Back in the air for 2011

I only managed one jump today. I got on load 2, then the clouds came in. Hung out, went to get some lunch, and finally the clouds cleared out. Then the winds were too high. Hung out, watched the wind, saw two readings of 15 & 16, then got a 21, which set my clock back to an hour. Done.

I had a brief refresher with Grant. Talked about a couple of things, then talked about what I wanted to do today. I had been thinking about that, and my preference would have been to do a couple of solo jumps just to get back in the swing. That sounded good to Grant, so I geared up for load 2.

I was going to be first out. Spotted with Mike M, who was video for a tandem. Jumped out, got stable quick, and tried some turns. I was much better at stopping them when I wanted to than last fall. Felt the head-to-toe rocking once, arched better and fixed that.

Hard opening with a fast turn. Enough to make me lose my sense of where the airport was, which sucked because it was now hidden under some clouds. I had a decent idea, so I flew toward a hole and saw the airport. I was between the 6 and the road. The clouds came my way, and I tried to stay out of them. After one of my turns, I found myself completely inside a cloud. Weird. Cooler, and damper. I got out quickly to see where I was, and I was still in good shape for my landing pattern.

I turned off the downwind leg a little early. I ended up in the other field toward the big hangar. Flared too high, flared unevenly, didn't complete my flare, so I PLFed.