Back to School

My annual leave is renewed on December the first. This is to stop impulsive, reckless types using it all up before Christmas. It's a nice idea but it means work slows to a crawl in November because selfish idiots are using up unspent holiday. This year, as with most years, I was one of those idiots.

It was for this reason that I found myself on the way to the drop zone today. The weather sucked, but I was hoping it would clear up later. Unfortunately as I arrived I was greeted by a very empty car park. My fears were confirmed by speaking to the instructors - there were no tandems there and without them the chance of any lifts going up were negligible. Fortunately I had planned for just such an eventuality. I grabbed my rig and headed for the packing shed. An instructor was coerced into giving me a packing lesson.

First off was a spectacular vindication. Clem, the instructor, was staggered by the idea of flat-packing my canopy. The material and configuration is different to the student rigs I'd been using so far, and it wasn't feasible. A lot of my frustrations from the last post were fully justified. I was taught pro-packing, which is done with the canopy hanging over my shoulders instead if lying on the ground. Things went much better than before, up until I had to get the canopy in the bag.

If I ever need it, I've probably messed up

At this point you can basically read the 7th paragraph of my last entry. Things did go better this time, I might actually jump this one, if I absolutely had to. It still took a half dozen attempts to get it there, but with Clem watching over my progress and suggesting ways to make it easier I triumphed. Half way through he admitted he wouldn't recommend a low number Zero-P canopy (which mine is) to a new jumper, because of the difficulty of packing them, and I responded "At least after this I'll be able to pack anything." with an optimism I wasn't really feeling.

Eventually I got it all packed and was able to chat to Clem about the need for an AAD service and reserve repack. He immediately got the AAD out my rig (which meant I got to pull my reserve handle - very exciting) and got me set up to send it off the the manufacturer.

With the weather poor and no other jumpers on site I thanked Clem and headed home. I'm continuing to waste holiday next week, so I've got my fingers crossed for just one day with good weather and a busy drop zone.