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I’m now 25 jumps into my skydiving career and my next jump will be my “checkdive”, and if I pass that I’ll get my A-license. That means it will be the first New Year’s Resolution that I’ll have ever actually achieved.

I went skydiving on Sunday and wanted to do some coach jumps to practice how to “swoop and dock” since I’m pretty bad at it and I’ll need to know those things. For reference, a swoop and dock is when you arch your back hard, point your legs straight out and bring your arms in to fly toward another skydiver. When you get close, you slow down and eventually lock your hands around their wrists so that you’re face to face and holding the “dock”.

I did my first one, and could never make the dock – pretty frustrating. I also didn’t check my altitude once the entire time, which is terrifying – good thing the coach I jumped with was paying attention. We watched the video, talked about legs out and keeping a strong arch. I’ve had problems with keeping my legs out since day one, which is common but I was starting to think that it was a bad habit I had settled in to. Even in the tunnel I consistently get the “legs out” hand signal. We went up again to give it another shot – slightly better, but he still had to come to me to actually make the dock. I had a great landing, which helped make the jump not so bad, but after watching the video again it was clear that my legs just weren’t out. I started to think “maybe it’s not just legs out since they feel out, but instead legs out and down so that I’m really pushing them against the wind.” But, at the end of each jump, we turn 180 degrees and track away from each other so that we’re clear before we open. When I look at that on video, it’s clear that my legs are straight out. And I realized then the difference is my toes – they’re pointed when I track but now when I’m trying to swoop. He gave me a hard time, which I actually respond well to. It makes me want to get up there and fix it.

So, I found one of my instructors to do a coach jump with me for my last jump for the day. She was exhausted but still agreed, and for that I’m incredibly thankful – it’s good to do things as quickly as you can so that you don’t forget the sensations and you can really build on each jump. I specifically told her to not come to so that I was forced to try like hell to get that dock. We got out of the plane, I saw her in the distance, and I pointed my toes and push my legs out so damn hard – I started pushing them down too to get more power from them. What a difference that made. I got close to her pretty quickly. I slowed down of course, but it was a marked difference from my previous two jumps. Two successful docks and on our way to a third before we broke off and tracked away.

I got those elements of my proficiency card signed off (you need everything on the card signed off to get the A-license, which is why it’s typical to go past the 25 requisite jumps before getting the license). I just wanted to write this up in case anyone is having problems with getting their legs out, completing their swoop and docks and might find that my struggles were solved so simply by point my toes and pushing my legs down, not just out.

First, let me explain what AFF is. It stands for Accelerated Freefall, and it’s the program most people go through on the path to getting their A-license for skydiving. It consists of 8 different jumps, and a ground school. The jumps include two instructors to begin with, and then eventually just one instructor, and you have certain tasks to complete each time. When you come in for landing, you have someone guiding you on the radio, though their guidance becomes less and less as you progress through the levels. These tasks range from things as simple as “stay stable” to “do a backflip and some 360s.” The most frustrating part about being a student, is that you have to wait for wind. If it gusts above 14mph, you wait. Otherwise you run the risk of being blown into the trees, and as frustrating as waiting can be, I think falling through a tree would be worse. In any case, last Friday was a perfect day and I was able to knock out my last three jumps for the AFF program, and do my first solo jump – that means I jumped out of the plane by myself, had no one beside me the entire time, and I landed unassisted.

The first solo jump was great. Thanks to some friendly advice from a recent graduate (who has since gotten his A-license, so congratulations to Dan Congdon), I had planned some things for myself to do during the jump. Otherwise you sit there and watch your altimeter tick away while you get closer to pull altitude, and it can be quite boring (yes, even though you’re plummeting through the sky, it can be boring). So, I practiced some backflips, some tracking, and doing fast spins (360s and 720s). I practiced some flares with the canopy after I opened, burned some altitude by doing some diving turns, watched some of the instructors swoop around me and scare me a bit. I had previously been coming in too low on my downwind leg, so I started a little higher this time. Came in, went a bit further before doing my crosswind leg, and came in for final – what’s that? The winds changed?! Yep. I was about 300 feet high passing over where I wanted to land and ended up at the very end of the runway (pretty damn far from where I wanted to be) and almost in the woods – close one. I landed standing up at least, which is my only saving grace, really. I guess I’ll have to work on a) judging which way the winds are blowing before heading to my holding area and b) getting that downwind leg locked down. Either way, it was a successful day of jumping. I’ll go into more detail soon about the specific levels for any other students out there doing AFF and are curious about the challenges and want to know what to expect.

My AFF Graduation Gift to Myself