An online skydiving logbook

January 27, 2008

-:(

Second no-jump-weekend in a row. Grrrrrrrrr...

January 13, 2008

Yiihaaa

Once again after a whole week of rain, on saturday it gets better and on sunday, the weather is glorious. Preview for monday and tuesday is stormy. God loves skydivers!



First jump is a two-way with Klara, an ex-student of mine with a little over a 100 jumps by now. We decide on a jump about making turns. We dive a cat out of the door (I exit a bit hard, so I am more like sitting on her back, rather then flying behind her). First while I make my series of turns, Klara stays in place. But she is falling very slow. I have to fly in full Charlie-Chaplin-mode (heels together, feet lined up, O-legs) to stay level, and I can just sort of wobble my knees to turn. Even lying still and staying on level while she makes her turns is a challenge.

Next I throw in a quick sitfly-jump. Although I am a solo freeflyer, I exit first. All the others in the load are newbies opening at 5000 ft, people testing a new canopy and opening higher, etcetera. The last guy to exit is a wingsuiter, who makes a solo-flight. He exits about a mile further then the "normal" jumpers, and although the sky is completely clear, he lands out. On the other side of the DZ! This means he didn't fly a circuit, and he didn't keep his eyes open. He just flew straight through the zone where we were falling or flying. And he didn't look around him while doing so, or he wouldn't have landed out...

Third jump of the day is a tracking jump. We are 6, the rabbit isn't very experienced, but he does a good job: fast but not too fast, rather flat, and just a few changes of direction. Nice jump!

Last jump of the day is another sitfly. I exit on my back, and manage to sit up. I even make a few controlled turns (well, not completely out of control anyway). I am still amazed by the feeling of speed you get with this kind of jump, compared to the "slow" feeling of bellyflying. Apparently, I have a serious backslide when I sit. I can see myself sliding over the group before me. I have to do a bit of tracking halfway through the jump to stay clear .

There were 5 loads today, and I was on 4 of them... Not bad, I deserve a beer:-)

January 6, 2008

Happy new year !

Membership and insurance are paid, the sky is blue and it is not too cold today. Let year 19 of my skydiving career begin!

First jump of the year is to prove we all still love each other: let there be physical contact! It is an 8-way, full of level problems. There is a lot of unintentional hugging and mid-air pinchecks going on. Everybody keeps falling on top of everybody else, I have three collisions with the same guy: lousy jump, big fun.

Second jump is memorable for the exit. From our Cessna Caravan, we try a 7-way open accordion. We launch it straight, 5 floaters, 2 divers. The masterpiece is the super-front-floater. He climbs out and when he is in position, he turns around, with his back against the plane, and from this position he takes a left hand grip on the second floater, and he dives the exit. Guess what: it works!

Next I make two more attempts at sitfly. Slowly (very slowly) I start getting the hang of it. I can stay seated for the better part of a jump now, even manage to stop a slow turning by pushing down a leg. I flip backwards once, it is so quick that I make a complete back flip, rather than just fall over on my back and sit back up again. As soon as I am under canopy, I realise that my ass is freezing off. I have thermic underwear, but it's clearly no wind stopping fabric.

First beer of the year at the DZ... Mmmhhh, tastes even better than last years' :-)