Extra adrenaline today

[FallingMarc 0]

Can't tell my family about it, so I'll tell you guys... I gotta tell someone a story like this! I'm a SL student with 25 jumps. My first dive this morning was my graduation jump from the Cessna to the King Air at Archway, and therefore my last jump using a student rig. The jump is from 7500' AGL with my JM, Ed, diving out right after me. No problem.
Cut! Climbing out is getting easier, my diving exits are getting more stable... ready, set, gooooo! Alright, I'm off the hill, check altitude, find a spot and left 360... damn, overshot a bit... that's ok, right 360... still having trouble stopping, but it's getting easier... 4500, I'm tracking off, 3500, wave off and pull! And after an unusually soft opening, I'm in the saddle, and look up to see the left half of my canopy in what I've heard referred to as a "big ball of crap," above a bunch of line twists. Ok, still at 3000 and no spin, first thought: the line twist is keeping the canopy from inflating farther. Pull and kick, and the canopy starts to spin. Nothing major yet, still might be able to... shit, starting to spin faster now, the lines aren't untwisting, and I'm approaching 2000... deep breath, I'm NOT riding this down, look, reach, PULL! You could probably hear me yell from the ground as my risers released. I knew what would happen, but transitioning from canopy back to freefall scared me shitless. Our student rigs are SOS, so just one handle to pull, pull and arch, and the spin flung me out sideways, and I'm on my back, and I'm doing the best damn arch I know, and I'm on my belly again, and I'm under canopy again, and I look up and see the most beautiful white round canopy I've ever seen, and thanking God, and thanking Jason for packing it, and then he comes on the radio, and it's so comforting to hear someone's voice, telling me I did a great job, and damn it all went so fast, but seemed to take so long, and remember, this thing is round, I need to point at that bean field now if I want to avoid coming straight down on corn, and it's coming up fast, and this is a round canopy, don't flare, don't stand up, tuck and roll, he's telling me, and there goes Ed landing by my main, and here's the ground, and smack! And I do my best to PLF, and I stand back up, and Jason tells me they're sending the truck out, and I sit back down and look at my reserve, and damn if it isn't a little thing, and only then do I realize my heart is going about a billion beats per minute. Relax, Marc. Deep breaths. And I stand back up again, and gather the canopy up, and I see both of my handles on the ground where I must have dropped them when I PLF'd. I don't remember hanging on to them. Here comes Ed, he's asking if I'm ok, I give him a thumbs-up, and he points to the road, and says he's going to go get my main, which ended up in the corn, and I start walking, and I can hear them on the radio looking for us.
I met more people today, just coming up and asking if I was the student who had a reserve ride, and was I ok? Skydivers are a damn friendly lot. Nobody's quite sure, but it was either a line over or all the lines on the left were in one big tension knot, they told me. I couldn't tell much more than the entire left side refused to inflate. When they asked if I was jumping again today, I said yes with zero hesitation. I knew if I didn't get out again today, the whole thing would just gnaw at my brain all week, and I'd hesitate to come back. I didn't want that.
Riding back up in the King Air (Ed decided to pass me on that jump) was absolutely nerve-wracking. I tried to relax, tried to think about the jump I was going to make, tried anything to keep from thinking about malfunctions. It worked, but only to a point. The experienced people on the plane are doing their best to keep it light, they know what happened and I'm sure could tell I was not relaxed at all. Jump run... my stomach enters my throat. Two RW groups get out, then it's our turn... two-way drag off with me inside, good thing, because if it was me outside, I think I would have taken wayyy too long to step off. Take the grips, all my weight forward, ready, set, GO!
And it was as if I left my anxiety on the plane. I was free again, completely free, and there's so much space out here, and so much time... and I learned how dry your mouth can get if you keep it open for an entire minute of freefall, but I can't help it, because I'm grinning like an idiot the whole way down. 13500 is a lot higher than 7500, I also learned, but soon enough it was time to pull, and I wave off and pull, and look up and there's a beautiful perfect canopy over my head, and I laugh, and yell, and remember why I love this sport.
Thank you all for making this such a wonderful place, and a wonderful sport. And thank you to everybody at Archway, you were all so kind to this freaked out little student, and you kept me there so that I could remember why I keep coming back.
Marc

[sinister69 0]

awesome marc!! good job!! way to get back out and keep going.
Blue Skies!
Sinister69
http://home.pacbell.net/n1elson1

[Michele 1]

YYYYYYEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!
Well done!
Hip hip hooray!
Thanks for telling the story (and well told, at that!), and CONGRATULATIONS on getting right back up there. I know how hard it is.
ciel bleu-
Michele

[AggieDave 6]

Kick ass, though you owe some beer and booze...Lets see:
1. First reserve ride
2. First round jump
3. First off-airport landing?
4. Booze for the rigger
5. Graduation Dive?
I'm glad to hear that your ok and that everything went as practiced for your malfunction. I haven't had one yet and only hope mine goes as well as yours did. It was great to hear that you had a good jump after your Mal, that's important too.
AggieDave '02
-------------
Blue Skies and Gig'em Ags!
BTHO t.u.

[Albatross 0]

Dave give him a break he is a student and exempt from this. Great job on the cut away. You did good and got right back up in the saddle. Welcome to the club we are glad your here.
Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO
Albatross

[Grogs 0]

Quote

Dave give him a break he is a student and exempt from this.

Actually, he did say it was his graduation jump, so he's not really a student anymore. Still, I think 5 cases would be a little excessive. We usually limit it to 1 case of beer a jump, but graduation is pretty major, 1st reserve ride is pretty major, and you'd better not forget your rigger if you want the reserve to open next time. In any case, however the beer math works out, sounds like you reacted appropriately up there. Congrats and good job handling it and remaining altitude aware.

[RemiAndKaren 0]

Quote

Dave give him a break he is a student and exempt from this.

This is EXACTLY what is wrong with yongsters today! We go way to soft on them! How are they supposed to learn that life is tough.. really tough... A firm hand is what they need!!
Good job!

[ADRNALN 0]

Way to go dude!!!!!!

[skymedic 0]

oooooorrrrraaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!
Marc

[FallinWoman 1]

Marc,
You left out the part about how composed you seemed to the rest of us. You were totally together in the hanger after your reserve ride. If you were nervous on the King Air, I sure couldn't tell, you were laughing and joking with the rest of us.
You did a great job. You have my admiration for how quickly you got back up there. Just remember, no more rounds!!!!!
Blue skies,
Anne

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

Quote

give him a break he is a student and exempt from this

This, my friends, is revisionist history at work. NOBODY is exempt from "firsts". How do you think we keep ourselves in beer at the DZ and at the club loft? The way I see it, he owes one case of beer for the "firsts" on that one dive, and a fifth of premium liquor to the rigger who packed his reserve. Of course the rigger chooses the brand of liquor. That is getting over EASY.
Back in 1981 you bet your ass I paid DEARLY! Jump number 12 for me was as follows: 1st jump with piggyback equipment (a brand-new wonderhog; my birthday present), 1st jump under a square (brand new Pegasus), first jump out of a DC-3 (Sugar Alpha), first RW (with King Morton, the Southern Conference director at the time), first jump from 12,500. I bought five cases of beer.
Also of note is the fact that the spot was horrible and half of us landed off the airport. I landed in a clear-cut but overgrown part of a pine forrest. To get back to the DZ I had to cross two barbed wire fences and wade across a drainage ditch that was 3.5 feet deep with some of the nastiest water you could image. All this with my chute in my arms. Couldn't pack it in the woods; no flat spots!
The bottom line is that beer rules are just that: RULES.
Chuck

[dove 0]

Congratulations on a job well done! That is awesome! Cheers!
Elisa

[FallingMarc 0]

Anne, heh, the composure you saw was partly due to a conscious effort, but mostly due to you guys helping me through it. Believe me when I say I would have been much worse off, and probably not jumped, had everybody not been so friendly and helpful. Thanks everyone for your encouragement!
And, oh yes, I owe quite a bit of beer... I don't mind at all though!
Marc

[DZBone 0]

Nice job, man. Welcome back!
You're going to be one of the last people in the sport that can talk about landing under a round, reserve or otherwise. Something to tell your grandkids about when they're flying around on levitating skateboards or whatever.
Carl

[FallingMarc 0]

It's a good thing this happened on the student gear, then, right?
Marc

[mouth 0]

Congrats....seems like you handled it well. I'm proud of you for getting right back up there. It took me 3 weeks and I cried all the way to altitude; however, I can relate to leaving all the nervousness on the plane when we finally jumped. (OK, I admit Bonnie pulled me off but I went.)

[AggieDave 6]

I give everyone a hard time about beer, not only do I love the stuff, but there's just something about traditions ).
AggieDave '02
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Blue Skies and Gig'em Ags!
BTHO t.u.

[skymedic 0]

"A case is only worth about one jump"
Man, must be buying the good stuff for them!!!
Marc

[AggieDave 6]

Hey, I don't buy anything I don't drink. (except for SCR pouring beer...ever hear of Olympia? Hey, at $4 a case, it can't be too bad. AggieDave '02
-------------
Blue Skies and Gig'em Ags!
BTHO t.u.

[nimbus 0]

Hi Marc,
you should be proud of yourself for not only handling your mal fantastically but for getting back up and out! And thanks for your story - it's stories like this that convince me I will be able to recognise what do do if it ever happens to me...
larissa