I went out with Tobi for a drink and a meal last night to celebrate his first jump. Justin from the DZ, his girlfriend and his Mum turned up as well which was nice.

Unfortunately this morning Keith didn't feel well enough to jump. His cold has gone back to his head and the pressure in his ears would be too much. Luckily for me Brendan felt well enough to take me up. Damon is going to be off for about a week with his injured shoulder. This did mean however that Tobi wouldn't be able to do his stage two, poor guy, so he didn't come out today.

There wasn't a tandem booked but Keith decided to send the plane up just for me, which I'm very pleased about. Matt, who works there as well, also came up for a jump.

Brendan said we'd do the same type of jump as I did yesterday with Keith: linked exit, pick a heading and try and stay on it. If he felt I looked comfortable enough he'd let me go and fly in front and then let me use him as a heading. I should do hand flashes at 5,000 and deploy at 4,500.

The flight up was a bit better than yesterday but I'm still very scared when the door is open and I really feel like I don't want to do it. It's very windy today as well, so as soon as the door opens I can hear and feel the wind howling. Matt goes first and I just can't make myself watch him go. I wanted to but I had to shut my eyes as he got to the door. I could tell he'd jumped because there is a sort of whooshing sound as someone leaves the door and you can feel some turnbulence in the cabin as they go. Brendan climbs outside and signals me to get to the door. OK, UP, DOWN OUT.

I saw the plane from underneath as we tipped back. I forgot to take my two deep breaths but did remember to look at my altimeter. We get stable and I try and maintain a heading. At around 9,000 feet Brendan lets go and flys in front. He signals me to straighten my legs a bit and then I try and stay facing him. He grabs my hand a couple of times as I turn a bit too far. I keep checking my height. I'm really enjoying this jump. Brendan is smiling and I actually feel able to smile and shout "wah hoo" or something along those lines - this is fun. I'm definately noticing that I'm more aware of the time spent in free fall. The same amount of time seems to take much longer now if you see what I mean, or it feels like I can do more in the same amount of time. I wait 'till my alti is reading 5,000 and give the two hand flashes. Brendan smiles and gives me a thumbs up signal. It seems to take a long time waiting for 4,500 and then I move to deploy. That isn't as good as yesterday as I feel myself tilt forward a bit and start to turn to my left as I bring the pilot chute out. I let go of the pilot chute and count "One thousand, two thousand, three thousand, check" and look up. While I'm counting I'm thinking "I'm going to get line twists because I was turning as I deployed". When I look up, sure enough, there is a twist in the line, but it's only one revolution and by the time I've grabbed the risers to pull them apart I'm spinning round the other way anyway and it untwists itself - I didn't even have to do scissor kicks to spin myself round to untwist it. Once the canopy is fully open Keith comes in on the Radio and says "Well, done Ian. That's another one for the log book".

This is the strongest wind I've ever jumped in. I have to stay upwind under canopy for ages and let myself loose hight very gradually. Keith just gets me to do a couple of adjustments on the way down. He gets me to turn very sharply over the PLA and I head into wind to land. I can see a huge puddle of mud in front of me so I steer away from that and manage to land where it is dry - and I'm standing up. The wind is strong and my canopy is still blowing about behind me so I turn around and pull on one of the steering toggles and keep pulling the steering line towards me. You do this to collapse the canopy so that it doesn't pull you along the ground. I'm not quick enough! I start to get pulled along by my canopy and I have to run as I'm trying to pull on the steering line. The ground is wet and I slip and fall down onto my backside and then get dragged right through the huge muddy puddle I'd so carefully avoided landing in! Keith, helpful as ever, says over the radio "yep, if all else fails park your arse on the ground!". Thanks Keith!

Brendan was really pleased with the jump. He said I was still too tense during the exit and the first half of the dive but that once I'd settled I was really good. He said I've never kept a heading on him as well as I did today. He could tell that I'm very aware of my height and know where I am in the dive. He says he thinks we'll do another couple of these types of jump, maybe putting in some extra manouvers. He says that what they are aiming for is to get me to the point where I can pass stage six and then, get this, once I've done stage six comfortably, they'll let me jump solo! How awesome is that going to be?! I just need to get more relaxed during the top half of the dive. He said he had no worries about me at all during the second half once I'd relaxed. I did explain to him that the reason I'm so tense on the exit is that I'm bloody terrified at that point! I think I've just got to keep doing this until I get over it. Doing it like this is good because I'm under no pressure to pass a stage when I jump. It's just a jump that I can enjoy and learn from. All in all I think this is going pretty well.

After his jump with me, Brendan had to go home as his cold was too bad and his ears got too sore when he jumped so he can't do anymore today. We're hoping that he might be better again tomorrow so I'm ringing the DZ at 9am to see if we're on. I don't know if Tobi is going to jump or not - it depends on how Brendan and Keith are feeling. Also, the wind has started to pick up even more and if it's like this tomorrow I won't be jumping anyway.

Lorraine rang the DZ after I'd jumped and spoke to me. It was fantastic to talk to her. I certainly do miss having her and Siobhan around.

Hopefully I'll get another jump tomorrow.

Cheers,
Ian.