Juneand July 2018
Putting the new Coach rating to the test
During the week we planned a sunrise load for fun jumpers. We were able to get enough jumpers there for a full load! We planned and accomplished getting 4 people outside of the cessna on exit and 2 people diving out and chasing. Nick climbed out and faced backwards, Shay hung from the strut, James and I climbed on the step to do a two way linked exit for the base, Cassie and Jimmy dove out chasing us. We had a very successful two way exit and then made a four way round. By time we were under canopy we realized how far away from the DZ we were, but we all made it back.. barely. I slid in on my butt and got a whole in my pants ... embarrassing!
Before the jump, I was able to apply my coach rating by coaching James how to exit out of a Cessna since he has only done it once and it didn't go so well. He did awesome! He climbed out on the step without any issues and we held onto each other for a two way linked exit! It was fun being able to teach something new to someone and watch them accomplish it.
After our fun jumper load, the DZ was super busy. A licensed jumper showed up to do a recurrency jump. I spent some time with him going over landing patters, exit of the Cessna, dive flow and emergency procedures. When it was time to finally jump I was super nervous but super excited. The jump went as planned! The exit went well, he was able to do forward motion and his turns! It was amazing being able to do a recurrency jump!
On Saturday, I was on a load with a student. Rather than both of us do solo jumps, we jumped together. We worked on swoop and docks... while the jump didnt go as planned a learned a lot from the jump and I was able to help the student learn more about how to stay on level with other jumpers.
Also on Saturday, I did a first jump course with a new student. He took to the material really well. I felt this overwhelming responsibility for him but he did awesome one his ASP level 1 jump! I was so proud!
I think the thing I love most about skydiving is there is always more to learn and skills can always be improved upon. I am so thankful for Jason and Andee at Skydive Phoenix. They were there all weekend for me helping me become a better coach!
New York Trip
Long Island, Ny and Skydive the Ranch July 2018
Growing up one of my favorite cousins was Gina, I looked up to her and wanted to be like her. Her wedding was July 7th in New York. My grandma, mother and I left for JFK July 3rd on a red eye. We got to NY early on the 4th. After we took a nap, we got ready and went to my cousins house for a 4th of July party. It was a lot of fun to spend the day with my east coast family. We had a BBQ and hung out by the pool. Once the sun went down the fireworks started... I have never seen anything like fireworks on Long Island. Everyone was sending of fireworks into the sky, it was a 360 view of fireworks it was amazing! On top of that the fireflies were the coolest things I have seen in nature! My uncle Charlie and I loved to spend time outside at night watching the fireflies which my uncle described looked like faires!
Friday was a jammed packed day but it was fun! Although it was raining we still made the trip into the Bronx for the Yankee Stadium tour and after that during sunset we went kayaking. Although my mom and I are not really Yankee fans, we went because I love baseball and somehow I have been to NY many times and have never seen the stadium... so my mom booked us a tour! The drive into the city wasn't too bad. We walked a little ways from where we parked to the stadium and had to wait in the rain for the tour to start. Once the tour started I was amazed with all the new information I learned about the stadium and the player history. After the tour we had a nice lunch in the Hard Rock Cafe. Once we were done eating we headed back to Long Island for our kayaking adventure.
My mom and I picked up my Uncle Charlie at the train station on LI and then we headed out to our kayaking destination which was in Stony Brooke. The location in which we were kayaking was beautiful! On one end there was a super pretty water fall at the base of a historic building with swans swimming around us! We hung out here for a little while taking in the beauty. Then we kayaked around another bend where we were able to pull off onto a beach and explore. The houses in the area were something you would see on a post card. We paddled around for a few hours and spent some time just floating and relaxing on the water.
Saturday was the big day we all came out to NY for! The day started for the wedding at the church. The church was pretty and Gina looked stunning walking down the isle. After the church portion was over we drove back towards Stony Brooke to the reception area. The reception was amazing! Cocktail hour had a ton of delicious food and drinks. Then we headed into the ballroom for the reception to get started. The first dance was to the Ed Sheerran song "Perfect". They took dance lessons before the wedding which paid off! Their dance was very pretty. We had fun dancing, eating an amazing dinner meal and enjoying time with family.
After the wedding, we went back to my great grandma s house. I changed and packed up my uncles SRV and started my journey to skydive the Ranch in upstate NY! I was terrified to drive from LI to upstate NY because I had to drive through the Bronx...but I made it safe and sound late at night to the DZ. Skydive the Ranch had "fight night" going on in the hanger. It was super fun to watch some friendly boxing competition. I ran into a guy I knew thankfully so I had someone to talk to but I was please with how welcoming and friendly jumpers were at the Ranch. I met a bunch of new people. That night I slept in the back of the car, which was surprisingly really comfy. I slept in the next day, got ready and headed to the hanger for breakfast, signed waivers and checked in my gear. Soon after my friend Nick and Kevin showed up so we were ready to jump!
Everyone I talked to told me how hard it was to find the DZ from the air...I was getting pretty nervous about having to land off in a new place. I was lucky to have Nick there to explain landing patterns and landmarks around the DZ so that I could find it once my canopy opened. On our first jump, we did a two linked head down exit....I bellied out, but then we went into sit flying! I opened higher then them so that under canopy I could follow them in. I opened facing away from the dz and I started panicking because I couldn't find the DZ, but luckily we were last out of the plan, so when I turned around I saw about 20 canopies in the air so I headed that way and was able to find DZ and landed right where my target was! Our next jump we exited separately, made a round and then did a back flip, made a round again and then front flip! We had two fun jumps and then we were done jumping for the day and I headed back to LI.
The next day was time to go home. My cousin Angela came home with us to spend the summer at my parents house! Can't wait to spend time with her and show her some fun things to do in Arizona !
Family Trip to socal
6/8/18-6/10/18 Skydive Perris
Our close family friends have a son who graduated high school this week, so my mom, brother and I took a road trip up to the mountains by Lake Arrowhead for his graduation party. But whats a road trip without a few jumps along the way?!?!?
My aunt Heather, her dad (David), and her brother (Ben) also have been wanting to jump... so I figured what better chance to be able to jump with them then while in Cali since they only live about hour or so from Perris. They were able to book all 3 of their tandems and then my brother decided he would jump as well, so I called and I was able to add him to the group!
We left early Friday morning from my apartment in order to make it to Skydive Perris early enough for me to get one jump in and then to also jump with my family! When I got there, my brother checked in with the skydiving school and I got my first free jump ticket (got to love jumping for free). The rest of our group showed up while I manifested myself. I did a solo free fly jump working on back to sit transitions and my family got to watch me land (thankfully I had a really nice flare and a stand up landing)!
Unfortunately, they only had 3 tandem instructors on Friday, so my group of 4 tandems had to broken up into two loads. The first load was my aunt Heather, David and Ben out of a skyvan! I didn't get to jump with them sadly because the next load was the load my brother was on so I didn't have time to pack between loads. All 3 of them were super excited to jump and they all loved it! Since it was the skyvan they were able to backflip out of the plane Which they loved! All 3 of them had such an amazing time and were talking about starting AFF which would be amazing! Click here to see Heather's skydiving viedo!
Once they landed, it was time for my brother to gear up! I went back with him to get harnessed. Although he was starting to get really nervous he was excited! We walked out to the loading area and waiting for the plane. I wanted him to also do a tandem from the skyvan but this load was on the twin otter. It was fun to be on the same load as my brother and I got to exit right before him, so I was able to sit close in The plane to him and get pictures and videos on the way up.
As we were climbing in altitude I could see the look on my brothers face change from exciting to nervous. We were last in the exit order, once all the military guys exited it was our turn! I climbed over my brother and his TI, waived good bye and dove out of the plane. I stayed on my belly watching the plane until I saw my brother exit. Once I saw them stable I went into a sit fly and continued to watch them until I pulled at 3.5k. Even though I was really far away from my brother in free fall it was still cool to watch.
It was super windy! I was being blown all over the place under canopy... I opened kinda far away too, but I was able to make it back just in time to start my landing pattern and I landed in the middle of the grass. I gathered up my gear and got my phone out so I could video tape Josh's landing. They had a good landing. Josh said he had a blast but he will not be going on another skydive unless I become a tandem instructor hahaha. Click here to see Josh's skydiving video!
After we we were done jumping, we went Out to eat with my aunt, my cousins, David and Ben. We ate a really good Mexican restaurant and then started our Drive to Lake Arrowhead where our Air BNB was which was less than a mile from our family friends.
We woke up kinda early Saturday morning to go on a hike around Lake Arrowhead. The hike was beautiful! We were hiking on a trail literally right next to the lake and we go to see all the really pretty expensive houses that are on the lake. The weather was perfect! It was nice and cool. We didn’t go on a super long hike because we were hungry. After he hike we went out to a breakfast place and had a good country breakfast.
We spent the afternoon at the graduation party Aaron. We had a great time drinking and hanging out with family friends... we also played a lot of corn hole.
Sunday was not filled with plans like the first two days. We slept in, got ready, said bye to our friends up in the mountains and started driving home only to stop at the outlet mall on the way back and to eat lunch! We are back home after a fun weekend trip to Cali!
"You must jump to know.No words can describe the incredible rush when the wind invites you to play. You are one of the few. For a brief moment you doubt, but the doubt is short lived. As gravity pulls you from the safety of the plane you understand. this is freedom. no turning back now, but who would want to? the dream of human flight is yours. for 60 seconds you are free. you know hat it means to be a jumper. "