Jumps 36 and 37

These jumps were made on Saturday 1/26.

The first was a solid jump with some sit flying that wasn't too terrible. I held on the brakes for my final approach, then let off them just before flaring. This was the last 'in sky' requirement for my A license.

The second jump was a little more interesting. Free fall was great, mostly sitting. This opening was strange though. I don't know why it felt strange, but something was different than normal. On opening there were several line twists which put me into a spinning dive.

I grabbed the risers and kicked out of the twists. The twists were more extensive than I had seen on any previous jumps. Now that I'm flying the smaller 170 sqft canopy the twists often put me into a spinning dive like this one, which can be pretty scary until you remind yourself that you can kick out of it and that everything is okay.

Typically the most relieving moment of a skydive with line twists is watching the risers spread open. This time it turned out to be the most unnerving. As soon as they spread apart the right brake toggle ripped through the fabric that holds it to the riser. It shot up and lodged itself inside a small metal ring about one foot out of my grasp.

This was bad news. I was put into the tightest spinning dive I had experienced. It was amazing how hard it was to pull myself up the riser with the centrifugal force of the spin pulling me away. I grasped for it three times and decided I would try once more before cutting away. I gave it all my strength and managed to get a finger through the toggle loop. It came down fairly easily once I had a grip on it and flew great except for the natural right hand turn that rig number 9 has every time I jump it. They tell me I'm not tightening my leg straps evenly. I guess I've done it unevenly to the same side on every one of my eight dives in the rig.... Not likely, but possible.

So, my scariest dive yet and I was fully under control of the canopy by 2,900 feet. Not bad. My hard deck is 2,000. At that altitude I must stop trying to fix anything and pull my reserve. This means I had between 6 and 15 seconds remaining before I would have had to cut away.