Febuary [1997] Jump Report

Back in 78 I saw a stretch of weather where the sun did not shine for 19 days in a row. I got depressed and quit eating but I don't know why ....This month, 17 days went to low ceilings and short days. Towards the end I got downright mean...lack of air??? So, when the weather broke, I played hooky from work to get some and have piled up a dozen since then.

Several of the DZ regulars who started into the world of vertical last fall got hooked up with me on these dives and I did my best to give them insight and show them some fun moves. ....Nothing harder to keep up with than a student vertical flyer. Any potatoe chipping, sliding or spinning gets xtreme in a hurry. I felt like I constantly had to slam on the brakes then throw on the gas...and chase right then left ...yeehaw...

At the end of the month I got 4 dives back to back with Jamie P. from 13,5. He has good basic head-down skills and wanted to film me. We ripped. It chased all my light remission problems away. His videos revealed both my budding head down skills and my mastery of the stand-up ...I have learned to lean the head-up position waaaay over now to close BIG gaps (50 feet) in a hurry. It's so radical, I could never use it up close.

When I watch this move in replay, it looks like I am 'falling' backwards and down .....instead, I'm swooping up and in on the base. I start the thing by throwing on the gas and speeding to my fastest stand-up momentarily...with legs about 6 inches apart and my arms at a 45 degree angle I wait until my target starts rising then I arch hard and lean back. I put my legs together and fold them at the knees and point my toes towards the middle of the earth. I pull my arms together over my face and then dig my hands into the slipstream behind the top of my neck. It feels like I'm flying some sort of rod. I move up and in, however, just like in a good prone swoop. As I watch my slot draw closer , I start braking by leaning foward and pressing foward with my arms...I can feel myself hugging a huge wave of pressurized air...I try to coast in for the grip by sort of tettering foward and back on the balance point. Sweet.....

Blue skies/tear m up. jhs/dzp/3-DU