Coach Jumps

Today we had the best weather of the year. The temp was hovering around 80, the winds were light, and the sky was pure blue.

Let’s get on with it. I arrive at the DZ and ask the manager if any coaches are around. Skydiving coaches help you learn specific skills, hence the term “coach.” It is their job to help you learn these skills but unlike an instructor, it is not their job to save your bacon. So, the manager tells me that no coaches were currently available. Fine, I think to myself, I’ll just do some solo jumps.

I go and sit down at one of the tables and start reading the manual to refresh my knowledge. No sooner did I sit down that the manager calls my name and points to a young lady all the while mouthing “coach.” I’m a bit slow, but I figured it out.

One of the great things about skydiving is the people you meet. The young lady who would be my coach for the day is a student at OSU and a member of a competitive skydiving team. She was just awesome and answered all of my silly questions. I’m always amazed how much some young people have going for them……far more than I did at their age and far, far more than most of the kids I study. In many ways it is very encouraging and gives me hope for our future.

So, first jump. The purpose of this jump is to learn how to track. Essentially, tracking involves flying toward some point. Skydivers track away from each other when they do group jumps so they can pull their chutes free from others. To track, you bring your arms in and move your legs out. This puts you in a slight head-down position and you shoot through the air.

Ok, I’m up in the plane with my coach and the plan is to do a diving (superman) exit out of the plane, line up facing each other, I’m to then turn 180 degrees and track away from her for 5 seconds, turn towards her and track back. At 6000 feet I’m supposed to track away for 5 seconds and deploy my chute by 4000 feet.

Out the door I go in my best Superman fashion. WOW—I have to do this some more. It is pure freaking fun. But, for some strange reason, I seem to have a bit of trouble getting stable and start spinning to my left. I kick my legs out, literally bump into my coach, and the spin stops. Go figure.

She lines up in front of me, I turn 180 degrees and fly away. Cool. I turn back 180 degrees and try my damndest to fly back…..but I wasn’t going anywhere fast. Damn….thats right….legs have to go way out. Damn! I check my altitude, see that I’m at 6k so I turn 180 and this time actually do track away from her. I pull by 4k, did some canopy work and landed within 20 meters of my coach. Not the best landing mind you, but it worked.

Jump 2. This dive I had to learn to dock. Docking is flying to another person and literally grabbing their wrists. Sound easy? Try doing it in free-fall So, I spot the plane, get in a good front float position, my coach is behind me, I give the count and out we go. I watch the airplane fly away as I transition into free-fall.

Now, all I have to do is dock with her a couple of times. Once from 5 feet and then again at 10 feet. So what happens? I’m in a good free-fall position, kick my legs out and go nowhere. Frustrated, I kick’em out some more……still not making any real forward motion. Ok, I think, F-this and I kick’em out some more. Oh, that worked! I fly up to her and dock!!! Sweet! Hey folks, it’s the small moments in life that are important.

Dang, I almost forgot. You see that goofy helmet I wear in my FB pict? Well, I didn’t have it secured sufficiently and the chin strap—you know, that stap that is suppossed to be snug against your chin, flies up and lands under my nose. In fact, it is beating my nose and top lip. I then feel the air start to get under my helmet. At this point, I think “whatever,” laugh, check my altimeter, break off and track away at 5500 and pull at 3500.

The chute does what the chute does and the damn chest-strap damn near chokes me to death. I cannot wait to get my own gear so that it fits and I can breathe freely on opening. Anyway, here is the cool part. I have to do some maximum performance turns. You do this by turning 90 degrees and then quickly reversing the toggles to turn in the opposite direction. The first time I did it, I turned right 90 and then immediately brought the left toggle down to my leg. Holy shit. The canopy turns hard left and dives at the same time it sends my body up into the air. I’m looking at the world almost sideways. My heart skips a beat and I level it out. Hummm, I think, that scared the shit out of me….so I’ll do it again! This time I do a 90 to the left and then really throttle the toggle to the right. The canopy turns hard right, dives, and my body breaks the horizontal. I’m seeing ground and sky and feeling the acceleration. I level out, do it one more time and then fly a pattern to a stand up landing 10 meters away from my target.

While I had a great time under canopy, I sort of messed up the dive. I knew I had to work on it.

Jump 3. In this jump I have to work on my docking…but that is not it. I also am learning how to control my rate of decent. My coach is going to fly lower than me and I have to match her altitude. She will then fly higher than me and I have to match her altitude again. To do this you have to arch and de-arch your body in flight.

I spot the plane and then get in a rear float position. I give the count and release. This time I watch as the plane makes a serious turning dive to the left and goes waaaayyyyy nose low! It was awesome. There she is again, in front of me. I’m serious this time so I extend my legs way-the-hell out….and dock with her. She then goes low and I do like she taught me and match her altitude. She goes above me and I then match her altitude. In all honesty, I couldn’t believe I was doing it!! She backs up and I fly to her to dock again. Rock on, rock on! She moves back and I get about 1/2 way to her and see that I’m at 5500 feet. I turn 180 degrees, track away for 5 seconds, and deploy at 3500.

Again, the chest-strap about takes off my head, I do a couple of more max turns, fly with some brakes, spin down a bit, turn final a bit too high and miss my target but do a perfect stand-up landing. I’m stoked and when I meet up with my coach, she is too.

Her work was very much appreciated and she really helped me learn some new skills. I plan on going back up Friday if I can and/or Saturday and working some more on tracking, turning, docking, and whatever else I can think of. There is a lot for me to learn and I look forward to getting in the air again! I remain very impressed by the level of training I’m receiving. It makes me want to work harder.

I start off the day at 0630 so I can get ready for our neighborhood yard-sale. Yep, the yard sale… a new way to get some “jump money.”

I get up to the DZ around 2pm and the place is packed. There are people everywhere. The tandem instructors are busting out the jumps and you can just feel the vibe. Since I rode the bike up there, I have to change my clothes. I go over to the FBO and change in the bathroom. While I’m changing a guy emerges from the stall and strikes up a conversation about skydiving. We probably had a 15 minute discussion in the bathroom!

Like I’ve said before, one of the really neat things about skydiving is the people. Many of the instructors go out of their way to say hi, to learn your name, to ask about your progress, and to give valuable advice. I’ve learned much about teaching from watching them interact with folks.

Jump 1: Solo baby and I am ready. Remember that cool German guy I told you about in my last note. Well, he is now an instructor and he is assigned to his first AFF student. Sweet.

Gear check, wind and spot information, talk with a couple of folks and then time to go. Up in the plane I’m running through the dive in my head, and also going over my emergency procedures. Given my luck, I have no doubt that I will one day have to use them….so be prepared Since it is my first jump of the day I want to do a good exit and just work on turns/tracks. The door opens and a group goes out ahead of me. I’m next……count, release, and float away. I’m telling you, there is nothing in the world that compares to that sensation. It’s like you have abandoned all safety and have released all of your troubles. In free fall I turn and line myself up with a road, or something that looks like a road because it was straight. I kick out my legs and lock my knees moving my hands down to my side. Damn! I can feel the increased speed and can see myself tracking across the ground following the road.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had a tube put in my left ear a few days before jumping. Talk about a big difference! My ear wasn’t popping and cracking on the way down. And I wore ear plugs for the first time. What a big difference! I could actually concentrate.

Anyway, I do some turns, track a bit more, worked on pulling my arms in and did some turns using my knees…..wow……what a difference!

I landed but didn’t stand it up. No wind landings are a bit more difficult. Nonetheless, awesome jump.

Time for me to pack my own chute. Good grief. I bet it took me an hour to pack that damn thing and then I need to get some pointers from some friends. With their help, it got packed and I was ready to jump it.

Jump 2: Coach, no Solo. Well, I’m going to jump with the cool German guy again and learn how to swoop. Swooping in the air means you fly down to a position in front of someone, slow down, and then dock. As I get geared up I go and check manifest. This was a mistake that will play out later. While I’m at manifest, I hear some unique words come from my cool German friend. I walk over and see a chute on the ground……but it is not his main chute, it is his reserve! A rigger has to pack the reserve and the rigger is currently on a jump. So, I can wait another hour or I can go jump and meet up with him later in the day. I go jump.

There are two large formation groups in the plane, and me. I’ll be the last one out the door. As I do a gear check in the plane, I look to where my altimeter is suppossed to be. Yes, you read that correctly…..it ain’t there. I kick myself in the *ss for not being more careful and then think, damn, I’m going to have to ride the plane down. Seeing an instructor sitting in front of me, I tap him on the shoulder and point to my wrist. He looks at me, smiles, and then takes his digital altimeter off his wrist and gives it to me…..whewwwwww. He then gives me another gear check. What a dumb*ss thing for me to do.

Oh well, time to jump. No, scratch that. There is a big cloud right over the drop zone. So we fly around a bit and wait for it to move. The instructor then tells me to make sure of my spot and to pull high if I need to get back. No problem. Seriously, it was not problem because I dont’ have a problem NOT jumping out of the plane if I doubt I can get back.

The first group goes out. The second group goes out. There I was. Alone in the plane. I look straight down, see the airport, and dive out of the plane. My dive worked this time and I floated down into a nice arched position. I’m right over the far edge of the airport, so I track parallel to the runway over the student landing area. I then do some turns and pull at 3k.

Recall that I packed that chute with some help from friends? Well, it opens and immediately goes into a gentle but pronounced right hand spin. I look up and see that 1/3 to 1/2 of the canopy is not fully inflated. This was not just an end-cell not inflating…..it was like half the fabric. Brain goes into gear, I grab and pump the toggles but the right hand side feels limp. I check my altitude and think and keep up with the toggles. I don’t know how many turns I did but I knew the thing would open and fly….and sure enough it did. I was still on top of 2k and had mentally prepared to cut it away if I hit 2k. My decision height is actually 2.5 k but I didn’t feel the need to cut away. I could see the chute trying to inflate, I felt in control, was falling faster than normal but not too fast. When it fully inflated, I flew a good pattern and drug it in. Needless to say, John will work on his packing

Oh, did I mention that someone farted on the airplane? Folks, please. Don’t eat Mexican and then jump!

Jump 3. I hunt down the cool German guy but he is with a new student. I then find a guy who just got his coach rating and who I’ve been wanting to jump with. We go over the plan and I prepare to swoop and dock.

This time I made certain I had all of my gear…..4-5 times I made certain I had all of my gear. We are the last on the airplane because we will be the first out the door. Let me tell you, that plane can get crowded when fully loaded. We get up to altitude and I help my coach open the door. Honestly, it used to scare me when the door opened but now I love it. The door is the barrier to freedom and to letting go. I spot the plane, give a thumbs up, we get into position. He is on my left in a float position and I’m going to dive. He gives the count and I leave one second after he does.

Damn, damn, damn! I screw up the diving exit, flip over once or twice, and then get stable. Of course, he is wayyyyyy far away from me and higher than me. Determined, I fly to him and he flies to me. At the very second I go to dock he points at his altimeter. We are out of time and I didn’t check my altitude like I should have. With that, I turn 90-100 degrees, suppossed to be 180, and track away for 3 seconds. I tracked for 3 because I didn’t want to bust our agreed upon pull altitude of 3500…..I should have tracked for 2 more seconds…….

I pull, the chute inflates, and I fly to within feet of my coach. He actually had parachute lines fold over the flag we use as a target!

What a jump. I’m goign to nail that diving exit even if it kills me….uh, strick that, even if I have to do 100 more times

All in all what a great day. Lots of good instruction and some great jumps.

The cool German guy also invited me to hang around that night so I got to meet a number of other jumpers and I got to eat some excellent hamburgers. Let me tell you, everything tastes better after day of jumping.