Alastair Firth, Steven Benders, Greg MacLean, Sarah Shade, and I spent the whole day at Canton Air Sports. It was a hot and humid afternoon but excellent for skydiving. The DZ was a lot busier than we expected it would be; we ended up staying until nearly sunset so that everyone could get their jumps in. Steven and Sarah did their first tandems while Alastair continued with his AFF training. Sarah and I both worked on our respective tans (sunburns!), and I kissed a toad and a frog--neither of which turned into anything, unfortunately. Greg and I attempted a two-way maneuver known as a "Mr. Bill" in which one skydiver hangs onto the other on exit. The person on top opens his parachute at high altitude while the other person hangs on, only later dropping away and opening his own parachute at a lower altitude. It didn't quite work out because we spent too much time getting into the correct body position (opening should happen within a few seconds of jumping), and Greg got wrenched away from me with tremendous force when I opened. However, we're looking forward to trying again soon.
-M. Jehn