Adult summer camp – skydiving style.

Have you been to adult summer camp? I guess I haven’t either, but I found the closest thing to it – Summerfest at Skydive Chicago. I mentioned in another post that this was one of my skydiving goals for the summer and what an adventure it was. Summerfest is a skydiving boogie. For non-skydivers, this…

Skydiving and getting lost in a cloud.

Living in Canada tends to limit our skydiving season with all but one dropzone closed for the winter. Although it’s not my regular DZ, I have done a few jumps there and was pretty excited they were jumping last weekend. I officially did my first February jump! As luck would have it, it also was…

Skydiving: maybe I am a skydiver now.

The sun glints brightly outside the hard metal plane. The light flicks to red, as a chorus of “door” is yelled out through the plane. I turn away from the excited tandem student beside me and push up the plane door.  I peek out and see the dropzone far below like a tiny piece of…

Skydiving: I did a backloop and I didn’t totally suck.

If you saw my last post, you know I am working towards my solo certificate in skydiving. I am officially two jumps away! One more from altitude followed by a hop-and-pop from 3,500 feet. After exiting from 14,500 on all jumps so far, there is something scary about the idea of jumping so low. After…

Skydiving: ground school and AFP (AFF outside Canada)

It finally happened! After seven months off I got back in the sky! To get my solo certificate and eventually my 'A' license, I had to complete ground school. Over six hours we learned everything from body position in freefall, to canopy control, to malfunctions and how to correct them. I was encouraged to come…