I am not, once again, a pancake.

[stoney321]

Back from my jump, and the instructor was a different guy, not my World Team, 13K jumps under his belt. Not that my instructor wasn't good, he just didn't have the complete chill nature that Ernie did, given that jumping out of a plane is as normal to him as opening a door. :) My new guy only had 4000 jumps under him. Lol. (Only!!! Can you imagine?)

More exciting energy, in other words. Dave, my guy today, had me train on "circles" which means we jump out, you go into your arch, and you make a "circle check." Horizon, altimeter, check him giving me an ok on the left, an ok on the right, back up to the horizon, and practice my ripcord pull three times. (When you move your right hand to your hip, you have to move your left hand at the same speed over your head or you'll go into a spin.) Circle again, then enjoy the free fall until 5,500, wave, and pull. Did it all, no prob, he gave me high marks for handling everything "like the book."

We're under canopy and he gets me to put my hands in the canopy rigging to control our descent. COOL. That's pretty awesome - check right to make sure you're not going to hit anyone (because that's the stuff that will kill you) and pull right. Wheee! When it came time to land, there's a process in pulling the cables to your ears, one, to your chest, two, point your toes and pick up your feet and three, jam those cables to your crotch and scoot in, run run run, stop. YAY.

Everything was going PERFECTLY until Dave worried that maybe I wouldn't have the strength to pull the cables hard and down to my crotch so he grabbed them, too, and ended up over-correcting our break, which led to me getting my right knee under us, which crumpled, and he landed on top of me. D'oh! For a frightening split second, I worried that I'd broken my leg. I didn't. I've got ice on it now, and am making myself walk around every 20 minutes to keep it loose. Ooof.

He clearly didn't know I've been P90Xing it and totally had the strength to pull the cables on my own. (I even wore a tank top to show off my bi's and tri's, lol.) He apologized and said he was impressed with how strong I turned out to be. *head desk*

I go back on Sunday for my next lesson, "Leg Awareness." Pfft, one little goof won't deter me. (Dave said that normally when people land bad, they land BAD. He said we just landed awkward. Says the guy who wasn't on his leg... Heh.)

Some of the guys on the plane up with me remembered me from my first jump and were happy to see me back. They were jumping, working on formations, landing and immediately switching their packs with additional ones, jumping right back in the plane and jumping again. (Pro packers take their gear and pack them in between jumps.) They'll probably do 20 - 25 jumps today. Whoa.

Comments

[dovil.livejournal.com]

Everything was going PERFECTLY until Dave worried that maybe I wouldn't have the strength to pull the cables hard and down to my crotch so he grabbed them, too,

I'll correct that for you:

Everything was going PERFECTLY until I discovered my instructor was a moron, who if he had concerns over whether I was strong enough to pull the cables, should have asked me BEFORE we got into a plane and jumped from it but nearly killed us both instead.

Hope your knee is feeling better! Remember to land on your elbow next time, or better yet, the other person.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahahahhaha. He had just gotten back with a girl that was freaked out of her mind when it came time to jump, and I think he still had that going through his head on ours. Fortunately we were only 3 feet from the ground when he decided to "help" so I wouldn't have died.

Wait, that doesn't make as good a story, let me try again.

OH MY GOD I ALMOST DIED. I had to SAVE MYSELF and I was brilliant at it. He gave me a gold star, ripped his own suit into pieces, and told me that I was the new emperor of cable rigging. It was a glorious day.

On the plus side, I have a few Vicodins left over, so those will make the next two days of hobbling around loads of fun!

[dovil.livejournal.com]

Probably the fact that you were hysterically yelling 'OH MY GOD, WE'RE GOING TO DIIIIIE' and screaming the whole way down didn't help.

You should do that one day as a joke. I'm sure the instructor would laugh and laugh when you explained it to him after landing. DO EEET! Okay, maybe not.

Hurrah for being stoned! And for legimatite reasons, which is handy for when child services come calling.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

And flailing, don't forget my incessant flailing. The kind that tangles up your chute's ropes, insuring death.

I'll totally do that as a joke! And I'll cut away my chute, just to see how he reacts to needing to get our reserve out before we hit. Hahaha, that's a good joke, I think they'll all laugh.

[dovil.livejournal.com]

Okay, this just made me laugh out loud and startle our receptionist.

You should add something about wanting to end it all and taking them with you as your chute drifts away in a tangled mess, just to add that touch more spice. Pull out a gun when you land!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I'll bring a toy gun and wave it about, too. I think that will show them all that we're going to have some fun here.

(LOL, I started typing before I read your last sentence. GREAT MINDS STEAL FROM OTHERS. Or something like that. WE ARE BORG.)

Maybe I could pop a bunch of pills and cry about "I forgot to leave a note, oh well..."

[mumsisdaughter]

Congrats on the successful jump, leg notwithstanding (sorry for the pun), and the strength you've developed. Imagine the story he's telling his mates! "I jumped with a sweet little momma today who has muscles of steel. Next time, I'm in front!"

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Bwah, that was an excellent use of the pun.

The good thing is, I'm solo from here on out! They'll just be next to me (until I pull, that is.)

I can still do chin ups on one leg... Got to keep up my strength? Hee.

[a2zmom.livejournal.com]

Glad the leg is fine. And I applaud you - from a safe distance - way over here - on the ground.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've just wrenched it. Some ice and elevation and it's almost back to rights.

And hahahahah. I need someone to take pictures and wave at me, so on the ground is just fine. :D

[kseenaa.livejournal.com]

Yay! Jump two! Glad to hear you enjoyed it this time as well. :-D I would love to do something like this sometime.... *sigh*

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I sure did! I even dreamed of doing my "circle check" and pulling the ripcord, ha.

[xochitl42.livejournal.com]

YAY! Silly for him not picking up on the muscleage, but YAY on such a cool second go!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

I woke up thinking my next jump was today, I think I dreamed non-stop about skydiving. Hee.

After testing the knee this morning, though, I think I'm too tender to go on my next jump in 2 days. I think I need to push it back a week. Boo.

[lolz.livejournal.com]

i'm so jealous you're on jump #2 and i haven't even done jump 1! but the date is set - october 16th! i live in massachusetts so the fall foliage will be gorgeous and i can't wait!

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Heeee, if you can even REMEMBER that there were trees on the ground after your first jump, I'll be impressed. :D Good luck!

[lolz.livejournal.com]

Aw really? At least it'll look nice for the pictures! Hah.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

They'll probably do 20 - 25 jumps today. Whoa. Whoa cubed. I had no idea people (other than the instructors) could do that many jumps in a day!

Sorry you got hurt this time around. What happens when it's the instructor's fault? Do they reimburse some of the fee, give you a discount coupon? Offer abject apologies and another bottle of Cook's?

The exchange with dovil made me laugh and laugh.

[stoney321.livejournal.com]

Isn't that crazytown, the number of jumps these guys do?! (And girls, there are almost as many girls there as guys.)

Abject apologies and rave reviews in your flight log seem to be the replayment. :)

isn't she funny? Dovil is one of my all-time most favorite online and real life friends - she's that funny ALL THE TIME. Which is a little off putting at funerals, but you take the good, you take the bad... ;)

[may-lyn.livejournal.com]

i'm sure the guys at the hanger usually hear women say they'll come back...and then never see her again.

so, see anything spectacular on your way down? some random buff guy sunbathing nude? a car accident?

[anelith.livejournal.com]

Catching up here after about 2 weeks of relatives visiting! So *very* glad to see the last couple of happy posts. Much love to you and The Boy. <3 <3 <3

Congrats on the jump! (In spite of your goofball instructor)