Freefallwizard

Im so new you can still smell the paint, but what i will say is i was having trouble relaxing on my 4th aff so the instructor took me out and all he wanted me to do was 1. get stable 2. relax, deep breath 3. enjoy the ride and nothing else ( staying aware of course ) 4. PULL Once the stable position is reached let everything go, try to lose tension, long breath out and completley relax and as you fall keep focused on how loose your body is, if you feel yourself tensing again, aliti, blow out slowly, and you will relax keep repeating everytime you tense up and although you think you wont have enough time, try it, and it will surprise you how you can control your self in so short a time and keep controlling it, and dont forget to pull thats what worked for me for the next 5 jumps i would take a deep breath before exiting let it go as i was exiting then look up and that was all that was needed. And dont be ashamed of asking an instructor to jump with you and video it its an eyeopener. Just my 10 ps worth and always take the advice of an instructor or yoga teacher ! And then pull by the way. Good luck fella

Its good to know that even though i dont no anyone you have all taken the trouble to give me the benifit of your advice and your own experiences through the forum and pms. Not once has a negative comment but only positive been written and you can see why even if you didnt jump why people eventually do take up the sport. My own experience was much the same with the dropzones i have been too and will be going back again. It gives a lot of encuragement and the jumps i will require including my hop and pop for my A will be done as soon as possible and i will keep you posted on that score. Hey its another jump, and hey another off !!!! But seriously Thank you all

My 17th jump opened 4500 lovely spot, off i went downwind, away with the fairies towards the powerlines and the motorway and kept going, right start thinking about landing pattern, dont no where i was in the meantime ( mind wise ) but thought to myself umm why am i over the motorway, so 1000 feet with a 230 student rig no way to make the dz, or was there i thought, and unbeknown to me i had got the attention of all the other people on the dz,' will he and, hes not going to try is he,' i was told later, then my sensible head returned, now i can have the wind blow me into the lines, or get squished on the very fast moving motorway or land in the huge industrial dirtbowl with them building a new road, i did a 90 left and floated not far above the motorway shit dnt they move fast when you look from above, then landed in a matrix pose in the middle of a dust bowl 1.5 km away. While i was coming down in said dustbowl i could see the van in the distance already sent out to retrieve the fool, landed stowed me toggles gathered up and climbed the dirtheap waved at the driver with a nice blue canopy he picked me up and rushed me back to the dropzone in time for tea and scones and i got back just as everyone else from my load was dropping there canopys to be packed. My instructor for my AFF did commend me for landing into the wind and when asked by a fellow student how did you know it was into the wind i replied ' well as i started to come in, the mound of dirt which i nearly ploughed into caught a gust of wind and blew about a ton of dust toward me damn near blinding me ' Prefer that than landing in cut cornfields though, ouch ouch ouch

I am on 17 jumps and couple of consuls and hop and pop to do. Went to the dropzone sunday and sat in the car and debated wether to go in or not, i didnt!!! The hop and pop is a little bit of a battle for me at the moment as the damn thing is scaring me to death, But why ? My opening height is 4500 as with all from the top, my canopy ride down still gonna be the same and landing ( ushally dumped on the ground in a heap. ) is not gonna be any different, thou i am getting better. I have nearly 3 weeks fom the last time i jumped and maybe that is it ??? I dnt know. This is something i always wanted to do ' ALWAYS ', i did it and fell in love with it, im not the most perfect in the air but learning, still bit nervous under canopy but feeling more confident everytime i ride it home, i love the atmosphere of the dz, i fit in ! And i am very proud of the fact that there are not many people who do this but i'm one of them. So why is it i am crapping meself more than my level 1 which put me buzzing for days ???? Can anyone else relate ?? Or should i just get my coat Thanks