South Florida AFF student

[cheshire 0]

Good morning!
My name is Zach and I took my first AFF jump a couple months ago. I didn't do well so I went to iFly in orlando and got some practice in. I'm heading back out to do all the AFF jumps in one weekend hopefully early june so I'm pretty excited about that.

One of my long term goals is to get into BASE/Wingsuit eventually. I know I have a long way to go and maybe I won't even like it when I do it but that's the direction I want to head until I decide otherwise. I'm also not quite made of money so I'll be renting for as long as I can't afford gear.
My shorter term goal is to get my A license before the end of the year and start on skydive wingsuit sometime towards the end of 2015.
I do have some questions for you guys. How long did you dive before you actually bought your gear (how many jumps)? Do you have any recommendations for a diver on a budget? What (if anything) should I be focusing on learning right now with my goal being what it is?

I definitely like to get ahead of myself sometimes so excuse that please.
Thanks for your help and I look forward to being a contributing member of the community!

[cheshire 0]

Also, here is the video for my horribly botched AFF jump. Maybe you guys will enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8VGHryyKYQ

[Hollywood5581 0]

Welcome to the forums, As i'm new to skydiving I'm still learning myself, I don't have all the answers. You looked a little nervous bro. Remember to breathe, relax, arch, smile, and have fun. Read that SIM front to back, and hopefully next video we some more COA and you throw on your own. You got this, and good luck with your AFF. Blue Skies!

[rsb5267 0]

To answer your question about when to buy new gear...

As soon as you can afford it AFTER you get your license. Renting gear is nice, but it is simply a black hole that sucks all of your money. renting gear is usually around 25$ per jump, which doubles the price you pay for each jump. The cool thing about buying used gear is that it doesn't depreciate all that much. Most of the time, you can sell a used rig that you bought for 80-90% of what you bought it for, maybe even more.

Another benefit of getting your own gear is that you get used to it very quickly. Things change from rig to rig like how the brakes are stowed, and just how it feels under canopy and whatnot. Plus, you can also practice packing at home which is really helpful.

I bought my gear right around jump 40, That means I made about 13 jumps with rental gear after I got my license.
13 JumpsX25$ rental for gear per jump=325$. This is 325 dollars of wasted money, money that I'll never get back, and I got my gear relatively early

[Trafficdiver 8]

I got my gear at about jump 40 to. Well, worth it, much more comfortable than student gear and no waiting around if someone else is jumping the rig you need.

Your jump looked like a pretty typical 1st jump. Just talk to your instructors and don't forget to pull!

[cheshire 0]

hah, thanks guys.
I'll try to make it a point to get my gear as soon as possible after I get my A license.

Idk what happened with that jump. My brain just cleared as soon as I leapt, I was sort of in awe at the view, I was conscious of everything that was going on but I just didn't do what I was supposed to.

[cgriff 0]

Hey, Chesh! Welcome!

Another south Florida AFF student here... Where are you jumping? I'm doing way too much work travel this month, so my hope is to get back in the sky in June, and hopefully A before August

[cheshire 0]

I'm jumping in sebastian. Where do you go?

[cgriff 0]

Just moved down here, but planning to make Sebastian home as well! See you there

[OuttaBounZ 0]

cheshire

Also, here is the video for my horribly botched AFF jump. Maybe you guys will enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8VGHryyKYQ

That didn't look bad. It looked like a first skydive. Did they tell you why they dumped you? Looked like you were pretty far from the DZ. Bad/late spot maybe?

Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.