Ok there is so much to write about todays jumps. First of I downsized today into a 220 Navigator. I figured how much of a difference could this be right? Wow incredible!!! Forward motion with back to wind is FAST (for me anyhow). I’m down to 182 lbs so the wingload on this rig was .97. My first landing was down by the pond. How far is that from target you would ask, well as Scott told me to write in my jump log (TFTM — To Far To Measure). So what about the freefall right? Well I did three backloops and was I spinning fast by the third, who would have thought. Did one front look, that needs work and a 360 turn. Again I think it’s time to maybe go back to the basics for a few jumps to work on turns and just falling gracefully.
Jump number 17 — Nice skydive, two backloops which was much nicer to transition to belly. Oh before I forget all my exits were ride the slide. So two backloops, one front loop, better than jump 16, and two 360′s, left and right. The Landing : BAD, BAD, BAD. Good setup, was 500′ up beside the target and setup was good, then I saw the Plane. Didn’t lern from someone elses mistakes and focused on the plane for a sec and overshot the runway. Now I begin to come back across the runway and that’s stupid to I turn right and land out far in the field far from plane. Got a good talking to from Mike (thanks for being gentle Mike). The whole thing was a bit of an ego beating and was considering calling it a day after filling in the log. Scott advised me you don’t want to go home beat up like that and had better do another one.
Jump 18 — Well another good skydive, nice sitfly exit (ride the slide). Two backloops again, good control, one frontloop (need work) and some 360′s — work on them too. Anyhow yes you are all waiting for “so how was the landing”. Not as bad as first but still TFTM and didn’t land into the wind, pushed sideways, didn’t recover and another HARD LANDING. Shoulder and elbow are a bit sore and I’m sure the pain will remind me for next day or two the lessons I got from Mike re: that landing. All in all I’m in a good mood and can say I learn alot from todays jumps and most of all realized 20 Sq Feet is a HUGE difference.