Jump for Diabetes Round 3
Form of Happiness
Have you ever sat and thought about what makes you happy? Like, really thought about it?
In a recent discussion with a friend I grew up with, we were talking about, as a kid, how I loved to re-arrange my bedroom. I would ask my parents to help me so frequently, in fact, it bordered on annoyance. Looking back, I think it was a good opportunity for me to take stock of what I had, throw out what I didn’t need, simplify and organize. Sure, those may be beneficial outcomes, but I also think it’s a trait that shines a bit of a spotlight on my psyche. The need for change.
No, I’m not about to wip out my psych minor knowledge and get all shrinky on you here, but it got my wheels turning about how daily actions can provide insight as to what’s going on internally (inside your brain, I mean).
Take skydivers for instance. Jumping out of airplanes provides us a sense of freedom that we otherwise wouldn’t experience in this life. It’s one of the most freeing experiences (for me, anyway), both physically and mentally. How many times have you heard me say that jumping out of an airplane allows me to leave all my stress and worries in the door, because you really can’t think about much aside from what’s happening in the moment. There’s your mental release. And how much freer can you get physically than to be wind surfing at 14,000 ft above the Earth? I can only imagine doing so naked would feel freer (no, I don’t intend on finding out).
There’s something to be said for our need to experience that kind of freedom. Does that mean that most of us have a craving for independence, a sense of freedom in all other aspects of our lives?
I’d have to vote yes on that one. Let’s look at a few examples:
Relationships: Most skydivers I know are either unattached in their romantic lives, or they’re dating/married to a skydiver – someone who gets them.
Career: I can’t count on my two hands how many jumpers I know that have either gone to great lengths to change their career schedules or changing jobs altogether to gain some additional freedom, allowing for a more flexible schedule, whether it’s to jump or not. Even my hand is raised on this one (oh yeah, did I mention that I quit my job a couple weeks ago? A new opportunity came knocking and I’m at a place where they actually allow you to do what you are good at without looking over your shoulder every second. I know, right? What’s that like? Fucking amazing, that’s what)!
Of course, this still doesn’t explain my need for frequent change, but that might be a topic for another day.
So what do your hobbies say about your psychological needs?
I’d be interested to see a study done about this (yes, I’m kind of a nerd like that). Someone has to have inquired about this before, right?
Love and Blue Ones Kiddies!
-Ashley
Quite the mouth
No, that’s not a typo, the title of this post is “quite the mouth” as in, “he’s got quite the mouth on him.” Not quiet the mouth, as in “quiet that mouth of yours before I do it for you,” but the latter does tend to apply at times.
As skydivers, we live in this community where people love to talk about themselves. The seasoned jumpers love to talk about their latest badass swoops or the world record they were a part of. Intermediate jumpers can’t wait to tell everyone about their first head down they [think they] stuck or the new friendship they’ve sparked with this or that load organizer. Even recently licensed jumpers can’t wait for fresh student meat to come in to force feed their own personal AFF stories.
It goes without saying (but, I’m going to say it anyhow) that sometimes it can be pretty irritating to hear other jumpers talk incessantly about how great they [think they] are.
But the truth of the matter is, sometimes, this is where we can learn the most as skydivers. How many of you out there – show of hands – were told at one time or another during your student training that often times you’re on the ground more than you’d like to be, and the best way to continue your education is to listen to what the other skydivers are talking about?
My hand is up on that one.
Especially here in the North where weather plays more of a factor than, say, in SoCal, it’s not uncommon for students to sit around picking their nose waiting for winds to cooperate. But while you’re fishing for that gewy one behind your eyeball, talk to some of the others on the ground (or, remove said finger from your nostril, wash your hands and approach the nearest seasoned skydiver for a chat).
Seek out those with ratings (instructors, S&TAs and the like) to give solid safety advice. Talk to those who are both seasoned (we’re talking 500, 1000+ jumps here kids) to hear their stories from years in the sport. But, let’s not forget the newbies in the sport either. After all, they (we) recently went through student progression and can tell you a thing or two about that weird, awkward period after getting your A license. The “now what the fuck?” phase, as I like to call it.
Of course, this doesn’t just go for what USPA considers “students.” Just because we have our A (or B or C or even D) licenses, doesn’t mean the learning stops. As I see it, we should be learning MORE. We’re [ideally] jumping more, traveling to new places, meeting new jumpers … shouldn’t we be getting educated along the way as well? Learning from each and every person we encounter (even if what we’re learning is how not to do something)?
It’s important to be able to adapt to new surroundings, to understand about the aircraft you’re hucking yourself from, to know DZ landing patterns, to know how to get out of an icky situation in a pinch. All this comes with experience, sure, but you can learn so much from those “annoying” mouths out there that, at first, might seem to be rather obsessed with themselves.
Learning to filter out the bullshit is an important skill in the skydiving industry – but that doesn’t mean you should stop listening altogether. So on those days where your local skygod is like fingernails on a chalkboard, maybe you should stop and ask yourself if maybe you should quiet your mouth and listen.
Blue ones!
Ashley
Calculated Risk
It’s not uncommon, when telling someone that I’m a skydiver, to hear comments like:
“Wow, you’re brave!”
“That’s dangerous, don’t you get scared?”
“Aren’t you afraid your ‘chute won’t open?”
You get the idea.
Truth is we are taking risks as skydivers, but they are calculated risks.
Just as with anything else in life, you analyze the risks vs. rewards. With skydiving, you also take a look at the safety factors, like a professionally packed reserve that’s there in case your first go at deployment doesn’t go so well and the helmet on your head with a dytter that lets you know when it’s time to break away and deploy. So, the risks are calculated.
It’s kinda like buying a car with safety features like side airbags and antilock breaks.
Another way we calculate the risks of the sport is taking a look at outside factors like winds, the people you’re sharing the sky with and our own personal setbacks. Each and every one of us has areas that could use improvement, and it’s up to us to determine what we’re capable of without hurting ourselves or others in the process.
I did just that this weekend as I decided to get myself back in the air after a hip injury earlier this season. Sunday’s weather was perfect, and with a 13 mph wind it was just right to set me down gently upon landing. Let me tell you, it wasn’t an easy decision. The last thing I wanted was to get hurt again, maybe worse this time, because I didn’t give myself enough time to heal. However, I also knew that the conditions couldn’t be better for a jittery skydive. Sure enough, my calculations were correct. I tiptoed out my landing and got back the confidence I needed. Can’t wait to get back out there!
Taking an honest look at your deficiencies as well as those of your fellow jumpers is important in the decision to make a safe skydive. I’m a big believer that if your gut tells you not to jump with that person just off student status, or if the winds are just a bit too gusty for your liking, then you should listen to it. There’s nothing wrong with playing it on the safe side, no matter how much of a ribbing you might take for it. There’s lots of life, and skydiving, left to be enjoyed.
Love and blue skies!
Ashley
Changes Afoot
Posts have been spotty lately, at best. I do realize that I haven’t been the best blogger lately, and I apologize for that. Hopefully most of you just assumed it had to do with my being out due to injury and not jumping, but that’s actually not the case.
I have a damn good reason for the lack of posts lately – it’s because there’s a lot of change happening right now.
Normally when I mention change in my life it has zero impact on you, my readers. This time, however, the changes will have some affect on your SkydiveChick blog reading pleasure.
That’s all I’m going to say for now. There’s still a bit of work ahead, so I’ll do my best to stay on top of updates, but until all my ducks are in a row this is going to be a bit of a hush hush situation.
“Secrets secrets are no fun…” but I promise you, this one is.
Stay tuned!
Love and blue ones, y’all!
Ashley
Skydiving and Injury
I have a hard time speaking from experience on this one, as I am only in my first few days of injury to have gone through all the phases of grief that one might expect when it comes to being injured to the point of being grounded during the skydiving season, so I’m just going to shoot from the hip (pun intended) a bit and see how this turns out.
So far my skydiving season has started out a bit on the rough side. Between having the nice weather fall on days I’m hunkered down at the office and this hip/back injury that has me couch surfing for a few weeks, I’ve really only had one solid weekend of skydiving.
That said, I’m struggling a bit. With the type of injury I’m enduring (since, I can really only speak from experience here) I have good days and bad. Some days I wake up feeling amazing and then I’ll push myself and then come 6pm I’m laid up on the couch with this burning, tingling sensation all down my left leg. Other days I wake up with pain, rest a while, take some Advil then I’m good to go around lunch time. Still others, are just plain bad.
(Unfortunately, since the diagnosis, I’ve yet to have a completely good day…)
In a situation like this, the better days are tempting – especially when the weather is nice. I mean, I’ve had minimal opportunity to jump this season, so why wouldn’t I just risk it on days where I feel better to get in a little freefall?
Luckily, so far, I’ve been strong enough to remind myself that if I stick with PT for a few weeks and stay out of the sky I’ll have a much better chance of continuing my skydiving career for years to come than if I take one risk and one wrong step on landing to put me 4 giant steps back, or worse.
As someone who tries to be practical, that’s the best advice I can give to anyone who might have a minor injury this season, or in seasons to come. Take a deep breath, enjoy the time with your fellow jumpers (or even off the dropzone) on the ground, knowing that recovery is your first priority so that in seasons to come, jumping can be priority 1 again.
Talk to me again in a few weeks to see if my tune has changed…but for now, that’s the best advice I can give myself, or anyone like me.
Love and blue skies!
Ashley
USPA Call to Action
For all those who don’t check their email or who might not get USPA’s emails for one reason or another, there was a recent Call for Action regarding canopy safety due to the recent fatal collisions this year.
And I know no one likes to talk about the black death part of the sport, but truth is if we’re paying attention, this is something we can all learn from in order to be safer in our friendly blue playground.
So, in case you didn’t see it, here’s what USPA has to say about canopy collisions and safety under canopy. Not only are they stressing predictable landing patterns, but they touch on high performance landings and S-turns to burn off altitude as a couple of factors that could throw off other canopy pilots and cause potential collisions. Keep it on the straight and narrow folks!
Since late February, there have been five fatalities (and one critical injury) that were canopy-collision related. Every skydiver is asking the same questions: “How is this happening, and why?” It appears that skill level and proficiency are not indicators. One accident involved two jumpers with about 23 jumps each who were the only two jumpers under canopy at the time. Another accident involved a jumper with 17,000 jumps and another with 8,000 jumps, both very proficient and with very little other traffic around them.
It is time that we all accept the responsibility of ending the canopy-collision threat.
We are asking all skydivers to join in this CALL TO ACTION. Individual jumpers must follow the guidelines in the Skydiver’s Information Manual that have proven to keep our skies safer when they are applied correctly. Additionally, we are asking that all S&TAs observe and correct poor habits at their DZs. We are asking that DZOs become more involved in canopy safety by establishing canopy flight rules, and safe landing patterns and landing areas. This type of accident MUST STOP, and we all can be a part of making that happen.
Jay Stokes, USPA President
SKYDIVER ACTION CALL
The time has come for us to change the way we are looking at ourselves and those around us and to insist upon a different set of outcomes. We have lost nearly 30 fellow skydivers in recent years to situations in which two canopy pilots ran into each other. Some of these accidents are attributable to jumpers executing “induced-speed” (or high-performance) landings, and others are not. There have been many different circumstances surrounding these incidents, leading to many theories about the causes and steps that can be taken to prevent additional instances. In recent months, USPA Board members and staff have had in-depth dialogue with many skydiving experts and skydivers who care. USPA is committed to canopy education and will continue working on those recommendations. Meanwhile, here are some generally agreed-upon observations, followed by suggestions, some of which can be applied by every one of us.
- Skydivers have become increasingly concerned about their personal safety. Many jumpers are experiencing a substantially increased fear of being unexpectedly, and perhaps fatally, involved in a canopy collision-being struck from behind or above by a more aggressive canopy pilot. Some have publically expressed a lack of desire to jump at drop zones that do not promote a safe canopy flying culture. It is no longer “politically incorrect” to be an advocate of good canopy-flying behavior.
- When skydivers are trained in canopy-flight techniques and (perhaps more importantly) in canopy-flight decision-making, they become better and safer canopy pilots. They make better decisions and are significantly more aware of their surroundings under canopy. Industry experts agree that improving canopy education is critical, but we also know that it takes time.
- Higher wing loadings increase risk. Canopy pilots that fly at higher wing loadings are not necessarily unsafe, but statistics bear out a higher level of threat to the highly loaded canopy pilot and those who fly in his or her vicinity. Highly loaded canopies fly more quickly and react much more radically to toggle and riser input than lightly loaded parachutes. Skydivers who fly high-performance parachutes must maintain a great deal of respect for the flight characteristics of those parachutes.
- Mixing of standard landing patterns and high-performance landing patterns is dangerous. True separation of landing areas by distance and/or time is crucial. This includes not only the final approach and touchdown zones, but also the airspace above the drop zone where high-performance and standard-pattern flyers may intermix during pattern and/or landing maneuver set-up. Simply put, we can’t just paint a line down the middle of the landing area and think that it will provide adequate separation. The total three-dimensional aspect of the airspace and any potential conflicts must be thoroughly considered in the landing zone layout.
- Predictability is the key to safe landing patterns and accident avoidance. Excessive turns in the traffic pattern are exponentially more dangerous than straight-in final approaches following a 90-degree turn from base to final leg. This is true of jumpers busting out big turns to final (180s, 270s, 720s, etc.), as well as the old-school jumper doing S-turns or a braked accuracy descent down the middle of his final approach path. Both can become rapidly unpredictable and result in unexpected outcomes like low-altitude collision-avoidance turns and worse.
- Many jumpers don’t pay attention to their surroundings as much as they should while flying their canopies. Everyone needs to pay attention to their environment and look out for everyone else.
- In some cases, the only way to educate is to enforce rules and provide consequences for bad behavior-especially repeated bad behavior.
Here are a couple of ideas that we can implement today. USPA is asking all members to take action to address this situation. There is something that you can do, regardless of your status on the drop zone.
Each skydiver should:
- Recognize the need to get more training, gain more knowledge and improve your canopy skills. Start now by reviewing Sections 6-10 and 6-11 in the Skydiver’s Information Manual.
- In air, improve your visual scan and awareness of where others are in the sky. Look not only where you want to fly, but look for where others may be. On final approach, maintain your scan and awareness of others; don’t get tunnel vision on your landing spot.
- Realize that every turn increases the chance for converging flight. When descending into the standard landing area, fly a standard pattern and continue to scan the airspace for any conflicting canopy traffic while keeping your turns to no more than 90 degrees.
- Set an example through your behavior. Become a proponent of safe canopy flight. Walk the talk, fly the pattern, and share the knowledge.
- Demand a safe canopy flight environment at your home drop zone. Talk to your DZO, S&TAs and fellow jumpers about it. Insist upon a culture of safe canopy flight.
Each DZO and S&TA should:
- Establish DZ canopy-flight rules and be certain that they are clearly communicated to all jumpers.
- Establish and utilize a method for determining and communicating landing direction on each load.
- Truly separate high-performance and standard landing areas. Consider the approach portion of the airspace and be certain that the opportunity for overlap in differing wind conditions and jump runs is minimized.
- Be certain the rules for each landing area are well established. Limit turns in the standard landing pattern to 90 degrees. Let your jumpers know that radical diving and speed-inducing maneuvers, as well as S-turns and braked accuracy approaches to the standard landing pattern will not be tolerated.
- Consider other restrictions on your high-performance landing area, and be sure that everyone knows about it.
- Consider instituting a “Canopy Safety Monitor” or “Landing Safety Officer” approach, where an experienced staff member is empowered to observe and evaluate canopy flight from the ground in order to provide immediate feedback to errant canopy pilots. This “monitor” could be an S&TA, Instructor or simply a trusted and empowered jumper. This allows the DZ to monitor and address potentially dangerous situations in real time.
- Step up your use of counseling and enforcement tools to address irresponsible canopy piloting. Your USPA Regional Director will be happy to assist with this process if it is desired.
Blogger Pitch Tips
This may come as a surprise, I know it did for me the first few times, but I get a lot of PR pitches for ideas, guests posts and features for the blog.
It’s not uncommon that they are highly off base and/or something that just isn’t a good fit for my blog. Usually, they are very poorly written and are clearly just PR people hoping to tip the scales for their client.
I do get it. I started my career in PR and it’s since evolved into social media. Therefore, I have a lot of experience pitching both traditional media and bloggers. As a blogger myself, this also means that I have a lot of tips from both sides of the fence on how to go about approaching bloggers.
Let me start by saying that yes, this post was inspired by not only a very poor excuse for a pitch, but also an incredibly useless follow up email in response to a question I sent back (I’ll elaborate shortly), but I am not one of those bloggers who is out there to throw PR people under the bus for doing their job, even if it’s done poorly. I’m fully aware that pitching is usually put in the hands of interns or junior level staff, and sometimes those kiddies aren’t prepped enough to know any better when it comes to poor outreach strategy. Therefore, I have no intention of spewing names and ruining reputations.
That said, I do want to point out what went wrong this afternoon.
I opened my inbox to find an email from a Junior SEO Analyst (which seemed an odd person to be pitching me in the first place) from a global travel company. The email was very short – and by very short I mean two sentences – alerting me to an article touting the top 10 skydiving destinations. Curious about how the “Top 10″ was determined, I wrote him back asking what criteria was used in developing this list, and here’s what I got:
“This would have been put together by our senior content writer, though I don’t know the ‘bullet-point’ criteria she used. In any event, I hope you like and find useful what is there and will share it with your users!”
Oh, I’ll share it alright.
I’m not one to be aggravated by PR pitches, if I don’t like them I’ll ignore them. If I’m interested, I’ll usually write back for more information – which in this case I did and was shot down. Not only was I denied additional information but I was again asked to share his link! Pretty ballsy to turn a blogger’s request for additonal info, after you reached out to her mind you.
All he would have had to do is ask around, talk to that senior content writer about how she developed that story, about how she came to the “top 10 skydiving destinations” (which, btw, I’m not sharing here because it was very poorly written didn’t provide any names or links to the local dropzones, so what’s the point?) and send me a quick note back. Or for the love of Pete put me in touch with her if you’re too lazy to do that! I’m not a lazy blogger, generally, so if I really wanted the info at the very least I could have had a way to find it out.
–end rant–
So, I wanted to provide a few tips here to help all those who might reach out to me, or any other bloggers in the future, so you can be prepared to give us what we might want to see so it’s a win-win for us all. So here goes nothing:
Skydive Chick’s Blogger Tips
* Keep your email short and conversational. Tell me your point up front, provide a link to what you’re talking about and why you think it’s an interest to me and my audience.
* If you have visuals to demonstrate your point, please don’t attach them, but let me know they exist. We skydivers love videos of any adrenaline sport. Yes, I’m interested.
* Keep in mind that most bloggers, myself included, have full time day jobs and blog simply because we love it. I’m not getting paid to do this so be respectful of my time and understanding of my needs in order to utilize the information you’re sending me.
* Be transparent. Tell me who you’re with and why you’re contacting me. Most of us know what a pitch is, so just be honest that you’re pitching us.
* Bloggers like free stuff, both for themselves and for giveaways. It’s true. Reviews and sweeps have proven to generate lots of traffic (which bloggers like too) so it’s something to consider if visibility and high engagement is key for your client.
* Be yourself. You’re more likely to build a genuine relationship with me, and we might be able to have a long-standing partnership if you or your client have content that hits that sweet spot.
* If I’m not interested, you’ll likely never hear from me. If I am, I’ll respond. So please don’t follow up. That’s not going to make me want to cover your story more than the first time around. Yes, I got your email last week, but diaper rash cream has nothing to do with skydiving, sorry.
* That said, pay attention to the content, not just what I’m writing about, but my style and what would really interest me. Bloggers can see right through those PR pros who have only read my last two blog posts.
* When I do follow up, be willing to answer questions and provide additional info – especially if all you sent me was a link. If I’m going to share something with my audience, I want to be fluent in what I’m putting out there.
* If you’re not willing to provide additional information, don’t email me in the first place. Next time, I might just let the world know who you are.
Hopefully this helps a bit. I’m really not trying to be a dick, but it’s not just a waste of my time but a waste of yours too if you’re not willing to work with me and give a little. Team effort here guys.
Any other bloggers with tips they’d like to add, please feel free to chime in.
Blue ones!
-Ashley
Own it
Photo by Kevin King http://flickr.com/photos/divemasterking2000
One of the things I love most about skydiving is that it’s a constant learning experience. Even after you master one discipline, there’s always a new challenge on the on the horizon.
I’m a true believer that you can always improve, no matter how good you are at something.
That said, in order to improve, you have to be open to it.
Sometimes our skydiver egos can get the best of us, and rather than taking an objective look at our mistakes and soaking up the knowledge to improve, we throw out excuses to pad our egos.
Sure, nobody likes to cork out their first sit of the year, or be the guy who comes plowing into the formation and takes everyone out. And certainly, no one wants to be the guy who crashes his first landing of the season in front of the whole dropzone (yep, I was that guy this year), but making excuses for these things doesn’t do anything but hurt you, in the long run.
Personally I’ve found that sometimes simply owning your mistakes, acknowledging your areas for improvement, can do more for your ego than sitting around defending yourself while everyone rolls their eyes. So what, you f-ed up…we’re all human!
This time of the year, as we’re all a bit rusty from the long winter months, the learning curve tends to be a bit steeper as we get our wings back. As well all know, muscle memory only lasts for so long, so spring time can require a bit of re-training for those parts of the sport that seemed to come so naturally last fall.
It’s also important to remember that if you are a bit nervous about particular skills after a long period off, it might be best to ease back in with a few easy planned jumps, like 2, 3 or 4 ways. Hell, if you’re really concerned, do a couple solos so you can focus on yourself and get those butterflies out. In the end, no one is going to fault you for being overly cautious and concerned about the safety of yourself and others - especially during the early parts of the season.
Just one more reason to keep the beast that is the skydiver ego at bay – it could save your life.
Blue skies!
Ashley
Deal with it
Now that the skydiving season is in full swing, it’s time to get real about something – lifestyle.
What I mean by that is, figuring out what kind of skydiver you are and coming to grips with that. As the weather warms and many of my friends are out at the dropzone during the week (and tweeting about it, rubbing my sad little face in the fact that I’m stuck in my office on a day where it’s 69 degrees and sunny) this is the most difficult time of the year for those of us who can only be weekend warriors due to prior commitments.
Last year around this time I took a look at a few different types of skydivers and how you can learn to embrace that to enjoy life to it’s fullest – after all, isn’t that what skydiving teaches us to do?
So, the question remains, how do you come to grips with being purely a weekend (or occasional) skydiver?
Suck it up, that’s how!
In all seriousness though, you have to make a conscious decision about how skydiving fits into your life. For some, they just can’t stand not having skydiving play a significant role in their lives, so they take risks, make adjustments, and find a way to make the sport a greater part of their lies. Others, like myself, have a such passion for what we do on a daily basis and, though we wish we could be out there on the nicest days of the year jumping with our friends, we know our other responsibilities help round out our life.
Of course, there are other variations of this – if you didn’t read my post from last April, be sure to do so, I don’t intend to repeat myself and bore y’all…clicky clicky.
Anywhoosits, the point here is this: make a decision about your life, when it comes to skydiving, career, family, and how all those pieces fit together, at embrace it. There’s nothing saying you can go down one path and make a change later on as your needs and preferences change, but there’s also no point in stewing over the fact that the other parts of your life are taking away from your passions (skydiver or not).
So, if you’re a weekend warrior like me, don’t waste your energy on envy when your fellow jumpers are out at the dropzone on a sunny Wednesday afternoon while you’re “stuck at the office” or wherever you are. Instead, dedicate yourself to your commitments, to your passions, and know that come Saturday morning, you can wake up to the smell of Jet A with a smile on your face, knowing that the weekend is yours to play amongst the clouds.
(Note: yep, that’s a bit of a pep talk for myself as well, even the preacher needs a friendly reminder every not and again.)
If you’re lucky enough to be heading out on a lovely weekend for your freefall fix, be sure to enjoy it a little bit more for the rest of us who are with you in spirit.
Blue Ones Kiddies!
Ashley