I Graduated AFF. . .(in the style of Skylord)

[skyyhi 0]

I am so impressed by Skylord's writing technique that I thought I would post my level 7 and 8 stories here.

Yesterday morning (Jan 10) I get in the car to go out to Elsinore. . .its a beautiful day. The warmest day so far since I started doing this skydiving stuff. . .soon I had to remove my jacket. . .then I realized that 2 layers of clothing was going to be too much for this day. Oh well, I decided I could fix that when I got to Elsinore. I check in at the office and get my jump tickets. Then I quickly run into Shark. He takes my tickets and gives them to Jason, who then hooks me up with Shark for my jumps.

Level 7. . .

We go over the dive flow. He shows me the sit exit. I laugh and say to him that there is no way I can remain stable in THAT position so I will probably be all over the sky. He laughs and says that is the idea. Now mind you. . .I have been completely stable on every dive in the belly down position. I have ABSOLUTELY NO intention of wanting to change that. Stable is good, right! Oh well, then he says we are downsizing my canopy today. . .no problem there as I was still at .70/1 wing loading under this second canopy. He also says that unless I look like I am doing something REALLY STUPID (my word, not his), I should probably try to land the thing OFF RADIO. Okay, this is probably a good thing but dang, it is comforting to know that it is there. Okay, so to the plane we go. . .there are lots of aff students today and a bunch of 4 way teams with NO UPPER WINDS. So we will have to make 2 passes at the dropzone because the 4 way teams take too long to set up. Our turn. . .the door opens, I set up in the door, do my count and bam. . .I am out the door in a VERY NICE sit position. . .and I am STABLE. . .dang, I hit it. I turn into a back flip, barrel roll, another back flip. . .still pretty high so I turn to track. . .track goes straight but then I start to J-turn. . .I try to adjust my body to make it go straight. . .flip. . .over on my back. . .arch. . .roll back over. . .wave at 5k and pull. . .nice canopy ride down, flared just a tad high but still down quite softly. Great dive all around. Get back to debrief with Mark and he says he kept wondering if I would ever get unstable. . .he was having to chase me and just wondered if he was going to have to go into a sit to catch me. Pretty funny. I pass with flying colors.

Level 8:

Still with Shark. . .(you'd think he learned his lesson the first time and be passing me off to another instructor. . .but no). Okay, so in the plane. . .second go around. . .door opens, we spot the plane and I DON'T SEE THE DROPZONE SO I AM NOT GOING OUT. . .but Mark says its time to go. . .I say no, he says yes, so I go. . .finally. This time a diving exit. . .quite fun actually, tho I think I liked the sit better. First a front flip, barrel roll, 360. . .I am still at 10k, do another front flip, dock on Shark, still at 8K, turn and track. . .6k back into the arch, wave off at 5k and pull by 4k. . .almost exactly the same canopy control stuff as last time and same landing. I think I am actually getting the hang of this. Shark got me on this jump though. When we were debriefing he asks me what two signals he gave me. I remembered thumbs up. . .but he says, I gave you another one. . .then he holds his hands up in the "beer" sign. . .I suddenly remember docking onto that beer hand signal. . .Okay he got me. . .

So that evening we celebrate 3 aff graduations in ROYAL style. . .lots of beer and and friends. . .It was a great day! Now I am off to do solos. . .catch you all later. . .it is far to beautiful of a day to sit in here and tell stories.

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

[VanillaSkyGirl 6]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!! I'm soooooooo happy for you, Darcy! I still have antibiotics in my system so I did not go jump today. I am so sad. I already cried about it last night with my BF. I moved my surgery to Friday, too. I won't be jumping until the end of the month or early next month. Whimper.

I am so very proud of you, though. Man, you sound soooo amazing. I can't wait to jump with you, just go easy on me you little skyqueen! Please don't make me look bad.

YAYAYAYAYAYahoooooooo!!!!!

[skyyhi 0]

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I can't wait to jump with you, just go easy on me you little skyqueen! Please don't make me look bad.

Don't worry Rosa. I could never make you look bad. I can't wait to jump with you either. . .we shall have some FUN. . .

On another note, I did my first two solos today. It was kind of strange not having to plan anything. . .just decide how I am going to get out of the plane. For my first jump, I did the front float exit (which I nailed during AFF). I didn't arch and flipped onto my back. . .no problem, flipped over. . .did some other stuff, had a nice track and then I waved and pulled at about 4K. Second jump I decided to try that sit exit again. . .not quite as neat as my AFF sit but still held onto it for a moment. Worked some on body position and controlling descent in free fall. Tracked off and pulled. . .two pretty nice landings today.

I learned some things about me today. . .

1. When it comes to skydiving, I am now fearless. . .not exactly sure if this is a good thing yet.
2. There is no such thing as unstable or out of control, it is really only momentary lapses in judgement that cause unfavorable body positions. . .
3. When you jump out of a plane on your own, you really should have some sort of a plan in mind.
4. It's really cool to be one of the first people out. . .
5. I really need a protrack or prodytter or some other such audible. . .as I have this tendency to enjoy freefall so much that I have a feeling that someday I will "forget" to check my altitude until I realize the ground is really close. This hasn't happened yet but I know me. . .
6. Fly the canopy until it ACTUALLY stops. . .it is amazing the difference that makes. . .made much better landings today because of that knowledge.

I am sure I learned a bunch of other stuff, but I haven't sorted it all out yet. I am sure I will once I sleep. I am exhausted. . .and feeling ALL of my 42 years right now. . .

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

[flyinghonu 0]

Congratulations!!!!! You 're story (and Skylord's) definately helps me build my confidence up for my next jumps.

Have a great time in the sky - hope to see you there sometime

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky..." - Jimi Hendrix

[Shark 0]

Hey Darcy,

Thanks for having me as your Cat. E instructor! The Level 7 bottom end wasn't too dramatic... it was more of a very slow barrel roll, with a pause in between. Still only 2 seconds worth of drama.... Anyway, you left out the great canopy control, pattern and landing! All without radio help.

Your Level 8 was very good, too! I had the best seat in the house. That look on your face at pull time was funny, too. I was just doing my job. (Sidebar: In case you were wondering, she did pull on her own. I was positioned on the mainside by her deployment handle just in case. She waved, and when she reached back, glanced over, probably a little surprised since I was so close, and in that split second she pitched out the PC like she wanted to hit me with, and as if to say, "this one's all mine!"

This was also a very good canopy ride for you, pretty much without radio. (See, there was another level 8 in which RJF98 was the JM and also had the radio for both. They had issues and landed a little far away and she did the flight without any assistance after an okay from Rich (rjf98.)

Yep, there were muchos cervezas para todos los barrachos.

[dkf1979 0]

Solo. Man that seems so far away. I need to seriously think about switching over to AFF. That's awesome. Sounds like you were a bird in another life time. Congrats!

http://bodypilot.bounceme.net

[skylord 1]

Aw, shucks! Well, I'm stuck here in Kauai on business and can't get to Elsinore to jump. Darcy, my heartiest congratulations on your most recent accomplishments. You are a true AFF studstress in my book.

I'm hoping to do AFF-6 again this weekend, although (this is no joke) I really hurt my left arm playing golf today. That is one dangerous sport, if you ask me.

Good job on the recounting of your jumps, and I'm glad you enjoy reading my adventures. I much more enjoy reading yours!

We'll do a jump sometime together, I'm sure!

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

[skyyhi 0]

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Darcy, my heartiest congratulations on your most recent accomplishments. You are a true AFF studstress in my book.

Thanks for the congrats Bob, but not sure I would agree with the "studstress" statement. I did have a lot of fun with Mark on Saturday though. . .truly, all of my AFF instructors have been GREAT. Always with words of encouragement and pats on the back.

If ANY of you are in California or are considering coming to California to do AFF. . .please consider Skydive Elsinore. . .a great vibe and a great group of Instructors who will take such good care of you. . .they are the greatest. . .

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

[Shark 0]

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If ANY of you are in California or are considering coming to California to do AFF. . .please consider Skydive Elsinore. . .a great vibe and a great group of Instructors who will take such good care of you. . .they are the greatest. . .