Overcoming Butterflies

For most of us involved in adrenaline sports, butterflies are a natural part of the game. They can be fuel in some instances. After all, what’s a good adrenaline high without pre-jump butterflies?

That said, when too many flutters start happening in your belly, that can spell disaster. Not only could too much nervousness prove to keep some people firmly planted on the ground, but if you do make it up, it could be detrimental to your skydive.

Don’t let butterflies get the best of you. If you’re new to the sport and doing your first tandem or are starting AFF, you might feel like you’re going to throw up before every skydive (I know I did in the beginning) and that’s totally natural to have those feelings. Skydiving is anything but natural, so when you tell your brain that you’re about to jump out of an airplane at 14,000 ft and plummet to the ground at 120mph, your body wants to send every signal that it can that this isn’t right.

Believe it or not, it’s not human nature to want to put yourself in danger. Of course, our higher brain function does allow us to understand the safety of what we’re doing and the thrill that we know will ensue, even when our bellies might be telling us otherwise.

So how can you overcome nerves that may seem dibilitating at times in order to pull off the kind of skydive you want? Here are a few tips from yours truly:

1. Visualize the kind of skydive you want – this goes more for the experienced skydivers than those who have never jumped before, but if you can take a couple minutes before every skydive and envision it going the way you want, then you can take those butterflies and apply them to make what you want to happen, happen. You might be surprised how powerful this foreshadowing might be.

2. Breathe – this seems to be a theme. Take a couple deep breaths before you jump, and don’t forget to breathe on the way down. This is the best way to ensure that you stay relaxed in the skydive. Easier said than done, yes, but all it takes is a little practice.

3. Talk it out – this kind of goes along with visualizing the skydive. No matter if this is your first ever skydive or your 10,000th, talk it out with those you’ll be jumping with. It’ll help give you a better sense for what is expected from everyone on the jump.

4. Keep jumping – the more you skydive the less your nerves will get the best of you. Success breeds more success. You’ll learn faster and be able to figure out any issues you encounter. Practice makes perfect, as they say.

So tell me, fellow skydivers and adrenaline junkies, what are some of your rituals for keeping your nerves from interfering with your sport?

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

Stepping down

Last week I mentioned on Twitter that I’m stepping down my canopy size. As an AFF student I was jumping a 260, but as a 120 pound person that’s become too large. I’m in the air too long for my liking.

The dilemma I was running into was that the next size down at my home DZ is a 190. Upon Tweeting this, I was overwhelmed with the responses concerned for my safety.

Thanks y’all. Talk about making a newbie feel cared about! I’m all about the love.

Luckily, my presence was requested back home in Michigan this weekend, and I was able to jump at Skydive Tecumseh where the variety of student rigs was much greater.

I was able to get in a couple good jumps on smaller canopies and ended on a Pilot 210 that I loved! I’ll definitely be looking to get a Pilot when my budget allows for the purchase of my own rig. Anyone know of a 170 that’ll be going on the market this year?

This weekend I’ll be back at Canton Air Sports in Alliance, OH, jumping with some of my favorites. Fingers crossed that they have something in a comparable size. I really don’t want to jump that 290 like last time.

Oh, but wait. Just when you thought I was wrapping up. I want to back up to my time at Skydive Tecumseh. What kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t give my two cents on this DZ?

This was my 4th drop zone (Skydive Miami, Cleveland Parachute, Canton Air Sports and now Skydive Tecumseh). Other than the fact that it’s incredibly convenient when I’m headed home to see my family, it’s a great little community in itself.

In the day that I spent there, we had a few weather holds that allowed me to meet some great skydivers – and new friends. I also had the pleasure of being the very first student of a new coach on the scene.

Jeromy (check him out over at SkydiveBlog.com) did a great job and any student would be lucky to have him. He really helped me with my docking and tracking. I can’t wait to show off my new skills this weekend!

Check out my jump here!

On top of all that, the DZ is really organized. And they fly an Otter full time to 14,000 feet! Can’t beat that kind of altitude.

Needless to say, I’ll be heading back there every time I’m in Michigan. 

Blue Skies!

Ashley

Now that was fun!

Today was my fourth AFF jump, and it was by far the most fun yet!

It was a beautiful day, light winds out of the west, not a cloud in the sky. As the first jump of the day I had quite the audience of tandem jumper, including a bachelorette party, watching on as I came in for a smooth landing (no pressure).

So smooth in fact, that I probably should have stood up rather than PLF, but given that I landed in eight or so inches of brush I took the safe route.

But let’s back up to the free fall for a second, shall we?

Today was my release dive. I went out the door as usual, Dan on my right, Tom on my left.

We exited together, took a few seconds to level out – arching hard to get belly to Earth – and went right into my first circle of awareness.

Only a couple hand signals and minor body position changes before I found myself in free fall alone. Officially my first solo free fall.

Surprisingly, I kept it cool and stable. A few minor, unintended turns, but I waved off at 5,500 and deployed the pilot chute. And that’s when I realized it….I completely forgot about practice touches after the circle of awareness.

Before the jump we had modified our routine to allow as much solo free fall time as possible, and in those modifications we decided on just one practice touch. Regardless, I was still released, but when I reached for that hackey to deploy it hit me, “holy crap! This is the first time I’m touching this… I completely spaced on the practice touches.”

Minor mistakes aside, I felt great about this skydive, and my instructors seemed pretty proud too.

This was the first time I felt like I had more fun than I did stress.  Each time I jump I become more aware of just how much I was meant to be a part of this sport.

What has been one of your best jump experiences?

Blue Skies!

Ashley

The First Five

Well, this newbie skydiver has successfully completed her first five jumps! Here’s what they looked like, in a nutshell.

#1 – Tandem at Skydive Miami.

After a Caribbean vacation we decided to go out with a bang and skydive. Going in for a one time thrill I never imagined that I would fall so madly in love with the sport.

#2 – Tandem Progression at Cleveland Parachute Center (now my home DZ).

This time around I knew I was headed down the path of becoming a skydiver. At this point, I wasn’t quite comfortable going it on my own. So with 30 minutes of on-the-ground training, learning hand signals and the importance of altimeter checks, I was strapped to Dan for a free fall from 10,500 and deployed my own ‘chute. At that moment I was hooked!

(Unfortunately, no photos of this jump.)

#3 – AFF #1 at Cleveland Parachute Center.

After 5 hours of one-on-one training on the ground I went up with my own parachute. My nerves got the best of me and the free fall didn’t go as smoothly as we’d all hoped. An instructor was lost along the way but I still managed to pull at 5,500 and steer the canopy in for a soft landing. This was a big learning jump for me, and I figure, what a better time to make mistakes to learn from? After all, I’ve got two instructors right there to help me with the necessary corrections.

#4 – AFF #2 at Cleveland Parachute Center.

I was determined to have a near perfect skydive this time. So I came back to the drop zone the next morning and was the first jump of the day. Success! My nerves were calmed as I knew what to expect this time around and overall the skydive felt great.

#5 – AFF #3 at Cleveland Parachute Center.

This weekend I headed out for another early morning skydive. It was cold in the sky, very cold. So I donned gloves and a hooded sweatshirt under my jumpsuit. This time we performed team turns. I felt much more aware of my leg positioning and even got a couple thumbs up in free fall. Tried to squeeze in another jump later in the day but life got in the way and time ran short.

I’ll be back though, next weekend. You can count on that.

Blue Skies!

Ashley

Commence AFF

This weekend marked the beginning of my journey as a true skydiver.

I began my Advanced Free Fall (AFF) jumps. Essentially, these are a series of skydives where you are accompanied by one or two instructors in free fall and you learn how to become a solo skydiver.

What’s great about AFF is that you progressively learn more and more about free fall technique, steering the canopy, safety and everything else you need to know in order to jump out of a plane on your own.

On the first day you have ground school – anywhere from 4 to 6 hours of instruction – to go over the basics, review emergency procedures, and run through the skydive again and again.

And then, you make the jump! The first jump with your own parachute. Upon deploying the ‘chute you get an exhilerated feeling, one of complete freedom and awe.

Personally, I howled at the top of my lungs!

Then an instructor talks you in via radio from the ground.

This weekend consisted of my first two AFF jumps. My instructors over at Cleveland Parachute have been beyond amazing and they really helped me with some great lessons learned.

#1 – Altitude Awareness. ALWAYS, no matter what is happening in free fall, always remember to check your altimeter and know where you are in the free fall. 5,500 feet sneaks up on you fast!

#2 – Arch (and proper body position). If you’re not falling as smoothly as you’d hoped, arch your back. Hard. Then, check your legs. Odds are you need to point your toes a little and adjust to shoulder width apart.

(As you see here, I needed to bring my legs closer together a bit)

#3 – Relax. Find something on the plane ride up to calm your nerves. Personally, I sing to myself while visualizing my skydive. Adrenaline is supposed to be flowing. After all, what fun would it be if you weren’t a little on edge? But sheer terror isn’t going to help much. Breathe. Focus on your arch.

#4 – Break the skydive down. Take it one step at a time. First you have to exit the plane. Then you have free fall. ARCH. Then you can think about your in-flight progressions (circle of awareness and deploying at 5,500). And don’t concern yourself with malfunctions. They do happen, but rarely. And you’ve been trained how to handle it.

#5 – Trust yourself. You know what needs to happen. You’ve been over and over it with your instructors. Trust in your abilities and allow yourself to have fun.

(Everyone should have this smirk during free fall. After all, it’s FUN!)

But if the skydive doesn’t go as planned, brush it off. If you pulled at 5,500 and got to the ground safely then you succeeded. No one is perfect and just think, there’s always the next jump to improve.

Blue Skies!

Ashley

Welcome to Skydive Chick

Oh hi! Welcome to my blog. As you can see, this is a work in progress, but I just couldn’t wait to start writing.

Let me introduce myself. I’m Ashley Mead. AKA the Skydive Chick herself.

That’s me. Happy as can be, ready to make my first AFF jump, but that’s a story for another day. My home base is Cleveland Parachute. Highly recommended if you’re ever in the area.

Currently, I am a beginner skydiver, but I have just as much passion for the sport as any experienced jumper out there. Stick around, you’ll see.

I’ve got a few goals for this site – beyond chronicling my journey to licensing, which I will be doing, but along the way I want to share with you pictures and videos, experiences of other skydivers, and happenings from around the skydiving community, just to name a few.

So join me will you, on this thrilling journey that is the life of a skydiver.

Blue Skies,

Ashley