Breda Ballon Fiesta

I had a great day saturday.

First a few jumps in the morning, and in the afternoon we left for the hot air balloon festival in Breda. It took our Caravan about half an hour to fly to Breda. We had to spot 'manually' because the coordinates in our GPS didn't match what we saw (= were wrong). There was quiet a bit of wind (some 10 to 15 knots, my estimate) but some oldtimers on the load worked it out perfectly: 3 runs, everybody landed in.

Late afternoon, the wind calmed down, and te balloons could go up. And we could make a balloon jump. A few balloonists started calculating with windspeeds, altitudes and directions. Checking google maps on their i-phones, and off we went. To some field about 15 km upwind. We unloaded our balloon, and 15 minutes later, we were airborne: 4 skydivers, 6 'regular' passengers and 2 crew. Imagine our surprise (and admiration) when their calculations proofed spot on: we were heading straight towards the festival terrain. We were going to jump 2 by 2. I was in the first 'run'. Altitude around 4000 ft, the balloonist gives the go, we climb on the basket. Ready set go. What an incredible feeling. The quiet, silence, and then the speed (and the wind) starting, getting louder. The forward speed building up (the track gaining effect). Whooaw. I never made a basejump, but I can sure see that this is addictive.

There were still a few balloons taking off or getting ready to take off when I came in to land. You really can not judge the vertical or horizontal speed of a balloon underneath you, so that was a bit tricky. But hey, a balloon fly-by with all the passengers waving at you, that's great, no? I gave a bit of show on landing, and I got quiet a big applause for it.

Free food and drinks for the rest of the evening. Thx everybody for a great experience!

This (plus many other) pictures were made by Lars Scheve, official photographer of the event.

Like a bird

After a few bad weather weekends, and a family holliday (where all things even vaguely connected to skydiving are taboe), at last: jumping again. And nothing planned, not on the roster, no commitments to students, nada! So I just manifest for load 2 (I went for an early morning run: great, but it made me mis the first load), and we end up with 11 bellyfliers on this load. So fate has decided: an 11-way it is.

Quick brief for an easy jump, and off we go. There's one girl going low, but we turn a clean 10 points without her. Nice one to start the day! Problem however is that while being low, she starts tracking away early, a few seconds before we break, but she doesn't track all the way. She just follows her built-in clock and makes a normal-duration-track, and so ends up opening almost 1000 ft too high. Luckily me and the other guy tracking in her sector had our eyes open. It's a mistake I see fairly often: a higher break-off altitude that results in a higher pull altitude, rather than in a longer track And to top it off, she hurts herself on landing. Nothing serious, just "one of those days" for her.

We stay together with more or less the same group for the following jumps. Nr 2 is a more challenging 10-way. Some out-facing positions and stuff like a 10-way donut... It feels really good in the air: smooth flying, smiles all around. Canopy ride gets more tricky: winds are picking up, it starts to get bumpy, but nothing we can't handle. I want more :-)

For jump 3 a few new people join us, and the overall quality of the group is lower than on the previous jumps. I feel a bit pissed because we brief an easy one, and we still manage to fuck it up. But what felt like a lousy dive for me, apparently felt great for some of the others. Excited talk about how we managed to make the second formation, and even nearly completed the third point. I guess I'm spoiled :-)

By the time we go for our fourth jump, the weather is starting to become a problem, but we can't get enough, and if we hurry, we can just beat that fat dark cloud-thing that's closing in... We brief something funky: a long zipper, break it up in 4 pieces, that hop under/over each other to form a new zipper. Nice moves, but after the second hop, there's a collision and we loose a lot of time before everybody is up and running again. But a nice one! I must remember this jump, and try it a few more times.

And that's it for today (it is raining by now).

And if you wonder about the title of this post, it is about a great image I saw today. There was a tandem passenger today at the DZ, a woman with Down syndrome. Sam, who videoed her, showed me his tape. The tandem master did a great job on the briefing and preparation, and then the freefall. After the exit, you see her face opening up in a big smile of pure happiness, and for the next couple of seconds, she flaps her arms, like wings, like a bird. Beautiful, moving... (and it made me thirsty: beer!)

:-))

I live some 25 km away from the DZ, south-west of it (and that happens to be the predominant wind direction over here). So after a rainy morning, when it clears out at home, I leave for the DZ, and we (the nice weather and me) arrive almost at the same time.

We are 14 belly fliers in load 1, we quickly brief a 3 point dive, and it really is a fun one. We are done before we reach 7000 ft. Big smiles all around! Next is a sit/stand-up, where I try to follow two other people. I can't match their vertical speed:-(

Jump 3 is a level 3. I don't know the guy, it's his third attempt at this level. But he did a few minutes of tunnel after the previous one. And it shows. He is very tense, but the jump is not bad. We take an hour to debrief and than brief his level 4, and up we go again. I really put on a show in the air to relax him, and it works. Up there, everything is so much easier when you smile! The tunneltime shows: he can't exit, he can't fly forward, turning is not completely under control (after the 90°, he was supposed to turn back, not to throw in a 270°), but his movements are very crisp, his general flying is OK. In a tunnel, they don't teach you altitude awareness: he almost never checks his altitude spontaneously. Only when I give the example, he mimicks me. That will be an extra TLO for his next jump. A good jump, I had fun just being there :-)



So just a sunny & lazy afternoon: 1 FS, 1 FF, 2 AFF's, and a few beers to round it all up...

Strange stuff

Things heared at the DZ today:
- "My canopy always opens with a 90° right turn, so I compensate for this by turning 90° left while I pull"
- A 7-way. 3 people floating, 2 in the door, 2 on the second row. The 2 guys on the second row were two big, heavy guys. "Don't exit immediately with us, wait 2 seconds, because you have a higher fallrate"
- A student trying to bribe himself to his next level by offering a 100 € to an instructor.

Level 6 and 7 with Inge. 6 was somewhat awkward, she had to work hard to regain control after a funnel exit, and a funnel salto. But her level 7 was a very good jump. Regaining stability after a funnel salto was smooth, I could see her enjoyning herself and learning at the same time. She had a very good AFF course, a beautiful progression to witness.

There is also a jump with Wesley. He already made 10 jumps since finishing AFF last weekend:-) We go for a 2-way star-exit, me floating, he diving. His timing is off, too late, so I more or less drag him out, but he really works well on the relative wind. Off the hill, hover in front of me, backslide 2 meters, stop, come back and take grips. And again. After that I float up, he follows me up, I accelerate, he follows me down. 5500 ft, 180°, track, wave off and pull. An amazing jump for someone who only graduated last week!! He weighs 52 kilos, I accelerated up to 142 mph, and he was still with me.

Two funjumps and a bit of video editing in between. And beer afterwards :-)

A bit of FS

The belgian army apparently realised (after 14 months) that a bunch of skydivers on their grounds might be a security risk, so we can't use their packing hangar anymore. We quickly clean up our hangar (there is still construction work going on) and after that we have to wait another hour before Brussels traffic control approoves our flight plan. Reason: some governement organisation is photographing Belgium from high altitude and we can not interfere. A bit strange, because it is cloudy today, so what exactely are they photographing? And anyway, why don't they use Google Earth like the rest of us?

Too windy for AFF so we just start funjumping. First jump is a 5-way with a funnel exit, next an 8-way where we loose someone because of fallrate. We just accelerate and fly the 7-way formation towards him: quiet a sight, a 7-way formation docking on a solo flyer :-).



Third is a very nice 9-way, a kind of boogie jump. Standard 8-way exit with an extra diver from behind. First point is an easy build-up. Then a classic transition to the 6-way donut, we did it the long way round. If, to make a right-hand donut, you turn left instead of right it is a very short and quick move. The transition to the box thing is an easy one, but I can't remember doing it before. A first, and a nice formation to fly! The next move is basically to get everybody back in place. The out-facing people leave the circle, the others close the 6-way star and turn it. The three solo flyers turn the other way (or go vertical) and drop in their original slot. Last one home is a pussy :-).

Next is another 8-way, but it is "sub-optimal". In other words: major f***k up. Front floater slips and almost falls of the plane. He takes everyone with him in a big funnel exit. A bit further in the jump, big brainlock: we (7 people) are flying an in-out, with one guy in the middle trying to convince us to make a donut. This goes on for at least 10 seconds. And so on.

I manage to throw in a quick solo freefly before we start on the brainlock-beers.

:-))

8 and 12

For the last few weeks, we have been using one plane for two dropzones. Since it is slow season, that's normally not a problem since the two fields are only some 40 km apart. So it is an alternating routine: climb, jump and then the plane descends to the other DZ. Normally, we shouldn't loose too much time like this. But. Problem today is that on the other DZ, there is a 16-way training going on. In short, I 've been in all the loads on our DZ (all whole four of them :-( ) and I spent way too much time waiting at the boarding area (cold, wind). But hey, 4 jumps is 4 jumps, right?

First jump (after more than an hour of waiting in the cold) is an 8-way. For the exit, I am the middle diver. The next diver, to my right, gives me a pin check on exit. But that's not why we funnel it: one of the floaters goes belly up, so... Rest of the jump is OK. Under canopy, there is more wind then we expected. A bumpy ride, but a nice one!

While the rest of our group wait for each other and for a few newcomers, I quickly throw in another jump. Exit in sit, backfly, push to sit again, f**k why do I fall over when I look at my alti? Using my arms too much, not flying with my legs... bwaah :-)

We are 12 now for the next jump. For the exit, I am front floater, and silly as it my sound, that's my favourite position for this kind of dive. I love the wind, I love the power you need to make a good exit from that position. It is a good dive, but no thanks to me. On the third point I take a wrong grip, and for the rest of the jump I don't recover. Each transition, I have to wait and look what the others are doing, before I know what I have to do: it is one big brainlock... (and a few people noticed: beers are in order :-))

Nice 8-way to end the day. Our standard exit works this time. I am in the same position, with someone else diving to my right. He is also too early in the exit, but I manage to fly through the pin check. It's a kind of a boogie-jump. After the exit we make a star, that we then break into two lines of 4. Each line curls up and makes a 180°, and back to the same star. Next is open accordion, followed by closed accordion, and back to one. One of the jumpers is a young hotshot: hours of tunnel time, completely focused on 4-way. He has a wrong grip on exit, brainlocks each time we do the star-star thing (he releases his grip), and he doesn't build the closed acc from the inside, but just goes for his grips. But he is much quicker and more accurate then I am, that's for sure :-).

First round is on me. After that... Well, who cares anyway!

Playtime

A lazy day. It's almost noon when I arrive at the DZ. The weather is still unbelievably beautiful, sunny and warm. Yesterday was the hottest Feb 9 since they (whoever they are) started measuring those things.

I join a group of bellyfliers for a 6-way. I am front float and i totally f**k up my exit. The rest of the jump is also not good (in Luk's words: "this was definitely a sub-optimal performance"), but that's no more because of me: we all seem to have an off day (or an off jump at least). There's absolutely no wind, so landing is fun!

Next I make a complete-fun-jump: I exit tracking on my back, wobble a bit, make speed, salto-ing to normal track, going steeper and steeper to an almost vertical dive, even steeper, falling over and coming out of this in a back-track once again, and so on. Drop was much too far: I exited last, 1.6 mile past the DZ centre point, and I did my tracking perpendicular on the jumprun. I open a bit higher, I am under canopy at 4kft. I love floating around up there.

Third jump today is a sit. I can't help feeling a bit ridiculous. Everytime I check altitude, I turn at least 180° :-))

There's time for one more jump. Two guys who are training to become AFF instructors, ask me to film their practice jump. So that's my first "real" camera jump: I mean where I am filming other people, rather than just filming the jump I am doing. My exit works out fine: my timing and position are OK (well of course it could be better, but I have seen far worse than this my first attempt). And for the jump, well, what can I say... They handle the exit very well. The guy in black who comes from inside, I have more than a few jumps with. I know he's good, much better at FS4 than I am, and still... The fake student is not doing very much, but a bit of stress, an unusual situation, and in a few seconds the jump goes from OK to complete mess. That's what training jumps are for, and they sure learned a lot from this. They both gave permission to show the video, so here it is:



We all deserve beer after this :-)

Camera

Some time ago, I bought me a camera helmet. Two weeks ago, I received the wide angle lens I ordered from paragear. And this week, I adapted the helmet for my (old) camera, so now I am ready to do my first ever jump with a camera.

I decide on an easy 2-way to check out the helmet. It is a bit awkward in the plane, I can't find the start button, so I have to take of the helmet again, and so on, but hey, we manage to exit with the camera running. Chantal is floating, I am diving, she makes a good exit, I want to start our routine, but my head is falling aside, this helmet and camera are very present on my head, I feel the weight and the air it takes, I have to pay attention to keep my head up straight, strengthen my neck muscles. But hey, all this takes only a second or so :-). The jump is nice, I don't know how Chantal manages to turn in place, she looks everywhere except at me, but she can do it. So here it is : my first ever video! The camera position and line of sight seem OK, I'm happy!



I immediately follow up with a chute assis. I curse myself all the way down, for not being able to just quietly sitfly. I am definitely better at it than say 10 jumps ago, I feel the air much better, but I still suck big time...

Third is an attempt at a 2-way FF. I funnel the exit, it takes me quiet some time to find out what's up, what's down and what position I'm in, and by the time I get it, Gunther is some 10 metres underneath me. The gap only grows, but at least I can check that I am falling straight (or maybe i just have the same backslide he has ???)...

Then a student from last year comes up to me and asks me if I want to do a currency jump with him. Of course I wanna do that! He has 16 jumps, didn't jump for three months. We brief a level 5, I give him the complete safety briefing again, I give him a refresh on the whole caboodle of malfunctions, and there we go. Please watch my first ever self made student video:



I love his smile a few seconds after exit, when the stress is gone and he remembers the feeling, feels it once again!! Apart from that he was better when we did level 7 than he is now, some 10 jumps later :-).

Last jump of the day (it is still only february, days are short) the weather has completely cleared out. From up there you can see the North Sea, Antwerp and even Zeeland are crystal clear, I can easily make out Middelburg, and although I am not completely sure, I think I can even see Rotterdam. That's about the farthest view I ever had in the 1500 or something jumps I made on this DZ. Wonderful!

The jump is a hybrid. Steven and I are bellyfliers, Nick does a standup, hanging from our chest straps, 6 others are sitflying, trying to dock on us from both sides. Our hanger is swinging all over the place, so it is hard work to stay stable, but we manage not to funnel. Nobody docks, but everybody was there, flying very disciplined, a real nice jump. We had outside video on it, so if it is posted somewhere, I'll link to it here.

So... first ever camera jump, first AFF of the year, first two-way FF attempt: some beers are in order!

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' :-)

Brrrrrrrrr...... (very cold weather)

... but a clear blue sky. Too good to resist (I didn't even try :-). Temperature is around 0°, not counting the cold, northern wind. Temperature at 13.000 ft is something like -20°. In conditions like this, I always prefer diving, rather than floating.

Four jumps today, all belly-to-earth, jumping with everybody who wants to join. Only rule is as soon as we are 8 or more, we split the group. So two jumps are 5-ways, the other two 7-ways. At the end of the day, I have earned 8 free beers: 1 per brainlock (and that's only counting the very obvious ones, not the glitches). Over the years, I learned to cover up my own locks :-)

This is one of the 7-ways we did, a real nice one. No need to think, just swing it around! (this jump made us three beers). For exit, we launched the center spider as a linked 5-way, plus a front floater and a back diver.


Split off the 3-ways and turn them 180°, the outfacing jumper has the nice job! The center also does a 180°.


Next is a very short move to an open accordeon, center does a 180° again.

Direction of the turn is to give the jumpers who must pick up the grip the best visual. And for the center, how about another 180°?


The two switchers cancel each other out, so we can go back to 1.
The faster you can go, the nicer the jump!

Off season

This is the most relaxed time of the year for me. I almost did 300 jumps this season, almost 100 AFF's (well, 93 to be precise), everything from now on is just a bonus.

We round up all belly-flyers that have some basic skill, and let's take it from there. First jump, still quiet early in the morning, we are only 6. We exit a great sidebody, also in the jump is a frisbee-frisbee (with the 2 solos missing of course) and some other nice stuff.

As the day continues, our group grows, and the jump quality goes down a bit. After 3 jumps, I 've had enough and for the last jump of the day, I decide to try out my new back- and sitfly stuff from last weeks tunnelcamp. I exit in a sit. Woow, it works! As long as I can watch the plane, at least. Then I fall over, I continue on my back, try to sit up again, but all I do is turn on my back. So I stop thinking and trying, and I go for something else. I use my legs to roll over and stand up, and I fly on my knees for the rest of the jump. Hmmmmm, not bad for a first try, but lots of work ahead. It's gonna be fun!

Shit happens

No instruction today, no arrangements to do 4-way, or 16-way, or anything. Just showing up. From the moment I walk into the hangar, Maus looks at me, and I say "yes, first load?" It turns out we are 7, different skill levels, but a very nice jump.

For the next jump, our group has increased to 10, it gets more difficult to organise a jump that is challenging as well as within reach for everybody. We only do 4 points. Better split it up for the next jump.

We split into a 4-way and a 6-way. I'm on the 6-way, and we can brief a more complex jump now. I propose an open accordion exit, and one of the others (whom I never saw before this morning, this is only our second jump together) asks if I am quite sure about that exit. A few minutes later, back on the ground, he agrees that it is indeed not a difficult exit, if everybody does his job and flies his slot. The whole jump was smooth and very nice.

Another 6-way. We exit a star (we funnel it), then donut flake -> donut flake, and we continue with an inter to in-out. Next is a full donut, and back to one. We recover well after the funnel exit, and there is real rhythm in the jump. Under canopy, I am still smiling. I don't go for the usual in-front-of-the-hangar landing, because it is a bit turbulent there, I decide to fly a good 50 meter further away. While I retire from the landing pattern, I see something in the corner of my eye. There is someone under a partly open main, with the reserve hanging out of the harness, not inflated. It was the AAD firing that caught my eye. Things go quickly now. The reserve inflates, but not completely, both canopies are intertwined, it becomes a kind of downplane with two half inflated canopies. It goes down fast (much faster than me anyway) and it spins fast. Ooh shit, too low for cutaway now, ooh fucking big shit. He hits the ground. He must be dead. I fly towards the spot, land some 50 m short. I see Erwin a bit further, already on his mobile phone, so I run towards him. I expect to find a broken body, but he is conscious, he talks ("my canopy spiralled, I don't know what happened, it spiralled so fast" and so on). No visible injuries at first sight. Woow, that's one lucky bastard. It is the same guy I told you about last week, when I saw him having a line-over and cutaway. His leg is caught up in the lines of the reserve. So that's why he went down with it.

We later hear he has some back injuries, but nothing too serious. I wasn't on duty, and I'm not a rigger, so no paperwork or talking to the police for me this time. Just a few beers. By the time I leave, the police are still taking statements (this is parachute-murder country, they want to make absolutely sure there is no sabotage involved), and somebody has put a few stickers with the club's logo on their car :-).

4-way and some

4-way with Door, Jean and Sus today. I am tail. We start with a smooth one: open accordion, bow, tee, zipper, phalanx. Exit is great, and although we didn't jump together for quiet a long time, the jump is smooth, with a nice rhythm.

Next jump we do a few randoms and block 12, bundy-bundy (but with 360° for the front piece, we don't feel like working). Not my favourite block. At one page, we have a funny mess-up : Door and me, the tail piece, we go low, and the front piece was counting on being stopped by us, so they fly by and make a 720° before they manage to stop :-).

OK, now it is time for the fun stuff: just four points, 14 (bipole-bipole) and 6 (stardian-stardian). I love a straight bipole exit, it goes remarkably well, first 540° is completely up the hill. I need to work to stay in position, but I manage. One of the bipoles, I see Jean not starting his 540°, but waiting for Door to turn passed him: he knocks him on his helmet, makes a 180°, and arrives just in time. And swinging your piece around in the stardian, well, that's my idea of fun... Back on the ground Jean denies that he only did 180°, nobody believes him.

We all liked the previous one very much, so we go for something similar: 16 (compressed-box) followed by the obsolete zipper-star. I know about the problems with this block, but I still think it's a pity that it's no longer in the divepool. It has always been one of my favourites. Exit is great, turning towards that box, really steep on the hill, yes! Again we manage a very nice rhythm. Hmmm, this is what I missed during the AFF season. A guy on our load has a line over, and has to do a cutaway. He is still on student gear, so his briefing is not to bother with the stuff, just take care of himself. I see it all happen. Sus also saw it, he follows the canopy, so I start following the freebag. Shit, it comes down in a piece of land with horses in it. I'm not going to land between them! So I land a bit further on, but by the time I am there, two horses are already happily chewing on the freebag. I shoo them away, and recuperate it.

Sus has to leave early, but I still feel like jumping, so I do a quick one with two low timers. It's nice to see them being pushed and liking it.

Sunset load is a tracking jump with 9 or 10 people. A very nice close of the day (although I go low in the end). In the meantime, we have received the news that Hayabusa has won the military world championship. They beat the Golden Knights with a one point difference, and they set a new world record while doing it (41!). Well done, guys, congrats!

16-way

At 9.30 am, everybody is ready for briefing, only the organiser was 30 sec late:-). First jump of the day is an easy one, everybody's facing in all the time, "hardest" slots are a few cats in the second point. It's been a long time since we have flown together and it shows. The jump as a whole is not bad, but could have been much better. I am rather disgusted with my own performance. Exit is slow, my dive is terrible, I deserve to get axed for the dock I make, and I react slow on the key to the second point.

In the meantime, it became very busy on the DZ. We have a two hour wait, before we can make our second jump. The jump is more challenging. Base is an 8 way, a round with 4 people facing in and the other four in doughnut in between them (like the base for a ruby, with two extra people sideways), and then the base becomes an 8 way doughnut. I am front floater this time, my favourite exit position for this kind of jump. Base makes a 45° turn while building, so we (outer people) have to work a bit. Second point is not complete: there is a collision, and we end up with a 7 way doughnut, and a nice 14 way. I am still not too pleased with my own flying. On the first point, I didn't notice that the base wasn't finished yet, one grip was still missing, so I grip too soon. On the second point, base (well, what's left of it) is finished when I grip, but it is not a well-flying formation yet, so again a bit too early.

We decide to do the same jump again, but we have a three hour wait, before we can go again. And that proves too long to stay focused. We start of well, all the floaters have a good exit, the first point builds OK, cleaner than the first time, but there already are a few minor fall rate wobbles. While building the second point, this grows into a level problem and the centre doughnut collapses. Over and out. It was my best flying of the day, but I choose our poorest jump for it. Pity. There is little wind, and somebody pointed the arrow that indicates the landing direction downwind, I like it!

And that's it for the day. Although it's only 4.00 pm, all the loads for the rest of the day are complete. :-(( It feels too early for beer, but what can you do?

My favourite playground

After another week of rain and mist, it is again a glorious weekend! Sun, blue skies, hmmm... Gert, another instructor, has talked some people from his work into doing a skydive. We start with his boss. Lots of joking ("if you need a pay rise, this is the moment to ask for it", etc.), they obviously get along very well. His exit and body position are OK, but his practice pulls are way off. Each time, I have to work to bring his hand to the right place, and while doing so, each time the formation turns about 90°. I can see the cameraman having trouble cause he has to film into the sun, so I turn the formation back in the right direction as soon as I can, but hey, first things first. At pull time, he is a little slow in starting the works, and again he can't find the pull. Time's up, so I have to pull for him. Pity, his mind was on the task, but he couldn't get the mechanics right. Under canopy, he completely disregards my steering him, flies a good circuit, and lands beautifully.

Because there is a shortage of cameramen, we have to wait before we can go up with the next guy. I can just sneak in a funjump. I exit first, all the rest of the load are students and tandems. Backtracking, some very slow barrelrolls, head down, it's my favourite playground up there :-) All the others on the load open higher, and are under big canopies, so there is no one around when I come in for landing, and I make it a nice downwinder.

Gert's second colleague is a younger man. He doesn't arch, his legs are completely tucked in, but he enjoys it, and makes a clean pull. Like the first one, under canopy, he disregards my steering instructions, flies a good circuit, and lands beautifully. Maybe I have to check how they were briefed :-)

Next is level 4 again with last weeks' skinny guy. This is his 5th attempt (and we are in the plane with another level 4, who is on his 6th attempt already). He exits OK, As soon as I release him, he starts to slowly turn, he makes a strange move with his hips to try and stop it, almost falls over, and then at once, click, he's got it. He arches and is in full control, gives me a big smile. I give him thumbs up, and the rest of the jump is a piece of cake.

An hour later, we go up again for his level 5. First part of the jump is good, but then he starts pushing out his legs too much. Instead of turning, he is flying forward in big circles. He doesn't see my legs-in signal, so when I move to his side at pull time, I really have to side-slip hard to stay in position. But it is great to watch how he is aware of the air around him, and how he tries to work with it.

Apparently, lots of people had their birthday this week, so I phone home to tell that maybe, just maybe, I might be just a tiny little bit late in coming home this evening.

Bad luck, or ... ?

Yesterday, it rained all day long, but when I looked out of the window this morning, guess what... Blue sky! And what's even better, yesterday was fully booked with a big group of first jumpers, while today there's a loose bunch of higher levels. I like the occasional level 1, but a whole day of nurturing, well, it can get on my nerves sometimes. I prefer "the real stuff" :-)

First thing, they give me a long skinny guy for a level 4. The previous jumpmaster made a note in his logbook, about the fall rate being really slow. And it took him 8 jumps to pass his levels 1-2-3. Hmmm, I like a challenge now and then. His exit is awful. I can't hold it, so I take him on a salto to position him on the relative wind. My first funnel exit (with an AFF at least) of the season (a first, beer is in order). I have to work him in a reasonable body postion, we're at 8000 ft before I can go in front of him. His legs are still very asymmetric, but he is well arched, so I release him. He makes an uncontrolled 360 and I pick up grips again. He looks completely helpless (flabbergasted?).

Next I take time off instructing for Mirka's 500th jump. It will be a 10-way, and we brief stuff like a doughnut with her in the middle, an open accordion, with her splitting it apart, and of course she may pull in the formation, with the other nine of us in a big O around her. We funnel the exit (second jump, second funnel, what's going on today), but it is a very relaxed and fun dive. We even manage to complete it. Ok, the star wasn't completely finished, but hey, back on the ground, it's smiles and kisses everywhere.

Skinny guy again for another attempt at level 4. Exit is still lousy, but way better then his first attempt. His body position is better now, but he is completely tensed up. I release him while still beside him. He starts to turn slightly. I stay in place beside him, and let him gently bump with his left leg against my head to stop him from starting to slide, once, second bump. Third time, I move back a little bit to let his legs pass and to see what will happen, and yep, it accelerates, it's a spin, I have to stop him. I signal him to loosen up, and he stretches his legs, so the remainder of the jump, we fly forwards :-)

Our club operates three dropzones, and the next man did a level 1 on another of our DZ's, and he tells me he was encouraged to continue his training on our DZ. He lives about halfway between the two locations, and his previous instructor told him the ride would be easier if he changed DZ. He has to take level 1 again, his logbook gives no details, and all he can remember himself from that first jump is that his instructor had to pull for him. Well, he manages to make the pull himself this time, so there is definitely improvement, but the road is gonna be long and bumpy...

Skinny guy again, third attempt at level 4. Exit is OK this time. When I release, he starts to slide again, but after about 180°, he manages to control it, good, I fly in front of him, thumbs up. When he wants to start his first 90° turn, he stretches his arms out in front of him, and pushes his one hand 10 cm lower than the other. It doesn't turn, but it sure makes for a dead slow fall rate. And I'm positive this is not how I told him to do it :-) He starts wobbling all over the place, almost falls over, so I have to stabilise him. Under canopy, I go in half brakes, and manage to land only a minute or so before him.

It is late afternoon already, and Brussels traffic control gives us a one hour holding. Mirka starts paying beers, and of course that's an offer I can't refuse. I wonder if it is just bad luck, that lately the majority of my students have been making not-so-good jumps. Or maybe it is some kind of "end of season tiredness" on my part?

Please, hold me?

Only one day of jumping this WE, so let's go for it. I'm there at 9, in the first load, together with Sus, for a level 3, a rejump. The guy explains what it was he did wrong the first time ("I wasn't relaxed"), he doesn't let us brief him, it's more like him briefing us ("I'm gonna be more relaxed this time") :-) And yes, he makes a very good jump, apart from one tiny detail: at 6000 he locks on, at 5500 he is still staring at his alti, 5000 Sus starts to look worried, the guy still staring at his alti, I pull for him. When he comes down, he starts explaining, what happened, and why he didn't pull, but Sus cuts him short (in prejump chitchat, he told us he's a math teacher): "you realise that, mathematically speaking, you are dead now?" I get a fit laughing, but it works: for the next 10 minutes, instead of talking, he listens.

Next is a level 4 with my old Walloon friend. It feels like I am holding an ironing board, not supple at all. I release twice, but I have to regrab him immediately each time. Not a good jump.

Next is a level 1 with Ronald as primary. Just before us, an 18 year old girl is exiting for her level 6, that's her first solo exit. She places herself in the door, looks her instructor in the eyes, and with a tiny voice, she goes "won't you please hold me?" Her instructor, Gert, puts on a sardonic smile, and says "No": she accepts this, and without further ado, she makes her solo exit. I'm still laughing while we make our exit. Our jump is uneventful (for us, that is: the guy will probably remember it for the rest of his life).

Another attempt at level 4 with my friend is next. As usual, he makes a good exit. I feel almost no tension, so I move in front of him, thumbs up, and I release. He's fine for maybe 5 seconds, then he starts sliding, overreacts, too quickly, too eager, and what's even worse: in the wrong direction. Instead of stopping, he accelerates his turn, just the blink of an eye and it becomes a violent spin, I move in, but he turns over and I have to duck his legs. He is now in a kind of sitfly, with his knees up against his chest, and spinning even faster. And all of this took what, maybe three seconds! Woohah, I plunge onto him to stop the spin, I push back his legs, OK, he works with me now, he arches again, I turn him over, back on his belly, and I push him away from underneath me. Pffwwwiii, we're stable and in control again. We are at 9000 ft, those were 10 very sporty seconds. For the rest of the jump, I hold a light leg grip on him, and he flies it out cleanly.

When we debrief the jump, it is amazing how clear he is about what happened. He knows what he did, what I did, what altitude we were. We agree that next weekend, he is going to make a few jumps with another instructor. I can't tell him anything new any more, I feel like I am repeating myself, maybe a new voice will allow him to make more progress. We also discuss the possibility of a tunnel session.

Afternoon winds are starting to pick up, so student activity is stopped. There is a large group of bellyflyers today, and I can join their group. First it's a 14 way, not very good, people going under, etcetera. Then a 12 way, much better, and big fun: a nice dive, the formations fly smoothly, I have a few nice moves at the edge of the formation, yiihaa, break of at 4500, a good track, I love it, maybe a bit too much, it's under 2000 ft before I'm in the saddle.

Beer.

Even more AFF (but with a little funjumping in between)

When I arrive on Sunday morning, weather is overcast, so it is funjump time. We start of with a 4-way that I first did more than 10 years ago, and have done many times since. It goes like star - transition - zipper - transition - opal - transition - bipole - transition - donut - full break - star, and so on. There is always one piece moving and one piece staying in place, and you switch piece partners at every move. All moves are short, so you can really go fast! One of those no-jumping-because-of-the-weather weekends during autumn, I'll post a drawing of it. I guess that will make more sense than this explanation. But for now, believe me that it really is a very fun dive!

By then, sun comes peeping through, so student activities can start. Gert and I take on a girl for her level 2. She is very focused, too focused, but not on the right things: she completely forgets altitude, doesn't react to the signs, and at 5500 ft, instead of pulling, she starts another exercise (flying forwards). Gert pulls for her. When she's under canopy, I use an arrow to steer her, she follows instructions, but when I put her in final, somewhere between 200 and 300 feet, she veers of to her left a bit, and instead of a little flat correction, she throws in a 360°, I already start cursing, but she has enough time to finish the turn and lands cleanly in the right direction. During debrief, she doesn't mention this manoeuvre, and she looks very surprised when I bring it up: she says she doesn't know that she did this. ??? Next couple of jumps are back on the radio for her.

Next is my favourite old man for another attempt on level 4. He exits OK, I have to signal him for legs out and loosen up shoulders, and then I can move in front of him, he flies solo for about 20 seconds, there is that incredible grin again, but when he checks his alti, he turns a little bit, overreacts, and there he goes. I grab him almost immediately, but we still turn 720° together, before I manage to completely stop him.

We talked about the number of jumps it would take him to go through AFF beforehand, so he knows that he has to concentrate on overall progression, rather then on levels and the number of jumps it takes him. And after all, he flew solo and stable for half the jump :-))

I had to leave early, so that's it for Sunday. And since I had family business to attend to for the rest of the day, I couldn't even have a beer before I leave the DZ, life is unfair.

AFF, backflying, zoo, FS, AFF

When I arrive at the DZ on Sunday morning, it is already buzzing with the mild chaos I like so much. My gear is back in from annual inspection, so I take a bit of time to check it, and I have to pack to start the day (bwaaah). In the 10 minutes or so this takes me, 5 different people ask me if I can do this today, or that, or ...: I say "yes, sure, go ahead, you can put me in the next load" to all of them :-)

First up is a level 1. He is not too nervous, and really looking forward to it. He's good in the air. Smooth exit, very composed in free-fall, and follows instructions perfectly under canopy. He immediately signs up for a full course. Congrats to him!

By the time we are ready to board for our second jump of the day (a level 3), some low clouds have come in, and the wind starts to pick up, so all student activity is put on standby. OK, that gives me some funjump time. There's one place left in the next plane, so I go up immediately to do some backflying. I am going to exit last. The guy before me is a rookie, he has something like 15 jumps since AFF. When we are on jumprun, I see that his Vigil is not turned on (even when I am not instructing, I check such things, it's a habit). I have to forbid him to jump, and he has to come down with the plane. Not happy.

OK, so I saw it, and that means I can not let it go. Just imagine I decide to let it pass, and something happens. Would I be comfortable then with my decision? Would I be able to explain my decision to his next of kin? Would my decision stand up in a court of law? Triple no. (I could lie about it of course, but only to others, not to myself, and I don't like lying anyway).

The backflying went fine.

Next is a 5-way bellydive. I am frontfloat, and I leave a tiny tidbit early, which makes it a sporty exit, but we manage to hold it. I have a few nice moves in this dive: a back-in-while-backsliding-more-than-a-meter, and than a backwards hop over somebody, completely blind. I didn't engineer the dive :-) I notice at least five brainlocks around me, my first blind hop is way too far, all kinds of stuff happening. We are all laughing through the dive, and manage to do 15 points in the meantime. Nice!

Then a 2-way FS drill: a sequence of turns: 90°, back in, 360°, etc. Ooh, I am very rusty on these things...

By now, the weather has cleared out, and we can restart AFF. I am going to do a level 4 with the older man with the incredible smile from last week. He has tried a level 4 with another instructor yesterday, but he ended up spinning on his back, and under canopy at 9000 ft (5 sec rule). I don't know what to expect, so I ask a cameraman up with us. There is a hesitation in the exit count, but we manage to leave the plane together. He is arched, I signal legs out, and he pushes them out, his body position looks good, but there is quiet a lot of tension. Even when I let go of only one grip, he immediately starts turning. I don't let him fly solo, I don't see what's wrong. Back on the ground, it takes 4 views of the video, with two instructors, to figure out the asymmetry in his arms and upper body... We'll have to do level 4 again, but we survived, we had fun, and he regained some confidence.

Last jump of the day is a level 1, but when I want to start ground practice, I can not find the guy. Simply disappeared (ran off?), so I can start on the beer almost an hour earlier than expected :-)

fun jumping

I was up at 4 am this morning for work, done at 10, so it must be possible to squeeze in a few jumps before 2 pm, when i must leave again for work. The news on the girl that broke her leg yesterday is not very good. Apparently it is not a clean fracture, and it will be a long revalidation for her.

We start off the day with an 8-way. I brief the jump, it 's ambitious for this loose bunch of funjumpers with very mixed experience and currency levels, but should be possible. Stairstep, double satellite, zipper flake, double bipole. Pity, we funnel the exit big time and it's only at 10k that we can start the jump. And, like so often after a bad exit, everybody is rushed, flying is not clean, fallrate is far from constant. We manage to go through it almost twice. Nice start of the day!

Next, I have to leave that group to be secondary on a level 3 AFF. Student is a long, skinny youngster, so they ask me for the jump: I can go slow. Good exit, but he is looking straight down at the ground, with his arms stretched out in front of him. I check if Luk is comfortable, release and go in front. I have to go low before he sees me, and when I come up level again, he keeps looking at me, so that's first problem cleared. Next I take his arms and bring them in position. All this time, he hasn't checked altitude, so I check mine with an exaggerated move, but he doesn't imitate me. Luk is still holding him, and I can see their must be quiet a bit of tension there, but I can't exactly see what's wrong: he arches, he holds pressure on his legs, only thing I see is his upper body is very tense. Then Luk lets go, but he starts swinging around immediately. We end up switched, with me as primary and Luk in front of him, but time is up. He is now altitude aware, and pulls at the right time, but with a rather horrible body position. Flies a clean circuit and lands smoothly.

No more time to make another jump, but hey, that's two more that nobody can take away from me!