You can never discard too many bad ideas

After yesterday's weather cancel, I still wanted to get out and do a couple of jumps, so I once again headed to the drop zone. It is pretty slow during the summer, so I could at least get in some reading and relax a bit. Though we couldn't find anyone else to join, Jon and I decided to do a tube exit and then turn a few points, which surprising actually happened more or less according to plan. After packing, I decided to hang around the DZ to enjoy some cheap dinner and drinks (someone bought everyone a case to celebrate their 400th jump for which they got a congratulatory face pieing). Not to waste any remaining sunlight, Jon decided to try something new. The plan was to do some wakeboarding and tubing across the swoop pond using rope, two trucks, and a pulley. This blog's readers (what few there may be if any) should not worry since I am sure all of this was planned out using engineering drafting tools, current hydro-dynamic modeling tables, superior planning, and quality materials. With me driving, we had a dozen or so runs across the pond with varying degrees of success, even getting a few people up on the board and doing turns as they surfed behind the truck.

I bet Jesus could keep a party going all night on one six-pack.

After getting home around 3AM after the 10K I got up around 9 to head to the drop zone to do a couple of jumps. I met up with Jon to try to organize a fun 4-way with a few others, something like a tube exit, however by the time we got everything planned out and geared up, we got a weather cancel just as we were heading to the place. I couldn't stay to wait it out since I had a party to attend. I was graciously invited by a couple of different friends to a July 4th, Monte Carlo party that I was told was going to be a blast. I talked to the organizer previously and arranged to bring out my daiquiri machine to contribute a bit to the festivities. The organizer went all out in the planning and detail of the party. There were real casino games set up by dealers that stayed throughout the night along with professional bartenders, tons of food, professional photographer taking party pics, and even fireworks later in the evening. I had a great time getting a chance to meet so many new people and recognize many faces of those I had gotten to know over the past few months at different events.

All the world looks up to a skydiver.

'Excuse me while kiss the sky.'

It had been about three years since I last did a real honest to goodness skydive. I had a wonderfully gifted high wire bungee/bungy jump experience when in New Zealand last year that was pretty cool, but I still missed the feeling of a longer freefall even if it didn't have quite the ground rush. So this week I decided to just pull my rig from the closet shelf, check for spiders, moths, and small families of rodents or marsupials, and head to the drop zone. Since it had been so long since the last jump I had to go through a quick recertification class, but some things in life you just don't tend to forget, especially stuff that's suppose to help save your life. The weather sucked most of the day so I sat around talking to my buddy Jason waiting for it to clear up. The jump was normal, and it felt great. Even after a good bit of an absence it felt like I hadn't left. I burned through the testing skills, opened up, and enjoyed a decent canopy ride, even though I did land slightly off the DZ due to high winds.

After packing the parachute, which will be the real test of my memory on the next jump, I headed over the the hash event. I've been out of the activity for a few months while I reevaluated a lot of stuff, but this was supposed to be a pretty big event with some out-of-towners coming in, so I decided to make it out. Tattoo is infamous for his last trail that was a shot trail that saw the pack barely making it to the end due to the numerous shots provided on trail. We met in the Westchase area and boarded the rented bus that took us to the various colorful and cultured sites in Tampa for the pub crawl. It was nice to see some old friends and I actually started to enjoy myself again, which I actually didn't expect. I got to see Mams and Shop Teacher and hear all about their three week honeymoon to Turkey, Jordan, Israel, and Egypt. The after party was at Tattoo's place and was complete with jello wrestling food, lots of great food, and plenty of remaining kegs. I ended up staying the evening since I wasn't about to drive 40 minutes so late at night after such a party evening. I'm actually thinking of getting back out to some more events sometime if time allows.

I refuse to tiptoe through life.. only to arrive at death safely.

On Saturday I had my first (annual?) Skydive Hash event. I really was not expecting nearly so many people since only about 10 people told me that they were going to camp and stay for dinner. Tina was a fun person that I met in New Orleans in February at Mardi Gras and convinced a few of her friends from Baton Rouge, LA to do a road trip to Tampa. They came in Friday night so I took the camper up so I could hang with them for a while. My friend Melissa came out with her buddy Robin for a tandem. Both of them just happened to be at the hang gliding field a few months ago when I was there. I later met Melissa and we thought it was pretty weird that we were standing next to each other a few months ago, only to met in person later. On Saturday quite a few people decided to make the jump including my father. He came out to watch me do my first skydive nearly ten years ago and I finally convinced him to come out and give it a shot. Dad even was planning to join in the hang gliding event a few months ago but was unable to fly due to high winds (though he did take the opportunity to do a flight on an ultralight). It was great to be able to ride up in the plane with him and even invert and watch him exit the door of the plane. A bunch of my other hash friends like Marcia from Jacksonville and many of the Tampa folks came to enjoy the weather and the event.

There were many big loads going up (such as 80 person formations) at the drop zone, so there was always something to see. Setting trail on Saturday was fun, but apparently the pack got lost when some locals decided to wash the flour marks away. :(
Anyway, the event went pretty well since a lot of good folks stepped in to assist such as Karen, Diana, Jason, and Jon, so their efforts are very much appreciated. We went through a full keg, 5 cases of beer, half a slab of ribs, chicken, and hamburger for the 35 people or so that showed up.

Skydiving - When in doubt, whip it out!

Since I'm hosting the skydiving hash next Saturday, I figured it would be a good time to get current again so I'd actually be able to jump with the folks that come out. Looking at my logbook, it had been a couple of years since my last jump and then even a couple of years before that since any real active jumping. I decided to do a coaching jump (pretty much jump with an instructor who helps work on form or technique) to make sure things were about as I remembered. Just like SCUBA diving for me, I can be out of it for quite a while but just as easily step back and have a tendency to remember these kinds of things (emergency procedures, traditions, etc) relatively well since it is mostly muscle memory and just paying attention or being observant. My buddy Jon also wanted to get back into it, so he sat in on an AFF class and did a Level I jump to make sure things were what he remember. We'll be definitely joining us next weekend, so it'll be good to be able to get in some fly time with a few friends.

Since we used the rig and parachute for a photo shoot for the hash tags last Thursday, I even had to repack my own main at home but was able to remember everything with relative easy. Except for being a bit unstable as a result of not flying in such a long time, everything went just as planned. It felt really good to be able to get back into the air again and I'm going to have to simply plan to try to jump at least once every 2-3 months to stay current. I don't think I'm going to be a regular jumper and get into relative work (doing formations with groups of skydivers), but I'd just like to feel the wind every now and then and enjoy the fall and parachuting itself ever now and then.

"Excuse me while I kiss the sky" - Jimi Hendrix

On Saturday two other Tampa folks joined me on a trip to Wallaby ranch near Orlando for a bit of hang gliding. The event was organized by a couple of hashers as a means of trying something new. They set it up so that the trail, camping, dinner, breakfast, and the beer were all for $20 for both days. With the size of the group, the price for the flights went from $100 a person to $75 a person. Because of the insane I-4 traffic, we missed the trail and finished setting up the camper just as the runners were coming in. We had around 25 people signed up for the tandem flights, so as soon as the conditions were favorable people started going up. It was a real delight to see the gliders soar up after being towed by the ultralight.

I was one of the last to go since I wanted to make sure that those leaving Saturday had their chance. I was able to get on a sunset load, which always the best time for skydiving if you get the colors just right. The takeoff, flight, and landing were very smooth and about what it felt like when parachuting after a skydive. My tandem instructor showed my how to steer, bank, and change the pitch. After landing, we hug out for the evening like a regular campout with the laid back staff and regulars of the ranch. Though I slept in, tandem flights resumed in the morning, however winds picked up and flight had to be suspended until later afternoon. My roommate Holly and one of her sorority sisters came Saturday and each participated in a flight and came back with huge grins on their face. After seeing how easy the first few flights might have been, everyone was signing up with alacrity.

Dad came out Sunday, however wasn't able to go gliding due to the wind conditions. I arranged for him to at least get to go on a flight with one of the ultralights so he could at least get a nice taste of flying. I'm seriously considering going back soon and going through the ground school and instruction so I can do some solo flights someday. I probably don't need another expensive sport to pick up, but the feeling you get when soaring can be indescribable. I recently got my skydive rig repacked and will be setting up an event at the end of April to hopefully get more people involved. Take a look at the quote at the bottom of the blog; I think it is very appropriate.