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.