I drove up and pulled my gear bag out. Wow, this was exciting! I had my gear bag slung over my shoulder again, woohoo! I walked in and put it down, said hello to a few folx, went directly to the manifest window and asked if I could manifest. To which Cindy (the new manifest chick) replied, "Hell yes!"
So I walked around to see who I could jump with. The concept was to do a modified level 4, not a solo-solo. I definitely wanted a linked exit so I would have someone keeping me stable. And when I was released on my own, if anything should go wrong, I would have someone there as well.
So who to pick?
To tell you the truth, I didn't know who I would ask. Scotty Carbone? Hmmm, might be fun, but not the first jump back. OK, let me see... Nationals was the week before and the DZ was kinda slow, but luckily for me, a perfect candidate was there: Larry McEvoy.
Larry was my first jump class (FJC) instructor back in 1992. He's the guy that got it all started for me. And I must say, he is professional but down right the wittiest & funniest person alive. His FJC was filled with humorous antecdotes and as I got to know him, I found out he is just naturally disarming and funny. Not to mention he is a national 20-way champion member of Deguello! whoop! whoop!
So, I was a bit nervous, but ready to get in the air. We're in the plane, and wouldn't you know it. It's the sunset load and the CREWdogs are on the load making a demo jump into a ladies backyard at the end of the runway. All the guys I drove up to bridge day with on the load. Yes! And the only other folx on the load were a bunch of my fellow freak flyers (headdown flyers rule!) whom I share a special kinship with.
I can't describe how overwhelming it was riding in the back of the plane again. With my fellow brethren skydivers flying up to play with Mother Earth's tiny layer of air. I kinda think of it as tickling her.
So you see, everyone else leaves the plane and it is me, Larry and the videodude, Mike Lindsmeyer (also mgr at Skydive Houston). I go to the door and Larry assumes the level 4 JM position. I look out, look at him to see if he was ready and proceed.
Ready! Set! Go!
yes, yes, yes! Instant airgasm. I feel the "hill", when we change relative wind towards the planet below. And then Larry lets go. Now to test my legs and see if I can get STRAIGHT forward movement. I do and I dock on him. A little on the high side for me, but hey, I've lost 20 pounds, so I'm lighter than I'm used to flying.
Then I go for the 90 so Larry can side dock on me, can I hold a relative position? I turn and stop and look over my shoulder. Hmmm... Larry sure is taking a while to get to me. Oh look! Larry's struggling like an SOB to stay up to me, I think I need to arch! Yes, looking at the video, I am as flat as a week old Coke.
Once I arched a little to get my speed up, the rest of the dive went well.
The sit was planned, but the cartwheel was thrown in just for the hell of it, since I felt really good! I was in the sit for 2 seconds maybe and I decided, why not and try to get inverted? That's all I dream of doing anyway! Try it now!
So I did, and it was sloppy and my legs are all over the place and I over rotate, but shit, I got inverted! And unstable, which was unsettling, but also great because I handled it well and got right back into a sit. To hell with belly to Earth (my apologies, I started that way), I need to sit.
Not too bad considering I only had on a long sleeve tee shirt and patch pants. Next time I'll try with a real sit suit.
The Spectre opened up really sweet and soft, since I packed, that was nice. It handled extremely well, as Larry and I opened up around 5.5K and we flew around for a while. I spiralled down and set up for the landing. The wind was still holding up.
You see me landing in the video, but you can't tell that I flared about a foot too high. I thought for a moment and then decided not to land on my feet, but rather land on my butt. I have to hand it to Performance Designs, the Spectre had stopped and let me down extremely softly.
Now, if only I can jump some more, but, alas, I have to make it quick because my next surgery is in less than one month (Dec. 9 - left knee reconstruction and hardware removal) After this surgery I have 2 more, so I'm grounded for another 9-12 months.
But at least I can fly still! And I now feel somewhat 'normal' again.
Yeah, what's normal when you jump out of planes for a hobby?