So I got to the briefing shed and Katie had just finished her briefing - oops! Chris C went through a few drills with me and then it was back to the usual "Hurry up and wait" scenario. The day was very overcast and the clouds were pretty low so no-one was going up.
After a while, the accuracy jumpers started going up as they exit at 3,500'. Even so, they were in wispy cloud for the first lift. Gradually as the day went on, the cloud base lifted and more people started going on lifts. It was late afternoon by the time the conditions were deemed suitable for students, and since the Caravan was already in the sky, we were going up in the Dornier G92. It's a bit bigger than the Caravan with a larger doorway so the Speed 8 teams were all using it for a fast exit for the competition. It also climbs to altitude much faster than the Caravan so will often go higher for fun jumpers. For the Speed 8 teams, the first 50 seconds of attempting to create the formation of 8 jumpers is all that counts, so we were only going up to 11,000 feet to give them enough time above the cloud base.
From our perspective, the exit was going to be exactly the same as from the Caravan, out - stable - check alti, then whatever we wanted to practice. We would have slightly less time in free fall than normal as we were getting out 2.5k lower but would still have plenty of time to try out turns or tracks.
Since I have done a few consolidation jumps now and have passed my level 8, I am going to be deploying lower than I have been used to so actually my time in free fall is going to be similar. I will lock-on at 5,000' instead of 6,000 and deploy at 4,500 instead of 5,500. The Speed 8 team will leave first, then me, then Katie closely followed by Chris C. Ok, sounds good. I am a little bit nervous of being in a new plane but if the exit is going to be the same, it should be fine.
Chris M and Chris C have warned us both that if the cloud closes in, we will not be permitted to jump - fine by me, I don't like cloud, lol.
As we reach 11,000, the Speed 8 team get ready to leave when suddenly the pilot tells us we're going higher. Apparently several canopies have taken longer to descend than expected so we are too close to allow the Speed 8 team to free fall and then track over them. Ok, up to 13.5k after all.
Except that the pilot has decided that since we're climbing anyway, he might as well take us all the way up to 15k. Okay, a few seconds extra in free fall, no big deal. Only a couple of things different from normal, I get a bit longer to practice :-) We get to altitude, the door opens, the Speed 8 team jump .... and suddenly the plane bucks as 8 of the 11 passengers exit in one go! And my stomach lurches! I try to inch forwards and am stuck - I am still clipped in! Chris had asked me earlier if I had unclipped and I couldn't find it so presumed I hadn't done it up properly - oops! When in fact, it was clipped from the centre of the plane, not the side, so I was still firmly attached. So another jolt to my already churning stomach. Katie has been feeling unwell on the ascent and has decided not to jump, so I'm going on my own and Chris will land with her in the plane. Ummm, ok. I get to the door and all I can see is cloud and I freeze. My brain fries. Not so much a hesitation in the doorway as total paralysis! After a moment Chris yells *Either jump or don't* and I fling myself out of the door.
And for the first time, have a completely uncontrolled unstable exit. Later he tells me I was windmilling my arms and legs, though in my head, I was yelling "Arch, arch!" and wondering why my body wasn't assuming the familiar position. I've flipped over onto my back - arch, you need to arch, ok, I'm stable. Err, oops, no, I'm on my back again - for heaven's sake, ARCH! You can't pull like this, push your hips out, arms back, ARCH!
And thankfully I am stable. I set a heading for the sun, do a couple of 360 degree turns to assure myself that I am in fact in control, and try hard not to look down at the thick cloud cover below me. I attempt a couple of side slides but my heart is not really in it. All I can think about is the cloud and how I can't see where I am. Ahh, maybe I can slow my descent a little. A big stretch of the arms, curve my body around a big beach ball, suck in those abs and I can definitely feel a difference. Ok, that worked but the cloud is rapidly approaching and I want to be stable in it so back to the arch. Ugh, I hate this, I can't see anything but mist, what height am I at? 6,000', ok, plenty of time, I'm doing 120mph, I'll be out of this in no time. Umm, nope, still not out, 5,500, it's got dark. This is horrible, at this rate I'll have to pull in the cloud. Not a big deal because I know there's no-one above me but somehow I want the familiarity of being able to see where I am. 5,000, lock-on ready to pull, it's getting lighter and wispy, throw the pilot chute, oh, thank goodness, I'm out and can see!
And I'm actually pretty much on target for my holding area. I have the pattern firmly in my head and am determined not to make the same mistakes as yesterday. It's a right hand pattern so I head towards the left of the landing area and turn downwind to see how fast I will travel. Pretty quickly, ok, don't go too far past then because flying forward into wind isn't really going to happen!
So I 'S' off a lot of the height parallel to the landing area and turn in close to the edge. I turn on schedule and am following the pattern I was briefed on, but something isn't quite right. The winds have turned again and the wind sock is now at 90 degrees to my expected pattern. Ok, gentle turn again into wind and keep it level. The wind is slowing me right down so I'm dropping gently - start to flare, a little too high, bring it down slowly, gently, final flare just before my feet touch down, 3 steps and I'm down, on my feet :-)
Ok, NOW I'm starting to get it!
I am happy with my landing and gather up my parachute to head back towards the bus. It has left to take the first load of jumpers back (fair enough, they'll have been down for a while!) so I have a few minutes to wait for it to come back for me and I watch one of the accuracy jumpers land. He comes in hard onto the inflatable target - rather him than me!!
I drop off my rig at the packing shed and head back towards the bar. After that particular exit, I am DONE for the day. It is definitely beer o'clock! Chris C comes over to meet me to give me my debrief and it is clear he isn't happy. My smile slides from my face, oh hell, here we go again :-(
I took way too long to exit and was within a second of being grabbed back into the plane and being escorted back down. Having actually jumped, I took far too long to get stable which was also not good. I'm crushed. So much for being delighted with my landing, I've still messed up the jump.
Maybe this skydiving thing really isn't for me.....
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