Not back in the sky yet

So another couple of weeks have gone by and I've still not been back to the dropzone. Life has got in the way and I have many demands on my time, plus it has been cold and wet and windy, and definitely not camping weather.  I am not that obsessed by skydiving that I will hang out in freezing cold weather where there's no possibility of going up in the plane, just to talk about jumping, lol.

I will however, head back to the dz this weekend.  I have booked myself onto a progression course, so will hopefully pick up some useful information about canopy handling, spotting, JumpMaster duties and maybe even have another go at packing a parachute or two.  If there is any jumping (seems highly unlikely given the current weather forecast), I may even be able to put a little of it into practice :-)

I have pretty much resigned myself to some form of recurrency jump schedule next season as the UK season is over for some dropzones already, and will be over within the next few weeks for pretty much all the rest.  Having only just got my A licence, my first few jumps next season are likely to be quite unnerving, if I haven't jumped for 3-4 months or more.  Having considered going abroad to jump to maintain currency, I rejected the idea for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, if I don't jump in November, I will not be current for jumping anywhere else since I last jumped in September.  Assuming I do manage at least one jump over the next few weeks, even if I jump somewhere warm in December, that would still only keep me current until late Feb. Since that is also likely to be extremely poor weather conditions in the UK, there is a very high probability that I would need to do some form of recurrency jumping regardless.

Secondly, I do not want to run the risk of 'wasting' my winter sun holiday on jumping.  Without FS1, I cannot jump with anyone who is not an instructor, coach or has at least a C licence so that means either jumping solo, or paying for instruction.  Whilst I want to practice my landings so that solo jumping is not such a bad idea, I can see that turning up alone at a strange dz overseas could lead to spending a lot of time on the ground alone as well.  Fine if I'm on a secluded beach somewhere; not so fine at a busy dz where everyone else is having a ball.  Though perhaps that is just the introvert in me speaking - pretty much every experienced skydiver I've ever met has been very gregarious so maybe I'd be engaged in a social life regardless, lol.

Thirdly, I still don't really know if I want to continue.  And that's the biggest question - should I just bow out gracefully now?  There are myriad pros and cons to the decision and with everything else that is going on in my life right now, skydiving is a very low priority.  So I'm prepared to see what happens at the progression weekend and consider my options after that. 

A licence: Shiny new book

So I guess people could be forgiven for assuming I have given up skydiving.  Indeed, I have been very close to exactly that several times - only sheer bloody mindedness has kept me going to complete my A licence.  And now I finally have it.  My little book with my A licence number and my CH1 sticker, and it is such a bitter-sweet moment.  

I am not sure where my skydiving future will take me.  Certainly nowhere near FS1 just yet, I love having the sky to myself so I can just fly and do what I want.  I definitely don't want the pressure of feeling I have to turn points and not mess up other people's dives on top of all the issues I am having with my landing skills.  

And I have not been near the dropzone since that last consol jump just over 2 weeks ago.  I don't feel called back to it, I'm not desperately missing it, though I still think it's a pretty cool thing to do.  Maybe a couple of weeks break will be a good thing, though it will be at least a month in total before I'm back as I'm away next weekend and have to see my dad the weekend after, and there's no guarantee the weather will be any good for jumping late in October.  Though maybe I'll go up on the Sunday and just hang out, I've met some lovely new people and I don't think I'm ready to give up their friendship just yet :-)  

 

Consol 10: 28 Sep 2013

Not really enthusiastic about this jump but hopefully it’s the final one and then I will qualify.  And then I will see where to go from there.  Not happy about the winds – we have a rare occurrence of wind shear, with the wind changing direction at 5,000’ so we’re going to be put out of the plane in what from the ground appears to be completely the wrong place.  I get several wind briefings, just to make sure I know what I am supposed to be doing.  Chris M’s advice is to pull a bit higher than normal if I’m not comfortable, so I decide I’ll probably pull at 5,000’.  People are landing off all over the place so the jump run has been changed a couple of times – probably won’t make that much difference to me, I’ll do my usual trick of hovering in the holding area and then I should be under normal wind conditions.   

Totally non-eventful jump.  Not even particularly nervous, just wanting to get it over with.  A tick in the box.  And hopefully a reasonable landing.  Free fall went fine, usual stuff of doing a few turns, a quick track, some attempts at side slides, one of which made me wobble a lot so I obviously did something a bit odd with an arm or leg.  Was weird going in the opposite direction to the wind sock but I had expected that from the multiple wind briefings, so it was more of an observation than anything else. 

Pulled at 5000 and did my usual canopy checks, got to the holding area without any problems and tried to determine a respectable landing pattern that might avoid yet another talking-to.  And it worked, to a point.  I didn’t land where I wanted to but it was on my feet and I didn’t mess anything up.  Feeling very deflated even though it’s only late morning.  Had a go at front riser turns and ended up doing pull ups.  I don’t think the canopy even noticed!  Found out later that student rigs are loaded differently to other rigs so it’s unlikely I will be able to do anything with the front risers, despite Chris’s declaration that I should be able to make turns on them before downsizing a canopy.

Back at manifest after dropping off my rig, and I learn that the winds have picked up a little and are still quite flukey, so students are on weather hold.  But that doesn’t include me.  Chris tells me to complete my paperwork for my CH1 and my A licence application form and then I can continue to jump as a qualified jumper, as I am no longer a student.  I didn’t know I needed passport sized photos for the application, so I end up traipsing off to the nearest service station to find a photo booth.  I completed my CH1 exam last week and brought it with me, so all that is left is to hand everything over with my card details (£15 admin fee) and my application will be sent off for me on Monday.  Such a bitter-sweet moment.  I’ve done it, I’ve passed and I’m quite pleased with myself for sticking with it, but don’t feel any real joy in the achievement.  Too many emotions churning around, along with the knowledge that my landings are far from the standard I would have hoped for by now, so I drift back out into the sunshine without bothering to manifest. 

And other people start asking “How did it go? Did you get your CH1 signed off? Are you qualified now?” and it starts to feel a little more real.  I smile and tell them yes, I now have my A licence, though I stop short at calling myself a skydiver.  I don’t feel like a skydiver, I make too many mistakes and get lots of ‘review sessions’ from the instructors.  I don’t feel confident in my ability to land in the right place and I don’t feel comfortable that I will know when to get out of the plane when there is no-one to despatch me. 

Chris has told me to get myself a hook knife as I should wear one now that I am qualified, though apparently I’m only to use it as a very last resort, for a line-over on a reserve.  If I get a line-over on a main, I should cut-away as previously instructed.  Rich has bought one for me as a ‘well done’ present but I have very mixed feelings as I take it from him.  I am not at all certain that I will continue, I definitely don’t want to jump in conditions that are not considered ok for students, especially on my bus of a student parachute.  So I feel at a bit of a loss. 

A call comes out for catchers to help with landing tandems so I go to assist and that turns out to be pretty easy and a lot of fun.  A chance for some camaraderie and some gratitude from the tandem instructors, and a different perspective of the landing field.  I realise that this is the first time I have ever stood here without a harness on – I have never watched landings from the landing area itself, only from the other side of the runway. 

The day passes and I get more congratulations from people as time goes on, but I feel a bit of a fraud, smiling and joking with them all.  I have no intention of jumping again today, I’m really not in the right mindset.  I buy beers later and try to ignore all the comments about how I need to start on my FS1 coaching jumps straight away.  I am forever under scrutiny for my landings, there’s no way I’m about to put myself under the cosh for my free fall too!!  Next step will be CH2, if I continue – solo jumps with the sky to myself, and learning how to land consistently. 

Consols 6 - 9: 22 Sept 2013

Consol 6: 22 Sept 2013

Asked if I could downsize to Nav 240 after the lack of forward motion on yesterday’s landing and got an extensive lecture on my abilities, and how I needed to be able to fly my canopy under all conditions, land on target every time, use front and rear risers, into wind, downwind and crosswind.  That’ll be a no then :-/   My wing loading is only 0.65 so I guess that means I’ll be sticking with student winds for now. 

I spotted the landing zone (with a bit of help earlier before the plane cut engines),and was by the door so had fairly good visibility down even when the door was closed.  Straight out, stable.  Turns, left side slide, short track on heading away from dropzone to avoid getting too close.  Rear riser turns up high.  Good canopy control, pulled at 4,500.  Flared slightly too early, let up too soon (apparently before feet touched down though I don’t recall that), so landed on feet, then knees.  On grass though!

Consol 7: 22 Sept 2013
Spotted dropzone, looked down out of plane before jumping. Baby steps towards proper spotting! Pulled at 4,500.  Close call with AFF Level 1 student who had jumped behind me, steered his canopy right over the top of mine and was dropping faster than me.  Couldn’t find him above my canopy with small turns, so did a very aggressive spiral to get clear.  Bit shaken as it had looked like he was on target to hit my canopy.  Tried to avoid him on landing as he was unpredictable in flight and was obviously moving faster than me and dropping more quickly.  Turned into wind and found winds were lighter than previous jump so did S-turns as previously instructed to snake off the distance.  Kept seeing 2 students behind me as I did my turns and they appeared to be closing the distance quickly.  By 200’, decided it was better to go straight and overshoot, than to risk one of them hitting me.  My still point seemed to be halfway between the grass and the hedge but partway there, I wasn’t sure so did a gentle 90 degree turn right to land parallel to the hedge.  Good flare, landed a bit faster than anticipated due to being crosswind so landed on feet then stumbled.  Complete bollocking for overshooting L  Apparently the CCI had been yelling at me to turn right and I hadn’t heard him.  Even if I had, I would have ignored him because he was primary with the AFF level 1 student so I would have assumed he was shouting instructions to the student, not me.
 

Consol 8: 22 Sept 2013

After a break and time-out to lick my wounds and assess whether I had actually deserved the scolding, I  figured I only had 3 jumps left to finish my consols so would tough it out and just do the endurance test of getting through them.  Neither of the Nav 260’s weren’t available so I grabbed the last Nav 280 instead.  I’ll probably have another crap landing but at least I’ll get another one over with.  I do my checks and get into the harness; I’m ready to go when Chris M comes past and asks why I have such a huge rig on.  I explain that the 260’s are both unavailable and he goes into the kit store and comes out with a Manta 288 in a smaller harness.  Oh fabulous, an even bigger parachute, well, I guess it may be a slightly different design so maybe it won’t be so different to the 280 to fly it into wind.  He gets one of the other instructors to help me get into the new rig and takes the other one to another student.  He seems quite chirpy and doesn’t mention my previous landing incident so I presume he’s happy for me to jump.  I get my pre-jump checks done and signed off on the manifest and we head out to the emplaning point. 

I get through the jump, don’t do much on free-fall, a couple of turns and attempts at side slides, I am not really enjoying this, just want to get the landing over with.  The landing plan is going fine, I am nicely lined up on my downwind leg and have assessed where I will turn to land on the grass.  The wind has picked up a little so there’s no danger of me overshooting.  So far, so good.  Then it all changes as an AFF student comes hurtling past me on the downwind leg and after my discussions with Rich and Chris D about what I could have done differently on the previous jump, I don’t want to turn in front of him.  So I wait until he turns before I turn behind him and of course, he has enough speed and drive to go forwards whereas I don’t.  Bizarrely, he continues on his crosswind leg instead of turning into wind but he is well out of my way so I do a curving 180 and predictably, drift gently forward instead of flying back to the grass. I end up landing short, on my feet, but there is no delight in the achievement, just frustration that my landing pattern got messed up because I had to avoid someone else (he eventually turned into wind and also landed short, but much closer to the bus than I did).  When I got back to the bus, Chris asked me how the landing went.  I told him I couldn’t turn when I wanted to because I didn’t know what the other guy was doing and he replied that he didn’t know what the student was doing either because he wasn’t doing what he was being told on the radio!  Some small comfort then, that I haven’t actually made a mistake this time.

Consol 9: 22 Sept 2013

My penultimate jump as a student, lift 18 and still 2 lifts to go.  I may just make it onto lift 20 and be done if my Manta gets packed (it’s still in the shed awaiting the packers) by the time I get down from this jump.  I am back on a Nav 260 this time as I retrieved it from the packing shed on the way back from my last jump. 

Still no real enthusiasm for the jump, but the end is now in sight.  Cecilia is on my lift and she is very nervous as she is jumping her own pack job for the first time.  She wants to pull high but the JM says no.  Eventually they compromise on a pull at 4,500, the same as me.  She is slightly smaller than me, flying a similar rig (also 260 sq ft) so we work out a strategy to make sure we are clear about our landing patterns because we are likely to be coming down at the same time, plus there is another AFF student behind us.  I will look out for her canopy when we open, whichever one of us gets to the landing area first will set the pattern for the other, so the intention is for me to follow her in, even if I end up landing short again.  At least that is less likely this time because we are of similar build on similar canopies and she is a much more experienced jumper than me.  Hopefully I will learn something about setting up correctly which will be very helpful.

As before, the exit and free fall go fine, once under canopy I’ve spotted Cecilia in the air and also have an eye on the student above me so I play with rear riser turns in the holding area.  Cecilia seems to be too far over towards the runway so I decide not to wait for her and start my downwind leg.  It all goes smoothly this time, I turn and hold the crosswind leg a little to lose some height and then turn again into wind.  Slightly more forward motion this time so I land neatly on the grass on my feet.  This time I’m happier.  I start gathering my canopy whilst looking to see where the other parachutes are.  Cecilia lands slightly downwind and to the side of me, also looking very happy and relieved.  She had a good opening and we discuss the landing pattern on the way back to the bus.  She notes that my turns had caused me to drop more quickly and also I started my downwind leg a bit higher than she would have, hence she had decided to fit in behind me.  The other student is talked down close to the bus so we all bundle in and head back. 

I am in time to manifest and there are slots but the Manta still isn’t packed and there are no other student rigs available so I have to miss out on doing my final consol today.  The light is definitely going, this will be the last lift.  I go back to the tent and finish packing everything up whilst I wait for Rich to come back down from lift 19.  The packers are incredibly busy so he will probably have to pack his own parachute when he gets back and we have two long drives to do so I want everything to be ready for us to just leave when he is done.

Consol 5: 21 Sept 2013

Poor visibility and low cloud most of the day meant several hours of weather hold (didn’t impact us, we weren’t there!).

We made it to the dropzone just in time for the sunset load after being in Cardiff for the day.  The caravan was climbing very slowly and the JM was concerned about how high we could realistically get to – eventually he called it at 12,000’ as the light was failing fast.  Absolutely gorgeous sunset but it was challenging to see properly for landing. It was good to be back in the Caravan, I was straight out and stable, so sorted that particular demon.  I practiced turns and tried some side slides but forgot about stretching out the same arm as leg so rotated instead. 
Lock on at 5,000, pull at 4,500 after waving off.

Good landing.  Light winds had got stronger so no forward movement on turning into wind so a bit short.  Landed on feet.