After another tunnel session and a relaxed fun 3-way, it seemed as though all the flat flyers at Nethers had gone into hibernation so I planned a trip back to Sibson to find some FS coaches to do my FS1 dive. Did one relaxed practice jump with Rich and dirt-dived with him, Sam and Fiona but the weather closed in so had to wait until the following day to actually do the 4-way. Sam was working so Pam took the tail slot and agreed to film. And I passed! Still loads to work on, some of which I tackled on another tunnel session but it was fantastic to just be able to turn up back at Nethers and jump with Steve, and then with Neil and Gabriel. The 3-way was great fun - linked exit with Neil and Gabriel diving after, then open accordion followed by flying around the formation to take grips on the other person :-)
And I packed for myself ! Steve helped me get the canopy into the D-bag when I was struggling the first time, then the second time I did it all myself. Lovely soft opening, and very happy that I am now properly independent and can just rock up at any DZ and find someone to jump with. Currently takes me about 30-40 mins to pack (which tends to include a second effort at preparing the canopy to go in the D-bag, lol) but that will improve with practice as I have to take lots of rests. Maddy showed Gabriel a different way to get the canopy into the D-bag so I will try that next time I pack.
Next canopy course with Brian Vacher booked for April though I shall try and keep jumping through the winter to stay current. Maybe a trip to the Algarve boogie in late March, or just a chill-out visit to Spain for a long weekend. My canopy handling has definitely improved as I stood up 2 nil-wind landings at Netheravon and landed neatly on the grass at Sibson even with the wind changing direction whilst we were in the air.
Could have jumped on Sat on the last day of the season for Sibson but I had a nasty cold and couldn't concentrate so went back to bed and had a duvet day instead. Felt very decadent to just laze in bed listening to the tannoy announcements and the plane taking off and landing :-) Turned out to be a very wise decision as my cold developed into a hacking cough and vicious sore throat - definitely not worth the freezing temperatures of freefall and under canopy!
