Sit Fly Mini-Camp

Date: June 23, 2013
Location: The Ranch, Gardiner, NY
Instructor/Videographer: John Skinner
Flyers: Jerome, Evan & Me

Now that I have almost 300 jumps, I figure it's time to stop messing around and perfect my skydiving skills. Since I have favored sit-flying the last few years, I decided to start there. The big challenge was finding an advanced training event I could attend.

DropZones have training camps all the time, but only a handful focus on sit-flying and you have to find a few days in your schedule for travel. On the other hand, we have tons of talent at my home DZ, but the powers-that-be don't often organize training. And so, an idea formed: Why not organize a mini-camp of my own?

Sure enough, when I asked one of the top talents at our DZ (FreeFly Master John Skinner) if he was interested in training a small group -- he was! And it wasn't hard to find a few other guys at my skill level who were interested. It turns out there are a lot of guys like me who want to get better but face the same dilemma (no camps without travel). And veterans like Skinner are super-motivated to coach them because, well, who wouldn't welcome the opportunity to make money doing what they love?

The only other potential problems with my plan were the coaching fees and the coordinating of schedules, but both proved to be less of a challenge than I thought. Even top-talent coaching fees are totally reasonable once you split the cost among three people, and I only invited guys who jump every weekend (like me). My reasoning was that they would have both the money and the passion to make the event a priority. I was right: The first date I proposed worked for everyone, and they showed up at the appointed time. Voila! My first mini-camp had taken flight!

Training jump No. 1 is above. Training jumps No. 2 and No. 3 are below. Working with Skinner was awesome, and he took great video (as you'll see) that really helped us understand our strengths and weaknesses. We learned so much in just one day, and the best part is that now we know we can train whenever we want!