After I sent yesterday's update I went out for a meal and celebratory drink with Lorraine, her sister Siobhan and their flat mate Ruth. All Lorraine and I talked about was skydiving! I had a brilliant time. I think I really needed some kind of release. I was so pumped up about the day and I needed to let off steam. Lorraine left first and I had a few more with Siobhan and Ruth. I left earlyish. Apparently those two got in at 3:30am and both had such big hangovers they didn't go to work!

This morning I rang the Drop Zone at 9am and got told we were on. I got picked up at 9:45am. I had a pre-jump brief and practice and then Keith came in and said that my jump was on hold. The chute I'm using is only rated for wind speeds of up to 12 knots. This morning it was 15 knots. This is the other side of skydiving - there is a lot of hanging around (no pun intended) just waiting for the weather to be right. They took up a couple of tandem jumpers (those chutes are rated for higher wind speeds - plus there is an experienced Jump Master in control of the chute). I had to watch the plane go up without me on it.

I was outside waiting to watch the jumps when Damon came out and told me to suit up - we were going up when the plane got back. At around 5,000 feet the nerves started again. I'm not sure I'll ever get over the fear of getting out of the door. When it came time to talk through the jump I knew exactly what I was supposed to do and Damon was really pleased with me.

No problem with the exit. I'm still not happy about it but I'm getting there. Lorraine put her finger on it I think. She asked me this evening how I felt about being at the door. It's not the actual jumping out I think, but the sitting on the edge waiting to do it.

The jump was really good. It was a shock to see Damon suddenly fly in front of me and fun trying to follow him around using the turn techniques from stage two. I lost him a couple of times and then it was time to deploy. I didn't do that very well - I rushed and lost my body position. Keith had gone through the flight plan with me before we went up. A bit different from yesterday because there was still quite a bit of wind. Once the canopy was open he just asked me to turn left and then let me get on with it. He didn't even talk to me until I had hit my 1,000 foot spot. Then he talked me down but said he'd leave me to do the flare on my own. That's the bit were at about 3 meters from the ground you pull down hard all the way on the steering toggles and you should be able to just "jump down" onto the grass. I flared a little early and ended up sitting down again but that is not a problem at all.

I passed Stage 3! I need to work on my deployment and slow it down and be smoother. I also lost some of the turning technique but apart from that they were really pleased.

After the Stage 3 de-brief I was told that I'd do Stage 4 in the afternoon! Stage 4 is almost the same as Stage 3 but if they think you're OK the Jump Master who is still holding you during the free fall (the other one is flying in front of you getting you so that you can follow him) will let you go and you'll be flying on your own. There is no guarantee that they'll do that however.

After lunch, a briefing, more practice and working out the flight plan with Keith (slightly different as the wind had changed direction) we go up. Lorraine was there this afternoon and she went first (I couldn't watch her). We also had a tandem jumper with Jump Master and camera woman on board. I was next after Lorraine. I still don't like the door but afterwards Brendon told me that I looked a whole lot happier about the exit. We jump. It's exactly like Stage 3. Damon is flying in front and I'm trying to follow him as he goes right and left. Then I suddenly notice that Brendon is out in front of me on my right! He'd let go of me and I'm skydiving on my own! Absolutely (trying very hard to control my language here...) bloomin' marvelous. I'm still trying to follow Damon but he seems to drift to my right and I can't seem to get him back in sight - oh, there he is. Apparently I'd started to drift and did a complete 360 degree turn which wasn't what was supposed to happen. I also lost my leg position at one point while Brendon was still holding me and I was dragging us both left but Damon signalled me to arch and when I did I corrected the problem without thinking about it. At approaching 5,000 feet I gave two hand flashes to let them know I knew I was getting to 5,000 and then I waited to approach 4,000 and tried very hard to slowly and smoothly deploy my chute. I did much better with it this time.

Under canopy was great - apart from the fact that I didn't have the right leg harness up far enough and it was very uncomfortable - I'm going to be bruised tomorrow! I'll certainly have the leg harness up higher next time. I just got an instruction from Keith to turn left and then he said "good - have a play". So I aimed for my 2,000 foot mark and then my 1,000 foot mark. I thought I was a bit high so I lost some height by flying left turn patterns accros my intended flight path. Keith didn't bother to talk to me at all until I was coming up to my 500 foot mark. I was just about to turn left when he came on the radio and said "That's brilliant Ian - now turn left". He talked me down to my 200 foot mark and then said something along the lines of "OK, just a little trim to the left - that's it- OK you do the rest". So I flew it in, headed straight for Keith (he stands in the middle of the PLA near the wind sock) and left it a bit later to flare and - what do you know? I landed standing up! It felt really soft and gentle and I even managed to turn and pull in the canopy and collect it all up without anyone having to run over to help.

Brendon did the de-brief and mentioned the points I've already told you about. I had no idea I'd done a 360 turn. He was pretty pleased with how it went. I didn't fail but I need some more practice doing hover control before going on the Stage 5. So tomorrow they are going to let me jump using the same plan as for Stage 4 but - and I can't believe this - they are letting me go with ONLY ONE JUMP MASTER! So, as soon as we've exited and I've corrected my arm and leg positions (if neccessary) he'll fly in front to act as a target for me to follow and I'll being doing all of the rest of the dive without anyone holding on to me! When they think I'm ready I'll move on to Stage 5. I don't care how long it takes - I'm skydiving and every practice jump I do counts towards my 'A' license. Keith is getting some more log books in so that I can record my jumps. Stage 5 involves doing 360 turns on purpose! I'm over the moon about it. It also means that from now on my jumps will be a bit cheaper as I've only got one Jump Master with me. It might be that I really make a mess of the next jump and have to go back to two Jump Masters but I don't care - I want to get this right and if that's what's needed to get me through any problems then that's what's needed.

I've got tomorrow morning off (Friday). They haven't got a pilot until after lunch. I need to ring up at about noon to check the weather and then hopefully I'll get a jump in (Stage four and a half?). I'm starting to run out of ways to say how excited and happy and thrilled and oh, I don't know, the whole thing is just out of this world.

I'm going to get something to eat now and them I'm going to bed!

Oh, nearly forgot! I've started to learn how to pack my own parachute!

Ian.