Started working Cat F jumps

Two jumps today before the wind picked up.

The first was a solo jump. I was 2nd to last out. I tried the delta position for tracking and was amazed that I didn't start tumbling.

Nice, on-heading opening just across Airport Rd. aiming at the 6. Turns, sharper turns, spirals. Got in the landing pattern at the right time, followed the pattern, and landed right in front of the hangar. Flared all the way through, but I still slid and skidded a little. Took a divot of grass with me in my right sneaker.

The second was a coach jump with Casey to do tracking. We were both outside the plane, I did the count, pushed off into the wind, ended up diving and flipped. The plan was to come together first before doing the tracking, so I wasted some time trying to get back to him. Finally gave up, turned 90 degrees, and tracked for about 3 seconds. Got stable, turned around, did it again. Now at about 6200, so I did it again. At the end of that one, I got stable and saw that I was at 4,500 or so. Waved off and pulled. Casey told me that I should start waving off in front of my face to get that last look at altitude.

Easy opening, on-heading. Did a bunch of deep brake turns. Braked until stalled, backed off, then eased up on one side to turn the other direction 180 degrees. I did that about 8 times before it was time to get into my landing pattern.

On landing, I thought I maybe flared too low, because I hit kind of hard. PLFed, so no injury. Afterwards, a guy I never met before said that he was getting caught in rolling thermals from the heat off the runway getting blown by the breeze, and that he had gotten slammed into the ground. Maybe the hard landing wasn't all my fault.