October and November 2019

Gear issues

August 3rd 2019-Skydive Arizona

Luis and I did a few free fly jumps at Skydive Arizona. Later that night when watching the videos I noticed my rig is really far off back when I am sit flying. I asked a few skydiving friends what they thought and they all said I shouldn't be jumping with it this far off my back. Here is more info about why its dangerous for a rig to not fit properly.

I reached out to my favorite dependable rigger with Greenlight Skydiving Gear. We came up with a short term solution, a belly band. I plan on buying a custom rig next year so for the time being I just need my rig to be safe to jump. He made a belly band (like the chest strap but lower on the hips) which keeps my rig closer to my body while free flying. I took some time off jumping while my belly band was being added and my reserve repacked.

I jumped again September 19th. I went almost 6 weeks without jumping which was my longest time off. The belly band makes a huge difference! I can feel its tighter just walking around on the ground but in the sky I have a much easier time controlling and maneuvering in a sit!

Chicks Rock 2019

Skydive Elsinore October 4-7th, 2019

Jonathon and I left Thursday morning. On the way to Cali we met up and drove caravan style all the way to the dropzone. We got there in the afternoon, set up our tents and hung out on the lawn playing drinking games! Thursday night was the annual Chicks Rock Beer Pong Tournament. Sadly my team lost on the first round which allowed me to go to bed early so I was ready to jump early Friday morning.

On Friday we did 4 jumps. The first one was a 4 way hybrid jump! It was super fun but Jonathon lost his GoPro mid jump which we were not able to find in the fields later. Our next jump we did a 3 way train exit with Jonathon and Jessica and after that I did another 3 way train exit to sit fly jump with a load organizer Claudia and Jessica. For the last jumo of the day, Jonathon and I did a two way sit fly jump! Friday evening our other Arizona friends showed up and we all hung out and played games at the DZ.

Saturday was the biggest day for the boogie! The DZ was packed with fun jumpers! I did 4 jumps on Saturday. The first one was a two way free fly jump with Stacy out of the Skyvan! It was super fun. She was able to fly head down and carved around me! The next jump was with an LO named Brooke and Stacy. We did a head down exit from the otter into a sit fly jump. The third jump of the day was a two way sit fly jump with Claudia. I met Claudia the year before at the Taft Boogie because her and her husband used to own the dropzone in Taft.

My last jump on Saturday was a two way jump with Jonathon. On our drive out from Arizona we planned this jump because I wanted to jump in my Scooby Doo costume onesie. On the plane ride up I ended up emotional due to the fact (we thought) this was our last jump together for a long time since I am moving to Israel for 7+ months at the end of October. We had an amazing super fun jump where we did a horny Gorilla and he got some good shots of me in my costume!

Later that night was the Cartoon Costume Party which is the reason I bought my Scooby Doo costume. Jonathon dressed up as Beetle Juice. Andee was Harley Quinn. Both of their costumes turned out amazing so they competed in the costume contest. Jonathon came in second place so he won a free bonehead helmet!!!

Originally we planned to drive to Oceanside Sunday after packing up our tents but our sky friend Gabor showed up so we stayed and did a free fly jump with him. After that jump Jonathon did one more jump with Andee. It was close to the raffle time. For the raffle you have to be present to win so we decided to stay. Luckily we stayed because Andee won a gift certificate to LiquidSky for a new suit, Jonathon won 20% off a new AAD and I won a log book and log book case!!!

Overall it was an amazing weekend hanging out at the DZ with friends and jumping! It was kind of like my last hooray with my US skyfamily since I will be living in Israel for 7 months starting at the end of October!

Link to Photo Gallery

300th Jump Weekend!

November 15th and 16th 2019, Skykef (Israel)

I haven't jumped in about 5 weeks because I was busy with the move to Israel. I jumped about 2 weeks before I left at the Chicks Rocks boogie.

Once in Israel I was itching to jump but I was so busy with group activities the first two weekends I couldn't jump (find out more here). My third weekend in Israel I finally got to jump! I met my friend Shanni at the bus stop near my apartment and we got a ride to the dropzone in Be'er Sheva. Once we got to the dropzone we got onto the first load together and did a fun 3 way free fly jump.The clouds were amazing!

Due to the jump tickets being so expensive, I only bought 3 jump tickets for the weekend. I did one jump Friday so I could do 2 jumps on Saturday. I spent the rest of the day Friday hanging out at the dropzone and watched the set set! It was beautiful. We took a group trip to the grocery store to buy ingredients to make Potjiekos for dinner at the dropzone. Everyone hung out at the dropzone all night. I went to bed around midnight. Around 2 am two rockets were launched from Gaza straight at Be'er Sheva. The dropzone is in the outskirts of town so the sirens did not go off where we were but the sirens could still be heard along with the booms from the Iron Dome. Luckily I slept through this and found out in the morning, but we were safe (read more about the rockets here).

Saturday I did two jumps! My second jump was my 300th jump! The first jump we did was a 14 way. It was a special jump because it was Shanni's going away jump because she is going to work in Australia! They launched a small base and the rest of us just ran out the back of the skyvan. I was one of the last people out and way higher than everyone, but I eventually made my way to the group! As I was about to dock I heard my audible go off signalling we were at break off altitude, so I turned and tracked extra far to make sure I could deploy a safe distance away from the rest of the group. I opened safely and saw a few people fly by under canopy! It was a really fun jump!

My next jump was finally my 300th! I did a two way sit fly jump! It was awesome.