Tunnel Camp

It’s been a long time coming, a discussion on tunnel flying, but honestly I’m glad I waited until after my second camp to provide commentary on the experience – I learned so much about tunnel training this time around!

The first time in a tunnel was humbling, to say the least. Everyone says that as a freeflyer the first hour or two you spend training in a tunnel is going to be a bit frustrating as you break bad habits you learned in the sky and learn to backfly (as most of us go straight to sit rather than learning the ever important backflying and back to sit transitions).

I learned a lot in January, don’t get me wrong, but this time around I was astonished with the learning curve.

My goal this time was to start learning the fundamentals of head down work. For someone who has only been legit head down in the sky a handful of times, mostly because someone put me in that position, it was a bit of a lofty goal to say the least. I went in knowing that I needed more work on my back and could afford to focus energy on my sit, docking and transitions as well.

To my surprise, I had my head on the net by the second rotation. Getting the feeling for head down and finding your balance takes time, patience and practice. There’s lots of muscle memory involved in this position, and (as was my case) you can expect to do it over and over again until you get the feel for it.

I was amazed how much backflying came into play during this journey, and fully understand why Mickey stresses proficiency on your back before making the transition to head down, or head up for that matter. Back is the bail out position – and if you’re anything like me, you’ll spend plenty of time there before getting your head off the net.

But, once you get there, the feeling is amazing. Pretty sure I squealed like a little girl the first time I got lift.

What was especially valuable about this camp was that most of us flying this weekend had about the same level of proficiency. We were all working to improve our backflying, finding additional comfort in our sit and putting our heads to the net in some head down work. The lessons you can learn from simply watching others in the tunnel, the corrections they make and hearing feedback in the debrief sessions while reviewing flight video is invaluable.

During the camp, our buddy Dave over at Skydive Radio decided it would be great to have a round table about the camp to hear it from the mouths of skydivers who benefit from tunnel coaching and encourage other jumpers to get themselves into the tunnel.

CHECK OUT THE SHOW HERE!

I’ve also shamelessly plugged Jump for Diabetes and the wonderful cause that we are supporting.

For those who have never been to a tunnel, get yourself there ASAP. For jumpers, a camp is extremely beneficial as you learn from everyone else and you get plenty of 1 on 1 time in the tunnel and out (read: debriefs after each session). I highly recommend Body Pilots for your training – Mickey is a spectacular coach. And I really have nothing but good things to say about the instructors and facilities at SkyVenture Colorado. They take good care of you there and even though you’re in a camp, the instructors are there to help, provide additional thoughts and give you tips to improve your flying.

What have been your experiences in the tunnel?

Blue Skies!

Ashley

May excitement

Can I just tell you how excited I am about the month of May? Typically this is the case because, in the Midwest this is the time of the year where weather starts to turn nice, and more times than not I have some fun stuff on the calendar. This year is no different – aside from the fact that now that I’m in the South, the weather is turning HOT instead.

This week I’m headed off to SVCO for some tunnel action. It’s Mickey’s last camp of the “winter season” so I’m going to make the most of it with an hour of freefly coaching. I have a few goals that I’m keeping under wraps at this time (I’m not one for sharing my goals in advance), but mainly I hope to come out a more competent, confident freeflyer. The rest of the weekend is going to be spent in Boulder with a friend I haven’t seen in years, exploring the area and just getting away from the norm.

Then I’m headed off to the mitten for a friend’s wedding. Part of me is excited, part is nervous. I wasn’t planning on attending my high school reunion which will take place this year, but I get the sense that this wedding will be pretty close to that. Convenient that it’s on Mother’s Day weekend and I have Sunday to spend with my family before heading back south.

The week I get back I’ve got something fun and artistic planned. That’s all I’m going to say for now…pictures and maybe even videos to come.

My birthday is in there somewhere as well, but I’m getting a little too close to 30 for my liking so I might just try to pass that one by!

And the last weekend in May is booked with a boogie over at Skydive The Farm. From what I hear it’s going to be the last Good Vibes boogie they host, so I’m excited to take part.

Of course, in the times I’m not traveling or jumping out of airplanes or doing some fun top-secret things, I’ll be planning and promoting Jump for Diabetes, as it’s right around the corner. I’m beyond stoked for what this month has in store.

What are your plans for May?

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

Sky bath – a cleansing of the soul

After nearly half a year with my feet on the ground, I’m happy to say I made a successful return to the sky this weekend – despite Mother Nature’s best attempts at keeping me grounded.

Early last week at physical therapy I was officially cleared to skydive. The caveat was that I had to feel really good to make a jump. Needless to say when I woke up on Friday and my shoulder was feeling a bit “crunchy,” I was concerned that my return would have to be postponed yet again. Luckily come Saturday morning the only pains I awoke with were the painful cravings to sky jump.

As I arrived at The Farm (which is my new home dropzone after moving to The South) the winds were not playing as nice as I’d hoped. The swoop competitors who were in town for the FLCPA swoop meet were grounded due to gusty winds, so that was my indication to keep my feet firmly plated on the ground.

So, I took the time to plan my first jump back, do some dirt diving, and even network a bit for Jump for Diabetes (more to come on that later). Once the winds stated behaving I got on the first load that would take me – an hour and 1/2 later. Lucky for me it ended up being the sunset load. Simple two way freefly, knee lock into sit, where I got to test out all those skills I refined in the tunnel over the winter. One foot dock and lots of smiles later it was time to pull. Thankfully, I decided to pull high as my deployment included a number of line twists that required some deep breathing and lots of kicking. All was good in the end.

The sky was wonderful and peaceful, it was the cleanse that I needed. It’s amazing how much lighter I feel after a good skydive. All my cares and worries are left in the door of that airplane and nothing else matters but the moment – it’s like a cleansing of the soul.

The rest of the weekend didn’t play nice wind wise, but lots of time was spent outside…I’ve got the sunburn and mosquito bites to prove it. All in all it was a great couple days and I can’t wait to do it again next weekend.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

p.s. It’s been a while since you’ve seen one of these on my blog, but here’s a look at my first flight back!

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

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

Great to be back

After nearly 5 months on the ground I was finally able to get back into the sky this weekend, and can I just say that it’s so great to be back!

As you can imagine, there were some pretty intense butterflies going on, but given that it was sunset load and I did a simple 2-way freefly I was confident it’d be a good jump.

Sure enough, once that door opened my adrenaline took over and we had an incredible freefly (sorry kids, no video this time, what with my new BoneHead REvolve and I don’t have a Contour to mount…yet).

I have to admit though, my muscles are a bit out of practice. Sure, the sitfly came fairly natural and my brain was firing on all cylinders (until the landing, but we’ll get to that) but I couldn’t help but think to myself that the wind seemed stronger than usual. The triceps are definitely feeling it, though I’m guessing it’s a combination of the freefly and packing a virtually brand new parachute, which is always a slippery struggle.

After separating from an awesome 2-way I tracked and dumped around 4 grand, just to give myself plenty of time to get adjusted. My opening was beyond perfection so the extra time wasn’t exactly needed, but better to be safe than sorry.

The winds were a bit breezy up top so I turned in around 700 ft to start my downwind, performed a beautiful flat turn to get myself lined up perfectly where I wanted to land.

I was coming in all excited when, at about 15 feet, my brain stopped. Completely froze right then and there. Which means that my toggles made it to half brakes and stopped. Needless to say, what could have been a nearly flawless skydive ended in not-so-graceful fashion and a leg strap that needs a thorough scrubbing.

So I walked away pumped about the freefall and a bit red faced from the tumble. But, it solidifies my need to get in a canopy course stat. My confidence under this new 120 isn’t what it was with my previous Sabre 150 and Triathlon 135. I went through this once before in my skydiving career, being a bit of a headcase on landing, but this time I refuse to let it get the best of me. I know what I’m doing, or what I should be doing, so seriously, what’s my deal?!

(Note: Sometimes, giving yourself regular pep talks is all it takes to get your head out of your a$$ and get with the program.)

Regardless of the minor stumbles in the road, I couldn’t be more excited to get back into the sport that I’ve become so passionate about. I walked away that evening not only with a huge smile on my face, but feeling the weight of 5 months of stress on the ground slipping away. It was as if it I left it all in the airplane just prior to exit.

Sometimes, there’s just nothing better than a good skydive to make you appreciate your life. Can’t wait till the next one!

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

Hear it from the Expert – Melanie Curtis

Well, it’s that time of year again. Winter has set in (and a very cold one at that  here in Chicago). So while this skydive chick sits on the ground until things warm up a bit, we’re going to continue to let the skydiving coverstation fly.

So what a better time to start hearing from some of the hottest experts in the community, shall we?

Hot is right, with this first interview! As some may recall, I took a trip out to Elsinore in October for the Chicks Rock boogie and was able to meet and fly with some of the coolest skydive chicks around.

And we’ve got one of my faves right here on the page with us today. I’ll let the interview speak for itself, but I can tell you that she’s high energy and even has a bit of a mouth on her…and it’s absolutely impossible NOT to love her.

So please, welcome to the blog, Melanie Curtis.

(Borrowed this from Facebook, hope you don’t mind Mel)

SDC: Alright Ms. Melanie, let’s start with the basics – when did you start skydiving and what’s your “story” on getting into this sport?

MC: My Dad actually owned a small drop zone in upstate New York for many years called The Verona Skydiving Center.  I was lucky enough to be exposed to skydiving at a young age, could have done it when I was 16, but was scared, wasn’t ready.. when I was 18, something in my flipped and I was ready.  Told my Dad I was going to do it the next day, I did, and so it happened that the entirety of my adult life was spent fully immersed in my love of this sport and community.

SDC: For those of us who have jumped with you, we all know that you do a little bit of everything, even swooping. So tell us, what is your favorite discipline?

MC: Currently, my favorite discipline is 4-way VFS, because it’s still quite a bit of a challenge for me, I don’t feel that good at it yet, and with the bigger gap open for improvement, so is the opening for feeling awesome when you rock it. Outside of that though, pretty much my only personal goal in skydiving now is to only surround myself with awesome, hilarious people I love.  Seriously.  I’m not kidding.  That’s for team stuff– awesome, hilarious, teammates I love, only. Professionally, I love going to/working at/organizing major events– I love that I get to meet and jump with a million new people, ever expanding the connection with awesome hilarious people I love.  Hahaa, but seriously! I’m so so so all about that. On top of the obvious fun of travel, experiencing the country/world, and enjoying the skies and views from so many beautiful places.  Man, I’m grateful.

SDC: Is there anything you haven’t tried yet that you really want to (like, have you wingsuited or BASE jumped)?

MC: I have tried wingsuiting, did about 20 jumps, had a hard pull and a reserve ride, and then hung it up for good.  I tried it because of the awesome organizers (Taya Weiss, Jeff Nebelkopf, Phil Peggs, etc) of the Wingsuit Records held at Elsinore.. but yeah, I don’t like having my limbs restricted like that, and honestly, overall, am a very risk-averse skydiver. As for BASE, I have no desire.  Zip, zilch, nada.  The videos totally turn my stomach.  I get no enjoyment out of increased risk– I like to calculate my risk to a point of feeling as safe as one can feel inside the skydiving environment.  I love my life, so I make choices to protect it, and for me, that boxes out certain things.  Totally appreciate that others love it, that it’s incredible in it’s own right, and that maybe down that line I’ll change my mind.. yeah, all good.. as of now though, I’m happy pushing myself in the competitive arena, and in coaching, very simply, helping people have more fun.

SDC: Aside from Elsinore and the Chick’s Rock boogie (cuz we all know that’s the best one around), what are some of your favorite dropzones and Boogies?

MC: CarolinaFest is amazing!! James LaBarrie and DZO’s Danny and Annette Smith put on a fantastic show, awesome people, great night life, fun extras, awesome organizers (hehee), extra aircraft, all the vendors, Rodriguez Brothers initiations, any discipline of skydiving covered.. everything.  Even though it’s a co-ed event, we’ve started calling it the Chicks Rock of the East.. cause the vibe is just so awesome, welcoming, loving, and fun.  Hell yes.  Other than that, in 2010, the Pimp My Fly Boogie in Hanko, Finland was INCREDIBLE!! What an amazing nearly week-long event these girls put on to inspire the lady freefliers of Finland.  SO grateful to be a part of that one, and can’t wait for 2011!!

SDC: We just missed that event last year, having spent a long weekend in South Carolina only a couple weeks prior. But you’re so right about everyone there – definitely a place we plan to visit again soon…maybe for the boogie!

Any place/event you really want to attend but haven’t yet?

MC: I’ve never been to Empuriabrava.. not sure what’s there really, I guess the draw of the exotic foreign location is appealing to me…. taps into that bug of wanting to see the world.  I guess Dubai is on the list now too!

The New and Exciting

One thing I’ve come to see in my short time in the skydiving world is that skydivers are the ultimate live-in-the-moment creatures. This is something that I love, mostly because it’s taught me how to live in the moment more in the other aspects of my life…which, I think, makes life more enjoyable.

But of course, playing that devil’s advoate role that I love so much, we can’t forget about the other side of that, the one where we have a tendency to seek out the novel…to only really enjoy the things that are new and exciting.

On the surface, that doesn’t sound so bad, but when it comes to things like progression in the sport, being ADD (ooh, look, shiny new wingsuit, I want to try that) doesn’t bode so well for your desire to improve those freefly skills.

Think of it this way, you can’t bitch and moan about not sticking that head down when you only practice it every two months because your attention is constantly drawn to other elements of the sport. It takes practice, and determination. Muscle memory can’t be built without regular repition, so unless you’re a natural at everything you do, this tendency to trail off can harm your progression in skydiving…heck, in any sport really. For anyone who has been paying attention, can you tell this is a mini-lecture to myself?

I’ve noticed my tendency to be distracted by these shiny skydiving objects too. Going back to my first few months in the sport, freefly showed it’s pretty little face and pulled me away from RW. Then came camera flying, then wingsuiting – and it’s only been a year and a half…so you can see how this could carry out in my skydiving career. Ha!

The good thing is, when it comes to skydiving at least, no matter what you’re doing in the sky, every jump teaches you the art of manipulating the air in order to do the things you want as you’re falling toward the Earth. Each skydive gives you roughly 3,000 ft. to practice your canopy skills. The key is, taking advantage of these opportunities, by living in the moment and using every second to your advantage.

Which brings me back to my first point, that skydivers are some of the best when it comes to living in the moment. Wow, this came full circle. Not sure I started out with that plan, but that’s where it’s ended up. This was going to conclude with a life lesson, and I think it still can — one that’s geared mostly toward the skydiving community and it’s this: live in the moment, enjoy each and every second while you’re doing it, and be sure to take advantage of the time you’re given. But, don’t let your need for novelty ruin what you’ve spent so much time building.

Ohh…check that out. Maybe it’s not so skydiving focused after all. “Don’t let the need for novelty ruin what you’ve spent so much time building.” — that can apply to any aspect of life, relationships, career, sports…you name it.

Hope this was as an enlightening of a post for you as it was 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