Zwartberg

Home DZ is closed this WE, so going to another, smaller DZ nearby. Couldn't jump last WE, I was on family holiday, so I'm eager to throw in some quick jumps!

Sus is there with a student of his, asks if I can do a level 4 with the guy, so that he can video it. Of course I can :-) Our exit is not great, just OK: student's exit was good, but I left a split second early, so instead of staying in the axis of the plane, our line of flight has turned 180° by the time we level out. When I release him, he wavers a bit, but easily sorts it out himself, and it is a piece of cake from there on. the landing area here is much smaller than at our home DZ, but he flies a clean circuit, and lands OK some 200 meters off target.



There's one place left in the next load, I manifest and go up again immediately. First a bit if tracking on my back. Accelerating, slowing down, controlling the speed, a couple of barrelrolls while maintaining speed, through the clean sky, it's like high speed sunbathing. For the second part of the jump, I transition to headdown, manage to keep the position, feel the speed building up, Wahoo!!

There are a couple of bellyfliers funjumping, but I don't feel like joining them, instead I manifest again for a solo jump. I dive out after a 4-way team, planning to carve around them, sitting on my knees, but it appears that's a bit ambitious. I can't hold the level, and in trying too work on that, I loose the position, spin almost 360° and fall over. I kinda love this helpless tumbling through the sky, but I have to place some distance between the four-way team and myself, so I stop tumbling and track off.

Lazy sunday

Already afternoon when I arrive at the DZ. I sneak in and manifest myself on the first available load for a funjump. I am already geared up before the DZO notices me and books me for an AFF. I do a solo jump, tracking on my back, transitioning to headdown, falling over to belly track, etcetera. Simply enjoying the sky.

I am just too lazy to be a good instructor today. I do a level 2, secondary, and i wouldn't recognise the student if i bumped into him today. Shame on me.

Next there is a thunderstorm some 30 km away from the DZ, but traffic control in Brussels has to steer all those big passenger jets around the storm, so they have to close us down for the rest of the afternoon. We now have a weather hold, and a beer in the sun on the terras at the same time. I like it.