Nick and the saucy Tanya
JANET’S NOTE: The following is a recounting of Nick White’s student skydives in his own words. What that means is that any misspelling, horrible grammar, crappy syntax, or generally sounding like a dufus is all Nick’s fault and is not to be confused with my own misspelling, horrible grammar, crappy snytax, or sounding like a dufus. For you non-jumpers out there, you may not be familiar with some of of the language in Nick’s journals so I took the liberty of adding a short definition in parenthesis after each possible unknown word or phrase. If there are additional words or phrases you need explained, ask Nick.
Jump #1
Okay, it’s Saturday morning and time for my first jump. I’ve gone over the entire dive flow in my head countless times. Everything seems to flow smoothly on the ground. I wonder how well I’ll remember everything once we’re in the air (crossing fingers). My major concern is how well I will react if I’m stuck with a serious malfunction. We went over malfunctions in class and how to handle them but, real life is unpredictable. I’ve decided to have faith in myself that I’ll handle the situation if it comes.
Wow, what a rush! You have to experience before you can ever understand it. I was really calm and relaxed on the plane ride up. They say it takes 15 minutes to get up to altitude, but it didn’t feel like that long. I just kept going over the dive flow in my head, over and over again. I didn’t want to screw anything up. I watched a bunch of videos of failed first times jumps and I was not going to be that guy.
Nick demonstrating his arch
Reality check! Yep, this is happening. Making your way to an open door of a plane that’s nearly three miles off the ground gives you a big old jolt of adrenaline. I got my feet planted, grabbed onto the edge of the door with both hands and felt the blast of air from the plane’s prop (propeller). Wow! To think, I’m about to willingly jump out of this perfectly good plane. Okay, game on. Check in, OK. Check out, OK. Prop. Up. Down. Out!! Holy crap! I can’t even begin to explain the shear intensity of such a thing!
The dive flow went as well as I was hoping. All that mental practice really paid off. We stabilized fairly early after leaving the plane. I remember checking left (position of instructor) and getting a legs down (telling Nick his legs were not in correct position) signal. I went into my practice pulls (simulate pulling the pilot chute or in layman’s terms, ripcord, to be familiar with locating it’s position when in freefall) but had some trouble finding the handle and was prompted to repeat my practice pulls. Attempt number two was a success. By the time I went to check my altimeter, it was time to lock on, waive off, arch, reach and pull. Man, the freefall time went fast!
I was so glad my chute opened as smoothly as it did. Time for my controllability check. I grabbed my toggles and went into a left turn. That chute turned like a freaking tank. I guess that’s what happens when you put a 130 pound man under a 240 square foot canopy. Right turn good. The flare (pulling down both toggles in order to slow down) was pretty cool. You can feel yourself come to an almost complete stop. I was stopping in mid freaking air. So cool! I remember feeling a sense of absolute peace while under canopy.
The landing was the part I was most concerned about. I mean, I’ve never operated a parachute before. How forgiving is the ground really going to be? No worries, landing isn’t so bad. I couldn’t hear much of anything on the radio, but I seem to have followed Tanya’s (saucy little instructor) instructions well enough. I slid into the landing on feet and ended up on my butt. I landed a little off target, just over the nearest runway. I was so freaking hot in that jumpsuit. Those things need more ventilation.
Good jump.
Jump #2
I still was a bit anxious come time to take my position in the door. The ride up was fine. Making my way to the door makes me a little uneasy. Once I get out the door, I feel much better. I guess having two instructors hanging onto me adds to that comfort.
This jump was a lot of fun. I got my bearings faster this time than the previous jump. We got to do left and right turns, followed by forward movement. It’s kind of cool dragging your instructors around while performing the dive flow. Turns were fairly easy. Forward movement is harder because you can’t really feel your legs while freefalling.
The dive goes quick. I still haven’t noticed the ground or the horizon much. There are too many other things you have to focus on. I have pay attention to hand signals from both instructors, concentrate on each movement and constantly check my altitude. Being in such an extreme environment makes focusing all that much harder. I love it though.
Being under canopy is such a thrill. I love having that time to look around at the landscape. It’s relaxing and exciting at the same time. I wonder how much fun it’d be to deploy my chute at around 12,000 feet. Would I ever make it back to the DZ? I’ll need to inquire with my instructors.
I landed on my feet this time. Heck yeah! You know, I still can’t understand what’s being said on the radio. My ears are always too plugged up to tell. It’s a good thing Mike did such a good job training us how to land.
Next jump please.
Jump #3
I’ve been spending a lot of time at the DZ the last couple weeks. A lot of our time consists of waiting for our turn to jump. Some of the time we practice dive flow and study our books. I really enjoy walking around getting to know the other jumpers. Everyone is friendly and willing to share their knowledge and even throw you some advice now and again. There is a strong sense of camaraderie among skydivers. It’s almost as if they were family. Skydivers look after one another and always focus on the next person’s safety.
Fun is vital at the DZ. Bad attitudes are not welcome. Safety is incredibly important at the DZ. You can always ask another skydiver for a gear check before heading out to the plane. It’s encouraged. Two sets of eyes are better than one.
Jump number three was the first release dive. Yeah, it was pretty freaking sweet. No turns or fancy moves this time, just freefall. My exit was pretty rocky this time, but I had Mike and Roland to set me straight. I didn’t feel them let go, but I instantly had to correct myself in order to stay stable and maintain my heading. It felt pretty good. I held my arch and made small corrections with my hands. At the end of the dive, I noticed that Mike had jumped out in front of me. That didn’t seem right; Mike was supposed to be hanging out on my right side. Yep, I made an unintentional turn. Good stuff.
Deploy was good. I had my first line twist (minor malfunction similar to twisting up on a swing). Thankfully it corrected itself and I didn’t have to get involved. I was ready to help though. I am not looking forward to malfunctions. Nope. Canopy control was awesome today! I tried some more aggressive turns and 360s. Man, you can really start to feel the centrifugal force while turning. I can’t wait to get under a smaller canopy.
Great landing again this time. Skydiving is fantastic!
Tags: AFF, jumps, nick white, skydive, student
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