first thing to do is your 'dirt dive' with your jumpmasters. you have to go through the entire jump before getting on the plane to make sure you haven't forgotten anything too important, like how to pull a ripcord. my jumpmasters for this jump were col and fiona.
insert mandatory cheesy grin shot here
after a quick ride to 13,500ft its time to get off. yikkkes!
first part of the jump is the fall through to 9,000ft. during this time you do your first height awareness checks. horizon (look at horizon) ground (look at ground) alti (look at altimeter). you do this to get into the good habit of checking your alti every 5 seconds and to show your jumpmasters you're not freeeaking out. too much that is :)
at 9,000ft it's time to do your practice pulls. they are practice pulls so flat hand on rip cord only. to make sure your body stays straight and balanced you stick the thumb of your other hand on top of your head.
after your practice pulls it's time for your second set of height awareness checks. looking (look left) looking (look ahead) looking (look right) alti (check height). as your can see from col this is very serious part of the jump.
at about 6,500ft a pretty scary thing happened. my glasses got pushed back and i couldn't see my alti. i had to reach forward and pull it out a bit so i could see it! when you are getting towards your ripcord pull height this is one of the last thing you want!
anyways after a check left and check right you're at 4,500ft and after 50 seconds of freefall it's time for the final look, reach, grip, pull. fingers crossed!
whoo hoo! a perfect canopy first time! (as a side on my 2nd jump i had a low speed malfunction, line twists, which are common and easy to correct (but exciting none the less))
your jumpmasters keep falling for a bit to get down before you. an experienced jumper will pull between 3,000ft and 3,500ft. this is fiona tracking off, i can't wait to zoom around like this!
thanks to your TA (target assistant), a huge bit rotatable arrow on the ground and a pair of batons it's finally back to earth. booya! (oh yeah, thanks to your parachute too!!!)
other skydiving stuff