Day 3
I'm not jumping today as, to be honest that tumbling has dented my confidence a bit. I'm cleared onto Level 5 (solo 360deg turns) but i'd rather do them properly and confidently after some tunnel time than risk going up and messing it up, thus having to fork out another $100+ to retake the level.
(I'm sorry for any friends or family members I've worried! I made a decision not to hold anything back to let you know exactly how it feels to learn to jump out of a plane! And trust me I'm not gonna put myself in the position of solo diving until I'm entirely confident I can control what I do.)
I NEED TO PERFECT MY ARCH! The arch gives you stability in any jump. It slows you down to a relative 120mph 'hover' while keeping you on course, and automatically rights you from whatever position you choose to put yourself in. Once you're stable, you can pop your chute.
Once you can get stable whenever you like, the sky is yours.
I feel a bit like i've failed something or someone today (but who or what I don't know?) though deep down I know this is just a bump in the road. No one ever said it was going to be easy.
And I know that once i've got it I'll be the happiest lucky bastard in the world! Its tough, but so worth it!
Until I head up to Orlando I'll be bumming around here in the hanger, asking questions and, again switching from scared to itchy feet! Theres a really good atmosphere to the place and I think pretty much everyone comes up and says 'Hi, How was your jump?' at some point.
This is the view from my room.
