Yep, I'm hooked.

Today I completed my category A and B jumps at SkydiveNM.

Jump #1: AFF Category A

The first jump went really well. I got to the DZ just after 8am. Since I had already completed the ground training, I was able to make it up on the first run of the day. During the ascent I verbally went through the whole procedure with my instructors, Steve (who is not actually listed as an instructor on the website... maybe it's time for an update to the page?) and Kelly. Somewhere around 8,000ft Steve asked me if I was ready to skydive. My only response was "Hell yes!" When we got to 10,000ft AGL and opened the door, there was another small plane below and to the side of us, so the decision was made to climb a little bit higher while we waited for it to pass. We made a couple fairly sharp turns (or at least they felt that way to me) during that last bit of the climb--with the door still partially open--and I held onto the edge of the pilot's seat with a white-knuckled death grip. At 10,500ft we climbed out onto the very small step of the Cessna-182. Chest on the strut, check in, check out, prop, up, down, arch, and we're flying. We stabilized within a couple seconds. Kelly, my reserve side instructor, then began giving me instructions via hand signals. Check altitude. Arch. Practice touch. Check altitude. Relax. Practice touch. Arch. Check Altitude. The goal was to get in three practice touches, but we ended up doing four and still had a couple thousand feet to spare. Kelly said he seriously considered giving me some signals to start leg work, but decided to let me just relax and enjoy that last bit of freefall. By 7000ft we had finished all the maneuvers and I just looked straight down at the ground coming up towards me. Lock on to the altimeter at 6000ft, wave off and pull at 5500. The canopy inflated with no issues. Control check was good. Then a voice came in through the radio attached to my chest strap directing me where to go. The winds were very low (only 3-4mph), so I was ready for a rough touchdown. The last 100ft of the descent went really fast. By about 50 feet I felt like the ground was rushing up at me and seriously wanted to flare early, but I held out and waited for the command from the radio--and I was glad I did. My landing ended up being nearly perfect. I was about 20 feet outside the plowed landing circle, but I was able to stand up on the landing. Much more graceful than the face plant I did during my tandem jump. After my initial celebratory yell, I think the first thing out of my mouth was "Can I go again?"

Fortunately for me, the four scheduled tandem students never showed up. There was more than enough time for me to make another jump.

Jump #2: AFF Category B

My second jump was a little bit rougher. The goal this time was to practice straightening my legs and tracking forward across the sky, dragging my instructors along with me. My arch on exit was pretty weak, so it took a few seconds longer to stabilize. The first few altitude checks and tracks went well, though I would later come to find out that after each track my "relaxed" position was a little bit too relaxed--my knees were too bent and my arch was weak. If no one had been holding on to me, I would have started rolling around. Somewhere around 7000ft I stopped actually reading my altimeter and lost altitude awareness. I tracked forward several more times, looking at my altimeter (but not actually absorbing what it said) before each one. Suddenly I felt a firm tug on my harness. My instructor was trying to get my attention. Check altitude. I'm already at 5000ft. Crap! Wave off and pull. Canopy was good, but the landing didn't go so well. I flared too late, tried to run off the extra speed I had when I hit the ground, but face-planted instead. Should have gone with PLF. That makes three skydives with two face plants. I'm off to a great start...

Even with the couple weak spots in my second jump, my instructors were complimentary. Try to maintain a strong arch from the get-go next time, and pay more attention to leg position. Otherwise, good jump. At least I managed to regain awareness and pull my own rip cord. So I passed category B. Oh, and I owe the DZ a case of beer for losing my rip cord handle on both jumps. I was supposed to hold onto the handle after pulling and then stow it in my jumpsuit. Instead, I pulled and dropped it in the middle of a field. My bad.

So next weekend I'll be getting up at the butt crack of dawn again so that I can leave my apartment by 6am and make the two hour drive to the DZ by 8. Hopefully I'll pass category C-1, maybe C-2 if there's time before the weather gets nasty. Then I'll be off for a 15+ hour drive back to Idaho.

On a side note, my dad said this evening that he couldn't believe I was actually planning on skydiving on a regular basis. He knew I'd always said I wanted to skydive, but was sure I wasn't serious. Oh, I'm serious.