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

Ordinary vs. Extraordinary

I don’t want to be ordinary. Clearly, being a blogging, traveling, yoga practicing, skydiver I’m not your average 20-something woman.

But, on the other side of the coin – strange as this may sound coming out of the mouth of a skydiver – I don’t want to be too extraordinary either.

I love the diversity in my life, and to give everything I have to one thing, to “become the sport,” just isn’t something that’s on my radar. Now, maybe with the right incentives we could talk, but I’m not willing to give up my relationships and activities completely – these things make me who I am, after all.

On top of all that, I don’t see the benefit of being Ms. Skydiving herself. A lot of people have referred to me as “The Skydive Chick” in the past and it gives me the shivers. I mean, I certainly don’t refer to myself as that, Skydive Chick is just the name of my blog. Hi, I’m Ashley. Nice to meet you!

Though the recognition for my blogging is nice, because it does take an element of sacrifice and work, even though it’s totally badass fun at the same time, but I’m not here to become something that I’m not. I do like that y’all seem to appreciate what I have to share, that’s the whole point.

I’m off track here a little….

My point is this: I thoroughly enjoy leading a life that’s out of the ordinary. I’m not bored, like a lot of my friends, I get opportunities that many may never even dream of (huge perk of living outside the ordinary, in my book), I get to meet some of the most fabulous people in the world, and it always gives me something to do, plan for and talk about. But I don’t think becoming extraordinary (like the fictitious Ms. Skydiving I mentioned above) would do me any favors either.

I like being somewhat grounded (not in the literal, skydiving sense though, that’s kinda killing me slowly right now), being able to listen to other people, hear their stories, rather than just being asked to regurgitate mine all the time. I never want anything to take away from my ability to enjoy the company and stories of others. That’s a big part of the skydiving world, after all.

From spending time with those self-proclaimed sky gods out there, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice that they are frequently bored with other people and often wait (impatiently) to tell their story instead, because their lives are better.

Never, do I want to start behaving that way, or EVER actually believing that I’m better. Yikes!

So call me, Ms. Just Left of Ordinary and call it a day. Or, my preference, call me Ashley, and put me in my place as needed.

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

UPDATE: Hey guys, so I wanted to give a little mini-update to the post, mostly to provide some clarification here. My word choice may not have been the best with the whole ordinary vs. extraordinary thing.  My point here can best be summed up by this line from above:

“From spending time with those self-proclaimed sky gods out there, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice that they are frequently bored with other people and often wait (impatiently) to tell their story instead, because their lives are better. Never, do I want to start behaving that way, or EVER actually believing that I’m better. Yikes!”

I do, however, want to put everything I have into everything I do…go balls to the wall as the lovely Sydney put it below. This has always been my mentality in life. It’s just not my style to put all my eggs in one basket, if you will. I’m a diverse creature, and I like it that way. Yes, speaking in metaphor can be confusing, turns out.

So it’s not so much about not wanting to be great, but it’s about not wanting to become “that girl” in the process. I like being close to the ground (so to speak) while spending as much time at 14,000 as i can…In the end, I just want to be me, and be good at it. After all, aren’t we all here to become as great as we can at everything we do?

Cravings

Freefall cravings are hitting hard these days. I haven’t been able to get any time in the sky since the end of the season and it’s eating away at me.

Over the holidays I lived vicariously through my friends who traveled to Florida and other exotic places (yes, when you live in Chicago, Florida is considered exotic) for skydiving, which I worked long hours to fill in for my colleagues who were also gone on vacation.

Last year at this time I was ramping up for 10 days in Florida for the Everglades boogie. That seems like ages ago now. This year we have nothing planned – though we did just talk about taking a trip the other day, whether it’s a quick road trip somewhere a little warmer or even just a weekend at a local dropzone that’d be willing to throw us out of an airplane. I’d take hop ‘n pops at this point.

Anyone know of any dropzones within driving distance of Chicago that fly on sunny winter days?

Until then, I’m continuing to live through those of you who were able to get out and skydive this Christmas. Any stories you have to share are welcome.

Blue ones!

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

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!

I’d rather be skydiving – relaxing edition

This weekend was the first official non-skydiving weekend of the year. At first I was looking forward to it, then come Saturday morning I have to admit I was a bit bummed. Sure, I got to lounge around and catch up on some much needed relaxation, and laundry, but I was really wishing I could be in the air.

It’s been a few weeks – which until this point, is the longest period of time I’ve gone without a skydive. Though I’ve felt plenty of adrenaline lately, none of it is nearly as freeing as exiting the otter.

There are no plans for a winter trip in my immediate future…I’ve adopted this whole live one day at a time philosophy, and honestly I’m loving every second of that. Even talking with the family about Christmas plans makes me uncomfortable – it seems just too far away to worry about right now.

I do love that skydiving has taught me how to do this. For those that may not know it, this sport goes beyond just jumping out of airplanes, packing up and doing it all over again. There’s so much to learn about yourself and the life you want to live, if you’re open to it. In the recent weeks off I’ve had a chance to really sit back and absorb all that I’ve learned from skydiving and the surrounding community. I’ve been blessed to have met so many incredible people who, whether they know it or not, have taught me about myself too.

Though I still haven’t learned how to comfortably sit and do nothing. It’s during those times that I really, truly miss being in the air. Hmm…maybe I will start thinking about a winter trip after all…any suggestions?

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

I’d rather be skydiving: Segway Edition

For my regular readers, y’all are aware of the fact that I recently made a rather hefty life change and moved back to the Midwest (as I grew up a Michigander), to the city of Chicago. Though we’ve only been here two weeks, I can already tell you that I’m loving it!

This past weekend Rick and I decided to be tourists in our new town and go on a segway tour of the city. I know it’s sounds insanely cheesy coming from the mouth (er, uh, I suppose it would be fingers in this instance) of a skydiver, but this was incredibly fun!

This is what a segway looks like, for those who might not be familiar. And yes, we wore the ridiculous looking helmets.

Our reservations were on Saturday, which ended up being the perfect fall day, and we spent three hours on these machines touring the city without breaking a sweat.

We were able to cover somewhere between 8 and 10 miles and catch the Chicago sights, including:

Soldier Field

Grant Park and Buckingham Fountain

Shedd Aquarium and Museum Campus

Alder Planetarium - which boasts the best view of the Chicago skyline

Millennium Park and the most photographed piece of art in Chicago - Bonus points for those who actually know the name of "the bean"

And they even stopped just outside of museum campus to let us chow down on a Chicago Dog:

If you've never had one, they're a must try!

Of course, the weekend wasn’t complete without a trip to the dropzone where, as I mentioned earlier this week, I got my new canopy all hooked up, flew it for and packed it. Maybe in the near future I’ll do a post on tips for packing new canopies…though in the meantime if you know of any, please send them my way, that thing is a bitch to pack!

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

Chicks Rock 2010

Five days in Southern California, delayed flights coming home, early morning for catching up at the office….needless to say I’m a little drained today.

But, that won’t stop me from giving a recap of the Chicks Rock boogie! Though I ask you to give me a little compassion on my writing skills as they aren’t up to par with only half a sleepy brain at work.

Anyhow, the 5 days we spent in LA were a blast! We showed up to the boogie on day 1 (Thursday) with high hopes to get in a handful of jumps while my aunt, uncle and cousins (the reason we were in  LA to begin with) were all at work. Well, though we could see the blue skies, this nasty system sat over Skydive Elsinore and kept us on the ground.

So, we tried again on Friday. One jump and weather rolled in…so we headed out a little early.

Saturday the weather played much nicer and we were able to do some more skydiving. I was even able to get onto the sunset all-girls tracking dive with Melanie Curtis (aka, Melsinore). Which, can I just stop for a moment and say, what a cool freakin’ chick! Not just because she’s a totally badass skydiver and swooper, but because she has every reason to be arrogant and full of herself and she’s about as far from that as you can get! She did her best to include so many different girls on the all-chick jumps throughout the weekend (must say, I felt pretty great having her ask me to join the sunset tracking dive) and I’m amazed at how many names she was able to learn in such a short event. On top of that, when we ran into her randomly at the Carl’s Jr. by LAX, she didn’t hesitate to stop and bullshit with us for 10 minutes or so. And that girl knows how to throw a pretty great event!

Throughout the weekend we ran into people we’d met elsewhere, lots of badass skydiving chicks, mingled with the ladies at Blue Skies Mag and some of my favorites (read: Kelly and Gail) over at Infinity. The vibe was very chill and everyone was so friendly. I even heard a story on the packing mats that if you’re going to have a cutaway, Elsinore is the place to do it — apparently they’re quick to retrieve your main, freebag, and even you if you land off. That’s always comforting to hear! Definitely a place I’d like to visit again soon.

Needless to say we had a great weekend (aside from the intense heat that I wasn’t used to, but that’s an entirely different story altogether). Wish I had more than the one video to share, but my pictures from the nigh swoops didn’t come out, so you’ll have to live with that.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley