Skydiving - anyone here hooked on it?

[Nomad_K]

Have many people here on SF been skydiving?

Can anyone share some stories about how exciting your first dive was or wasn't? After hearing a bit about the first few dives (tandem jumps, just along for the ride) I am not as fired up as I thought I would be. Has anyone started with an AFF versus a tandem?

 

[Johnny_5]

Done a few jumps. Was about to do AFF until the first instructor I had died in an accident. I love skydiving and I wish I had the time and money to really commit to it but it's really not possible at this point in my life. Maybe in a couple of years...

 

[JustinW]

My first jump was a solo static-line. There was a guy on the ground in radio contact with me - supposedly to help guide me in, though he got his left an rights confused a couple of times.

Landing was ok, though I sailed a little close to a building and just managed to clear a wire fence when the wind picked up.

The hardest part is probably climbing out of the fuselage and onto the wing, before letting go. But it's all good fun and would highly recommend!

The following weekend I went back to do 3 more solo static line jumps.

 

[willpower]

Did it, didn't like it. Brain told me I had just made a big mistake as I left the plane. Did a good job of controlling the chute and landing, but I didn't experience any fun doing it. I know I'm in the minority.

 

[GQgeek]

Originally Posted by JustinW

My first jump was a solo static-line. There was a guy on the ground in radio contact with me - supposedly to help guide me in, though he got his left an rights confused a couple of times.

Landing was ok, though I sailed a little close to a building and just managed to clear a wire fence when the wind picked up.

The hardest part is probably climbing out of the fuselage and onto the wing, before letting go. But it's all good fun and would highly recommend!

The following weekend I went back to do 3 more solo static line jumps.

*****. The freakiest part to me was sitting in the class before even getting in the plane when they were talking about what to do if **** got tangled up and the chute wasn't deploying properly. By the time I was on the wing that stuff was totally gone from my mind. I was just like "wow, this is cool. I barely have to use any grip at all!" And then I let go. I didn't have to worry about hitting anything on the way down except manure. We were challenged to hit a landing spot. i came pretty close but I missed both times.

Originally Posted by willpower

Did it, didn't like it. Brain told me I had just made a big mistake as I left the plane. Did a good job of controlling the chute and landing, but I didn't experience any fun doing it. I know I'm in the minority.

My brain never said that, however, it wasn't as big a thrill as I thought it would be. When my chut deployed it was kind of a "meh... this is it?" moment for me. The thing is, I never got to experience free-fall for any length of time because our chutes deployed, and that probably changes things a lot. I'll go back and do the license some day when I have time in the summer and do some real sky-diving, as opposed to parachuting.

 

[whymakemedothis]

it was alright. would go again, but not exactly on top of my list. first few seconds you get the falling sensation, but once you hitting Vmax youre just kinda there...i was blase' about it.

some of the girls i went with got major adrenaline and endorphin kicks.. they were literally shaking for minutes after landing