As many of you are aware, I’m extremely fond of jumps for a cause.
Not only do these events bring local skydivers and enthusiasts together for fun jumping, there is also money being raised for a great cause.
This weekend was the inaugural Jump for Diabetes at Canton Air Sports. The turn out was great, many prizes were given away, and thousands of dollars were raised to help support the American Diabetes Association. What more can you ask for?
Oh right – skydiving. That was pretty great too! 
In fact, there were a lot of firsts for me this weekend.
Yes, I know, I owe lots of beer at this point.
On Saturday afternoon we were able to organize a few group jumps with the regulars. My first 8-way. The goal for the day had been to jump with Christa, as it had been a few weeks since we’d been in the air together. So the two ladies made up the base of the dive. Our linked exit was a little wobbly, but we kept our grips and ended up getting the group back together for a nice big round.
Only one point on this jump – dang. Almost a two-point dive.
The second jump of the day was also a group jump, followed by a sunset dive from the Cessna-182 with Jeromy. We played catch me if you can, and he won. Looking back, I wasn’t aggressive enough. I’ll get him next time. The main goal of the dive was to take it down to a 4,000 ft. wave off to become comfortable with lower pulls. This came in handy on Sunday…
Sunday brought in a new group of jumpers – some competitive RW skydivers to be exact.
The day’s jumps took place with a few guys who have thousands of jumps under their belt. They welcomed me into the group and planned fun dives that helped me see quite quickly what areas needed the most work.
This is another reason I love the skydiving community so much – even the most experienced jumpers are open to welcoming a newbie like myself into a group for some fun jumps.
I completed four skydives that day before the aches in my body were telling me to quit. Between the overnight camping and little sleep, still learning to get the hang of packing (the 30-minute pack job really drains your energy) and trying to keep up with the boys on 5, 6 and 8-ways (read: arching like I’ve never arched before just to keep up in free fall) I had to call it a day.
It’s always a little sad to leave the DZ at the end of a great weekend, saying goodbye to my family to prepare for another week at the office. But on the way out, friend and event organizer Rick (who did an amazing job with this event – can’t wait till next year, Rick!) handed me a gift basket with two lovely bottles of wine from the raffle. These will go to good use, I guarantee it!
With seven jumps and about the same number of knots in my lower back, it was by far one of the most successful skydiving weekends yet. Lots of lessons learned that will stay with me forever. But I’ll save some of those for another day.
Blue Skies!
Ashley
Oh, and if you have any interest in seeing the videos, head on over to Jeromy’s place where I’m sure he’ll be posting soon!
