Jump 5 – 13,500′

CLIMB OUT AND EXIT GOOD. COA THUMBS UP. 1 PRCT GOOD. RELEASED. LEFT HAND TURN OK, NEEDS TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE. WENT INTO SLOW RIGHT HAND TURN WHILE LOOKING AT ALTIMETER. TRIED RIGHT HAND TURN AND HAD PROBLEMS STOPPING. RELAXING WILL TAKE CARE OF BUILT IN TURN. WORK ON RELAXING AND TURNS. JM REDOCKED, IT WAS TOO LOW FOR FURTHER MANEUVERS. GOOD AA. GOOD 5-5 AND PULL. REPEAT LEVEL IV. RELAX AND YOU WILL DO FINE! YAHOO!!!

Every time I looked at my altimeter, I turned right. Besides that, the jump was ok. I tried to get too fancy on the landing. I ended up flaring way too late. I fell down on my face and skidded across the grass a couple of feet. I was ok, but I’ll remember not to do that again.

Jump 6 – 12,500′

GOOD EXIT AND COA. GOOD PRCT. GOOD RESPONSE TO LEGS OUT SIGN. RELEASE, THEN LEGS ARE BACK UP AND OFFSET. DRIFTS RIGHT. NO TURNS. GOOD ALTITUDE AWARENESS, 5-5, AND PULL. LETS TRY AGAIN.

This time, I had so much torque on my body, I didn’t even try to meet the objectives of the lesson. I just concentrated on keeping my body stable. I corrected for the torque, and fell straight. Afterwards, my JM told me that my problem was that my legs weren’t in the right position. She gave me an exercise to do on the ground that was supposed to teach my legs the correct position. It really helped.

Jump 7 – 13,500′

GOOD EXIT. ONE LEGS OUT [SIGN], COA, RELEASE, 90 DEGREES RT [RIGHT] TURN, BEGAN TO BUFFET; 90 DEGREES LEFT AND SOME SEPARATION [BETWEEN ME AND THE JM], STILL ROCKING, 45 DEGREES RT [RIGHT TURN], FWD [FORWARD MOTION] NOT DOCKED HEAD ON, BUT OK, THEN RELAXED. BUFFET STOPPED, VERY STABLE, GOOD HEADING. [I HAD FINALLY FIGURED OUT THE BALANCE POINT, IT FELT GREAT!] GOOD AA, 5-5. PULLED 4,500′. OK LEVEL V. RELAX MORE FROM THE START!

I fell straight! I only turned when I wanted to! I was rocking back and forth a little, but besides that I was doing great. Then, near the end of the freefall, I figured out the balance point. From then on, I was rock solid. No rocking at all.