Post-Christmas Skydive

There’s nothing quite like a sunset jump on Dec. 26th to make your holiday spirits even brighter!

As I mentioned last week, one of the weekend’s goals was to head out to the DZ to share in some beers and laughs with the crew. Well, lucky for us, the skies were blue and the winds on the ground were tame enough to allow a jump!

We were surprised to find out that there were only two sport jumpers packed and ready to go – Rick and me. But, the DZO was feeling the Christmas spirit and took us up anyhow. You rock, Cecil!

The winds aloft were moving at a good clip, and we were prepared to get out above the water tower – about a mile past the DZ.

Well, on this sunset load, we were having a rather difficult time spotting. Needless to say, we got out a mile from the DZ – but a mile in the wrong direction.

The skydive was a simple belly fly with one point and some fun spins before we attempted to link back up. My Dytter went off early so, you’ll notice, I waved before we could link back up.

As I tracked away I realized the dropzone was no where in sight. So I stopped tracking and pulled.

Turns out we were incredibly far north. When I turned into the wind I wasn’t penetrating well. I did my best to follow Rick down, but ended up landing in a field 1/4 mile or so down the road. If you look carefully in the video, you can see the square field I landed in as Rick is doing a 360 to lose some altitude.

Thankfully, I was close to the road and the first passerby put on his brakes and backed up to give me a lift back to my home base. From there I jumped in a car with the pilot and drove around in attempt to find Rick. Little did I know that he’d hitchhiked back as well and was driving around in search of me.

Needless to say we found our way back and had a beer in hand in no time.

There’s something quite invigorating about winter jumps. It clears your head in more ways than one. Aside from not being able to feel my hands, and the subsequent pain when the feeling returned, it was a great jump.

New lesson learned: in the winter, when winds are squirly at altitude, jump with a cell phone!

Blue skies!

Ashley

I’d Rather be Skydiving: Happy Holidays edition

Holy crap, it’s almost Christmas!

Seems like just yesterday I was giving a recap on the Work Stinks boogie. The cold and snow and holiday cheer shuck up on me.

Between shopping for Christmas gifts, finishing up work at the office (that seems to be exploding at the end of the year) and moving into a new place with my freefly partner , there’s a lot to be done!

This week I’m headed up to Michigan to visit my family for food and gift exchanging, followed by a weekend of non-stop chores (see the list above). Though I do hope to make it out with a few of the crew from the DZ for some beers and laughs – and jumping, if the weather cooperates.

New Year’s will be spent hosting some of our close friends at the new place. Yay!

Thankfully, yesterday was the winter solstice, so we’re back on the upswing to longer days! Sure, it may be cold, but Safety Day will be here before you know it.

Blue skies and happy holidays!

Ashley

Tips for Winter Skydiving

If you’re anything like me, as the season came to an end you were determined not to let the colder weather stop you from jumping when there are blue skies.

But the first time that bitter chill hits your exposed skin on the ground, you think twice about heading up to altitude in those conditions – sunny or not.

Of course, on a sunny mid-December day it didn’t take much coaxing to get me up in the air. It’d been two weeks since my last skydive and I was starting to twitch with the earliest signs of withdrawal. I was starting to feel like I needed a support group.

“Hi, I’m Ashley, and I’m a skydiver. It’s been 14 days since my last freefall…”

Alright, enough of that.

So as I mentioned on Monday, we headed down to Grove City for a couple jumps out of the C-182. Jeff, our pilot and recent past DZO consistently took us up past 11 grand – gotta love that kind of altitude out of a tiny Cessna.

The ride to altitude was surprisingly mild, but around 9,000 feet, we all started gearing up appropriately. As soon as the door opened, signaling the beginning of our jump run, we were thankful to have donned so many layers.

Given that this is the firs…um, err… the only winter so far that I’ve gone skydiving, there were plenty of lessons learned moments.

So, for those of you who are thinking about making a jump in the snow this winter, or are traveling to colder climates and want to skydive, I’ve come up with a short list of recommendations for walking away from a fun day of jumping, sans frost bite.

If I’ve missed anything, please chime in down there in the comments.

1.) Make sure you have a good pair of gloves.

-This is one I haven’t fully figured out yet, as my gloves just didn’t cut it. Gloves need to be thin enough so you can still find and grab your hackey to pull out your pilot chute, but thick enough that you’ll be able to feel your hands enough to do so.With incredible wind chill that you experience in freefall, it’s important to have gloves that will not only keep your hands toasty and comfortable, but that will cut the wind. The Nike ACG gloves that I was sporting did little to protect my fingers from stinging and turning bright red post jump. Even with latex gloves underneath, I wasn’t satisfied. Skydiving glove recommendations for this freeze baby are welcome and encouraged.

2.) Wear a full face helmet, if you have access to one.

-My buddy Don wore his new Cookie full face that he loves and it worked well for him. Helmets like that make me feel a little claustrophobic so I’ve stuck with my Bonehead Pimp Daddy that I love. But, by simply adding a balaclava I was totally fine. My face stayed nice and toasty. If you choose this route, do know that your goggles will fog up almost instantly in the plane, but once you’re out there are no fogging issues – even under canopy.

3.) Doing RW? Use your booties!

-As a girl who doesn’t do much RW these days, I find that booties help me stabilize and move more precisely. They also work wonders with keeping my tootsies warm. They help deflect the wind away and protect your feet and ankles (that would have been exposed while wearing my freefly pants).

4.) Check the winds aloft forecast.

-Though it may be fairly calm on the ground, the winds at altitude the last couple times I’ve jumped have been stronger than normal. This leads me to my next point…

5.) Check your SPOT!

-We take for granted that our pilots have GPS and the spots are usually good. Well, when winds at altitude are strong, you want to double check where you’re getting out. This will prevent you from an off landing and waiting in the cold for someone to come pick your ass up.

6.) Carry Chapstick in your pocket.

-Even if the wind isn’t directly hitting your lips, they will feel dry. Some good, protective moisture never hurt anyone.

7.) How about a breath mint?

-You know how your mouth tends to get dry just before leaping out the jump door? Well talk about cotton mouth – it’s worse in the winter. With the dry air at altitude, your skydiving partners will thank you for popping a mint before getting in that cramped little plane.

Hope you found these few little hints helpful. But tell me fellow skydivers, what am I missing when it comes to tips for winter skydiving?

Blue skies!

Ashley

Back to belly?

This weekend was a beautiful one. The sun was out, the winds were fairly calm, and I started itching for some freefall.

So we headed down to Grove City, PA to jump with our friends at Skydive Pennsylvania. Lucky for us, they’ve decided to stay open this winter for fun jumpers who are willing to brave the cold.Though they’re not flying the Porter, at least we get to ride up in the cleanest C-182 I’ve ever seen! It has padded flooring and everything.

The cleanliness of the plane is beside the point…

Rick and I met up with jumping buddy Don who we met during our time at Canton Air Sports. Don is a belly flyer, and with the bitter cold that we were going to experience, I decided that donning my RW suit was the best option for warding off frost bite. So in turn, we ended up doing two jumps, both as RW practice.

On the first jump, it was everyone’s task to come dock on me. We got close, but had some fall rate issues. The second jump was switched up, and we were tasked with docking on Rick. Again, there were some issues, and I did have to go head down for a few seconds to catch up, but Rick and I did manage to sync up for a second before I had to wave him off and track away.

It was definitely different to be back on my belly after 50+ freefly jumps, but it was a welcome change. I learned a little about surviving the winter chill – more to come on that – and I also learned that freefly helps with body control awareness immensely. In fact, it felt like I’d improved my RW skills, even after all this time spent only freeflying.

There’s something to be said for the feeling of diving head first out of a Cessna into the brisk, cloudless sky. It feels more peaceful than jumping from a turbine.

*Photo by Lonnie Kirk

Maybe it just brings back all those memories of my first jumps as a newbie skydiver – given that I started my skydiving career out of a 5-person cessna.

Either way, it was great to be back in the sky. Stay tuned for what I learned on staying toasty in the brisk winter skies. Until then…

Blue skies!

Ashley

Skydiver resources

When I first started jumping, online resources for skydivers were few and far between. Sure, there’s USPA.org when you’re in need of some SIM information or updates to the BSRs, and the Skydiver Network which was started on Ning with good intentions, however doesn’t get much traffic.

Dropzone.com is essentially the online Bible for skydivers and provides information on just about anything in the jumping world, but there really wasn’t anything social and interactive for skydivers aside from the forums – which in my opinion, can be cumbersome when you’re looking for something specific.

This lack of online interaction among skydivers is precisely why I started this blog – for those of us who are stuck behind a computer during the week and not jumping (like we all know we’d rather be doing), blogs and other social networks are great resources for sharing and connecting with other skydivers.

Over the course of the season, I noticed more and more sites and online resources for skydivers popping up. From the launch of DZsocial – where I have been a featured blogger, and some of you may have discovered this site – to the site tied to the new Blue Skies Magazine, to other skydiving bloggers like myself, and even new Facebook groups and pages targeted toward the skydiving community, the information online seems to be overflowing these days.

Here are the few of the resources I have found to be helpful, and a little bit about their functionality:

Social Networks

• DZsocial – still in it’s infancy, this social network has great potential to become what Skydiver Network had intentions of becoming. Head on over there and start a profile today!
• Jumperr – another fairly new online resource, acts as a social network that tracks your jumps. A fun online jump log where you can post photos and detailed memories that just won’t fit in the little space in your log book.

Web sites – Aside from USPA.org and Dropzone.com, here are a few sites where I like to get my skydiving information.

• Swoop Girls – a site for female canopy pilots, those interested in swooping or not. There’s also a great mission: to educate female skydivers on proper canopy piloting.
• Blue Skies Magazine – fun updates, videos and pictures. HIGHLY recommend subscribing to the magazine, though. The information is more comprehensive and, honestly, it’s a fun read! You can follow them on Twitter* as well, for frequent updates on happenings in the skydiving community.
• TraventureMan – a new online adventure and travel series, where episodes will feature interviews with adrenaline junkies, travel aficionados, and much more. As one of the interviewees at Bridge Day this year, and being the girl who coaxed host John into doing his first skydive at my home DZ, I’m a huge advocate. Be sure to check him out on Twitter too!
• BLiNC Magazine – a great resource for BASE jumpers and wingsuiters. They also have a Twitter handle where frequent updates provide all kinds of information on the sport!
• Skydivergirls.tv – another online video series – this time one that focuses on women jumpers. Sponsored by Aerodyne, this is a great resource for all women who skydive or aspire to one day.

Twitter - this online network has drawn a number of skydivers to chronicling their jumping experiences on the Web. As a marketer, I’m a big fan of Twitter. You can follow my Tweets here. I also recommend the following handles:

• @skydiveforums – they actually do have a forums site, too. But as someone who’s not a fan of the cumbersome forum structure, I prefer the Tweets that provide me with important updates.
• @TwittSkydiver – for those skydivers searching for other skydivers to follow.
• @peterdierx – one of my favorite skydivers from The Netherlands. He’s always got great skydiving videos to share
• @skydive4ever
• @skydiver – marketer, PR guru and skydiver. Those of us who were a little late to the Twitter game all envy his handle.

Blogs – because this isn’t the only blog you should be reading!

• Infiniteskydiving’s Weblog. A fairly new find for me, thanks to a link on Blue Skies Mag. Frequent updates during the peak of the skydiving season.
• CSC Blog. Chicagoland Skydiving has their own blog. It’s really more of an “updates” section that isn’t updated as frequently as a blog, but it’s information on the DZ, nonetheless. We definitely need to see more of this on dropzone web sites. As an experienced jumper, reading the experiences at the DZ firsthand would certainly help me make a decision to visit.
• Skydivedudes. As the Skydive Chick, naturally I’m drawn to the skydive dudes!
• Skydiving (the blog): skydiver.wordpress.com. This was the site that ultimately inspired me to become a blogging skydiver. It was nice to read about the experiences of someone as they progressed in the skydiving world.
• SkydiveBlog. By author and skydiver Jeromy Alexander, who is a regular and coach at Skydive Tecumseh in Michigan. He’s also on Twitter if that interests you.

What are some of the sites and resources that you utilize online? What about outside of the skydiving world – any networks that have helped you find your niche?

Blue skies!

Ashley

Hear it from the expert: New Column

Given the recent weather changes here in the North, my typical “weekend happenings” post on Fridays is becoming less relevant. So, in this pseudo down time that is known as winter, I’ve decided to implement a new column.

Each week, I’ll interview an expert in the skydiving world and post the Q&A here for y’all to read, learn from, and hopefully be mildly entertained in the process. I’m calling it “Hear it from the expert.” Original, I know.

For the first installment of the column, I have interviewed someone from my home DZ, Canton Air Sports. He is someone we trust our lives with every time we board the airplane and prepare for our jumps – and honestly, he holds a position that doesn’t get nearly enough recognition in the skydiving world.

Today, we’re talking to our pilot, Ken Daidone.

SDC: So Ken, how long have you been a pilot?

Ken: All my adult life.

SDC: What types of aircraft have you flow over the years?

Ken: Most of the four seat piston single engine aircraft, Cessna Caravans, Super Twin Otters, King Airs, Twin Bonanzas, and a couple of hundred hours in aBoeing 707.

SDC: What got you into flying jump runs for skydivers?

Ken: Initially, it was a time builder for me, then it progressed into a much higher level of trying to be a jump pilot a jumper would love to have flying them with extreme precision focused on never missing the drop zone and in the event of a cutaway, their main and freebag to land on the dropzone. Not a perfect record there, but close.

SDC: Well I’ll definitely agree that you’re one of my favorite pilots! So on the rare occasion that the spot is off, do you hang out in the sky to see where the jumpers landed?

Ken: It’s been such a long time since that has happened. What I do look and spot for are mains and freebags that don’t make the airport. To answer your question, yes I do watch where they land if I am in a piston aircraft. If I am in a turbine, I will get a good location of where they were heading.

SDC: So we’ve gotta know, how cool is it to watch skydivers in freefall and under canopy from the air?

Ken: I love it! I always count the canopies to make sure they all opened and spot the cutaways to direct ground crew where to look. Especially in the turbines, landing before the tandems.

SDC: What’s the biggest challenge when it comes to flying a plane that skydivers are jumping from?

Ken: Coordinating with Air Traffic Control and at the same time calming the nervous first time jumper who is sitting next to me all the while making it look like any monkey could fly the airplane.

SDC: I bet you’ve seen your fair share of nervous students. Any one in particular stand out? What’s your strategy for helping calm nerves?

Ken: I can’t really think of any that particularly stand out, they all act about the same. Eventually they look at all the gages and dials and I usually tell the student that I have no idea what all that stuff does but I am supposed to look at the gages once in a while to make my job look difficult.

SDC: What’s your biggest pet peeve as a pilot for skydivers?

Ken: ARROGANCE, I despise it!

SDC: I’m with you on that one. What’s your strategy for putting the sky gods in their place?

Ken: I completely ignore them and avoid talking to them, because as you know, anything they say is only said to boost their already enormous ego.

SDC: What is the most rewarding part of piloting jump planes?

Ken: Landing with a load of jumpers and getting an applause.

SDC: What’s your favorite part of flying for Canton Air Sports?

Ken: Landing on the short runway and using less than half of it. I also really enjoy taking exit shots with my camera from the pilot’s seat.

(One of Ken’s shots before takeoff – Rick and I loading up for a freefly jump.)

SDC: This is definitely something us jumpers love too! What made you think to start photographing exits?

Ken: I used to shoot video for 4 way teams and have always been into photography so I thought that it would be nice to see a pilot’s view of the exits. I don’t know any pilots doing this but I’m sure they are out there somewhere.

SDC: What’s the scariest thing you witnessed, either as a pilot or just in your time in the skydiving community?

Ken: Death.

SDC: What’s one of the funniest things you’ve seen when flying skydivers?

Ken: The clothes of 23 jumpers landing between the pilot and copilot seat in a Super Twin Otter as they all left the aircraft “NAKED.”

Thanks Ken, for taking the time to talk about your experiences as a pilot. Next time you’re at the DZ, be sure to thank your pilot – they deserve it, after all.

Blue skies!

Ashley

Skydiver Learning Curve

They say the older you get, the harder it is to pick up on things the way you could as a kid. And for the most part, I’ve found this to be true. Living in Texas, I couldn’t learn anything beyond the basic Spanish I was taught in high school – even when I was surrounded by my Spanish-speaking co-workers.

There has been an exception to this rule for me – in skydiving.

Every time I jump I learn more about the sport. I’m catching on to freefly, grasping the elements of body control, and finding new ways to manipulate the air to my liking. Not to mention all the skills I’ve gained under canopy in less than 100 jumps.

The problem with this is, the days I have when I just don’t seem to be getting it.

Sure, we all have those days where we know what we should be doing, and how we should be doing it, but we’re struggling with the execution. And yes, it’s frustrating. It’s even more frustrating when, for the past couple months, these skills have seemed to come almost naturally.

I don’t consider myself a natural when it comes to skydiving (or anything, for that matter), because really, what’s natural about the human body flying through the air at speeds of 120+ mph. Not much, if you ask me.

Lately though, it seems like the learning curve has leveled out a little. Rick and I are spending our practice jumps working on perfecting specific freefly skills, trying to get certain docks and formations down, and it’s going a little slower than I’m comfortable.

It seems that when I first started in freefly I was picking up on the skills quickly – sitting came easy to me, and after a couple jumps with some highly-skilled freeflyers I learned how to go head down. But it’s the little things that are tripping me up – docking, transitions, you get the idea.

(*Photo courtesy of Skydive Fargo)

So the jumps as of late have the same dive plan, as we work to perfect the skills needed to be good freeflyers. I just wish I could be more patient with myself and realize that not everything is going to be learned in one skydive.

What skills have you found yourself struggling with – whether in skydiving or not – and how have you handled the frustrations that come along with this learning curve?

Blue skies!

Ashley