Well, it's Monday morning now and I'm still in shock over such a brilliant day on Saturday. The weather has come in bad again so I'm pleased that I made the most of a glorious day when it happened.

Satrurday started early. It shows that perserverance pays off, as does getting up early every morning as well as making friends with the guy who drives the van, who if you're lucky, lives right next door to you. I got a txt from Justin late Friday night to say they'd just had a booking and we'd be starting at 9am and he'd pick me up at 8:40am. I was at the DZ by 9am. They hadn't been able to get hold of Tobi, so I was the only student there at that point. They took up one load of tandems and while they were up I got my gear ready. Very quickly after the first load were back I went up on the second load with one tandem and a couple of the guys from the DZ who were also making the most of the good weather.

I felt good all the way up in the plane. Still nervous and a little scared but nowhere near that almost petrifying fear that I was getting. I was going to be first out. We got to 12,000ft and the door opens. I get the signal and I sit in the door and I'm feeling really, really happy and positive. I'm doing a dive exit so I grip the sides of the door frame on either side of me, rock forward, back and push. It feels fantastic. I launch out into the air and instead of the normal feeling of shock and disorientation I can just feel the air. I put my arms out and tuck my legs up behind me and I just seem to glide into a stable position. I check my height and I'm still above 11,000 ft. This is just brilliant. I try a backflip and it's a bit wobbly. I try another and that's much better - as I go over I see the ground rolling around and then I come back the right way up, arch and I'm stable again. I look around. I do a couple of turns to see where I am. Now I'm going to try tracking. This is where you bring your arms in towards you sides with the palms facing downwards. You straighten your legs at the same time and the idea is that you track accross the sky horizontally as well as down. I'm supposed to keep this up for five seconds. You have to count as you can't see your altimeter in that position. I get to about three seconds and start to feel unstable so I flare (arch) and get stable again. I'm still above 5,000 ft but I think that's enough for my first track. I wave off just before I pull. A wave off is just moving your hands across each other in front of your head so that anyone above you will know you're about to deploy.

They'd actually got the spotting a little bit wrong when they put me out. Spotting is the art of getting the plane into the right place for the jumpers, taking into account the wind speed and direction - there's no point jumping out miles away from the DZ or you'll never get back. I got dropped a fair way down wind and it was a bit of an effort to get back to the DZ. They guys were really pleased with the way I'd flown it 'though and let me decide how to deal with it on my own as they could see that I was doing the right things. Lovely landing, slap bang in the middle of the PLA and standing up. In fact, all six landings on Saturday were good standing up ones.

Back in the hangar, Sol asks me if I want to go up again straight away on the next load. I say yes, but I haven't packed my chute. He says just to leave it and take the other student rig as Tobi isn't there yet. So off I go again. It's another solo jump and pretty much the same as the first one except that I seem to veer off to one side while I'm tracking. There's a bit more cloud about this time and it was a beautiful experience to fall into the top of the clouds at just above 5,000 ft and still be in cloud when I pulled. I don't really have the words to describe the feeling properly but it had a lot to do with feeling so comfortable in the air and enjoying every second of the jump right from the exit. It felt for a few seconds as I sank into the cloud that the sky belonged to me; it was my playground and I was loving it.

Sol tells me that I'm going to do stage seven with Brendan next. I say I'm a bit worried becuase my backflips still aren't great and I had a problem tracking. "Nah mate, you'll be fine"!

We go up. Dive exit - really good again. I look around and find Brendan in the sky. He gives me the signal and I flip: head back, arms down, knees up and over I go. I wobble a bit and almost don't get over. I'm pretty unstable at the end of it and it takes me a few seconds to sort myself out. Brendan signals to do another one so I do and this time as I come out I flip sideways onto my back but manage to get the right way up. Then Brendan is hovering close to me and signals a direction for me to turn and track in. I check my height, turn and start to track. This isn't right. I seem to be heading down head first! I'm moving forwards a bit but not as much as when I last tried it. After a few seconds I start to wobble and roll over onto my back, then my side, then my back and I have to struggle to get stabble. I'm stable by 4,500 and I decide not to wave off but just to pull, which I do at 4,000. I'm annoyed as I'm sure I failed the stage.

In the hangar Tobi has turned up so the packers are helping to get the rigs packed. Sol comes over and says "OK mate, satge eight next". I haven't had a chance to talk to Brendan so I say that I didn't think I'd passed. Sol says "yes you did - go talk to Brendan if you want". So I do and he says that I did what was needed - one half way decent loop and a bit of tracking. He explains that I'm not leaving long enough in the loops and arching too early before I'm right over which is causing the problem. With the tracking I've got my legs too close together and my arms to close to my sides - I need to be in a Delta shape and then I can steer with my legs and feet like rudders.

Stage eight is going to be with Sol. Another dive exit and we're out. This whole day is turning into so much fun. I find him in the sky and he gives me the signal. Backloop - not fantastic but not the worst I've done. Another back loop - pretty much the same. Then he gives me another signal and I do a pretty good 360 degree turn and stop right back facing him. Then he flys around me and I have to turn to find him and then stay facing him. He's above me so I do a slow fall up to him - it's only a few feet but it's the first time I've done a slow fall. What you do is loose the arch position to try and catch more air with your body so that you don't fall as fast. It's described like you're hugging a beach ball. It works. This is fantastic - I'm learning to move what seems like up and down as well as side to side and backwards and forwards. Sol is really close to me and signals a direction. I turn and start to track. I'm remembereing what Brendan told me so that I move my arms and legs slowly into the position. I'm getting lost for words again as this track is awesome. I look down and I can see the ground sliding away below me as I fly across the sky. I'm reminded of Thunderbirds! I feel like Thunderbird 1 when it's flying horizontally and they used to have a shot of it from above with the ground rushing past underneath it! I'm counting out the seconds and I'm staying stable and on heading. At five seconds I flare and check my height - we're still above 5,000. For a moment before the track with Sol hovering there beside me I felt like I was a fledgling bird with it's parent flying close to it and then the parent telling it to go and fly on it's own. As we're still high I do another 360 degree turn and then wave off and deploy at 4,500.

On the ground he tells me I've passed. He says the backloops still need some work but then he says "What about that track, man? Absolutley awesome. That was really good.". I told him it felt good and that I felt in control of it this time and tried to keep it smooth and controlled. I said how pleased I was that I kept it up for the full five seconds. He said he could see I was controlled and he could see me starting to count as I moved off.

Stage nine is next. This is the dreaded "Hop & Pop" from low altitude. Sol decides we're doing this from 5,000 ft. I just have to exit in a stable position. I'm allowed to do a dive exit even though normally they teach people to use the poised exit - the up, down, arch one. They don't normally get people to do dive exits for the hop&pop becuase the ground looks a lot closer from just 5,000 feet and most people prefer not to dive head first towards it from that altitude. Sol tells me to pull at 4,000. I'm feeling really confident about this. We go up and it doesn't take very long at all to get to 5,000 ft. The door opens and Brendan signals for me get to the door. I sit there and Brendan has told me that he wants me to look down before I jump and get a feel for the landscape. You can imagine how I feel about this with all the exit problems I've had in the past weeks. It's not a problem. It's a strange feeling but I look down and I can make out the runway below us. I get the OK and I dive. Fantastic. I'm stable so quickly. I wait till 4,000 and pull. I've done it. Stage nine - I never thought I'd get there sometimes but I've done it at last. They've decided to clear me off radio as well so this is the first jump without having the radio around my neck. Keith hasn't bothered to talk me down for ages but even so it's a bit scary to know that I'm not going to get any instructions or help on the way down, even if I need them but it's a great feeling to get down completely without assistance.

On the ground Sol tells me I've passed. Back at the hangar everyone is really pleased and shakes my hand. Willy, the pilot, comes over and shakes my hand and tells me he couldn't be more pleased for me. It's fantastic.

There's one more load going up and I ask if I can go. It's only going to 9,000 ft as that is all the tandem passengers want to go to. Sol looks at me and says "Do you want to?". "Hell, yes! If I can I'll go please!". It's my first jump as a non student. I'm really enjoying sitting in the door now. I let Tobi go first and I make myself watch him go and it's fine. No lurching in my stomach; no wave of terror crashing over me; just excitement that I'm out next. I sit in the door and give Tobi a few secons to get well away. I jump. Flying in the air. A couple of pretty good backloops and another beautiful track. 9,000 ft isn't high enough as it's all over too soon. I wave an pull at 4,000 ft. It has been one of the best days of my life.

I saw a couple of my exits on video for the first time. The day's first was the best. The guys in the plane said it was good and watching it was great. There I am, sitting in the door of a plane at 12,000 feet, SMILING! I see myself rock forward and back and then push off and it looks like I just fly out into the sky. I feel so proud and excited.

To realise that I can jump out of a plane from 12,000 ft; freefall for 40-50 seconds; do manouvers in freefall; deploy my own parachute; fly the parachute down to the ground and land where I'm aiming for and land standing up is something I'd have thought a couple of months ago would have been so beyond anything I'd ever be capable of. You can probably tell I'm still very excited about the whole day. This is exactly what I hoped skydiving would be. It feels great. It's unlike anything I've every done in my life. It's awesome, wicked, cool, out of this world, amazing, fantastic...

Thanks everyone who's been there for me while I've been doing this. It was worth it all. I hope that very soon I'll be able to tell you that I've applied for my 'A' license. I wouldn't have got here without all of you wishing me well and giving me your support and encouragement.

Ian.