Skydiving has taken rather a back seat over this summer, partly due to adopting my collie-cross Lady and partly due to having so many other things to do.
I did manage a demo course with Conrad in March and a canopy course with Brian Vacher in June and finally made it to LPS when they were open and have done a few jumps with them too. Still on Nav 240/260 canopies - did try a Spectre 210 once at LPS and had so many 'got away with it' moments during that canopy ride that I haven't tried it again. Skydiving is not a forgiving sport.....
So finally got back to Sibson on Friday for an Advanced First Aid for Skydiving course - absolutely brilliant course, well worth attending so definitely worth the slog of a drive up from Exmoor!
Weather was a bit dubious on Saturday, plus about 60 tandems were in with only the SMG 9 seater available for jumping. I managed one jump on load 3, then my next manifest wasn't until load 11! By that time the wind had got up, it was raining intermittently and I decided not to jump. Several people decamped to Chatteris and after initially declining the invitation, once I was on the A1 and the sun came out, I changed my mind. Good decision! Although the weather meant I couldn't jump again on the Saturday, I got 4 good jumps in on Sunday, all 2-way practice jumps for my FS1 qualification. So I practiced matching fall rates, turns, docking and even a couple of attempts at swoop to pin :-) I also had a go at being the outside person keying the exit which didn't go too badly - nearly lost it on the hill but managed to regain stability at the last moment by remembering to straighten my legs - think I will be filling the beer fine fridge next time I'm up there, lol.
I have more tunnel time booked on 31 Aug so hopefully will refine my turns and side slides and if the weather plays fair, will have another go up in the air mid-week.
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