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Tink1717

Thinking about getting out.

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So, I'm out of the sport for the second time in my history. The first time I was out from 92-2000 becuase I couldn't work, fly, skydive and go to college all at the same time. I missed it like a big dog the whole time and couldn't wait to get back in.

This time, I'm out for at least this season and possibly next. The reason is that divorces are expensive. I should have the money issues taken care of by next spring or at least be able to spare some change for a jump or two.

BUT this time is different. I want to jump badly, but I have no desire to put up with all the ancilary things that go with it. Long drive, traffic, getting someone to care for my dog, etc... It just not adding up to me.

I haven't made a decision yet, but I'm fairly certain that if I have to sit out next season too, then I'm done. I gave up all my ratings except for rigger last year and don't miss that aspect of it. But jumping is a sport that requiers not only both balls but a high degree of currency, I don't know if that's in the cards. The days of me spending the entire weekend at the DZ and getting 10-15 jumps in are over for sure. I am selling my HP canopy and will be getting something more mellow.

I guess my big question is for those who still lurk here but are out: how did it affect you?

Discuss.
Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

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Jumping isn't for everyone, forever. Some it is, most, it's not.

mrowc6 and I stopped jumping for quite a few years after getting married (finances), but started back up when our daughter was 4. We both jumped for a while and were quite enjoying skydiving.

I quit going to the DZ after being hurt and having my second kid. mrowc6 was still jumping, but I got tired of being treated like the wuffo girlfriend of a jumper, even though I had more jumps than most of the people on the DZ.

Every stage of life has different priorities. Nothing wrong with not jumping if it isn't working with what's going on in your life.

Does this mean you or I will never make any more jumps? No! Maybe we will, or maybe we won't. Who can say?
lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

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LuckyMcSwervy

I'm out for medical reasons and it sucks. Seeing everyone having a blast and watching from the ground sucks balls. I miss it so much. :(



I'm with you on that. For me it has stretched into two years now and being treated as a whuffo by the 100-jump-wonders is just another kick on the cancerous parts.

:(

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I've been busy working, and raising two little girls, that I've only made 5 jumps since September 2010 (all at Fitzgerald 2013). I haven't had the motivation to keep up with it, having done all I can accomplish in the sport, but I haven't given up on it yet.
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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and being treated as a whuffo by the 100-jump-wonders....


Is one of the reasons I have yet to go to the DZ this season.
Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

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Tink1717......I've been out for awhile and I'm working towards getting back in after decades out. Currently not 100% but mending (bad mountain bike crash in snow and rock....couldn't wait to bike any longer....but it was June). Anyway.....thought about Skydiving a least once EVERY day, sometimes more. I'm the personality type (as is a lot of skydivers) that's either in to something or not. I can't "kinda" do something. Plus in a sport like skydiving that becomes f-ing dangerous.....IMO (same for flying).

In my non-skydiving life I pursued business (which became a full-time plus activity). This allowed me to have a few creature comforts I would have spent on jumps, gear, travel, woman, partying, and just any wild-ass adventure I could dream up involving parachutes.

I agree with what ALL the above posters have said.

Just a FYI.... motorcycles are fun with that air against your body, but not even a close second to flying your body. Flying is fun.....especially an older "tail-dragger" IMO, but again not free-fall with friends.

I'm going to a large Boogie next month (been along time) and check the scene out. It will help me determine where and how I set-up this Winter.

Tink1717.....like has been said "you can always come back if you want too". I constantly have short term goals and long term goals (back to skydiving?), along with a slight chip on shoulder (won't go into) that I use for motivation in achieving set plan. Where you are today is not where you have to be tomorrow, or next month, year, unless you want it to be. One thing great about the Republic we live in........you can be who you want to be. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Remember also that successful people (eye-of the beholder...I know) fail hundreds, heck some thousands of times before they figure out their niche in life.

Wishing you success in whatever direction you chose.

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Tink,

I have known you a long time and you ain't never gonna stop jumpin'!!!! I go through the same crap every year, I'm old, fat, out of shape, not current, and can't stand the DZ games but, I can't see myself ever hanging it up as long as I can physically get in the plane. You are a "LIFER", you just need a break to get your shit together and you WILL be back. I have made a whopping 11 jumps so far this year but, man I loved every second of each one. I really appreciate every jump I make now.

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Don't look at it as if you are getting out. Look at it like you are on some sort of break. Even if you sell your gear, look at it as you are waiting for the right moment to upgrade to more modern gear.

I am not active in the sport at all which to those who knew me when I was active would be total sacrilege. I used to live, eat and breath jumping. It was all I could think about. However I got to the point where all I wanted to do was to swoop, where all I did was swoop. I wanted to compete on the PST and I actually made it there. You didn't see my name at the top of the standings, but I was still good enough to be allowed to compete on the PST. But the problem for myself was that I moved back to Alberta, where snow is on the ground for a good 7 months of the year. Yes I can jump here, there is a really good fun jumper friendly DZ with a Caravan. But it's close to a 4 hour drive and it was impossible for me to stay current with my competitive swooping. So to avoid being an accident waiting to happen, I sold my pocket rocket JVX 87 canopy. I appear to have retired from the competitive swoop scene. But I don't view myself as someone who has retired from jumping.

Do I miss being in the air? Yes I do. But there is more to life than jumping and I have found numerous other activities which keep me happy. I just spent this last Saturday and Sunday offroading my 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon with a group of other Jeep Junkies and I am buzzy about the interesting trails and great scenery from the mountains just west of Calgary. Not as good as Moab or the Rubicon Trail in the Sierra Nevada mountains (I could only imagine how good our offroading would be here in Western Canada if Banff and Kananaskis were opened to off roading), but my local trails are still good stuff. Oh and by the way the Jeepers are great people, at least my local crew. There really isn't all these huge egos we see in some other sports. There is one or two Junkies with some really big builds. But there are super friendly and helpful to the Newbies. Hard to explain, except to say it's a Jeep thing.

Anyway don't look at it like you are getting out. That's a depressing view. Look at some other way. It's better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground.


Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

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airtwardo

Ya haven't jumped with ME yet... !

:P



Exactly! :D

There are several others that I have yet to jump with and want to. I'm not done yet. B|
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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BillyVance

***Ya haven't jumped with ME yet... !

:P



Exactly! :D

There are several others that I have yet to jump with and want to. I'm not done yet. B|


and here I thought I skeered you away with our Muff jumps in Fitz :P
You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

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I have made a whopping 11 jumps so far this year...



Knowing your set up now, I am surprised you get that many in.

I want to be back, but right now the cards are stacked against me. So many idiots, so few comets.B|
Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

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I got out after my second child was born. I could not justify blowing off full weekends to travel and jump to keep my ratings and keep current enough to swoop, my family is more important to me than that. Not for some grandiose idea of safety but simply for the time and resources that my family deserves from me.

On the upside I have filled in the "extra time" during naps and after bed time, etc to start up a photography business and publish my first novel. I might come back, I might not, but I'm happy for the memories, the fun I had, the friends gained in the sport and lost due to it.
--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

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I couldn't agree more. Our little group gets together a few times each summer and mostly do very simple 4 ways. we look out for each other, practice emergency procedures together and gear check each other. We also break off and pull high and are very selective about the winds we are willing to jump in. We all have 2000+ jumps and have been jumping together for 30 years. We have been jumping this way for the last 10 years with out any issues. Kevin, a couple of jumps might do you some good.

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Our DZ has very nice rental gear, and our DZO even encourages experienced jumpers taking long breaks from the sport to sell their gear while it's still worth something and just rent gear for the occasional jump. When you consider the costs of repacks, AAD depreciation, etc. it's much cheaper and smarter to rent for anything less that a dozen jumps a year.

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I have recently been missing the worlds best playground. I'm on hiatus until my kids get older, and I can afford to jump frequent enough to be safer. The recent problem I have is that I have been taking the occasional short flight in a Dash-8 also I have recently been doing patients off Stu medical flights. When I feel the gentle warm breeze add it carries the scent of jet fuel it takes me back. Makes me wish I was at CPI or Z- Hills.

The view from the Dash
Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

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JohnMitchell

Our DZ has very nice rental gear, and our DZO even encourages experienced jumpers taking long breaks from the sport to sell their gear while it's still worth something and just rent gear for the occasional jump. When you consider the costs of repacks, AAD depreciation, etc. it's much cheaper and smarter to rent for anything less that a dozen jumps a year.



Absolutely,

Beware john I'm almost tempted, and I live danger close:D

Might stop by for the Lupus boogie and try to blend in.:)

I've actually been thinking of stopping by to say hi for the last couple of years. :$
One Jump Wonder

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JohnMitchell

Our DZ has very nice rental gear, and our DZO even encourages experienced jumpers taking long breaks from the sport to sell their gear while it's still worth something and just rent gear for the occasional jump. When you consider the costs of repacks, AAD depreciation, etc. it's much cheaper and smarter to rent for anything less that a dozen jumps a year.



Absolutely,

Beware john I'm almost tempted, and I live danger close:D

Might stop by for the Lupus boogie and try to blend in.:)

I've actually been thinking of stopping by to say hi for the last couple of years. :$
One Jump Wonder

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JohnMitchell

I'm pretty sure you'd be welcome. :)



Thanks John:)
I'm 100% sure I dont care if I'm welcome or not by everyone. ;)

The dz is only a 1/2 hr drive from my mountain retreat, no interstate just the back roads.:D

Who knows maybe I'll be there maybe I won't.

Best of luck on the Lupus Boogie a very worthy cause. Sending good vibes to the weather gods for you guys.:)
One Jump Wonder

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