skydiving for loners?

[ManagingPrime 0]

No one has flat out said it yet, but I feel it's been implicit a couple of times...as a new jumper I should think about what discipline I want to pursue.

Group belly dives hold no interest. Freefly dives with more than another jumper don't really interest me....flocking does hold some interest, but that is a ways off.

I'm told to keep working on my belly skills, but I'm kind of bored with belly down and I don't much see the point if I'm not going to get into RW.

Before I got into the sport Freestyle seemed really cool, but I guess that's a dying discipline.

I guess I've always been a bit of a loaner. Any advice in regards to direction?

[BlueSkiesJT 0]

Must be tough being the new "Sky God" in the air... LOL.

Guess I won't be able to understand until after Thursday.

[wmw999 2,121]

If you jump with other people, enough belly skills to get stable, track away, and pull while maintaining awareness of others on the load is important. The reason belly is recommended first is that it helps you learn a lot of flying stuff in two dimensions, and it's easier to do that and then expand to three.

For solo jumps you can do accuracy, swooping, freestyle (if you're doing it for yourself it doesn't really matter if it's out of style, does it?), style, or just jumping out of an airplane.

For many people the camaraderie is part of what makes skydiving fun, but it doesn't have to be. It's fun by itself, too.

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[ManagingPrime 0]

I guess I need to get more coach jumps in to ascertain where I am at as far as belly goes. I'm pretty confident that I have the basic skills to be safe around a group.

My recent dive flows are something like; Exit (working on getting head out cleaner...the recent mix of planes made that a little hit or miss). Go onto my back and watch the load for a few seconds. Start working on sit fly...back onto belly between 7K and 6K. Turn 180 and track until 3.8K - 3.5K.

Accuracy is of interest. So is flying camera... at a later date (and I understand this is going to require a strong mix of belly and free fly skills).

Any suggestions on how to hone skills without trying to jump with groups or constantly paying for coach/camera jumps...I do plan on putting a good deal of tunnel time in this winter.

[lowhook 0]

What kind of a loaner are you? Mortgage, banking, car? I know some a few skydiving CPA's so a loaner should fit right in.

[ManagingPrime 0]

Obviously, the kind of loner that can't spell.

...Mortgage actually.

[absane 0]

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What kind of a loaner are you? Mortgage, banking, car? I know some a few skydiving CPA's so a loaner should fit right in.

Sometimes I wish I could take out a loan for skydiving... to buy a rig and a lot of jumps. My excuse would be "career investment" since I do think skydiving will be a part of my career mix later on in life. If only I could discover a scheme to take out another student loan... hrm.

But, as for being a skydiving LONER... Well, my question is: why do you skydive to begin with? What motivates you to get off your ass and spend a ton of money on something that you are getting bored with already?

Don't forget to pull!

[happythoughts 0]

A few years back, some people liked boards.

A few dzs had one person that would skysurf.
It never really caught on with more than a small minority of jumpers.

At most, they jumped with a camera partner.

Each discipline has its own appeal. I wouldn't discount
any one for a while.

[ManagingPrime 0]

I'm sure I could help you load on some new debt.

Why skydive? Well, I've flown in my dreams since I can remember...since I started flying airplanes, the air/airport is the only place I feel at home...and it's still a lot cheaper than therapy.

I would not say that I am bored per se...I'm having a great time working on exits, tracking and sit fly. I'm bored with solo belly and I just don't have any interest in trying to get in on any X-ways....Continuing to work on belly and getting on X-ways appears to me to be the standard progression.

I don't want to retard my progress (building bad habbits by myself) as I've got a lot of work to do to get to a point where I would be happy with my "skillz", but the standard progression (as I understand it) holds little appeal.

With the mix of personalities I've come across and the number and depth of the various disciplines I would assume that others have/had similar sentiments regarding early progression.

[PhreeZone 15]

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Any suggestions on how to hone skills without trying to jump with groups or constantly paying for coach/camera jumps...I do plan on putting a good deal of tunnel time in this winter.

Jump with the organizers that the DZ has for you for free Seriously that is what they are there for and if you don't know who they are yet then ask around since there are tons of us that will point you in the right direction to those that are doing free jumps on the weekends. In terms of trying to freefly get with some of the more experienced freefly jumpers that are around the DZ. They just did a really nice 12 way record jump so the skills are around to make sure you don't learn bad habits from the start.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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I guess I've always been a bit of a loaner. Any advice in regards to direction?

Get over your shyness or find another sport.

Skydiving by yourself gets old fast and doesn't provide any frame of reference so you know you'll be stationary when jumping with other people.

Classic accuracy and sky surfing are neat but not too many people want to do them exclusively.

[airtwardo 6]

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No one has flat out said it yet, but I feel it's been implicit a couple of times...as a new jumper I should think about what discipline I want to pursue.

Group belly dives hold no interest. Freefly dives with more than another jumper don't really interest me....flocking does hold some interest, but that is a ways off.

I'm told to keep working on my belly skills, but I'm kind of bored with belly down and I don't much see the point if I'm not going to get into RW.

Before I got into the sport Freestyle seemed really cool, but I guess that's a dying discipline.

I guess I've always been a bit of a loaner. Any advice in regards to direction?

You bet...your self-described personality dictates, you should either become a pilot or a packer.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[ManagingPrime 0]

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You bet...your self-described personality dictates, you should either become a pilot or a packer.

Funny, I plan working in the direction of both.

So is the consensus if you don't enjoy X-ways you are not going to develop your skills and get burnt out on the sport?

I'm not rulling out x-ways completely...as I understand it a number of them are required for license progression.

I'm still new....I'll figure it out. At least no one is telling me that I'm screwing myself at this point in the game.

[AggieDave 6]

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I guess I've always been a bit of a loaner. Any advice in regards to direction?

Get over your shyness or find another sport.

Skydiving by yourself gets old fast and doesn't provide any frame of reference so you know you'll be stationary when jumping with other people.

Classic accuracy and sky surfing are neat but not too many people want to do them exclusively.

Swooping is sort of a loner discipline, since you find yourself doing a lot of hop-n-pops by yourself. However, it really is a social sport no matter what you do in skydiving. Even competitive swoopers are really social on the ground.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[ManagingPrime 0]

I would not say that I'm anti-social. When asked if I want to jump with someone I'm down and if anyone wants to hang out by the campfire and drink beers or whatever I'm down.... I'm just not that interested in group activities that will dictate how my time is spent in the sky and on the ground...unless of course as GB put it....I'm the dictator.

[wolfriverjoe 1,340]

So you don't want to jump alone, but you don't want to jump with others either??

I'm not aware of any alternatives

Seriously, jump with at least one other person. You really can't develop any real skills without some point of reference for fall rate and horizontal movement.

Anything you learn at this point can be applied to whatever you choose to do later.

And you don't have to choose right now. This isn't college where you have to choose a discipline and are locked into it.

RW not your thing? (I think you mean bigways and RW competition by that)
Ok, but you still need to be able to fly relative to other people for pretty much any kind of jump.

You mentioned camera flying (in the future).

That requires a whole lot of skill in flying relative to the subject you are videoing. You have to be able to maintain the correct position no matter what they do to get the shot.

Tandems and AFF students tend to go all over the sky. Keeping them in frame (and well lit) takes a lot of skill.

THIS THREAD has lots of ideas for skill building for newer jumpers. Stuff you can do with one or two others.

Don't rule out jumping with others just because serious RW doesn't appeal to you.

You shouldn't have to pay for coach jumps at this point. Find someone who doesn't want to do a solo either and do a jump with them. Or do the load organizing as suggested above.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[wmw999 2,121]

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unless of course as GB put it....I'm the dictator.

Why then you need to be an instructor or an organizer

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[happythoughts 0]

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unless of course as GB put it....I'm the dictator.

Why then you need to be an instructor or an organizer

Wendy P.

Dictators would make poor organizers.
Ever seen an organizer try to get people to the dirt dive ?

"Respect mah author-itay!"

[Remster 24]

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become a pilot or a packer.

Dont forget rigger!

Remster

[ManagingPrime 0]

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unless of course as GB put it....I'm the dictator.

Why then you need to be an instructor or an organizer

Wendy P.

So we are talking a coup d'état are we? Now you are speaking my language. How would one skip ahead to organizer/instructor at 39 jumps? I assume some basic document forgery is required.

[soulbabel 0]

Go do solo high pulls. Nothing more lonesome than hanging out 2 miles up by yourself. Make sure you factor in the wind speeds of the uppers, so you don't land off.

Or, if you prefer something freefall-related, belly tracking and back tracking are alot of fun. Aim for a cloud perpendicular to jump run (or a landmark on the ground to maintain your heading) and just fly to it. Likewise, pay attention to the winds before you go up, to make sure you can make it back to the DZ.

Alot of my 500 jumps are solos, but those solos had a purpose when I went up. I wanted to improve a skill without feeling like I was wasting someone else's skydive with me flailing around. And now I can look back and remember how bad I sucked two years ago, and get a fine feeling of accomplishment when I compare it to how less sucky I am today.

[wmw999 2,121]

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Ever seen an organizer try to get people to the dirt dive ?

You're saying that getting skydivers to follow directions is challenging No way!


Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[ManagingPrime 0]

Now that I'm getting more comfortable on my back...back tracking does sound kind of cool...I now incorporate belly tacking in all my jumps...It's a lot of fun!

Pulling high sounds very interesting, but aside from trying to not land way off...what is to be learned? With some decent uppers it sounds like you would need a pretty long spot. I'll look more into this one.

Thanks!

Think I'm going to make a new sig line:

Just tryin to be less sucky

[fcajump 153]

Not knowing why you are a "loner", but I am one too...

This sport is strange in that in someways its the most social I've been involved in, and yet at times you are the only one involved (like pull time).

For me, I just like jumping. Freefall or canopy, like them both. In general, I don't like high pressure jumps*, mostly because I want to have a good time without feeling like a blown point is going to ruin someone else's good time. Early on, that meant a lot of solo jumps. More recently it has meant finding the right people to jump with...

Basically, if the other jumper is a safe jumper, my only other rule (and I tell the this up front) is that if you can't laugh your ass off in freefall when we're not getting it right (and keep it safe) then you likely don't want to jump with me... In the last weeks I've enjoyed jumping with a newly minted A and a pair of gents taking time off from training for Nationals, jumping an airshow and solo dives. They're all good.

I'm here to have fun. A solo can be just as fun as a small RW, or hang out a flag under canopy, or chase a WDI, or anything else. Just learn to do them safely.

*The one high pressure I like is Demos. Its my thing. But again learn to do them safely within the skills you've developed.

Jim Wine

(see me at: www.flyingcircusairshow.com )

Always remember that some clouds are harder than others...

[happythoughts 0]

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Ever seen an organizer try to get people to the dirt dive ?

You're saying that getting skydivers to follow directions is challenging No way!


Wendy P.

It's like herding cats, except that you can use a stick on the cats.