Hey, first tandem experience

[sduclos 0]

Hey, Scott from Albany, NY. I just turned 30 and as a gift, my girlfriend took me skydiving. My first jump was on Saturday; a tandem at Mohawk Valley Skydiving, and what an incredible experience it was. Such a fluctuation of emotions. I was extremely anxious, borderline petrified, on the ride up, yet absolutely thrilled on the way down.

The jump itself was less than perfect, that's for sure. The jump altitude was 10,000 ft, and we were about 1 mile West of the DZ. While exiting, my hands were tightly grasping the door; so much so that my tandem partner had to grab my arms and muscle them to my chest :) Just after exit, we tumbled forward a couple of times due to my poor arch, but lucky he was able to put his right leg in front of my legs to bring them back, which worked. After that he threw the drogue and we settled into a nice smooth freefall from that point on. At 5,000 ft, I couldn't find the ripcord (how, I don't know), so he pulled it. Chute seemed to have deployed smoothly, and we had a great ride down. We came in with our legs up and landed very smooth.

The overall experience was so overwhelming, that initially I wasn't sure that I would ever do it again. However, this changed drastically over the next few hours and days, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. Obsessing about it even, which seems to be a common aftereffect. I've been turning to every resource available to learn as much as possible about skydiving, and I can't wait to jump again. I'm so glad that I stumbled onto this site with a community that has so much combined knowledge and experience. I have so much to learn from everyone.

I'm still uncertain whether I'll be making another tandem jump next or just go on to AFF. I was pretty tense during freefall, so it seems that another tandem might help me feel a little more relaxed. And I've got to admit that my flips out of the door on the first tandem jump have got me pretty anxious about going solo. Seems that most people recommend to just go on to AFF instead of doing another tandem though.

Regardless of which I choose next, I'll eventually be enrolling in AFF training. A Mohawk Valley Skydiving AFF instructor went up for a fun jump during my tandem and helped calm me down on the way up, and he seemed very knowledgeable. When I finally have the cash to take the AFF training, I'll consider doing it there. Until then, I'll probably stop by the DZ occasionally and talk to the instructors and learn as much as I can from them.

Anyway, just wanted say hello and to introduce myself.

Scott

[vanman2 0]

Welcome Scott! Know exactly how you feel. Go for AFF rather than another tandem. Definitely visit the DZ. You will learn a lot.

Paul Hardin....RIP.

[mr_music11 0]

Welcome to my "legal heroin" world! ha ha haa... felt the same way! 1st jump 9/10/06, was in classes by 9/27! Go AFF. The learning curve is a little higher becuause altitude of your initial jump. (usually @13,000 w/2 instructors and a camera flyer VS static line training where you begin with hop n pops where the plane pulls your main chute. ) Well worth the added $$ you will spend. Dont delay.. do it while you're still high off the experience and have the "feeling" in your brain as it will transition you to your classes better. Again welcome!

If flying is piloting a plane.. then swimming is driving a boat. I know why birds sing.. I skydive.

[sduclos 0]

Thanks for the welcome, and advice guys! I think I'll be going to the DZ this weekend to discuss some more details about AFF with them. I'm thinking that I'll do AFF1 soon, so that I'll get the full experience and can determine that this is what I want to do. Then, in the next year or so, I'll repeat AFF1 and continue with the complete training. Thanks again!

Scott

[skymama 35]

Welcome to the forums!

She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

[sduclos 0]

Thanks! IAF definitely sounds more my pace. Especially since the more time that goes by since my first jump, the more the irrational fears keep popping into my head. Seems the high is wearing off now. Last night I was completely freaked out about going again (too many youtube incident videos, I guess). But then I started looking into the gear, how the main is deployed, how cutaways work, how packing is done, AAD, etc. and the irrational fears were somewhat suppressed. Now, I'm excited to go again!

Scott

[Tuna-Salad 0]

I'm still uncertain whether I'll be making another tandem jump next or just go on to AFF. I was pretty tense during freefall -

I'm still new and know next to nothing but I CAN tell you that.. no matter which way you go about it .. you are going to be tense.. some people take 5 jumps to get over it some take 50..

Millions of my potential children died on your daughters' face last night.