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!!