Unintentional time off

A long weekend spent away from the dropzone was not what was intended for the Labor Day holiday, but sometimes life has a way of taking over.

The past two years, this weekend has been spent at the Work Stinks! Boogie in Ohio. Between our move to Chicago and upcoming wedding festivities, there just weren’t enough resources to make the trip this year. But I can’t say it didn’t turn out to be a fabulous weekend.

Each day I woke up with the intention of “we’ll head to the dropzone today,” but it never seemed to pan out that way. After spinning class on Saturday I had just enough time to come home and shower before some serious rain moved in. Definitely no jumping for us that day. Sunday included an impromptu trip to Wisconsin to visit a buddy of Rick’s and cook out. The weather turned cold and rainy in the afternoon, with gusty wind all day. So, we didn’t feel so bad about another day spent on the ground with good company.

Monday morning blew in with more gusts, so we spent the day running errands, making pizza and just thoroughly enjoying our last day of the long weekend. In hindsight, I couldn’t be happier with the weekend we had. Sure, it’d have been nice to get in a skydive or two, but sometimes it’s nice when life shows you a different path for a change.

What did you do with your Labor Day weekend?

Blue ones!

Ashley

Currency in off season

As I sit here looking outside at what meteorologists across the Midwest are referring to as Snowpocalypse,  I can’t help but dream about those sunny afternoons spent in free fall.

If you’re a skydiver living in a place that gets all four seasons like I do, then you understand the inherent challenge of staying on top of the sport throughout the long winter months.

Time off of this magnitude can not only be detrimental to your spirit, but to your ability to keep your body and mind in tune with the sport. Regardless of what the title says, this post is about more than just having enough jumps to not have to worry about recurrency skydives come spring.

But, that’s a great place to start. According to the United States Parachute Association, “skydivers returning after a long period of inactivity encounter greater risk that requires special consideration to properly manage.”

Lucky for us, they provide strict guidelines of this “period of time” so that it’s not left up to the individual skydiver to determine the meaning behind this subjective statement.

Students: Students who have not jumped within the preceding 30 days should make at least one jump under the direct supervision of an appropriately rated USPA Instructor.

A license: USPA A-license holders who have not made a freefall skydive within 60 days should make at least one jump under the supervision of a currently rated USPA instructional rating holder* until demonstrating altitude awareness, freefall control on all axes, tracking, and canopy skills sufficient for safely jumping in groups.

B license: USPA B-license holders who have not made a freefall skydive within the preceding 90 days should make at least one jump under the supervision of a USPA instructional rating holder until demonstrating the ability to safely exercise the privileges of that license.

C and D licenses: USPA C- and D-license holders who have not made a freefall skydive within the preceding six months should make at least one jump under the supervision of a USPA instructional rating holder until demonstrating the ability to safely exercise the privileges of that license.

*This could be a coach or an instructor.

You can get more details about recurrency requirements here under section 5.2 of the Skydiver Instruction Manual.

Okay, so now that that’s out of the way, let’s take a look at some other fun tips to keep your head in the game in the off season:

1. Travel – this is the obvious one. There are so many winter boogies to attend, like Everglades in Clewiston FL and Puerto Rico and Skydive Arizona’s Easter Boogie. Not to mention all the tunnel boogies that are popping up. Of course, you don’t have to go to a boogie, even though they’re so much fun! You can always just take a quick weekend trip somewhere warm to get in a few skydives. The best way to stay current!

2. Snow jumps – of course, if you can’t afford to make a trip to warmer climates, there’s always the option to jump in the cold and snow. This, of course, assumes that there’s a dropzone within driving distance that’s flying year round to take you up. I promise you, altough it sounds bad, we did this a handful of times last year and it wasn’t that bad. Stay covered and you’ll be fine. It’s worth it to stay current and to get that free fall fix. Yes, the feeling does eventually come back to your fingers.

3. Google it - seek out every skydiving resource you can online. Use Dropzone.com to stay informed with articles you haven’t read yet, discussions on forums, incident report, even take a look at the latest used gear for sale in the classifieds to get you jazzed up for the season. Seek out articles on canopy piloting, wingsuiting and other disciplines you might be interested in tackling this season. Skim the SIM online (here) in preparation for Safety Day – officially March 12 this year. If you can’t stay current in the sky, at least keep your mind current with all the information that’s out there to consume.

4. Read, write, watch. You’re in the right place for this tip! Don’t feel like you have to spend all your time reading the hardcore articles and incident reports, you can learn from the fun stuff too. Pick up the latest issues of Blue Skies Magazine and Parachutist, see what they have to say. Find your favorite skydivers on YouTube and watch some videos to get you really jonesing.

There you have it, a few tips for staying sane and current in the off season. Of course, keeping in close contact with your adrenaline junkie friends around the world helps…misery loves company as they say.

Good news is Safety Day is just around the corner, though I do have to say it’s hard to believe with 6 foot snow drifts in the Chicagoland area right now. Here’s to a safe and quick winter.

Blue skies!

Ashley

Holiday Card

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Every year when Christmas cards start arriving in the mail I get the feeling that I really should have sent some out too. Some years I do, some I don’t.

Most I don’t, really.

I did in college, but for some reason I moved away from it once I was out on my own.

And of course, now I’ve made some great skydiving friends who are sending me these wicked cool holiday cards and I’ve sent out jack squat.

So, I’m sending y’all this – consider this my Christmas card. I’m even leaving you with my two favorite skydiving photos from this year, courtesy of Norman Kent and our engagement photo shoot.

Posts might trail off a bit here in the next couple weeks, as I’m sure my readers will too as they head out to visit family or off to really cool places like Zhills (ehem Ms. Owen!) so if I don’t talk to you, hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a very safe New Year!

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

Winter Travel Time

Winter is fast approaching here in Chicagoland, and it’s about time to start thinking about a winter trip. Last year, as some of you might recall, Rick and I made a trip down to the Everglades boogie in Clewiston, FL. This is where I encountered lots of skydiving milestones like my first cutaway, my 100th skydive, my first shot from a closing pin ice luge, my first skyvan jump…the list goes on.

I was recently asked by a reader, “what is the best dropzone to travel to in the winter?” That’s a tough question to answer…I guess, it depends on what you’re looking for.

Let me elaborate.

Last winter, aside from the Clewiston boogie, we visited a few other dropzones in Florida and fell in love with Zhills (aka, Skydive City). The vibe is great, they have an Otter and a PAC, and they have everything you need right at the DZ. Everyone is so friendly, and it definitely lives up to it’s reputation as the friendliest dropzone in Florida. Though we didn’t attend, I hear the annual Christmas Boogie is pretty lovely.

I’ve also been lucky enough to visit other warm-weather dropzones like Skydive Carolina that have an incredible vibe. Everyone there was so willing to jump with you! Southern hospitality at it’s finest.

If you’re looking to head West, I do have to admit that I don’t have a whole lot of experience in this area, but I can tell you that Elsinore is pretty incredible. We were there for Chicks Rock at the beginning of October, and the otters were turning (as was the skyvan, for that weekend). For a Midwesterner, skydiving between the mountains was a pretty incredible site. I was also amazed with how friendly every was there (notice the trend here…if the staff and jumpers are friendly and welcoming, there’s a much greater chance that I’ll love jumping there. It adds to the experience more than you might think). Of course, I might be a bit bias as I was able to do a little bonding with Ms. Melsinore outside of the DZ before heading home…you may recall the Carls Jr. run in.

Anywhoosits, those are my recommendations for sure. Though I’ve yet to travel there, I’ve heard nothing but great things about Skydive Arizona as well. We’ve tossed around the idea of the Puerto Rico boogie, though it just might not be in the budget this time around.

I’d love to hear any other recommendations all you other jumpers have for winter travel. After all, though I’ve traveled at lot the last couple years, my experience is still pretty limited.

On another note, there are lots of end-of-season / Halloween parties going on this weekend at dropzones around the country. Very excited for my first Halloween at CSC, with a costume contest and $20 jumps for those who decide to jump in costume. I will be taking advantage of that!

If you’re not in the area, here are some other events you might consider checking out:

• Halloween Carnivale – Skydive Arizona: 10/29-10/31. Skydive Arizona goes huge for their Halloween event! Good jumps, good party and a FREE MIRAGE RIG to the best costume! They’ve got Otters, Skyvans, a DC3 and a balloon. They’ll have some kick ass load organizers too…one of my favorite chicks will be there (enjoy your trip Mel).
• “One Dirty Halloween” on the Farm – Skydive the Farm (Georgia): 10/29-10/31. 2 Otters, costume contest, charity raffle, load organizers and more!
• Skydive KY grand opening: 10/30. Skydive KY was asked by the airport to start the skydiving business again. Awesomeness!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Blue ones!

Ashley

Transition Time

Apparently I’m back on this title alliteration thing…I probably like it less than you. I’ll work on it.

Anyhow, life has been busy lately since Work Stinks! There are a lot of things in the works and lots of exciting new changes coming up quick. All things that have kept me busy enough and poor enough to hinder my skydiving funds. But let me tell you, it’s worth every extra second I’ve had to spend on the ground.

Aside from the obvious upcoming wedding, we’ve got a trip to the West Coast in our near future for Chicks Rock at Skydive Elsinore. Okay, so not just for that! Actually, the original plan was to head to LA for an extended weekend to visit my uncle, aunt and cousins who I get to see once every 10 years. Well, it just so happens that it falls on the weekend of this incredible boogie and I’m beyond pumped to get to not only jump at a new dropzone but to meet up with some incredible people in the industry (I’m looking at you Gail). It’ll also give us a chance to start letting people in the industry know about the 3rd annual Jump for Diabetes!

Once we’re back from Chicks Rock and what will hopefully be a (much needed) relaxing vacation, it’s time to pack up and head out…for good. That’s right, we’re moving! A couple opportunities have come our way that just couldn’t be passed up, so we’ll be finishing out this season at our new home dropzone – Chicagoland Skydiving Center. As you’ve heard me say before, this is an incredible dropzone and one that we’re proud to call home…well, as much as us jet setters can call any place home I suppose.

(Check out those Blue Skies!)

As you can imagine, my spoiled ass is thrilled to have a full time Otter and PAC less than an hour from my door. Wee! Can’t wait to see everyone in October…it’s coming up fast!

So I guess all this is a lead up to a note that I might be a little absent for the next couple weeks. At the very least there will be an update after Chick Rock…cuz that’s pretty damn important, but don’t hold you breath for much else until we’re able to make our way over to Chicago and get internet access.

Hope y’all have some fun skydiving plans for the weekend. Live it up a little for me!

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

Movie Monday

As you’ve likely heard me say before, Mondays are bad for me. They’re the busiest day of the entire week at the office and most of the time I’m trying to catch up with chores at home from being away all weekend.

The former still applies, however having kept close to home this weekend I was able to find a little spare time to put together a couple of promised videos – from the Work Stinks! Boogie and Jump for Diabetes (about time, right?)!

So, while I bust my butt at the office, you can take some time on your Monday to enjoy the highlights of two of my favorite skydiving events every year.

Jump for Diabetes 2010

Work Stinks! Boogie 2010

Blue Skies!

Ashley

Work Stinks! Boogie — Recap and Engagement

Sorry it’s taken me so long to develop a recap of last weekend…life has been a bit of a whirlwind since we returned home on Monday from the Work Stinks! Boogie at Start Skydiving.

This was the second year in a row that Rick and I attended this event, and let me just tell you that it was beyond amazing. This year there were significantly more attendees than last. They also added a CASA to the mix which was a huge hit! At one point on Sunday there was about an hour and 1/2 wait just to get on this aircraft. We also heard on Sunday that they flew more than 1,200 slots between the Otter, CASA and two caravans. Not too shabby!

Let me back up a few days here. So we’d heard that on Friday jumpers were grounded for most of the day due to winds. We also heard that winds were expected to be just as high on Saturday…which stunk because we wanted to jump, damn it!

Rick had mentioned that he wanted to get in at least one jump on Saturday, high winds or not – this seemed a bit fishy to me. Typically, I’m very quick to sit out with any kind of high wind activity, especially if it’s not completely steady. I’m proud to admit that I’m a wind pussy…better to be safe than to have a canopy collapse.

Anyhow, so the winds weren’t bad on Saturday morning so we jumped on the first CASA load available. We planned a linked head down exit transitioning into sit. Lucky for us the head down stuck almost immediately and we were able to hold it longer than anticipated. It doesn’t do much for video effect, but there’s definitely some audio I recommend checking out in this one.

Yep, you heard that correctly! After a year together as freefly partners, travel buddies and best friends we’re getting married! Woohoo.

The rest of Saturday was a bit breezy for my liking, though we were still able to get in a helicopter jump from the R44 they had on hand. We did a three way with our buddy Justin. I’d show the video, but seriously, it’s not worth much. I need a wide angle bad…this camera just isn’t cutting it!

Later that evening the winds died down a bit and we were able to get in another jump with our buddy Jonathan. Our head down exit went to poo, and Jonathan and Rick had some collisions that were fun to watch.

Sunday was the day we did two jumps with Norman Kent for our engagement photo shoot. The first jump went to shit, there’s no doubt about it. We had really high expectations for the skydive, doing belly work, to freefly and deployment video. My head got the best of me.

But, on round two it worked out perfectly. Head down to sit, recreating our engagement jump…and it actually went even better than the first.

We had such a great time this weekend. We took it easy as far as jumping goes, got to hang out with some great friends, jumped the CASA and Heli, and of course spent some fun time together as a newly engaged couple. Good stuff!

Now I’ve got a lot of video editing ahead…both for Jump for Diabetes and Work Stinks! I promise, once we’re back to normal, full weeks I’ll be back on a regular posting schedule.

Have a great weekend!

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

Random Midnight Fodder

So I’m up late, waiting on an announcement to come through for one of my clients, what a better time to blog than now, huh?

Honestly, I’m not sure where this post is going to take me, it very well may be random as my brain tends to be all over the place this time of night, so bear with me. I’ll try to stick to skydiving at the very least

This weekend Rick and I took a trip out to CSC again. I was finally able to get up in the air with Ms. Sydney for a couple of attempted hybrids. Yes, you read that correctly, couple = 2, attempted = failed. We’re not going to get into the nitty gritty of it – truthfully, we’re not entirely sure what the problem was that was making us not get our act together – but needless to say it was still a skydive and it as still a wicked awesome time. Great flying with you love!

It was nice to do some more freeflying with Doug and Carolyn while I was out there too. Doug was giving us both some great head down instruction, working on exits with flower grips and just getting the feel for the position right out of the plane. After a couple jumps and video reviews things really started to make sense to us! It’s fun flying with these two, can’t wait to get out there again!

I must admit that I was a little envious after Rick did a wingsuit jump Saturday evening. I considered it on Sunday before we left, but the schedule just didn’t permit. Now I’m kinda jonesing for some flight time…that’ll have to be in my near future .

Sad to say that summer is almost officially over. But, there’s still so much season left to enjoy, and so much to look forward to!

• This weekend we’re heading to the Work Stinks! Boogie at Start Skydiving in Middleton, OH. This was mine and Rick’s first boogie together last year so we’ve got fond memories of the jumps that were made and the experiences had. I’m excited to be going back this year. I’m sure there will be lots of photos and video to share when I return next week!
• At the end of the month we’re heading to California for what originally started as a trip to visit family who lives in LA, and is now also a trip to Elsinore for the Chick’s Rock boogie. Looking forward to meeting up with some jumpers I’ve been meaning to get in the sky with for quite some time. Hopefully I’ll be able to convince some of my cousins to jump out of a perfectly good airplane with me that weekend

Let’s see, what else? Oh yeah, I’m selling my Sabre 1 – 150. Anyone need one? It’s in great condition, just over 300 jumps on it, new oversize slider (and regular size slider) come with it. Slinks. With the oversize slider it’s never slammed me…in fact, it snivels! And it’s purdy…

Going to post on DZ.com soon, but wanted to throw it out there to the readers first. Email me if you’re interested: theskydivechick@gmail.com.

Okay, so enough rambling, it’s back to work for me. Still working on a fun Jump for Diabetes video I hope to share in the near future, so stay tuned for that.

Blue skies!


Ashley

Random Midnight Fodder

So I’m up late, waiting on an announcement to come through for one of my clients, what a better time to blog than now, huh?

Honestly, I’m not sure where this post is going to take me, it very well may be random as my brain tends to be all over the place this time of night, so bear with me. I’ll try to stick to skydiving at the very least

This weekend Rick and I took a trip out to CSC again. I was finally able to get up in the air with Ms. Sydney for a couple of attempted hybrids. Yes, you read that correctly, couple = 2, attempted = failed. We’re not going to get into the nitty gritty of it – truthfully, we’re not entirely sure what the problem was that was making us not get our act together – but needless to say it was still a skydive and it as still a wicked awesome time. Great flying with you love!

It was nice to do some more freeflying with Doug and Carolyn while I was out there too. Doug was giving us both some great head down instruction, working on exits with flower grips and just getting the feel for the position right out of the plane. After a couple jumps and video reviews things really started to make sense to us! It’s fun flying with these two, can’t wait to get out there again!

I must admit that I was a little envious after Rick did a wingsuit jump Saturday evening. I considered it on Sunday before we left, but the schedule just didn’t permit. Now I’m kinda jonesing for some flight time…that’ll have to be in my near future .

Sad to say that summer is almost officially over. But, there’s still so much season left to enjoy, and so much to look forward to!

• This weekend we’re heading to the Work Stinks! Boogie at Start Skydiving in Middleton, OH. This was mine and Rick’s first boogie together last year so we’ve got fond memories of the jumps that were made and the experiences had. I’m excited to be going back this year. I’m sure there will be lots of photos and video to share when I return next week!
• At the end of the month we’re heading to California for what originally started as a trip to visit family who lives in LA, and is now also a trip to Elsinore for the Chick’s Rock boogie. Looking forward to meeting up with some jumpers I’ve been meaning to get in the sky with for quite some time. Hopefully I’ll be able to convince some of my cousins to jump out of a perfectly good airplane with me that weekend

Let’s see, what else? Oh yeah, I’m selling my Sabre 1 – 150. Anyone need one? It’s in great condition, just over 300 jumps on it, new oversize slider (and regular size slider) come with it. Slinks. With the oversize slider it’s never slammed me…in fact, it snivels! And it’s purdy…

Going to post on DZ.com soon, but wanted to throw it out there to the readers first. Email me if you’re interested: theskydivechick@gmail.com.

Okay, so enough rambling, it’s back to work for me. Still working on a fun Jump for Diabetes video I hope to share in the near future, so stay tuned for that.

Blue skies!


Ashley

Jump for Diabetes Update

It’s Friday, and it’s beautiful out! This weekend is looking incredible for some quality skydiving .

So I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Here’s what’s up for Jump for Diabetes:

• We’ll be out at Skydive Pennsylvania this weekend, selling PD Canopy Raffle tickets for $100 and allowing people to pre-register in person, rather than online. Cash or checks made out to Jump for Diabetes are accepted. Pre-registration for skydivers is $30 and guarantees you a t-shirt, goodie bag and raffle ticket for he general raffle (which includes thinks like a FREE Freak n’ Suit, a Bonehead Helmet, a pair of Gatorz, FREE freefly pants from EG Suits and much more)! If you decide to register the day of the event it’s $35 and you’re not guaranteed a goodie bag.

• Grand Prize Raffle Tickets recently went on sale: $5 each or 3 for $10. Find out more here: http://jumpfordiabetes.com/blog/?p=21

Those are the big updates for Jump for Diabetes this week. If you’re interested in purchasing any of the tickets, registering for the event or donating to the cause, email JumpforDiabetes@gmail.com and we’ll get you set up!

Blue ones!

Ashley