First Tandem Jump_now hooked!

[glennT.1970 0]

Hello All..My name is Glenn,im from upstate Ny. I just did my first tandem jump at the Ranch in Gardener Ny. Im 40 years old,and have been dreaming of this all my life,but unfortunatly life gets in the way and it gets jushed aside.Turning 40 really made me start looking at things a little differently and made me realize ya gotta do it while you can.dont get me wrong i love my life and my family,but this is all about some me time!well anyway enough about me and more about jumping. we arrived at the ranch about an hour before our scheduled jump for the pre-jump class,but unfortunatly it started raining.we could either wait it out or re-schedule,so we decided to wait it out.This turned out to be great,as i met some of the nicest and most professional people ive ever met.All the instructors were great and loved my 4yr old son and took the time to talk and hang out with him.I met people from 18-75 yrs old there that were all so sincere with a true love for the sport,and a real family feeling between everyone.this place is great,as professional as could be,yet very fun and cool environment with alot of laughs.After the rain cleared,we headed up to 13500 feet.i didnt feel nervous at all,completely comfortable strapped to aguy with over 16yrs and 10000 jumps under his belt.The only time i felt a little nervous was standing at the door ready to jump.Once we jumped and cleared the plane and got stable in freefall it was awesome,the most incredible thing ive ever felt.I didnt even feel like i was falling,more like floating.Under the canopy the scenery was breathtaking and the feeling of flight was really amazing.Supersmooth landing. I know my personality well enough to say that i am oficially hooked! since its getting late in the season now i think im gonna wait till spring to begin my aff training. i want to do it all together week after week till i can get licenced.this will also give me some time to save up some money for equipment and lessons. I consider myself truely blessed to live only about a half hour away from such an awesome facility,with great instructors,aircraft,and pro-shop.My only regret is that i didnt do this 20 years ago.Once again Hello tha all,and good luck to all!

[Gators1240 9]

I had a very similar experience. I had my first tandem a few years ago at a dz in Alabama(can't remember which one) and absolutely loved it. Since then I have wanted to get my license but like you said life tends to get in the way. I live in ct and for the past few years do to work I have only been here during the winter when the dz.'s are closed. But I'm finally about to get it done. as far as the people are concerned I had the same thing in Alabama. Everyone was great and extremely nice and friendly. I have never met a more welcoming community in any sport other than skydiving.

[Sapphire 0]

Congrats on your first jump, Glenn! I think I saw the pics on FB!

"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar" ~ Helen Keller

[glennT.1970 0]

Thanks Jess! im glad to hear that your back into skydiving&almost licensed!Lucky you,you guys get a longer season there.im gonna get a couple more tandem jumps in this fall just vfor fun,then get serious into aff lessons in the spring,hopefully getting licensed by this time next year.at the dz here they start the rookie class in the spring and have the rookie graduation and barbeque/bonfire around labor day.they had a pretty good sized class this year,so im signing up early.Have you purchased your own equipment yet? Im gonna buy my suit,altimeter,helmet over the winter and wait to buy the container&main/res/aad till im licensed.its not something i wanna buy twice,so id rather use rented gear for training and then buy really good year for permanant use.Whats nice here is the ranch pro-shop has everthing in 1 stop,and all top quality stuff.Not cheap but do you want it to be?They told me when i buy my first real good gear its gonna be about 6500,so i gotta start saving.not soo bad when you consider whats involved and what every other fun hobby costs.The boat we wanna get is gonna cost more then this,so does a nice quad or dirtbike,nothing is cheap anymore.Shit my lawnmower cost more then that so its really not so bad for something your trusting your life with.Have you ever had any problems with your ears while skydiving.mine hurt a bit on freefall then i kept popping them and it went away in a couple hours.Is that normal.my instructor said it may or may not happen every time,only time will tell.Have fun,be safe,and happy jumping! Glenn

[Gators1240 9]

Quote

Have you purchased your own equipment yet? Im gonna buy my suit,altimeter,helmet over the winter and wait to buy the container&main/res/aad till im licensed.

Now I am by no means an expert considering I haven't even started my aff yet but from everything I have seen on here and through talking with other people I think you would be better off waiting to buy any equipment until after aff. Considering you are only planning on buying a few things that really shouldn't change much I don't think it's that big a deal but why buy those during the winter and not in the spring prior to your class? I mean anything could happen you could lose interest(very doubtful ) or pick up a few extra pounds during the holiday season and no longer fit into your suit

[Sapphire 0]

Yeah, thanks! It's been a long road... but hopefully one I'm back on track of! I'm about 1.5 hrs away from the dz... and realize that had I started years ago I would've been within 30 mins or so of two; both in NY and when I lived in SC - ah well, guess things happen for a reason!

As far as gear - I only purchased a helmet, goggles and altimeter after I made a few jumps. I'd use the dz's for the first few if I were you and their jumpsuits - I'm sure you'd hate to tear up anything new. (Plus, you don't really know what you want/need as of yet.)

Yanno, if you really cannot wait - you can always take the fam on vacay in the south and do one of those A license in a week things.

"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar" ~ Helen Keller

[skymama 35]

Welcome to the forums!
By the way, to make it easier for people to read your posts, please use a little more proper grammar. It's really hard to read your posts in the format you're using. Are you posting from a phone?

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

[bluetwo 0]

WELCOME!! Sounds like you're hooked for sure.

Enjoy and blue skies!

_______________________________________

[glennT.1970 0]

Sorry about the grammer,my high school english teacher wolud be disappointed in me. Im typing on a tiny little netbook with keys about the size of my pinky nail.Please remember im old(40)and im used to full size keyboards.My 14 yr old daughter can type perfectly on a cell phone,and quickly too.Im not too into the computer,more of something to do in rainy weather or if im bored.I used to think the computer was only good for watching porn,till i found this site.I love this site and im learning alot.Many nice and knowlegable people here.Thanks to all for the welcome!