Don't Pull Low!

Strange thing happened to me this weekend-

On my first jump of the day, the guy in front of me in the plane noticed that his Neptune reset on the way up. He said he had an audible, but he has low jump numbers, and you need an altimeter for more than deployment altitude. Since I have an audible, wrist mount, and a Viso on my mud flap, I loaned him my wrist mount. No problem right?

So I got out, and enjoy my solo sitfly jump. I did some front flips, and then I checked my altitude by looking at my mud flap Viso. Well, it blew apart in freefall! I had no visible altimeter- the same situation I was trying to prevent for the other guy in the plane!! So I listened for my audible, and constantly scanned for canopies (a sure sign to pull if my audible didn't work).

My audible DID work (thank goodness), and I deployed at 3500 ft. I looked down and I had no idea where I am! I looked all around, and finally I spotted it WAY over THERE. I pulled down to deep brakes. I unintentionally kept looking at what is now a piece of plastic (but used to be an altimeter) to see if I can make it back. I didn't want to be in the situation of making a low turn to get back into the wind, or land dangerously downwind into oncoming traffic. I did make it back with enough altitude to spare.

The guy I loaned my altimeter to did fare so well. He foolishly pulled low, which is a bad idea anyway, and didn't make it back to th dropzone. No big deal right? Well, it rained the day before and there was sticky mud EVERYWHERE. That altimeter I loaned him got really dirty. He was apologetic and cleaned it off.

Well, I got in four more jumps to what was a very cold, windy day. I guess I'll be asking Santa for a new Viso!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

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Happy Holidays and Blue Skies!

BRRRRRRR!!!!!

I can't complain too much, but I guess after living in the South for 8 years, I have developed a thin skin. Right now I'm at Skydive Spaceland in Rosharon, Texas. For those of you who don't know, Rosharon is south of Houston, close to the coastline to the Gulf of Mexico. It's in the 40s or 50s right now with the winds in the 20 mph range. Needless to say, the reason why I'm staying on the ground is not because of the temperature, but rather because of the winds.

This cooler weather is bringing me back to my childhood days of growing up in New York. School started just after Labor Day, with the trees starting to turn colors soon afterward. Halloween night consisted of luging around my plastic pumpkin while wearing a coat underneath my costume and the sound of crunching leaves beneath my feet. This being my first winter in Texas, I am thinking of how much colder it is in New York right now and how much I DON'T miss walking to high school in the freezing cold. My mother is coming to Texas for Thanksgiving and she's probably going to think we're having a tropical heat wave in comparison to the Hudson Valley in New York. My sister, who lives in Port Jervis NY, has already gotten snow.

With that being said, I can't complain...too much.