Monday 8 July 2013

Reaping Rewards

07/07/13  

Three fantastic jumps. Jumps so good just one of them would have been enough to class the day as a full success. To pull off all three of them within hours of each other was fantastic. Each one one was given an objective, and each objective wasn't just met but blitzed.

The first was all about the exit. That's all I wanted to do. Nail the exit. And that's exactly what I did. In hindsight it seemed so simple. Just jump out, making sure to twist forwards so I'm facing the airflow and let physics do the rest. That's what I've been trying to do all this time.

I understand why I was struggling. My brain has learned to deal with the raucous hurricane of freefall, but there's still that moment as I leave the door when it screams "AND WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST DO?!". That's in no way a bad sensation.

This time it was different. Perhaps I focused harder. Perhaps I'm just that little bit more used to it. Whatever it was I shaped up perfectly and dropped into the belly-to-earth position without a trace of spinning or flipping.

On the ground I planned the rest of the day. Two more jumps. The second needed to prove the previous exit wasn't a fluke. Then some tracking, because it's been a while. And if that went well, number three would be a fun jump. No rules, no goals, just as much stupidity as I could manage.

And so it happened. My second exit was again bang on. Perhaps confused by how easy this was becoming I lost my bearings and it took me 500' to confirm the direction I needed to track in. Then I was off. Halfway through I remembered a couple of tips I'd read to improve my body positioning and as I shifted I could feel my forward speed increase.

On the last jump things got off to a bad start. The heat limited us to 9000' instead of 12, so I'd have less time for chaos. I went out with no intention of trying to stay stable, facing the door and watching the plane as it shrank away. I stayed like that for a few seconds, just ragdolling on my way back to the planet. Then I checked my altitude and curled up into a ball, whipping through two axes in dizzying spin. Levelling out I stayed on my belly until pull time, but as I was about to wave off and track a little I spotted a canopy opening closer than it should have been. I turned away from it and pulled, confused by its proximity. I had left a sufficient gap before my exit, so I guess my tumbling fall must have slid me down the jump run.

With the parachute safely deployed I checked my airspace. The load only had one tandem and no videos, so the air was thick with canopies at my level. The increased risk of a collision was evident, but this wasn't worrying, I was just more alert. Watching these people soar around and below me was beautiful, and the whole thing was rounded off by a final tip-toe landing.

Next time will probably suck.