Dance with the Wind

Feel the wind in your face. Feel it carry you on your ride. This is your pilgrimage to another world, another place, another dimension. Realize you're sharing the vastness of space with the air. The air is a friend. It welcomes you to it's world.

Enjoy the sights, enjoy the show. View the world through a whole new perspective. See the world as it really is.

Feel fortunate. You're experiencing the thrill of flight, the freedom of movement, a dance with the wind.

Relish the isolation, the privacy, the moments of self. Enjoy the peace that comes with separation and silence.

Bond with the wind, the birds, and the clouds. Know that there are others with you, and that you all know something the rest of the world does not.

Have faith in the friend on your back. Be comforted that it is there for you. Know that you will tell the world of your brief dance with the wind, the clouds, and the Earth.

Take the adventure for all it's worth. Learn what the experience has to teach you. Realize all your problems are in a different world, and cannot reach you where you are.

You are free. If only for a few minutes, you don't have any problems. You don't have any concerns, worries, distractions or expectations.
You are free.
You are finally free!

Cleared to jump solo... WOOT! note to self about irresponsible dorks

What else is there to blog about except my weekend numbers. :P Got two more jumps last saturday. and I'm cleared to jump solo! Had to do one more jump to work on my turns, this time it was slightly different, not the usual 180, 360 deg turns but just need to keep my eye on my AFF-I and turn whever he is. Was much more relaxed on this jump somehow, I'm not sure if it was Jim giving me this piece of advice, "When the door opens, just fuck it and jump". A lightbulb suddenly went off in my head and I told myself hell yea, you got 2 fucking parachutes on your back, screw the door fear. Had an unlinked exit, checked altitude then Scott zipped infront on me. He made some turns to my left and right and I was able to keep up with him. Somehow your body would follow where your eyes are looking, it's like when one is driving sometimes when you glance off the the side for a while you would drift in that direction.... Anyways, I still can't flare (flaring is to convert forward spped to lift to slow down the parachute for a landing) for shit's sake and gotta freaking plf again. Had the usual big silly grin on my face after I had landed safely and was finally cleared off doing turns.
The DZ was somewhat busier today and I had to wait a while for my next jump. This time I was to make a diving exit, meaning literally just chiong out of the plane, without hanging on to the wingstrut and one foot to the wheel, sounds fun! The key to this dive was to get into a disorienting position and recover into a stable position within 5 seconds and next... drum rolls... do some barrel rolls and front loops, back loops or disorienting procedure. Waited for like 2-3 hrs for that jump and I was damn psyched up for it cos I knew this was the fun shit... hehe finally can do some aerobatics. On the ride up I was staring at the big expanse of blue skies, the view is really gorgeous from up there and one has a it's a great day to be alive kinda feeling. :-)
10,500 feet, DOOR! instructor opens the door, I had to spot (determine place to exit the plane) and basically that mean sticking out one's head one look straight down to see where the plane is heading relative to the ground. The spot today was right over the airport and when I stuck my head out and looked down, we were just on the runway, since the climbout needed some time, I gave Wes (my instructor) the thumbs out to indicate we should climbout and GO! He was hanging on to the wing and I got in position at the door, next, I looked and him and said READY, SET, GO! Off we went into freefall, arched hard and regained stability. Check altitude, ok, went into a tracking position to get some forward motion, ok here goes, right hand on chest, I flip over sideways, it was earth, sky then earth again. No shit that was DAMN fun! Arch, check altitude ok here goes the back flip, push hard with hands and legs in, whoaaa earth sky and earth again. My god, I'm really beginning to like this shit... keke 7k feet, let's do a left barrel roll, ok track left hand tap on chest, corkscrews 180deg. woohoo!! 6k feet, damn shall I go for one more manuveur? Saw Wes give me the thumbs up, heck lemme chiong one more backloop, ready, legs innnnn, holy shit that's mighty FUN. Got stable at about 5 grand, locked to altimeter, wave off at 4.5k and PULL! Nylon billows out of my rig and catches air, WOOHOO! Did a couple of spirals, pulled on the toggles as hard as I could to get the spirals moving, was so fun though a bit blur after a few rounds... Landed without incident, what a rush! I' fucking doing aerobatics in the air... :-)
At the debrief, Wes said I did well. He asked me which of the barrel rolls and back flips I thought I did better in the latter attempts for both and he said yesh... In my logbook, it says

"Off axis barrel roll, alti aware
Off axis back loop, alti aware
Great left barrel roll, alti aware
Textbook backloop, Great!
Very alti aware, Pulled on time
Good canopy control
Cleared for Cat "F"."

The best part about this jump? It was supposed to be completed in 2 jumps but I nailed it in one! Hehe, si peh gan happy...

Alright, enough of the skydiving shit, sunday was my long run day was supposed to do a 12 miler(19.2k). There was this guy who was training with me and johno but he somewhat was sick for a mth and didn't train, FYI, he was complaining of difficulty breathing and coughing plus got asthma, so I was like dude take it eazy and just do a 5k for starters. Johno wanted to do a 6miler(abt 10k) and wanted to do his own pace, ok that's cool with me. I went off slightly faster and this other guy tried to keep up with me for the first 2 miles, and then tells me he wants to follow me for the full 12mile. Along the way, I was like telling him to take it easy (nicely) and that he should just do an easy 3 miler. By the end of 2 miles, he was intent on following me and that got me damn pissed, that joker just recovered from a freaking mth long illness, the previous longest run he had in months was 6 miles and now he wants to follow me for 12. No shit I'm not gonna let him do that just because he wants to cos the trail can be pretty quiet and if the shit hits the fan for him, I'm screwed I dun wanna carry him back. I was ganning himn the rest of the way until 4 miles when I couldn't take it anymore and decided to turn back and screw my run cos any longer he goes wif me just increases the chance of me getting into shit. I won't give a damn if he's doing it alone but if he's wif me, I can't bo chap him and leave him there. Anyways, at this juncture he finally realises how pissed I am and says okok, you continue your run, I'm going back. K, fine good for you, lim peh continue mi run. I was still damn aggitated and dulan as I continued my run as I wondered how somehow can be so childish in his actions, cmon man, take care of your body and your body will take care of you! Even if he can complete the 12 miler, this ain't mean shit to me as I'm not gonna train with someone who is irresposible and inconsiderate towards his friend. I don;t think I'm over-reacting as essentially, I feel I AM looking out for him and also for myself. Anyways, had a damn screwed up run was struggling most of the way after he turned back, most probably due to the fact that I used up quite a bit of energy ganning him? Well, it's not a problem as I can always do my long run some other day but if he pengs, I dun wanna be caught dead in the crap. After I came back, he apologised for acting that way, says he got 'issues on his mind', I was like fuck you man, you sort out your shit or can talk to others but dun be irresposible and possibly get your friends into shit. Bottomline, no more running with this bloke.

360 Playground

Got up early today to the dropzone, reached at about 915am and started talking to people to address my fears and concerns. Did managed to get myself prepped for AFF4 jump but decided to wait a while before going up to let my nerves settle. Was up in the 3 load with Scott and on this jump I had to do some 90 deg and 180 turns. Had some morbid thoughts on the ride up to altitude but tried to concentrate on the dive instead. Anyways, the moment the jump door opened I went like 'shit, why am I jumping out of airplanes again?'.... On the dive, Scott would be holding on to my harness at the side but would fly to my front once I'm stable and LET go and I'd do the turns on my own. Well, the moment his hands went off, I started a slow spin to the left, had a bit of brain fart up in the air and I worsened the spin by trying to turn leftwards further! Dumb... Scott managed to grab me on my right to stabalise me but the moment he let go I started spinning again, damn this sux big time. Anyways, managed to stay altitude aware during the spins (thank god) and pulled on time. Had a lot of fun doing 360 deg turns and fooling around with the canopy.... As expected, had to redo the jump and was told I'm too stiff that's why the spin started. Ok, point taken, must relac.... dammit as a student the only darn thing to do is relac.
On my 2nd jump, the JM was now Anthony (which I did a jump with on my 4th jump). As usual, I was too stiff and on first attempt to turn I flipped on my back! Shit, that's no good I thought, I think I struggled for 2 seconds before doing a hard arch to regain stability. Then Anthony came over to my left and said 'relax'... at that instant in seemed like a lightbulb was switched on and somehow I did relax and managed to complete and stop a 90deg turn. After that it was pull time and had an uneventful ride down. Although I fucked the jump up the 2nd time, I thought my confidence grew a little knowing that I could now at least flip myself over if I arched hard enough.
Third jump of the day, now was with Jim an old bird with 33 years experience and an instructor examiner. At my climbout of the plane, he shouted relax, I smiled and let go of the plane. Had a slight dearch but managed to get myself stable but fuck Jim was not with me on exit. I panicked a little, did my altitude checks and decided to look more to my left and right to see if I could find him. Should I wave off and pull now as what I was taught when no jumpmasters are in sight? A few seconds later, he appeared like 15 feet in front of me and was grinning. I'm like damn this wasn't part of the plan, should I push my legs out and try to fly towards him? Before I knew it, he was beside me and I did my turns. Unfortunately on my third turn, I started a slow spin again and though I consciously tried to relax, the spin couldn't stop and later I realised it was because I didn't conteract it enough. Pulled a little high this time at 5k feet instead of 4k, guess it was because I was afraid the spin would get worse... At the debrief with Jim, I was like where were you?? That's not part of the plan, thought he was supposed to stay beside me and I told him I nearly pulled. He was like, hey you're a skydiver now, don't need me to stick to you all the time. It was then I realised indeed I was flying on my OWN and now I have a 360 deg playground.....