Back to skydiving

When I arrive at the DZ, I am immediately introduced to a rather long and skinny student for a level 2. "He's a slow faller." I could have guessed that one :-). I team up with Philip for the day.

Exit is OK, but following that, there's nobody home. Knees lower than pelvis, heels on his bottom, no reaction to signs or anything. After about 20 sec, we manage to wake him up. He starts his practice pulls, better body position now, he checks altitude and pulls. At 7000 feet. ??? Under canopy, he doesn't react to the radio. We go to plan B, but he doesn't react to the T either. He lands cross-wind, flares late, doesn't hurt himself. On debrief, I mention the word 'awareness'.

Let's try again. Again a good exit. We agreed that it is up to him to take the dive into his own hands. So we wait. It takes him about 15 sec, but there he comes. We can almost see him wake up. Arch, pressure on his legs, GASP, practice pulls. He's there now. Philip releases, but he stiffens up, starts turning. I don't think he notices, he doesn't try to correct. He pulls at the correct altitude this time :-). Again under canopy, he doesn't listen to any instructions, but he flies and lands OK.

A quick level 1 in between. English speaking guy with an Eastern-European accent. Very heads up, nice jump! But than... My canopy just doesn't want to open. I have to work for almost 1500 ft to bring it from a streamer to an open canopy. Pffff.... Lucky this was an AFF jump and I pulled at 4000. Otherwise that would have been a reserve ride. And it isn't over yet. On landing, I fuck up. I don't know what happened, what I did wrong, but a fraction before I am down, I realize that it is not going to work. I make quite a bit of dust and a really very good PLF. I don't hurt myself one little bit (I am not talking about ego here:-)). Reflexes and technique are still OK. But WTF happened?

Third jump of the day with our student. A real level 3 this time. And it's a good one. He starts of by forgetting a practice pull, but after that, he's fine. He is working, trying, his legs are flapping, he can't stop turning, but hey, that's what student jumps are for, no? Under canopy, he comes downwind too early and too far. But he realizes just in time what's going on, turns into the wind, and stays like that for the rest of his descent. He clears the buildings by almost 100 meters. To reassert myself, I go for a precision landing. I miss the target by less than 50 cm :-)

Finally another level 1 to end the day. On exit, I am floating. Check-in, check-out, out, in, OUT, ooh shit, what's this???? Halfway through our salto, he starts arching, and what a difference that makes!!! We finish our flip and we're in business again. First thing we do, Philip and I both look at each other over his back: his smile is at least as big as mine. Very good and uneventful jump from there on.

The airfield closes at 8 pm, and sunset is only at 10 pm. So next are 2 hours of beer and sunshine. Hmmmm...

AFF

At last, a beautiful blue-sky day. The summer we are having, our climate is really getting confused. I guess we are the last generation that will be allowed to burn fossil fuels just for fun, so we might as well enjoy it, no?

It's busy. The bad weather made for a lot of funjumpers that still have some money left, there are lots of tandem bookings that we had to cancel, and of course lots of AFF students, eager to continue and complete their training.

First there is Mieke, she took her FJC end of june, and only now we can do levels 5, 6 and 7. 5 is a good jump. 6, at one point she funnels, gives me a sad look, I can see her mouthing "sorry", than she turns belly to earth again and continues with the dive. I like it when my students are polite ;-)). On her final level, nothing works: she funnels the exit, funnels her frontloop, funnels her tracking, but apart from looking frustrated, she handles it all and she pulls, at the exact altitude, stable. She repeats the dive for her first solo, and this time, it all comes together. I know it went great before she tells me, just by looking at her smile.

Then there is an older man with whom I already made a few jumps. He is stuck at level 3, it is (if I remember correctly) his fourth attempt now. He has resigned himself to wasting his remaining jump tickets on level 3 jumps, and quitting after that. When he tells me this, I refuse to jump with him, and tell him to come back only if he really wants to give it a try. It takes a bit of time and a bit of peptalk, but we do two jumps today: he passes his levels 3 and 4. I am rather proud of myself. Look at it:



Maybe he's not a natural, and maybe he'll never be a skygod, but he will be able to stay safe and have great fun.

A quick level 1 after this, and then finally, beer!

Zwartberg

My usual DZ is closed this weekend. There's an old timer fly in on the airfield. So, let's make some jumps at Zwartberg. Immediately when I arrive, manifest asks if I can help out with AFF, and of course I can :-)

The student is a super light weight (52 kilo) mexican youngster, and we do levels 3, 4, 5 and 6. A quiet day for me, the day of a life for him. He arrived in the morning, looking shy and stressed. After his first jump of the day, he started smiling. By the end of the day, he face was frozen in a big, happy, not-of-this-world grin. This is his level 5. Good exit, floating around a bit in the beginning, confident on his 360°, flying forward is difficult at first, but than he gets it, great altitude awareness on his second turn, good pull. A very nice jump!



What I don't like about this DZ is the lack of beer at the end of the day :-(

some shit, some fun, some beers

The day starts with low clouds. Some people could argue that they are too low, but enough people are willing to try their luck, so the first load goes up. I am not on it. The cloud deck is under 2000 ft. To clear some trees, Polleke lands with the wind, on a rough far-end of the DZ. He only just started jumping again after he had both his hips replaced. And he is under his mini-Katana. And he is unlucky. Shinbone fractures. On both his legs. What a lousy start of the day...

About an hour later, the sky is almost blue, and I go up for my first jump of the day. It's a level 7. The guy is a fireman, a medic too. I like working with people who are trained in handling stress and emergencies. He is rather nervous in the plane, and at 11000 ft, I tell him to bring down his hartbeat in the next few minutes. He looks surpried, then smiles and just does it. And that's the start of a great jump! Congrats on graduation!

Next is a level 4 with a very big guy. Well over 2 meters, over a 100 kilos. Exit is good, but then he doesn't arch, and since he has a lot of surface, our average speed for this jump is a mere 105 mph. He is not unstable, he makes a good jump, but without arching. OK, good enough for me. But over a 100 kilo and only 105 mph: I don't think I know any other skydiver who can do that...

On to the next: a level 3, an older man I jumped with last week (or 2 or 3 weeks ago, I don't remember). He has over a 100 jumps from 20 years ago, most of them static-lines, but over 30 freefall jumps nonetheless. Last time, he held on to his PC, so I brief him again on the difference between ripcord and PC. And this time, I make him actually do it a couple of times. Up we go. His exit is not very good. Rather than taking control of the jump rightaway, he more or less falls out of the plane. His body position is not good. Much worse than the previous jump we did. We manage to release him for something like 20 sec, so it's not that bad, but at 6500 I start signalling him to check altitude, at 5500 I give him a shake, Gert gives the pull signal, but there's nobody home. 4500 Gert pulls for him, and only then, while he is pulled out of my hands, I see him waking up and giving the 55 hand signal. And this for somebody with over a 100 jumps?? During debrief, he tells me that next time, he will put on his reading glasses so that he will be able to actually see his alti. ????? Some people, I really have a hard time believing...

To end the day a level 5 with the big boy again. Look at it. What a great jump!



And as always, a few well deserved beers to round up the day. Get well soon Polleke!

AFF

So after a few weekends of bad weather and other activities, students are queueing up. I am spotted while walking from the parking lot to the hangar, Sus waves at me, I give a nod, and I am on the next load. Fitting is now. A level 3, one of the guys from my FJC a couple of weeks ago. It is his fourth attempt at level 3. Exit is not too bad, he doesn't arch, his knees and elbows are are lower than his pelvis. Stable for a few seconds, than a 180° sweep, looking like he is going to fall on his back any moment. Altitude awareness and pull are OK. One of those more difficult decisions. Maybe he'll do a good level 4, maybe it will be a disaster. So since maybe is not good enough, we decide to make him jump another level 3. Sorry for him, but when in doubt, you just have to go for the safest option.

Next is another level 3. A tall guy that looks like he will go fast. And he does! 129 mph average. I am wearing my weight belt, so he makes a good jump, and I enjoy a comfortable one. He always comes to the DZ with his kid (some 10 years old). On the one hand, it is great to see a kid so obsessed by our sport (and by his dad of course), on the other hand, I really wouldn't know what to do with him if his father had an accident...

OK, stop musing, level 3 again with the guy from the first jump. Although he saw himself on video from the previous jump, his body psition is still not good. So I fly behind him, and I give him a good knock on both his knees. The penny drops, and he pushes his knees up, and floeps, the arch is there. I checked it and before my little knock, our average speed was 107 mph, after it was 127 mph: a 20 mph knock-knock: not bad! (You should have seen Sus' face: first a big question mark, "what is he going to do?" and then the ooh shit, when the student accelerated away :-)

Next is a level 6. Another guy from my FJC. I did jump 1 with him, but none of the other levels. He is very nervous in the plane. On exit, he doesn't make a count, can't be out of the plane too fast. And once in the air, it all comes together, and he makes a great jump.




Then there is a level 1. I talk to the man, and he tells me he has over a 100 jumps, the last one was some 20 years ago. He looks a bit timid, he could have negociated a few currency jumps, rather than the full AFF course, but hey, lets just make this jump, and we 'll see about the rest later. I talk him through the differences between then and now, ripcord versus pilot cute, flying characteristics of nowadays canopies, ... His jump is great. A perfect level 1. Until... At pulltime, he looks completely aware of what he is doing, very controlled, good body position, but he holds on to the PC. He doesn't throw it away. And I specifically talked to him about it. Fuck, I should have made him actually do it, instead of mere talking! I hit him on the hand hard, and in a reflex, he lets go. Sus gives me a thumbs up befoe we track away.

Next one is a level 2. It as around 7 pm by now, and when I want to start briefing him, the guy tells me how pleased he is that he can make another jump today. His buddies already went home, and he was planning to leave too, just finishing his beer... Whooo, stop here, "you just had a beer?" Ok, that's it. I 'm having a beer too. We'll jump tomorrow :-)

:-))

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...

:-)

First is level 2 again with yesrterday's bloke. His fourth try at this level. And at last, he makes it. He'll never be a natural, but it's a good enough dive. I'm happy for him, and also a little bit proud that I helped him achieve this.

For his level 3, he is still very tense in the air, but look at this: I've seen worse, much worse. Maybe yesterday was just a bad day after all.



There is also a tracking jump, in plain trousers this time. I can keep the level, but it is ooh so difficult to make speed without booties. Second part of the jump, the rabbit accelerates, and away he goes. I'll have to practice some more on this.

To end the day, Koen organises a 16 way. He briefs us on an interesting jump, but the dive itself is a bit disappointing. Divers with ill adjusted breaks, going under and having to float back up. On transition a 4-way piece going low, etcetera. Well, it was a nice enough try. Let's have some beers!

:-)

Glorious weather, a bunch of visitors camping on the DZ for the long weekend, a first jump course with 12 students: it promises to be a fun day! First take-off at 10.02 (we open at 10.00) and of course I am on it. A bit of backflying, sit and standup to start the day :-)

There's this guy who wants to do a level 6, but his level 5 was over 6 months ago. "The weather has been bad" Yeeaah, sure :-) So we go up for a level three (with Yves as partner-instructor). He is very uncomfortable all the way through, and doesn't pull for himself. We immediately go up for rejump and this time he is OK. It is clear even in the plane that he reconnected with skydiving. The difference is amazing, this is a good jump.

Next are a bunch of first-jump students. First one, all I remember is me and Erik (the other instructor) smiling at each other during the exit, when he is wriggling through his sensory overload. Second one was a girl. She insisted on jumping with what looked like class D hiking shoes ("ankle support"). In the air, she looked a bit like a pancake: completely, strictly 2-D, with arms and legs stretched wide. At pull time she went through the motions, only she didn't really pull. She left the PC in the BOC. But she immediately continued with a real pull, so that's OK. I didn't forget to duck for those monster shoes. Third one really enjoyed himself. Plus he made a good jump, was good under canopy and made a beautiful tiptoe landing.

I was also on the last load of the day. I was back on the ground at 19.51. We have to close at 20.00. By the time I was done packing, two beers were gone :-)

The season starts

4 AFF jumps today, then it started raining. So plenty of beer time afterwards.

A level 4 and 5 with Wesley. On the first jump, we averaged 134 mph. He weighs a little over 50 kilos, and I had my sweater on, in case we would be going slow... My back aches. I want to show you his level 5. It is a good jump. The problem I had was that in his levels 3, 4 and 5 he never showed me a jump that was OK from start to finish. He showed me everything I need to see to pass him, but I prefer it when they show me at least one jump without shaky bits. In this jump, it takes him over 720° after his (very good) exit. Then there's the good part. Then, when I signal legs-out, he misunderstands this as a second turn-sign. And he doesn't really stop this second turn, and the turning before his pull is not controlled.



The other two jumps were level 3 and 4 with Inge. Level three was a bit shaky (she didn't jump for almost a month) but good enough. Her level 4, she needed most of the jump to sort it all out, but her smile when she is finally flying in front of me says it all.



Under canopy, she is in the right spot at 1000 ft doing her last wind check, but then she flies a circuit that is much too short, so when she is in final, at 800 ft or so already, she realises this is not going to work. She takes a bit of time to decide what to do, and then decides wrong: she starts another circuit, too low. But now that she goes for it, she is determined (and quick) so it works out OK. But her final 90° is (I guess) around 100 ft. Way too low for a student, not something I like too watch. On debrief, she gives a very good account of where she went wrong, and where she lost time. The only thing I have to add is the better way out of her situation: 10 or 15 sec of crosswind flight would have given her all the space she needed.