I’ve been skydiving for nineteen years. I have close to 2400 jumps. I began a little late when I was thirty two. I’d just broken up with a girl friend and I didn’t know where my life was going. I suppose it was my first mid-life crisis. After my first static line jump I figured, “Been there done that.”

A woman I went to the drop zone with was hooked immediately and I found myself going back. It didn’t take long. You get addicted pretty quickly to life and death experiences.

I happened into a good crowd. The drop zone owner’s son would end up on a world championship 4-way team and I would get a lot of personal instruction.

The technology advanced like gang busters as I began my new passion.

Tommy Piras would develop the box position, a way to fly your body in freefall. It was determined that tighter jump suits and a faster fall rate gave more control with turns. Until then people were flying balloon suits that kept you up longer. Square wing-like canopies as opposed to the old rounds came into existence.

My jumping has tapered off quite a bit since the beginning. A lot of people I started with have closer to 10,000 jumps now.

I am going to try to impart any tips I have and I welcome any corrections from the skydiving community.

My first will be how to exit the aircraft from the front float position. When a formation leaves the plane it’s important that everyone leaves together. I still see jumpers at the back of the plane, scattered and totally disorganized. The time wasted can make even getting to the formation impossible. We only have a minute.

There are really only a few things I can think of, besides the climb out, that a front floater has to do. Make sure you can see the person giving the count. A rocking motioned three count is usually given – “ready, set, go” where the ready rock is toward the direction of exit. In my mind I used to add the word and between the words of the count. I’d leave on the “and” before go. I’ve found that it’s better to leave on go but I leave more aggressively than the others. Even more important than this is the presentation of your body. As you look in for the count, make sure you present your chest to the wind. “Present” is the key. If you leave aggressively and present your chest to the wind you will be able to drag off a formation every time.

I’m sure this information has been posted before but I see exits blown unnecessarily all the time.

Blue skies!