Getting it down

This weekend was another busy one for yours truly. Though this time, it all occurred at my home DZ, Canton Air Sports.

Saturday I drove out to the East side to meet Rick so we could make the drive together. Wish we would have thought of this before…could have saved on gas for both of us.

Anyhow, we got down there with a plan, exit head down into a sit. Well, the theme of the weekend presented itself on that very first jump, as we got talked into some RW instead.

It was a fairly inexperienced group – two jumpers with less experience than me – so we decided to plan an easy 5-way dive. Linked exit, out to a round. After one man tumbled away and another fell low, we ended up with a 3-way. We even got a few points at that.

The second jump of the day ended up being quite wonderful. Team Fastrax was at the DZ that day, preparing for a demo into the stadium at Akron University. We were told just before loading that they would be doing the demo first, then we would come back and jump. So we got to watch them exit the plane and complete the demo from 4,500 feet above. It was incredible!

May I just say, for a moment, what a great group of guys Team Fastrax is. They are some of the best parachutists I’ve ever seen, and yet, some of the most down to Earth. It’s great to have people like this in your back yard. I hope to be seeing more of them around our DZ and theirs.

Moving on.

After the demo we flew back and did our original planned dive: 2-way head down with Rick. Randy decided to film us too! Which reminds me, I have to get that video from him. Our exit wasn’t as perfect as the one at Start last week, but once we broke off, we were both holding a sit for quite some time!

I got back on the ground and headed in to take my B license test. And guess what, I passed! B LICENSE BABY!

After this it was time to go, so I trunk packed and headed out. That night I spent a bit of time working on my packing skills, trying to find the perfect method to get the ‘chute in the bag. I’m getting it down, slowly.

Sunday was another bright and early morning, heading down to the DZ. First load was initially planned as a 2-way freefly which turned into a 3-man rolling train that we broke off into a sit.

My landing on this jump was rather painful to watch I’m told, though I walked away just fine. I’m still getting used to this Triathlon I’m flying. It has a tendency to bring me down to the ground rather quick. The key is to start the flare high. At least, it is for me.

The next jump was another 2-way head down into a sit. This plan changed multiple times on the ride up and we ended up going with the first plan. Guess you can do that when there’s only two of you. Our exit went better than the day before and my sit was, once again, just about perfect!

Jump #3 was a fun one. On the ground we planned a 3-man hybrid, but at about 5,000 in the plane, a 3-way RW group suggested we do a 6-way hybrid. Hell yeah!

These are some talented belly flyers, so it was fun and intimidating to be one of the freeflyers on this attempt. Nick, Fuzzy, John and Dennis were our base, while Rick and I were the hangers. It didn’t go quite as planned, but was fun, regardless.

On the sunset load we finally decided to stick to the planned 3-man hybrid. Nick and Rick were my base. Fun, successful dive with a perfect stand up landing on target. YEAH!

The day ended with beer and bonding. More to come on these discussions, later.

I love having the opportunity to sit down and talk with the people I jumped with that day. The stories and advice are invaluable. And after a long day of jumping, the beer tastes so good.

Until next time…

Blue Skies!

Ashley

Two Boogie Weekend

As I sit here and drown myself in coffee’s caffeinated goodness, I can’t help but think back to the incredible Labor Day weekend.

On Friday I was lucky enough to get out of work at 3 p.m. so I could head down to Cleveland Parachute to get in a couple jumps. It’d been forever since I was there and it was about time I got into the sky with some of my long-lost friends. 

Well it turned out to be a bust, with no pilot to be found. So I made a last minute decision to head to Skydive Tecumseh for the Hellfish Boogie – knowing full well that I wouldn’t be staying for the toga party Saturday night. But the 5 jumps of the day made it worth while.

It was a day of 2-ways, 3-ways, 6-ways, and even a 10-way to end the day. Every jump had points, too. Even if it was only one!

After the 10-way I packed up and made the two and 1/2 hour drive back home, cleaned up and drove out to meet Rick for our trip down to Start Skydiving for the Work Stinks Boogie.

A sleepless night and a four hour drive later we made it just in time for the sunrise load – can’t beat a $14 lift ticket!

There were three 2-way groups on the caravan – Rick and I were out last with a head down attempt. I really shouldn’t say attempt- it was a success. We were head down and stable almost immediately out the door. The speed of this freefly is incredible!

We broke off a little high and I decided to pull early so I could play around under canopy and be sure to find the dropzone. Of course, with me, that doesn’t mean I’m going to land on it. What can I say, the soy beans and I are becoming great friends.

The second jump of the day was our helicopter jump. A quick briefing on where not to grab and how not to fall, we were off and ready. Just as we got loaded, Norman Kent came over to us to film our ride up. I’m honored to have been filmed by him.

Here’s one of the stills he sent to us!

Helicopter jumps are amazing. The pilot took us up to 4,500 ft and hovered while we literally fell off the aircraft. My exit was incredible. I stood, facing away from the helicopter, put my arms out and just fell. Into dead air. It was the most peaceful thing I’ve ever experienced. It took only 500 ft to make one full body rotation and get back belly to Earth. I pulled by 3 grand and made a beautiful slide-in landing, on the dropzone.

After packing back up it was time to relax. We met up with a group of former Cleveland Parachute jumpers and chatted for a while. Always great to meet skydivers who grew up where I did.

30+ hours of no sleep was setting in, so a couple hours in the afternoon was spent curled up in the corner of the hangar, napping. We woke up refreshed and ready to jump.

We manifested on an Otter load – Rick’s first time jumping an Otter (BEER!) and we did another freefly. Train exit to a sit. Rick let me go after about 1,500 feet and I held my first solo sit for about 20 seconds before flipping back belly to Earth and tracking away. Another fun slide in.

Clouds started rolling in and we called it quits for the day. It was by far the best day of skydiving I’ve ever had, with two incredible freeflys and a helicopter jump.

Labor Day was rained out. We cashed out at manifest and mingled with some regulars, Norman and the DZO for a bit. The dropzone is incredible. Located at the Warren County airport, the facilities are new and modern, with a hangar just for sport jumper packing. The crew there is incredibly down-to-Earth. I’ll certainly be headed back in the near future.

Soon after we made the drive back home and back to reality.Thankfully, it’s a short week and Patriot will be back at Canton Air Sports this weekend. Y’all know where to find me!

Blue skies!

Ashley

Boogie weekend

This weekend is Labor Day, and for skydivers, that likely means attending a boogie, or three.

All around the country you’ll find some of the biggest boogies of the season. 

Let me take a step back here. Boogies, for those who may not be aware, are basically big skydiving parties. Dropzones host a boogie, usually bringing in different types of aircraft, sometimes balloons and helicopters, and skydivers travel hundreds of miles with their friends to camp out for the weekend to jump and party with (after hours of course) other like-minded skydivers.

(Photo from “The Boogie” 2007 at Skydive Richmond. The official boogie has been cancelled this year, however they’re still flying an Otter if you’re planning to head that way.)

Some of these boogies have world-record attempts too! This is the case for the Labor Day boogie I’ll be attending this year.

My friend Rick, you remember, the one who hosted the amazing Jump for Diabetes a few weeks back, and I will be heading down to Start Skydiving in Lebanon, Ohio for the Work Stinks Boogie.

They will have a Super Skyvan, two Caravans, a PAC 750XL, two Enstrom Helicopters, a 206 for hop-n-pops and their own Hot Air Balloon. 

Organizers include; 40 ways with Guy Wright. Other ways with John Woody and Niklas Hemlin. Swooping with Team Fastrax Swoop. CRW with John Hart and Travis Donley. Freeflying with Melanie Johnson and Brad Hunt.

There also will be some world record attempts going on. Follow me on Twitter to keep up on how that’s progressing.

It’s only $35 if you pre-register. Last I heard they had over 200 skydivers already registered. Should be an amazing time. Visit the Work Stinks Boogie page to register or find out more information.

Of course, if you’re not in the Midwest, or don’t feel like driving to Lebanon – but after all I just told you, there’s no excuse not to make that drive – here are some of the other Labor Day boogies that are happening.

• Deadman Boogie III. Skydive Temple. Salado, Texas. 9/4-9/7. They’ll have an Otter and a helicopter, and a can’t miss toga party on Sunday. Specials for tandems including a $180 jump special with an $80 video package. See Dropzone.com for more info.

• Tiki Bar Weekend. Skydive New England. Lebanon, Maine (not to be confused with Lebanon, OH). 9/4-9/7. With a Casa, Super Otter, and Helicopter, this boogie is not to be missed. PD and Sun Path will be there on tour this weekend for demos. Be sure to get out there and take advantage.

• 4-day Otter Weekend. Skydive Gananoque. Ontario, Canada. “Feel the Breeze” lingerie jumps, freefly, wingsuit, hoop jumps and more. Click here for more information.

• Labor Day Hellfish Boogie. Skydive Tecumseh. Tecumseh, Michigan. Between the Super Skyvan, Super Twin Otter, and C-182, there will be plenty of Freefly, RW and wingsuit organizing. Swoop competition. Come prepared for the infamous Hellfish Toga Party which is sure to please.

• Fun after Competition Boogie. Dropzone Prostejov. Czech Republic. 9/7-9/13. World class freefly coaching and load organizing for freefly and RW. Check out Dropzone.com for more information.

What boogies are you planning to attend this year?

Where ever you end up this Labor Day weekend….

Blue Skies!

Ashley

Pre-Jump Rituals

When it comes to athletes, no matter the sport, there is one thing they all have in common – pre-game rituals. 

Often these rituals manifest themselves as something so minute that bystanders may not notice. Others occur on such a large scale that athletes become famous for them (a la LeBron James and his pre-game chalk throwing).

I’ve become fascinated by the pre-jump routines of my fellow skydivers. Like hockey players, some skydivers have a religious set of pre-jump habits that start the moment they are manifested on the ground. You know, always put your right leg in your jumpsuit first for good luck.

Though honestly, I haven’t encountered many that are quite as hardcore as those hockey players. The skydivers I spend my time with aren’t quite as superstitious. Then again, we don’t have to pray not to get a slapshot to the teeth every time we get in an airplane.

For skydivers, the ride to altitude is when many of these rituals begin.

*Photo by Katya Suvorov, courtesy of SkydiveBlog.com                                                                            

In my short time in the sport, I’ve witnessed a number of these fascinating events:

• Untie and retie the tennis shoes for security
• A squirt of Listerine mouth spray just before the door opens
• Running through the cut away sequence multiple times as the door opens (great safety ritual, really)
• Applying Chapstick around 10,000 feet
• Passing around a tin of Altoids to the entire plane
• Adjusting the Velcro on an altimeter so it’s just right – guilty

Those are just a few of the fun rituals I’ve encountered. 

I even jumped with a guy who sneezed twice every time the plane got to 6,000 feet. Of course, this isn’t something he had control over, but it’s interesting none the less.

And you can’t forget about the standard fist bump as a last good luck, have fun, blue skies gesture.

What are some of the pre-game rituals you have noticed – as a skydiver or other athlete? Do you have any traditions that you’ve adopted over the years?

Blue Skies!

Ashley

Aerodyne Demos and Freeflying

If you live in my neck of the woods and you looked skyward this weekend, it may have seemed like a bust for us skydivers, but for me, that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to make the trip up to Skydive Tecumseh to take advantage of the Aerodyne demo tour that was in town. With the consistent cloud cover throughout the day, the Cessna was only running hop & pops, but that was sufficient for canopy demos.

Though don’t get me wrong, I would have loved a couple trips up to 14,000 in the Otter, but for the purpose of testing out the Pilot, I was completely content with what we got.

When I arrived, I headed straight over to the reps to get myself a rig and canopy to demo. Naturally, we ran into the issue that I’m a small girl with a low number of jumps. So they had rigs that would fit with canopies that were way too small to even consider jumping, or canopies that would fit into a smaller rig, but then the reserve is entirely too small.

But, with some quick thinking and innovation, the Aerodyne team put together a rig for me to test out. I was happily able to jump an Icon with a Pilot 188. It was a great ride. Still a bit too big for real excitement under canopy, but it got me to the ground safely and smoothly, which is all I can hope for at this point.

Now, I’ve always been a huge fan of the Pilot. It packs easy – well, at least the one’s I’ve packed before – and opens comfortably. It flies flatter than some of the other canopies I’ve tried out in the past (you know, those 10+ different rigs you jump as a student) giving me time to get back from a long spot or just to play around a little longer and still know I’ll get back to my target.

I also learned that the Pilots tend to react better to turbulence than some of the other canopies on the market, too. A huge plus for me!

It definitely looks like I’ll be purchasing a Pilot in the near future. After this hop & pop and the great customer service of the Aerodyne folks, I’m sold!

Once it appeared that the clouds were just not going to cooperate, the rest of Saturday was spent back on the road to Cleveland so I could get home and rest up for a big Sunday.

Sunday morning I was back on the road to Canton Air Sports for my friend Rick’s 200th jump. The weather wasn’t looking so great for us this day, either. 

I sat around the drop zone for a few hours, watching BASE jumping videos with the other regulars, while trying to will the clouds away. Just as I was about to leave we got word that the weather was clearing from the North. So I stuck around. After all, I didn’t drive all that way to miss Rick’s 200th.

Around 5:30 we were able to get into the air. Rick decided on a shirtless, shoeless hybrid (him, not me), with our buddy Tod doing outside video for us. So we piled out of the Cessna-182, with me and Nick as the linked base, and Rick hanging from our chest straps.

*Photo courtesy of Bill Ramey. Thanks Bill.                

This is what our hybrid looked like!

The exit was flawless – except that Tod couldn’t see Rick’s count and ended up shooting video a little higher above us than expected. Nick and I kept a steady base from which Rick hung straight down. He even kicked his leg out for a bit and put us into a fun little spin. We broke off at 4,000 and met up back on the ground to celebrate Rick’s accomplishment. 

So glad I got to be a part of your 200th, bud!

Thinking that was going to be the last of the day, I finished logging the jump and packed up my stuff. Naturally, I was convinced to get on the sunset load – really, who can pass that up – and headed back up for a three-way with Rick and Tod. 

We were going to do the hybrid again, with me in the hanging position, but changed our plans on the ride to altitude. Instead, Rick and I did a train with a rolling exit. This was my first true freefly attempt – yes, I know, beer – and was a little bummed when it didn’t go exactly as planned. But we did manage to exit smoothly and stay linked for about 4,000 feet until we spun apart.

With a little post-jump coaching on the ground I completely understand how it should have worked to get us vertical. Next time we’ll get it!

And yes, I did mention that video was taken on both of these. As soon as they are in my possession I’ll be sure to post them. With three jumps, I definitely made the best of what otherwise would be seen as a cloudy, gloomy weekend.

Blue skies!

Ashley