Students of Skydiving, 4Ever

slaDE and I have decided to renew our USPA Skydiving Coach Rating certification, and in order to achieve this, we needed to sit through and assist with an Accelerated FreeFall training class. I never did graduate as a student through the AFF program, but rather learned via Static-line round parachutes over in the UK (October 6, 1991 was my first jump and I have 50 round jumps to my name before jumping a high performance square canopy). With my background being as such, the thought of doing an AFF jump seems rather alien to me. But where the similarities exist in our trainings is that jumping out of an airplane for the first time was one of the most exhilarating, mind-blowing and terrifying experiences I have ever gone through. Part of wanting to be a coach (and eventually possibly an AFF Instructor) is wanting to teach people about the thrill and intoxication of flight. Nothing compares to this sport of flying ones body, in my experience.

So for 6 hours, slaDE~ and I accompanied student Amy through the first-jump course. Yong was the Instructor, and the refresher for me was a good thing, setting me in the right frame of mind for prepping me as a coach. Twas a good day, finalized with a sunset jump. 🙂