What got you out the door on your first jump?

[juliebird 0]

So, I'm curious... I know what got me into this, and I'm wondering what it was for everyone else. How many jumps before you stopped wondering whether you'd taken leave of your senses? How many before you weren't terrified anymore and started to really ENJOY it? If you're inclined to share the events that surrounded your introduction to this awesome sport, I'd love to hear about it!

For me, I always wanted to try it and I was pretty sure it'd be a one-time thing. The night before my first jump, I sat thinking just think... this time tomorrow, it'll all be behind me! But the minute it was over I was left thinking WAIT! That's all?!? So, I had to get back up there. Six jumps now and my last jump was the first one that I didn't sit in the plane and seriously consider seeking professional mental help right after landing. I'm starting to enjoy it, but I do have to admit I go back and forth about the whole thing (especially after I've paid for my next jump and I'm sitting at the dropzone listening to people talk about whatever recent cutaways have taken place and why).

Do share!

[wmw999 2,148]

I'd always wanted to jump (well, at least since pre-teens). I waited until I found an FJC that suited my needs, and took it. I had a choice between a certificate and a logbook, and I took the logbook...

Wendy W.

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)

[scaryshari 0]

I turned 40 and thought it'd be a good time to scare the total living sh*t out of myself.

is

[tigra 0]

It was just something I'd been wanting to do for a while. Never could get anyone to commit to going with me, but I called, got the brochure then made the appointment. Made my first jump on a Tuesday, and went back on Saturday for another one. Next thing you know, I'm taking the AFP transition class, jumping every weekend, and looking into buying a trailer for the DZ! Most of the time, it feels more like yesterday than 9 years ago.

[soarfree 0]

My brother-in-law asked for a tandem for xmas. He called me in July to see if I wanted it because it expired in August and he was too scared to go.

Thought it was just going to be a one time thing.

I was so wrong

Well behaved women rarely make history - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

[Vallerina 2]

It was something that I always wanted to try. My college had a club for it, so I joined! Love them dues!

There's a thin line between Saturday night and Sunday morning

[meloo09 0]

My friend asked me to do a tandem with her for her 24th and I agreed. I was cursing her out the whole ride up, telling her my death would rest on her shoulders. Needless to say I gave her a big kiss when we got back on the ground and haven't stopped jumping yet.

What you do speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you say.

[juliebird 0]

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My friend asked me to do a tandem with her for her 24th and I agreed. I was cursing her out the whole ride up, telling her my death would rest on her shoulders. Needless to say I gave her a big kiss when we got back on the ground and haven't stopped jumping yet.

Hah! I love stories like this one. I have to ask... is SHE a skydiver? It's always great when the draggee keeps jumping and the dragger won't have anything to do with it. ;-)

[ACMESkydiver 0]

It was my hubby's 30th birthday, and he required me to go with him. He also insisted they put me out the door before him (C182, 3 students and a JM) so I wouldn't chicken out and ride the plane down after he left.

The romantic side of that is that he ALWAYS insisted on jumping after me from then on. He always wanted to make sure I was Ok. Isn't that sweet?? Isn't that adorable?? He would ask the JM every time "Is she alright?" And then Luke would tell him, "Look Joe, what if she wasn't? What are you gonna do anyway? " But he still always asked.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[skymama 35]

Mid-life crisis.

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

[kai2k1 0]

What got me out of the door??

If i remember right, It was the Tandem instructor

There's no truer sense of flying than sky diving," Scott Cowan

[peregrinerose 0]

My husband had just started AFF when we met. Seeing how on some weekends he looked more longingly at the sky than at me, I knew that sooner or later I'd need to take up jumping as well. So, a year and a half after we met, I started AFF. What got me out the door was knowing how proud of me he'd be.

I didn't get hooked until jump 10, the first after AFF. With AFF I was working so hard to do everything right, that I really didn't enjoy it much. I was still doing it for Chad until that point (though he never asked me to jump). I had equipment ordered and everything, but was still questioning my sanity.

Jump 10, I did absolutely nothing except enjoy the scenery and relax. That's when I was hooked. That first solo jump. Who knew that a year later I'd be one of those people living in a trailer at the DZ every weekend.

Jen

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[Jeth 0]

Ok, I voted the first one (that I was only going to do it once). That is why I went to the dz. But to be completely correct, what actually got me OUT THE DOOR, was that I didn't want to be a wuss and tell my TM that I couldn't handle it.

"At 13,000 feet nothing else matters."
PFRX!!!!!
Team Funnel #174, Sunshine kisspass #109
My Jump Site

[Derekbox 0]

A huge Belgian guy named Vladi... He gave me a helping *hand*

[pirana 0]

I've always been an adrenaline junkie, and when I say always, I mean since I was 4 or 5. Scared the hell out of my mom half a dozen times before I was even a teeneager. I had pretty much ran out of ways to scare myself - so skydiving seemed the natural thing to try.

I started asking around for friends to join me and found several who were interested, but they always had an excuse whenever I pulled out the calendar. So I just picked a date and announced I was going - and I ended up with 4 totally different people joining the party.

We did tandems at Baldwin Sport Parachute Center (now Skydive Twin Cities). Awesome 1st jump experience out of a Beaver. I was hooked before we even landed. Went back a couple weeks later and started AFF. I love this sport. It never ceases to stop scaring me. The good kind of scared - the kind that generates respect.

" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

[meloo09 0]

We did our FJC together and she made it to her fourth jump but never came back. I rag on her for not coming back since it was "all her idea" to make that jump. I don't bust her up too bad, I'dve never started jumping or met my fiance if it wasn't for her. She's responsible for me being the happiest I've ever been.

What you do speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you say.

[Apollinaire 0]

I was in the middle of a line and we just kept scutching to the door. People in front of me and people behind me. I just did what I was told because I was so scared! Walk, croutch down, watch your head, hold onto your harness, okay here we go! Then, it was "Oh my god, I just fell out of that plane!

Now, after a second jump, I am thinking about it constantly and wondering when my next jump will be. I'm also still nervous! Crazy feelings!

[Ashtanga 0]

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What got you out the door on your first jump?

A tandem master named Jack Hammer.

I wanted to go though. Just didn't have the balls to go on my own the first time.

What got me out the third time was the love of my first two jumps.

[Everon 0]

I am 40 now and am doing it for the same reason. But I wanted to experience the sheer excitement as well. My level 2 AFF went so well that I'm putting those emotions behind me to actually try to learn how to be good at it. Gotta love it - there's nothing else even remotely like it.

[crotalus01 0]

was on vacation in Hawaii and had nothing better to do since SCUBA training was "too damn expensive"....if only i had known then what i know now about what things cost...

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

[Salsa_John 0]

My instructors pulled me backwards out of a skyvan

"You did what?!?!"

MUFF #3722, TDSM #72, Orfun #26, Nachos Rodriguez

[ACMESkydiver 0]

Quote

Mid-life crisis.

Hey, us too!!!

Of course, if 30 is mid-life, I'm thinkin' I won't be seeing my grandkids graduations at all....ah well. They will be happy with their inheritance.

~Jaye
Do not believe that possibly you can escape the reward of your action.

[juliebird 0]

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was on vacation in Hawaii and had nothing better to do since SCUBA training was "too damn expensive"....if only i had known then what i know now about what things cost...

Well, everything I've read says SCUBA is more dangerous anyway. So you took the safe way out!

[Mike111 0]

Hey,

I go bakc and forth to - i get really scared when im up there and find the freefall uneasy ,but really wanna do it again when on the ground and miss it.

Weird innit? Once the fear is reduced eveyrone says thats when you really start to enjoy it.

Like you do, i love it totally but can;t really work out why just yet.

Oh the instructor got me out the plane, or i would never would have gone on my first jump which was a jump.

Good luck with the rets of your training,
Mike

[gmittar 0]

The first guy out on my static line load was praying, the second guy's eyes was rolling in his head, I was laughing so hard I didn't even think about it.

|>.<|
Seriously, W.T.F. mate?