My Dad's mad.....I think I'm grounded

[Dougiefresh 0]

He's being a good dad, he doesn't want to see you get hurt.

Has he seen how happy you are after you jump? Have you shown him video of a safe skydive?

I can understand him being anal if all he's ever seen is that tape of some dumbass pulling his cutaway when he was trying to deploy...

That said, skydiving is in no way shape or form a safe activity. But at some point he has to let you live your own life, even if it means you do something he disapproves of. Shit, he probably doesn't want you having sex either, daddy's little girl and all that. Doesn't change the fact that it'll still happen.

Jump, be happy. Don't worry about what people think, even if they are your parents. Skydiving is the closest substitute for freedom... if you can't be free, what do you have?

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams

[freeflir29 0]

Hmmmmm.................19.......college student........skydiver chick..........need a place to stay? Luckily I was WAY old enough by the time I started. Funny enough.......my Mom didn't want me to have a motorcycle growing up. She wanted me to ride horses instead.

[CieloDiosa 0]

my dads kinda obsessed with the fact that i skydive
i only have 18 jumps but hes made it to just about all of them, he brings about half our family out to watch too hahaha
on one of my first solos i had a bad bad bad jump and i pulled at 8000 after spinning and flipping out of control. the dz owner was on the ground watching with my dad and knew something went wrong cuz i pulled so high, he told my dad there was a problem and wouldnt you think a normal parent would flip out??? no no my dad is waiting on the ground with the biggest smile laughing and saying "bad jump eh?? get back up there!!!!!" what a cool dad

~boogie ho!!
pull before impact!
L.A.S.T#14, PMS #309, Ci EL O DI O SA

[Racenic 0]

Kris,
Yes I feel this is a safe sport.( I'm not talking about volley ball or baseball)
When compared to the accidents and fatalities of other sports.
See for your self

http://www.afn.org/skydive/sta/stats.html
scroll down to the bottom of the page for a comparison

http://www.ranchskydive.com/safety/tb_article07.htm

http://www.studentorg.umd.edu/cpsc/FAQ.html near the bottom of the page:
What are the statistics on skydiving fatalities?
According to USPA (United States Parachuting Association) in 2000, there were 3,500,000 skydives made with 30 fatalites in the U.S (and the majority of these fatalities are from experienced jumpers being too cocky in their safety). Therefore, the odds of a skydiving fatality is 1 out of 116,666 skydives. For further statistics on the sport of skydiving, check out USPA's Statistics Page. According to the National Safety Council, the odds of a fatality due to a motor vehicle are 1 out of 6,212. This shows that skydiving is 1,878% safer than driving/riding in a vehicle.


http://www.annarborflyers.com/public/deathbom.htm see the chart at the bottom of the page


As for the Bridge, is it high enough to base jump off of?

Nick

Nick D

The key to Immortality is- first living a life worth remembering”

[Kris 0]

*shaking head*

And you do realize that the vast majority of injuries go unreported, right?

Sorry, if you think skydiving is safe, you're not quite getting it.

You can't even begin to compare skydiving to driving. That's comparing apples and elephants.

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[kansasskydiver 0]

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Hmmmmm.................19.......college student........skydiver chick..........need a place to stay? Luckily I was WAY old enough by the time I started. Funny enough.......my Mom didn't want me to have a motorcycle growing up. She wanted me to ride horses instead.

Dude go hit on the sheep, she's 22 and doesn't go bawwwwwww in the night

But Sarah, I know how it is, my Dad didn't like it at first either, but now he can't say much. He knows it pays my bills. Even when I was on his money he didn't really have much say in it. I think in some ways he didn't want to butt in because he feels bad for being so far away, but trust me I hear it all the time.

You're Dad is being a Dad, just like your friends at times and everyone else in your life, we don't want to see anything happen to you or anyone else. That is why your Dad is being protective. I wouldn't try to throw anything in his face or prove the fact that it is or isn't safe, instead, lead him to information, slowly talk about it. Does he know about the reserves, how easy it is to pack, AAD's, the hard deck etc. To the outside eye, skydiving is dangerous, all they know about it is what's seen on Real TV or movies where we're all the bad guys. Your father may also think this is more of a male sport, from what i know, very little that is, of your father he seems to be the more male masculine type and thinks maybe girls shouldn't be doing dangerous sports and activities. He wants you to ride motorcycles because he knows he can protect you because he rides as well.

It's hard to say, but I also know you are NOT the type of person who likes to be told what you should, can or can not do...

<--- See look, pink dolphins DO exist!

[Racenic 0]

Kris,
I know the majority of injuries go unreported, I belong in that majority as I'm sure you do to.
Every sport has injuries including a vast number that are unreported
I'm talking about fatalities on a yearly basis.
skydiving has less fatalities than motorcycles, snowmobile, boating/watercrafts, swimming, scuba diving, cycling, mountain climbing, private aircaft, including leisure and experimental.
Heck even the weather has a higher fatality rate.

What other sport requires your "Sporting Gear" to be inspected after you purchase it? As far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong) Scuba tanks must be inspected once a year. But not your regulator.
A snowmoblie or motorcycle never has to be checked out, not to mention there are no classes or levels of experience (AFF 1-8) required to operate them. Anyone can buy a 1000 cc motorcycle with no previous experience.
The majority of accident/fatalities in skydiving are after the skydiver opens and has a full functioning canopy but fails to land it. Just imagine how low the numbers would be if no one hooked turned or turned to low.

Right now skydiving is safer than getting bite by a mosquito (west nile virus)

Nick

Nick D

The key to Immortality is- first living a life worth remembering”

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

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After a long silence in which I thought my Dad might lose it, he says "if you have to do something like that try something safer like motorcycle riding" and then offered to pay for a motorcycle class so I would stop jumping.

Sorry, but your dad is not thinking straight if he believes you'd be safer on a motorcycle than you would be skydiving.

For just one thing, when you are skydiving, if you consistently force yourself to be safety-conscious, conservative, and exercise good judgment (and occasionally defer to the better, more experienced judgment of others), you will skydive for a long time. You can't say the same about a motorcyclist, since so many motorcycle injuries and fatalities have less to do with what the motorcyclist does than what other drivers do. Your dad is way off base, here.

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He really wants me to stop but of course I can't. He'll come around I am sure. Anyone else have problems with their parents worrying? (Funny thing is my mom is fine with it.)

I hope he comes around, and I also hope that whether he does or does not, you keep skydiving.

When I wanted to do my first jump, back in college in 1991, my parents did not object. My dad just asked me to wait a week so that he could get a life insurance policy written for me. It's 13 years later, and I still keep current on that $100,000 policy. It costs me $265 a year. So I figure, why not?

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Also, motorcycle riding can't be safer, right??

Surely not. Tell your dad to get his head out of his ass and read some stats.

And have fun skydiving!

Blue skies,
-

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

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What is your age and do you live at home still?

Edited to add:

I see your profile says you are a grad student. Who pays for college?

The university pays for school and rent, Dad pays for car and cell phone. My parents live 3 hours away.

WOW! A full ride? Are you some sort of prog- er, prodi- er, ...genius?

-

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

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Skydiving is IMHO the safest sport there is. No other sport requires your gear to be checked by a certified Rigger ever 120 days.

Here we go again....If you think skydiving is safe in any way, shape, or form...I have a bridge to sell you.

If you do it in the ways you've been taught are correct, and you don't take stupid chances, and you fly current, good-condition equipment, with responsible people from a well-maintained aircraft, it is safe. You can't pretend it is unsafe just because it involves high speed, gravity, and a potential to hit the ground really fast.

Handling radioactive material with one of those robot-arm setups through a thick leaded glass window is perfectly safe -- because of the safeguards put between the material and the handler. You could say it was unsafe just by virtue of the fact that the materials, if you were directly exposed to them, would kill you. But the big question is, "How reliably can you keep yourself from being exposed to the materials."

So, by the same token, the more things you can put between you and a high speed impact, the safer skydiving is. Reach a certain point in the unlikelihood of having yourself an accident, and you can justifiably call it "safe."

-

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

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Hmmmmm.................19.......college student........skydiver chick..........need a place to stay? Luckily I was WAY old enough by the time I started. Funny enough.......my Mom didn't want me to have a motorcycle growing up. She wanted me to ride horses instead.

Christopher Reeve can tell you how very safe horseback riding is!
(If you have the patience to wait for his ventilator to get him through it.)

is right. How could your mom think you would be better off safety-wise by riding horses?

-

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[Tonto 1]

Don't worry Kris. I'm with you. I've stood over lots of bits of meat over the years. I've seen the bone ends smeared with red dirt. I see people rolling back and forth in rythmic pain dispite the risk it poses to their femoral artery. Yes, skydiving is safe. Getting shot at is safe too, as long as the shooter misses. In skydiving the ground always knows where you are, and when you screw up - it'll be there. (But you already know this.)

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[PurpleWill 1]

I had a similar experience recently and it bugs me. I lost a brother 15years ago when he was only 10 months old. He contracted a potent form of meningitis and the fight was over within 72hours. The other day my dad starts a conversation. Basically he tells me, he lost a child once and he can't take it again. He tells me that he worries each time we drive off to the skydiving club. He tells me he would hold my friend responsible if anything happened to me and he says he is upset that I introduced my sisters and girlfriend to skydiving.

I tried my best to absolve my friends from responsibility, (in his eyes) and told him I give everyone I introduce the information they need to make their own decision. He did not make any demands but I could tell he would only be satisfied with a pledge to stop skydiving.

I'm not stopping but I am worried that it would tear our family apart if something happened to one of my sisters or me.

This problem is as much a part of skydiving as your gear choices. Everybody has family who worries or friends that loose contact or a life partner that doesn't like the financial or risk aspects of the sport. Good luck, try to handle your dad as a loving father who worries about your safety.

There is a lot of stuff worth doing but then there is a lot of stuff worth doing instead.

[skydiverton 0]

My parents did not like it in the beginning.
Now my dad make a tandemjump (not with me) AND My mom saw my first reserve ride from the ground. (she will never do a tandem).

Now they are ok with it.

Funny situation:
I had a loose stitching on my slider some years ago. And I asked my mom to repair it. (She repairs my jumpsuits too) She repaired it but she called me in the evening because she was afraid she might have made a mistake and spend the whole day thinking about me chopping the main because of the repair she did (Of course the opening was ok). She was very happy averything was ok.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Using your droque to gain stability is a bad habit,
Especially when you are jumping a sport rig

[skydiverkaz 0]

My dad was okay about it at first - he paid for my first jump course for my birthday. But then when it came to my first freefall, and when my BPA membership had to be renewed, because i wasn't 18, he had to sign my forms too, which freaked him out a lot. fair enough tho i guess. he kinda felt like he was signing my life away!! But he has no problem generally

If you're gona skate on thin ice, you might as well dance

[Remster 24]

You're wrong Tonto and Kris.

Its safe.

Quit arguing about it. You know deep down that you are wrong too.

Just last week I had a chat with a guy who was doing a straight in approach on a moderatly loaded main, no cross winds or funky winds, and his canopy collapsed at 20 feet, resulted in several broken bones. He too agreed that shit doesnt happen.

Remster

[wildblue 4]

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leaning the bike over to the right and carving through the turn.

Ohhh.... so leaning the bike is what makes it turn?

it's like incest - you're substituting convenience for quality

[happythoughts 0]

I wouldn't spend a lot of time trying to convince people that skydiving is safe. First, it isn't. Second, if you whack your ankle, then you get to hear about it.

Your dad is concerned. There are risks. Explain that you are as careful as you can be.

Remember the Golden Rule. "Whoever has the gold, rules."

[Kris 0]

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If you do it in the ways you've been taught are correct, and you don't take stupid chances, and you fly current, good-condition equipment, with responsible people from a well-maintained aircraft, it is safe. You can't pretend it is unsafe just because it involves high speed, gravity, and a potential to hit the ground really fast.

Jeffrey, really...get a few more years in the sport and get back to me on this one, okay? And Racenic, with 5 years in, should really know better.

Tonto, Remi, and Happythoughts have it correct. And notice that they've been around the sport awhile...

Sky, Muff Bro, Rodriguez Bro, and
Bastion of Purity and Innocence!™

[Tonto 1]

Ok, so I'm wrong.

I asked my Dad if I could skydive on my 16th birthday. He said.

"No. I'll never let you jump. If you jump 50 years after I die, I will spin in my grave. I will never forgive you."

He was very calm.

I asked him again when I turned 18.

"No. I told you this just the other day!"

And again when I turned 21, as even though he could not stop me, it would be cool to have his consent.

Why are you so obsessed with killing yourself this way? I can't stop you, but everything I said still holds!

I jumped when I was 22, but never told him till I had quite a few jumps. He was NOT happy. At 159 jumps (I was a hookturn pioneer) I smashed my femur. Smashed it. He was overjoyed! I was alive! Of course, he was a little dismayed when I just kept going.

Ten years later he did a Tandem with me. These days (He's calmer at 72) he comes out to the DZ when he's visiting and takes pics of all my landings and is fasinated by the physics involved in flying Birdman.

So... yes, I'm fooling myself that it's safe - but I had to do that to fool my Dad!

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[That_KS_Girl 0]

Nick-

Thank you very much for the websites. They were all interesting and quite informative. I am sure I will be able to share some of the info with my dad to help ease his mind. He's a very intellectual, by the books type (a Judge by occupation) and likes solid facts and lots of information.

[That_KS_Girl 0]

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You're Dad is being a Dad, just like your friends at times and everyone else in your life, we don't want to see anything happen to you or anyone else. That is why your Dad is being protective. I wouldn't try to throw anything in his face or prove the fact that it is or isn't safe, instead, lead him to information, slowly talk about it. Does he know about the reserves, how easy it is to pack, AAD's, the hard deck etc. To the outside eye, skydiving is dangerous, all they know about it is what's seen on Real TV or movies where we're all the bad guys. Your father may also think this is more of a male sport, from what i know, very little that is, of your father he seems to be the more male masculine type and thinks maybe girls shouldn't be doing dangerous sports and activities.

Good advice, that's exactly the way my dad works. I try not to throw it in his face and rather to explain its not as risky as it may seem at first. I did mention the reserve but there is still a lot of info I need to provide him with so that he has a better understanding. My dad is a lot like me and you know how much I was always questioning stuff and wanting answers from you when I first started.

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He wants you to ride motorcycles because he knows he can protect you because he rides as well.

Have you met my Dad, Chris? Man, you're right again. He can't wait for me to go to sturgis with him and to start riding but when I mentioned to him that one of my friends might teach me he got a little nervous about that. He doesn't like me riding on bikes with any of my guy friends really. He also would love for me to learn how to fly but thats b/c he's a pilot and could be right there with me.

***It's hard to say, but I also know you are NOT the type of person who likes to be told what you should, can or can not do...

[josheezammit 0]

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Hmmmmm.................19.......college student........skydiver chick..........need a place to stay? Luckily I was WAY old enough by the time I started. Funny enough.......my Mom didn't want me to have a motorcycle growing up. She wanted me to ride horses instead.

don't listen to um, stay in the light!

Ahh, what a wonderful world.

[That_KS_Girl 0]

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Hmmmmm.................19.......college student........skydiver chick..........need a place to stay?

In Ohio??? That's as bad as Kansas. I don't think so! And I am 22 as kansasskydiver mentioned :)

[RkyMtnHigh 0]

Honestly, I think it's the "unknown" that worries parents about skydiving. My parents went from when I told them about my tandem at SDC October 4 of last year, then to when I told them I signed up for AFF, and now to I also think it helped for them to start coming out to the dz, watching and asking lots of questions. They gained peace of mind from talking with instructors and upjumpers that have been in the sport for many years. In fact, my mom just told me that she felt relieved when I told her that I took Scott Millers course when I was in Deland, especially since I started landing on my feet consistently.

Give them some time, educate them as much as you can and hopefully Dad will gain a little peace of mind.

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