Dreaming about Skydiving for years and finally took the plunge..

[verty 0]

I have always been fascinated with Skydiving but always have been too chicken to do so. It took very many years (about 10 years +) to finally mentally prepare myself to do a tandem jump which I only completed last week. I've alway watch Skydiving videos and probably know alil too much about Skydiving for someone who has never jumped before. I always thought once I did my tandem jump I would want to go for my AFF.

Over the years I have gone to a couple of wind tunnels and have about 30 mins flying experience. I know it's not much, but it definitely took away the element of surprise of freefall when I finally took the plunge for my first tandem skydive. So much so, that even though I absolutely loved the skydive and am so happy that I finally did it, I think I regret that I did the wind tunnel time beforehand because I think It took away a part of the total rush of my first Skydiving experience because I was already familiar with how the freefall would feel like.

Can anyone else relate to this?
My question is to experience skydivers and people maybe in a similar situation previously is, does Skydiving get better with experience? I've always dreamed to learn how to Skydive and am considering my doing the AFF course and think I would have a way better time if I could manoeuvre on my own instead of being strapped to another guy in a tandem freefall. If I wasn't completely blown away by my tandem skydive, would that mean Skydiving is definitely not for me, or does it become more exciting with time when you learn how to really fly in the air?

Any opinions or feedback on this would be appreciated because I dont know If I am dreaming about skydiving for real too much when it is or isn't for me ;)

[unkulunkulu 0]

Haha, congrats, my friend! :) Skydiving gets better during and after AFF for sure, don't know about further progress still, but hope so :)

I have a question of my own to experienced tandem masters, have any of your students ever hijacked the freefall by controlling it themselves after tunnel time or whatever? :D

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

If you're in it just for the adrenaline rush, you get a lot less of that once you get over the initial terror of jumping out of an airplane. My first AFF jump was the biggest adrenaline rush I've ever experienced. I still get one now, but it's pretty tame compared to that first one.

Personally I enjoy having miles of empty sky to play around in, the focusing effect the jump has on me, hanging around the skydivers at the DZ, being that close to planes and watching my skills visibly progress.

Is it for you? Only you can answer that. You don't have to commit to AFF though -- if you're 4 jumps in and are like "meh. Skydiving..." you can just not go back. You can also go read the USPA Advanced Progression SIM and see if any of that sounds interesting to you. For me, there's more than enough to keep me busy and interested, I think for as long as I am physically and financially capable of jumping.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[shorehambeach 9]

Verty - Wow - you sound like me....well done on doing the tandem. My tandem lead me onto AFF.

For me - there could be no bigger adrenaline rush than doing AFF - It was incredible. Pure thrill & sense of achievement/adrenaline.....


- but many jumps on ..... its a different experience. The adrenaline is controlled which means you can actually experience more and enjoy the flight and time under canopy more.

There's a personal challenge and battle every time you jump and each jump provides you with something else.

The tunnel time will put you in great shape for AFF.

Blue skies.


(Post your tandem video if you have one)

[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

[popsjumper 2]

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I would have a way better time if I could manoeuvre on my own instead of being strapped to another guy in a tandem freefall. If I wasn't completely blown away by my tandem skydive, would that mean Skydiving is definitely not for me, or does it become more exciting with time when you learn how to really fly in the air?

Yes, you will have a "better" time when you learn to control your flight. Not the quote marks since "better" is a relative term. When I say better, I mean more self-satisfaction, not more adrenaline rush. In fact, the rush lessens as you become more proficient in skills and more comfortable in the air.

No, you experience with the tandem does not indicate that you will not love skydiving. You will definitely get a good sense of accomplishment if nothing else...never mind the new friends, the comraderie, the totality of the skydiving world.

One of the cool things is that there is so much to learn and do in the air...you'd be surprised....meh, maybe not since you've been doing the videos.


BTW, we understand that you are in Australia and the reference to the SIM is a U.S. document.

Do you plant to do AFF at the same DZ as the tandem? Which one is it?

Welcome to the world of body flight!

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[verty 0]

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Verty - Wow - you sound like me....well done on doing the tandem. My tandem lead me onto AFF.

For me - there could be no bigger adrenaline rush than doing AFF - It was incredible. Pure thrill & sense of achievement/adrenaline.....


- but many jumps on ..... its a different experience. The adrenaline is controlled which means you can actually experience more and enjoy the flight and time under canopy more.

There's a personal challenge and battle every time you jump and each jump provides you with something else.

The tunnel time will put you in great shape for AFF.

Blue skies.


(Post your tandem video if you have one)

Thanks everyone for your replies. Your insight has actually been helpful ;)
It's one thing to watch skydiving videos but another to get in the mind of a skydiver.

shorehambeach - Where abouts to you jump in the UK? I currently live in the UK but am only in Australia for a home visit. Would be interested in checking out a dropzone in the UK. Do you also fly in any tunnels in the UK? Ive been to Airkix afew times. Ill post my skydiving video when I upload it to youtube.

[shorehambeach 9]

Verty - Live nr Brighton. Jump at Hinton nr Silvertone (web - skydive.co.uk )- Yes tunnel in Bedford bodyflight.co.uk
PM me
Cheers

[gregpso 1]

HI verty stop dreaming and do it. Every one is afraid at first. You will not know if its for you until you try it. AFF is an amazing experience way better than tandem . I did 19 tandems before AFF and it still rocked.. steering landing yourself is bloody great !!!

I am from Australia too. if a fuckstik like me can manage 66 jumps anyone can. Plenty of experienced folk on here to help.

I play around with folk on here and cause a few hassles (all in good fun.. although some do not see it thay way)

What state do you live in ??

I tend to be a bit different. enjoyed my time in the sport or is it an industry these days ??

[shorehambeach 9]

I thought you had deleted you account ?

[verty 0]

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Do you plant to do AFF at the same DZ as the tandem? Which one is it?

Welcome to the world of body flight!

I cant do my AFF at the dropzone I did my tandem at. I did it at Skydive the beach in Wollongong. It's a beautiful location. Check out the website http://www.skydivethebeach.com.au/

I am going back to the UK at the end of the month, so I need to work out where I would complete my AFF. UK or Australia when I return home for good (if that ever happens!)

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[verty 0]

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HI verty stop dreaming and do it. Every one is afraid at first. You will not know if its for you until you try it. AFF is an amazing experience way better than tandem . I did 19 tandems before AFF and it still rocked.. steering landing yourself is bloody great !!!

I am from Australia too. if a fuckstik like me can manage 66 jumps anyone can. Plenty of experienced folk on here to help.

I play around with folk on here and cause a few hassles (all in good fun.. although some do not see it thay way)

What state do you live in ??

You did 19 tandems! WOW! That is alot. I think I'll do one or two more before I decide on my AFF. I really wanna do a tandem at Skydive Dubai or Switzerland in Lauterbrunnen!

I am from Sydney, NSW so my local Dropzone would be Picton, however i have been living in London for the past 18 months and I am going back at the end of the month for another year so Im in abit of a pickel about where I continue to do this.

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[gregpso 1]

Heard good reports about Picton !! Enjoy

I tend to be a bit different. enjoyed my time in the sport or is it an industry these days ??

[ChrisD 0]

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Haha, congrats, my friend! :) Skydiving gets better during and after AFF for sure, don't know about further progress still, but hope so :)

I have a question of my own to experienced tandem masters, have any of your students ever hijacked the freefall by controlling it themselves after tunnel time or whatever? :D

A large part of skydiving is at least planning the dive! In other words, in this order, my life, the lives of others, and fun...all depend on keeping to the plan. Most skydivers are counting on others to do what they say they are going to do.

You are forgiven the use of the word "hijack" a dive on your instructors because you are a noob, whuffo, Wally wanker, that dosent know any better...do it to me and I will do everything within my power to burn your tent and rig, etc...do it to any instructor and I will be the first in line to ensure you recive your just rewards...

Can you recall the scene in the movie Frankenstien where the whole village is marching up the hill with flaming torches??? That will be minor if you continue to, or actually promote this type of behavior regarding playing jokes on your AFF instuctor in the air.


I am sure you meant to say: "at some point in a Tandem progression, isi'n it great when you get to practice flying on your own,...?"

C

But what do I know, "I only have one tandem jump."

[unkulunkulu 0]

I am sure you meant to say: "at some point in a Tandem progression, isi'n it great when you get to practice flying on your own,...?"

This, sure, this

[bob.dino 0]

It's possible-but-tight to complete your AFF in the two weeks you have left this month. Next AFF ground course at Picton (Sydney Skydivers) would be this Saturday, with first jump(s) on Sunday, weather permitting.

Then, if you were at the DZ every day, there's a decent chance you'd get through AFF before you head back to winter in the UK.

I'd be very surprised if you were doing AFF in the UK in the next couple of months due to the weather. Plus, it'll take a lot longer to get through, again due to the weather. I believe lots of Brits bugger off to Spain for a week to get through AFF. Might be a sensible option to investigate.

If money isn't particularly tight, I'd book in for AFF at Picton this weekend, do a couple of jumps on the Sunday and see how you go. If you love it, but don't have time to finish AFF here before you go to the UK, the worst case is that you'll have to redo the ground course in Europe.

Best case is that you'll love it, quit your job, sell all your stuff, and go be a DZ bum in Spain.

[Trev_S 0]

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I am from Sydney, NSW so my local Dropzone would be Picton, however i have been living in London for the past 18 months and I am going back at the end of the month for another year so Im in abit of a pickel about where I continue to do this.

I did my AFF at Picton and now doing Brels.
Chief instructor is Phil Onis who has the most jumps in Aus (30,000 +) and half the instructors there compete internationally in different disciplines. They are all incredibly talented, patient and very good at explaining things to you. I felt very safe and in good hands throughout my training. The other advantage is you can do many courses there, not just AFF. The Aus canopy champion runs courses, instructors that are on the Aus 4 way and 8 way team, some have been involved in world record big ways etc. Can't go wrong with skydivers who have achieved a lot in the sport and are some of the best instructors in the world :)

[dthames 0]

I am in my 50s and started in late 2011. I struggled some as a student, as many do. Learning can have it's ups and it's downs. But it is very rewarding to learn what you need to know and to be able to fly.

Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

[verty 0]

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It's possible-but-tight to complete your AFF in the two weeks you have left this month. Next AFF ground course at Picton (Sydney Skydivers) would be this Saturday, with first jump(s) on Sunday, weather permitting.

Then, if you were at the DZ every day, there's a decent chance you'd get through AFF before you head back to winter in the UK.

I'd be very surprised if you were doing AFF in the UK in the next couple of months due to the weather. Plus, it'll take a lot longer to get through, again due to the weather. I believe lots of Brits bugger off to Spain for a week to get through AFF. Might be a sensible option to investigate.

If money isn't particularly tight, I'd book in for AFF at Picton this weekend, do a couple of jumps on the Sunday and see how you go. If you love it, but don't have time to finish AFF here before you go to the UK, the worst case is that you'll have to redo the ground course in Europe.

Best case is that you'll love it, quit your job, sell all your stuff, and go be a DZ bum in Spain.

Thanks for the info. I have too many things planned before I head back to the UK tho, so it wont be possible to do. Spain could be an option, whats the main place everyone skydives in spain? Or It can be something I get into when I get back to oz ;)

[verty 0]

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I am from Sydney, NSW so my local Dropzone would be Picton, however i have been living in London for the past 18 months and I am going back at the end of the month for another year so Im in abit of a pickel about where I continue to do this.

I did my AFF at Picton and now doing Brels.
Chief instructor is Phil Onis who has the most jumps in Aus (30,000 +) and half the instructors there compete internationally in different disciplines. They are all incredibly talented, patient and very good at explaining things to you. I felt very safe and in good hands throughout my training. The other advantage is you can do many courses there, not just AFF. The Aus canopy champion runs courses, instructors that are on the Aus 4 way and 8 way team, some have been involved in world record big ways etc. Can't go wrong with skydivers who have achieved a lot in the sport and are some of the best instructors in the world :)

That sounds amazing to do your AFF with the guidance of someone with 30,000+ jumps. I would really feel like i was in safe hands.

[ShcShc11 0]

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I have always been fascinated with Skydiving but always have been too chicken to do so. It took very many years (about 10 years +) to finally mentally prepare myself to do a tandem jump which I only completed last week. I've alway watch Skydiving videos and probably know alil too much about Skydiving for someone who has never jumped before. I always thought once I did my tandem jump I would want to go for my AFF.

Over the years I have gone to a couple of wind tunnels and have about 30 mins flying experience. I know it's not much, but it definitely took away the element of surprise of freefall when I finally took the plunge for my first tandem skydive. So much so, that even though I absolutely loved the skydive and am so happy that I finally did it, I think I regret that I did the wind tunnel time beforehand because I think It took away a part of the total rush of my first Skydiving experience because I was already familiar with how the freefall would feel like.

Can anyone else relate to this?
My question is to experience skydivers and people maybe in a similar situation previously is, does Skydiving get better with experience? I've always dreamed to learn how to Skydive and am considering my doing the AFF course and think I would have a way better time if I could manoeuvre on my own instead of being strapped to another guy in a tandem freefall. If I wasn't completely blown away by my tandem skydive, would that mean Skydiving is definitely not for me, or does it become more exciting with time when you learn how to really fly in the air?

Any opinions or feedback on this would be appreciated because I dont know If I am dreaming about skydiving for real too much when it is or isn't for me ;)

I did the wind tunnel before doing my tandem. It took some of the ''surprise'' out for the tandem. The jump was cool, but not mind-blowing. Not 300$ worth.

But where the tunnel really shine is when you do it on your own. Rather than taking the THRILL away (as what happened in the tandem), it instead gives you the CONFIDENCE to do AFF jumps.

You get to apply what you learned from the tunnel in the real sky and that`s when you will go ''holy crap, the tunnel was SO worth it!''. While you're riding the plane up, you'l be ''OK, I can do this.. I did well in the tunnel so I think I can do well in the sky''.

Tandem is only ''roller-coaster fun'' while AFF-solo-RW jumps feels a lot more ''inspiring-fun''.


My guess is that you had SUCH HIGH expectations of the tandem that it was kind of a let-down. It was the same for me. But once you start AFF, and you've done a few jump, you'l end up saying: ''this...sport...is...made for me'' .


So definitely definitely try at least a few more jumps (no more tandems!) because they are so much more fun.
Cheers! Shc

[rss_v 0]

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I have always been fascinated with Skydiving but always have been too chicken to do so. It took very many years (about 10 years +) to finally mentally prepare myself to do a tandem jump which I only completed last week. I've alway watch Skydiving videos and probably know alil too much about Skydiving for someone who has never jumped before. I always thought once I did my tandem jump I would want to go for my AFF.

Over the years I have gone to a couple of wind tunnels and have about 30 mins flying experience. I know it's not much, but it definitely took away the element of surprise of freefall when I finally took the plunge for my first tandem skydive. So much so, that even though I absolutely loved the skydive and am so happy that I finally did it, I think I regret that I did the wind tunnel time beforehand because I think It took away a part of the total rush of my first Skydiving experience because I was already familiar with how the freefall would feel like.

Can anyone else relate to this?
My question is to experience skydivers and people maybe in a similar situation previously is, does Skydiving get better with experience? I've always dreamed to learn how to Skydive and am considering my doing the AFF course and think I would have a way better time if I could manoeuvre on my own instead of being strapped to another guy in a tandem freefall. If I wasn't completely blown away by my tandem skydive, would that mean Skydiving is definitely not for me, or does it become more exciting with time when you learn how to really fly in the air?

Any opinions or feedback on this would be appreciated because I dont know If I am dreaming about skydiving for real too much when it is or isn't for me ;)

Bear in mind that you're asking a forum populated by continuing skydivers, so you'll tend to get only one kind of answer. Except from miserable people like me. There have been some threads in the past about this, check my post history to find them.

Some considerable majority of people who get through their initial training don't continue skydiving. For me, no, it didn't "get better" - my favourite time was around jump 7 or 8 and then it lost a lot of the excitement and interest. Then, the enjoyment comes from learning and progressing like in any sport, but skydiving is too "rare" and expensive for me to make and meaningful progress, so that's just frustrating, and I prefer cheap/free hobbies I can do any time and enjoy just as much.

Some people remain sick with nerves for 100 jumps or more, and some are bored stiff after three. Some think free-fall and canopy flying is just the best movement and activity available, while others find it limited, samey and less interesting than bowling or darts.

Unfortunately, there isn't a forum for "people who have started skydiving but quit because they didn't really like it," so you can't ask many people like that.

[FlyingRhenquest 1]

Friend of mine told me only about 1 in 3 people actually make it through AFF. I gather the rest either realized the financial impact or didn't like jumping out of an airplane. I don't know if that's an actual metric somewhere or just something he observed. There's no shame in quitting if it's not for you. At least you tried it, that's more than most people will ever do.

There's also the well-documented "new skydiver depression," that malaise between jumps 25 and 100 where you just kind of feel lost and don't know what to do. It hasn't seemed to have affected me -- I have very clear goals about what I want to accomplish in the next couple hundred jumps, and am not shy about joining group jumps if something interesting seems to be going on.

I'm trying to teach myself how to set things on fire with my mind. Hey... is it hot in here?

[verty 0]

Thankyou for everyones responses. I have really taken it all onboard and am thinking what is the next step for me. I think I know I cant commit to jumping anyway at the moment because Im going back to the UK, however I will have it open in my mind that if the opportunity does come up for me to start my AFF I may do it. I got to know for myself that I can commit myself to jumps and learning or else there is simply no point. I think personally I may enjoy Skydiving more If I have the freedom to move around instead of being strapped to another guy, but there is only one way of finding out and thats by me trying it.