On November 1st, I attended the Halloween Boogie at Skydive the Farm. It was a warm day, 65 degrees, and the hanger was packed with lots of people and parachutes on the soft carpet floor. There was a buzz of busy packers, and as the next load headed to the aircraft, another returned only to refill the now partially empty space left on the floor behind them.
I walked in carrying a twelve pack of Heineken beer. Joking with a guy who walked past, it was my offering to the sun gods…for the beautiful day they bestowed to us today. The beer found a cold spot in a fridge and I saw familiar faces, saying hello while I made my way to my locker to get my gear ready for the first jump of the day.
Thanks Brian and dropzone…I’ve used the leaning before, but never together in a coordinated style. I’ll test this out tomorrow during the Halloween Boogie at Skydive The Farm!
Saturday, October 25th, I drove out to Skydive The Farm with only a few hours to spare. Said hello to some familiar faces for a short while before it was time for gear check.
Jump #150
This jump was with Bruce, who is a very talented free flyer. He decided to hold on to my chest strap while I exited into a sit, and go head down. In my eyes, I flew like crap. I kept adjusting my feet, out straight, the close up under me, trying to match Bruce’s fall rate. My body must of looked like a yo-yo. Bruce later commented that I should have just got into a stable sit and held it. But for some reason, I wanted to be able to do more, to help him out so that we could fly within inches safely. We didn’t drift apart far, and I was able to turn as I kept adjusting my fall rate to keep facing him.
The landing was smooth as I approached crossing the trees around 500 feet. Did a turn to final around 250, and followed everyone else’s lead turning a bit more into the wind. There was a significant cross wind. I flared, and well the wind had other plans for me. Instead a gust caught my canopy and pushed me down hard. I had no if any forward speed. I remember feeling that sharp pain in my feet and ankles. I had my legs bent and tried to prepare for the landing but still fell forward on my knees. Sky Dave was walking up as I was standing and asked “Does that canopy have any flare?” I laughed …. and responded “sure, when the wind isn’t pushing it down so hard”. I walked away and had no injuries. Damn wind.
Jump #151
Did a 4 way RW jump with Laura, Kyle and Steve. We decided to go for a round, and turn a diamond on each person with rounds in between each diamond. We calculated we pulled off seven points before hitting our hard deck at 4500 feet. Was a great skydive. The landing was soft…canopy flared nicely.
Had to hurry and pack and get back to neighborhood for the holiday bash. Was fun, kids and mommies filed home as a smaller group of guys remained to finish off the keg. I grew tired and we began loading the keg in the back of Mike’s SUV dropping off at another guy’s garage.
It has been just over a month since I last skydived. The time off was not planned, nor was I tired of skydiving. It just happened that way. I’ve spent four of the past six weekends camping. I must admit, for reason or not, coming back and skydiving after taking some time off felt great!
I showed up, was able to say hello to friends and give my gear a good safety check. Ever have that thought in your mind…how attentive was I the last time I packed my parachute? I mean I’ve been packing for the last 100 jumps or more, but still packing at the end of the day, tired sometimes, I finish and then wonder, did I stow the breaks? Did I flake the nose? How about the slider?
Since I had taken off so much time, I didn’t even remember my last pack job…guess we’ll find out. I actually had a very soft landing opening! Read the rest of this entry »
Jump #145
This jump was a train jump. We dubbed it easily the train wreck! You can see a video here…
Jump #146
Tried another Train Wreck and got it. This time with Emilio, Arne and myself. Wow….we ended up flipping in all directions. It was crazy!
Jump #147
Last jump of the day was coordinated by Sunman. It was a tracking dive. A lot of fun, although people didn’t fly their slots and were all over the place. I fell to far at first, but then was able to get back up and in position before moving forward.
All in all, a great day. It wasn’t as busy today, but still fun. The three jumps were classic…and with good friends all over the dropzone, Skydive The Farm!
Earlier in the week James and I planned on jumping at Skydive The Farm. He was planning on bringing out a couple friends to grab a tandem. Then Abhi calls me up, he also is bringing out a couple friends on Sunday.
I arrived at the dropzone just after noon.
Later in the day, James and Abhi peeled off…but Arnie and Chris showed up. Two other friends I haven’t seen in a while. Its great to catch up with these lamers…I say that only because they should come out more often!
Today (Aug 2nd) I leisurely arrived at Skydive The Farm just after noon. I aim to get there earlier, but when I wake up I take care of other items that need to be addressed. And well this morning, I had a different excuse. James was waking up late and we both decided to ride out there together once he arrived at my house.
Jump #138
James and I did a freefly jump. We are both working on our sit fly. I feel I can get in a sit no problem, and even hold my sit fly. I’m getting better at driving forward, but I’m not as stable and clean as I want to be. My feet are not always level and I do tend to wobble a bit. We both decided to separate and open higher than normal. I ended up opening around 4500 feet. Nice landing away from the hanger, stood up nicely. It was great to be back home at my home DZ and get a jump in!
Next we hit a weather hold and had to wait for several hours before getting a final jump in for the day.
Jump #139
Four of us decided to do a freefly jump. Skill levels differed significantly. I ended up jumping out first with another guy (forgot his name). While Susan and James followed right behind us. James ended up going out slow on purpose and is working on getting into the sit and holding it. Susan was closer in to us.
I exited the plane as rear float, facing forward. One I began riding off the hill I became unstable and worked from my feet to my arms to regain the stablity. First I corrected my feet trying to keep them level and stable. Then I work on the separation my legs had and pushing them down a bit further out from under my butt. Next I sqeezed my shoulder blades together and brought the upper part of my back back further.
This helped me drive forward and i turned slightly as the other freeflyer did several transitions in front of me from sit fly to head down and back to sit fly.
The approach to land and landing was uneventful. Nice flare…couple steps forward and I was on the ground softly. Even with no wind, I didn’t have to run it out. I’m getting very use to this canopy. Flaring properly makes me very content!
I normally have a thought in my head and have no problems writing about it. Skydiving has made that extremely easy for me except for two times I can remember. The first time was when a plane full of skydivers failed to reach their destination last year in Washington, the plane crashed, and all on board lost their lives. It was something that hit me hard after being in the sport for less than a year. I asked Andy to review EP’s with me on my next trip out to the dropzone.
I remember writing a draft here on WordPress, but never finally submitting it. I recall driving into work in Atlanta, and hearing the local radio station mess up the story with the typical media twist.
This past weekend was different. I went on a camping trip with my family after having spent the previous weekend in Florida skydiving.
As I was returning back home from the north Georgia mountains, I decided to check my email, news, etc. that I follow on my iPhone. That is when I first saw the news posting that a fatality had occurred at my home dropzone, Skydive The Farm, on Saturday! I remember trying to read the news article so quickly for what happened and a name.
Without getting into any details, because I would most likely state the obvious or wrong info.. I’ve read and watched mostly at the thread on dropzone.com and talking with a few friends which is probably fifth and sixth hand knowledge; this whole thing simply sucks.
My condolences go out to family and friends.
To Olen Reid Ashe III; I didn’t know you bro, but as a fellow skydiver blue skies and rest in peace, the next beer’s on me!
Over this past weekend, I drove down to Orlando, Florida and on Friday, July 18th, I went and did 30 minutes in the SkyVenture Orlando wind tunnel with coach Martin from TunnelCoach.com and James with whom I’ve skydived with countless times.
I was set to work on free flying and nothing else. Martin started me out back flying, which is something I’ve never done. I eventually got the hang of it, but still not well enough this day to put it all together. I then shifted to my feet and tried a little sit flying in the tunnel. Lots of mistakes and tips from Martin and I was done with my wind tunnel time.
On Saturday, I headed to Lake Wales to skydive with friend, Aaron, who lives about five miles from there. We ended up getting in four jumps consisting of belly flying and track dives. Getting the RW suit on, walking around with the gear on, then jumping landing, walking back and repacking my canopy made me realize just how hot and uncomfortable Florida can be! Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, James and I drove down from Atlanta. Each in our own vehicles because he has to go back early. Three hours into the trip, his AC belt broke on his car. I picked up a charger for my iPhone because apparently having an iPhone that you use was not something Apple was able to sort out before shipping them. :-p
We arrived late in Orlando, and stopped to grab some food, a few beers before settling on a nearby moderately priced hotel. Got to bed….around 2:30am…long day!
All in all, a good first leg of the trip. Stay tuned…
I actually had a very soft landing opening! 
