Time passes either way

Summer has been flying by since I got my A-license. I got thrown into a super busy project at work that took over basically all my time during the weekdays and I ended up basically just sleeping, eating, working, and jumping when the weather allowed. As a consequence, I haven't really had time to write anything here, but even though it won't be as detailed, I will try to write out what has been happening this summer. Immediately following my twenty-fifth jump, we had a weather hold for two weeks due to high winds and rain. I had been so hyped to start jumping with others that the wait for better weather felt like an eternity. In the meantime, however, I bought a used rig from someone who had stopped jumping two years ago. It did not fit perfectly, but good enough that it would not move sideways on my back, and therefore would not cause instability during the free fall. So my first rig became a Javelin container with a PD reserve, and a Sabre 2 190 canopy, which was quite a down...

Since Odense, I managed to get a couple more skydives done and showed up on this day needing 7 more to complete my license. To get the A-license, one needs to have performed 25 jumps: 7 Jumps with AFF instructors 1 Hop and Pop from 1500m 1 Hop and Pop from 1000m 4 Coached jumps with a jumpmaster 12 Solo jumps The A-license allows you to jump self-supervised, and to jump with others. I had a clear goal in mind for the day - finish up and get that A. To achieve my goal, the day became quite hectic, as I first spent the morning working, shortening the time I had to actually jump. I also wanted to avoid paying too much for packing, and decided to pack my own parachute between jumps for most of the day, while still aiming to be on every other lift. Somehow, I did manage to follow the plan, and even finished my final 2 coached jumps during the day, as well as the hop and pop from 1000m. I've heard so many people say they felt a great deal of anxiety about doing such a low jump for the fi...

A week of waiting, but finally the time came for my first solo jump. My mom was kind enough to drive me and my sister all the way to the dropzone, and she actually sat down to watch my first solo landing. Many things were exactly as they've been previously - even being at the solo level, an instructor or jumpmaster still needs to do gear checks at multiple points before the jump, and they still need to give the go-ahead before you're allowed to leave the airplane. But once you leave, you are truly on your own, falling out of the sky with only your own thoughts, trusting that you know everything you need to know in order to save your own life. And I did it - I dived out on my own, allowed myself to simply fall and feel out the handle of the pilot chute a couple of times, and simply looked at the view as well as my altimeter. It felt like the fall lasted an eternity, just like my very first jump. With no program to follow, I truly realized just how much time one has before the fr...

Level six of the AFF is "The Fun Jump" - the first time where the goal is to deliberately lose stability in the air to prove that you can save the situation yourself. Since I've been stable pretty much immediately upon exit every jump, I felt super nervous about this jump. As usual, I kept going over the dive flow in my head all the way up to altitude and once in the door I felt myself focusing on the task at hand once again. I dived out of the airplane headfirst, almost flipped to my back but managed to save the situation by throwing my feet against my butt, and levelled out. I thought "Well, here we go" and did my backflip, which was hardly graceful but served its purpose of making me unstable, and I quickly regained stability as intended. Finally, I performed my first delta-track (a technique to create horizontal separation between jumpers before deployment of the parachute), and my instructor later told me that I actually did manage to get enough speed that ...

Tuesday evening brought clear blue skies, and I rushed to Skydive Syd after work to get at least one jump in. While I did show up with much time to spare, there was a bit of a delay finding the gear and gathering AFF instructors, and before I knew it we had to rush to get to the airplane.  I got another rig than the one I'd used previously at this drop zone; one with a 240sq. foot canopy, and the harness itself was also smaller and fit much better. Due to the time constraints, we barely had time for briefing before the jump, but I had read up at home and knew my tasks: two 360 degree turns, then flying to the instructor and docking. On the way to the airplane, the instructor told me I'd be jumping out ungripped for the first time, which did make me a little nervous, but there was no time to dwell on it as we were about to get ready. During the ride up, I once again kept going over the jump in my head, while I kept an eye on the altimeter so I could remove my seatbelt at 300m, a...

Yesterday morning, I arrived with my sister at her drop zone Skydive Skåne. In tow, we had our family dog, who is anxious around new people, and whom we'd need to take turns watching. If I was to jump at all, I would have to find AFF instructors at a drop zone that was not my own and who would therefore be fully within their rights to refuse jumping with me. Following my first two jumps this past Thursday, I had been longing to get back into the skies. Feeling uncertain regarding the logistics, I tried not to get my hopes up too much, but I'd been told that showing up would likely mean we could work something out, and so there I was. Upon arrival, the wind was a bit too strong for students, which meant that I was grounded for the time being. My sister signed up for one of the first lifts, while I sat down with our dog to watch the hours tick by and slowly get to know the people of the drop zone. The more time passed, the calmer the winds seemed to get, until they finally were j...

The day arrived!  I've spent all week practicing my emergency procedures, and practicing the program for the first jump, while checking the weather forecast every couple of hours desperately wishing for blue skies. The moment I saw that the weather seemed promising, I checked in with the instructors and was told that it might be too windy for students, but that I could show up if I had time. They couldn't promise anything, but said that there was a miniscule chance the wind would calm down. Naturally, I packed up my things and got up early Thursday morning to travel to the drop zone. Once at the drop zone, the wind was just above the allowed threshold for students, and so I ended up spending a couple of hours looking at the experienced skydivers as they came in for their landings, and disappeared into the skies once more. There are a couple of different ways to learn to skydive, but I had signed up for the AFF (accelerated free fall) course, where you go through a succession of...