AFF-6 is a Goner!!

[skylord 1]

Hi everyone! Sorry for the extended absence! Let's get caught up on all that stuff first. I did my last AFF jumps in mid January, went on a business trip, and had some issues with vertigo and head colds. I self-grounded, and now am back in the air. I had hoped to do this in mid-January before my trip but Elsinore had a fire.

I was at AFF-6. I tumbled the exit badly, and was set up to repeat. Then the fire happened, and my little vertigo incident. So, today, I went up and jumped!

Driving to the DZ, I was a bit nervous and apprehensive. I did a test tandem about ten days before, and felt very good. Jumping on my own was a bit different.

I met up with Doug Forth, who I have jumped with 5 times now. For those of you who don't know him by name, he is an incredibly knowledgeable instructor and skydiver in general. He sets up these 80 way jumps, but also did my first tandem. When you draw him as an instructor, you are his only priority in the universe.

Skyyhi Darcy showed up, and it was great to see her again. She is a true inspiration to me, having gone through AFF at about the same time I started. She has her A license, and I'm not far behind. She is a hottie, too, but that is a digressification

Anyway, gear check, out to the plane, and up we go. I concentrated on the fact we were climbing out of upper 80 ground temps, and into cool, clear air. Doug and I were last out on a planeload of people who spoke questionable English. But skydiving is a universal love, and I nailed the handshake stuff that scared the living bejeezus out of me early on. Skyyhi Darcy and I shared a handshake. She's great.

Door open. I purposely concentrated on the positive qualities of that insanity.


Darcy looks back at us, and jumps. Shit!

Mmmmm. Fresh, cool air. The door is no longer the Maw of Hell. Doug has me spot, I give him the thumbs up. Climb outside. Wow, the wind blast is stronger than I remember before. Check, OK, ready, set, arch!

I'm back out on my own! Sweeeeeet! Good exit, and Doug put in a PRCT before the 360s. Doug flies up in front of me before we're off the hill. A couple signals, relax, arch. Right turn signal. Off I go. Nailed it. Left turn, done. Stable. Check altitude. Cool. Doug writes in my logbook what a good arch I had, and that made the difference. Plus freefall is much more comfortable now.

I did start a slow spin a couple times. Doug flew up to me and steadied that. I mugged at him, and he mugged back. To me, not a bad jump. Arch, reach, pull. I'm flying a new rig since the others got burned up. Wow. It has the dual side handles with a split bottom. Hard pull. Different but I did it.

Good canopy stuff, could not do many maneuvers since my spot sucked, but landed in the peas. Stand up.

Debrief. Cleared to AFF-7. Off I go! I decide to jump again on the next load. I LOVE skydiving, you are all great, and I know what I write is old news to many of you, but it is still fun for this middle aged enthusiast.

Time to post my AFF-7 jump stuff!

Bob

Bob Marks

"-when you leave the airplane its all wrong til it goes right, its a whole different mindset, this is why you have system redundancy." Mattaman

[Fast 0]

Glad to hear that it went well even after an slight break for head issues

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[Shark 0]

Dude,

Great job! Anyway, if Doug is doing tandems on Thursday, you might draw me or Rich the Reaper.

Congrats! And you might as well plan on buying beer for us before you leave for HK.

[skyyhi 0]

Bob, I am soooo glad you got back in the air today. It was great to see you out there enjoying yourself. Hurry up and get finished dude. . .we gotta jump together. . .

________________________________________
Take risks not to escape life… but to prevent life from escaping. ~ A bumper sticker at the DZ
FGF #6
Darcy