a 360 to the right.  This time when I come back around she is a bit higher than me.  I less my arch and bit and slowly but surely make my way up to her.  A point of reference here; I fall fast.  My Altitrack altimeter says my avg. fall speed is around 130MPH.  I’ll need to start working on slowing this down.  So we’re about about 7000 ft now so as required i make a 90 degree turn away and track for about 100ft.  I get back stable and basically wait till 4500Ft, wave and pull.  No issues with my chute deployment an I have a stand up landing right on target.

Everything went really well on this jump so I’m cleared for level 8 and one step closer to 8 stages / 8 jumps.

Blue skys…