Back again on the Friday night, hoping the forecast was accurate as Saturday was looking a bit dubious but Sunday and Monday were looking a lot better.
It turned out to be another frustrating weekend from my perspective, though Rich got another load of jumps in and was off playing a lot of the time. The winds were just too flukey for students so I spent Saturday wandering around making new friends in between revising my drills and running through the jump in my head.
I finally got kitted up to do my AFF level 1 jump on Sunday and was fairly calm, though a little apprehensive. I was going to have 2 very experienced instructors hanging on to me and the most important thing I had to remember was to pull the toggle, how hard could this be? I had had loads of time to run through the skydive in my head, I could do this in my sleep. I'd had a bit of panic when I'd forgotten one step until I remembered that was exactly why I had two instructors - their job was to remind me of anything I forgot and to correct any mistakes, so all I had to do was relax, arch and do as much as I could. Hmmmmm......
Climbing to altitude was fine, we talked through the skydive, checked what I would be doing at various heights and I felt nervous but trusted Paul and Chris to look after me. Paul teased me that since I hadn't screamed on doing my tandem, I needed to scream for this one which was quite amusing.
Opening the door was the first jolt - omigod what am I doing, they're opening the door of the plane...????!!! Deep breaths, you've done this before on your tandem, you knew this would happen, it's fine.
Everyone else jumped out, leaving just the 3 of us. As they started leaving, Paul told me all I had to think about was my exit, which was the best piece of advice he could have given me as it pulled my thoughts back from trying to remember everything, to just the focus on the check out process.
Chris asked me if I was ready to skydive and with a most emphatic "Yes", we moved to the door.
And the training just took over. I didn't realise at the time but Chris had a helmet camera and when I saw the video, I was startled at how composed I was. I moved into position, check-in, OK - check-out, OK, out - in - out - hard arch and we were in the air. And I screamed my head off!!! WTF am I doing? This is crazy, I've thrown myself out of a plane, OMG, OMG. But because I'd practised so many times and gone through it over and over in my head, my body kind of knew what to do whilst my mind got its act back together. I was arched (and stable) straight out of the door. I couldn't process what my eyes were receiving but once the blur in front of me changed from just blue to blue-plus-something-else, I did my circle of awareness and checked my altitude and turned to Chris. He indicated I should arch more so I did, then got the OK so turned to Paul. He also indicated arch more (whaddya mean arch more? my spine is going to snap, lol) and straighten legs a bit, and we were flying! Wow, this is so amazing! I'm flying! Deep breath, 3 practice touches (thankfully I found the toggle every time). Another deep breath - horizon, altitude, position, breathe. Again - horizon, altitude, position, breathe. Again .... seriously?? I thought you all said I wouldn't have time to do this more than once?? Still 7,000'. Ok, again....
6000' - Lock on, 5:5, reach - locate - throw. OMG, OMG, they've let go of me, grab the risers, have I got a parachute - oh yes, count, 1000, 2000 ... breathe ... 3000, 4000, 5000, Check (left shoulder), Canopy (right shoulder), thank god, it's there, it's big, it looks ok, thank $%£^ for that. For a couple of seconds I just hung there in the harness, with my mind trying desperately to process everything that had just happened in what felt like the most insane 45 seconds of my life, then my brain kicked in - you're not done yet, you have to land this thing! So what's next, oh yes, CATTS. We've done C for canopy, A for airspace. Nope, no-one around (not exactly a big surprise, we left last and everyone wants to get down quickly after freefall), T for toggles, ah yes, this is how we actually fly the thing. Time to put the theory into practice. 3 full flares, yep, the canopy tilts a bit and recovers, not too difficult to pull all the way down, can I steer? Left, yep, right, yep. This isn’t too hard, except where the hell am I??? T for Target – ummm, don’t recognise anything from the aerial pictures they’ve shown me. Come on, you’ve been up here and seen it before, where are the landmarks? Remember what Rich said – chances are, if they’re not in front of you, or to the sides, they’re probably behind you! Let’s turn around. Oh yes, there it is – check altitude, hardly moved, plenty of time to think. S for systems, yep, they’re all ok. So what’s next? Go to the holding area and have fun J
I don’t drop very fast and don’t swing out much to the sides even in a tight turn – nothing like the effect on the tandem – but I do lose a bit of ground when the canopy is caught downwind. I can creep forward into the wind but it’s a very slow progression – need to watch out for that when I try to land! Definitely won’t go too far beyond the landing area. Oh, where is it again? I’ve lost it. Isn’t someone supposed to be talking to me on the radio? Heck, where has it gone? Oh, there’s a windsock, that’s a relief. Oh and planes and buildings, cool, I’ll head over that way then. Ummm, except…. didn’t they say it would be a big open area? With lots of fields on all sides. That doesn’t look quite right. What if I miss the spot – it’s the right colour but doesn’t seem to be the right shape. And it’s awfully close to the runway. Oh heck, that’s the wrong windsock!!! It’s orange and mine is yellow! Where am I supposed to be??? How high am I? Will I make it? No-one is talking to me so the radio isn’t working – guess I need to try and remember everything they told me. OMG – what did they tell me, I didn’t rehearse this bit nearly as much as the terrifying ‘throw myself out of the door bit’? Downwind at 1500’ then back into wind at 500’. That’s not going to happen, I’m going to have to head into wind from now to try and get back. I’m way high so I can cross over the runway and the plane is on the ground so that is ok. Someone will be watching even though I’m not in the right place. Breathe. Right, I can get to the field at the edge of where I’m supposed to be but I think I may overshoot as I’m not allowed to turn after 500’, just make little corrections. Now what?
What does he mean turn left, I’m not allowed to make turns? Oh wait, he can see me, I’m the only one up here, it’s ok. Hang on, I’m going towards the road, I’m dropping quite fast, how’s that going to work, I’m at 200’.
*Trust me, hold it there, don’t turn, trust me*. Ok, not liking this but I now have no choice because I’m somewhere I didn’t expect to be! *Now gently turn right, keep turning, good, hold it there*. Where am I going? This isn’t into wind!
*Now turn left and line up with the windsock. Trust me, hold it there, tiny corrections. Excellent. Get ready for landing*
Ok, that’s feet together, knees together, deep breath, he’ll tell me when, everyone says students flare too early. Wait for him, he’s right there, he’s waving, it’s all good.
*Hands up, keep them up* OMG the ground is very close, that’s way too close, I’ll crash!
*Ok, get ready, and 3-2-1, flare… and stand up* I’m down, I did it – whoops, a gust pulls me over. Let go of one brake toggle, pull the other one, whoops, still getting pulled along. Half of the canopy is collapsed but that still leaves 140 sq feet flying. What now? Oh yes, I’m supposed to run around it and collapse the lines. Errr, best get back on my feet then and try and catch up to it. Nope, that’s not working, now what? Pull all the strings (sorry, lines!) and drag it back towards me. Now sit on it! Now all I have to do it attempt to pick it up and get back to the bus. Ha ha ha! That took a while but I am euphoric. I’ve done it, I’ve done it, I’ve done it! I jumped out of the plane and I’ve landed safely! And I think I remembered most of what I was supposed to do. Apart from arching, lol! Wow! This is why people skydive! I’m never doing another tandem, I want to do it myself.
As I stagger into the packing shed, Paul tells me where to drop the humungous pile of material and lines that constitutes a student parachute that has escaped the confines of its bag and I find myself wondering how it’s all going to get back in neatly. As I try to undo my harness, reaction sets in and my hands are shaking so much I can’t release the chest strap. Paul helps me and starts the debrief *that was absolutely amazing. I’ve done over 1000 AFF jumps and I’ve never seen such a textbook skydive. If we’d had a videographer in front of you, we’d be using it for a training video*. What? Are you kidding? I screamed my head off, I wasn’t arching enough, I had no idea where I was, this is a wind-up, right?
*Nope, all we are really looking for on level 1 is some awareness of what is happening. Altitude awareness and going for the toggle are the most critical points, even if people pull early as soon as they find the toggle, that’s ok*
So that was my level 1. So much better than I might have hoped for, I didn’t forget anything, I pulled on time, I landed ok even though I lost radio contact for a while and I finally got the adrenaline rush that was missing from my tandem. Wow!
On to Level 2 then!!!
The
remainder of the Bank holiday weekend was a big let-down. The winds got
up on Sunday afternoon so I couldn't go up again the same day, then the
predicted calm weather for Monday didn't materialise. There were lots of
points when the AFF weather hold looked like it would be withdrawn, then
another couple of gusts would come in and it was back to waiting.
Experienced jumpers were landing off all over the place, the run-in kept being
adjusted and several people gave up early and headed home. By the time we
got back, I was absolutely exhausted. Rich had lost his glasses on
the landing field and we couldn't find them. He isn't able to drive
without them so I had to drive home - we had planned to head for a sauna and
soak in the hot tub at the gym but I was so tired, in the end we just grabbed
some food and I fell into bed. Not entirely sure this sky-diving malarkey
is my thing :-(
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