Cold Climate Jumpers: Preparing for a Successful Season

Canadian skydiver Martin Lemay is quite familiar with working with jumpers who take a part of the year off, due to weather.
Martin is a competitive skydiver in several disciplines and has represented Canada at many World events. He is an active Flight-1 canopy instructor as well as a member of Canadian National team Evolution.

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The busy summer skydiving season is just around the corner. Not everybody has the chance to live in warmer states where skydiving is a year-round activity or to travel to such places during the off-season. Although some of you have been jumping year-long, some do need to get current before they dive in their full-time summer season. Here are a few things to consider if you are in the latter situation: getting current for fretful activities is a necessity.

First, with wind-tunnels popping up in every corner of the world, skydivers of every level can brush off their skills during the winter season. Beware, this does not make you a current or a better skydiver right off the start. Your falling skills will be better, but tunnel flying does not teach you to be aware and reactive to out-of-the-box scenarios that can happen in freefall. A lot more than just skillfully falling vertically needs to be considered at the start of a new season.
Group awareness, tracking, clear skies for opening and canopy control/landing are all critically important.

If you are a RW-flyer or freeflyer, it is recommended, depending on your skydiving experience, that you start off this season with smaller groups (2-3-4 people) to get up to par again. This will allow you to sharpen your overall skydiving reflexes.

FS (RW) flyers should start with familiar exits you have confidence in and a jump sequence everybody can nail. Nothing better than a successful jump!
Freeflyers, start your season with buddies you know and have jumped with before. Avoiding the unknowns to start the season is a must. Start in your comfort zone, even if it means doing a solo skydive.

Lastly, getting current is something EVERY skydiver needs to understand. There are some habits you develop over time that can get lost or forgotten at the beginning of the season. Gear checks, exit orders, letting someone know you will be tracking, tracking jump headings, and so on.

Of course, there are people on the DZ (DZO’s, senior instructors) who can and will help you out, but remember that you are responsible for your own safety.Getting current in freefall is not a one jump or a one day thing. Accept that it takes a bit of time to get back in the game. Be wise early in the summer so that you can enjoy a full summer of jumping.