How did you become a skydiver?

[PLFXpert 0]

Hey guys, we started talking about it on another thread but I figured this discussion deserved it's own thread. How did each of you become interested in skydiving and how did you come about doing your first jump. Here is my story. Some may have already read it:
When I was going to UF, I lived in Gainesville and the only car insurance company that would take me with my record # of speeding tickets was a company called Florida No-Fault. Anyways, it's kinda a hole in the wall establishment and you wait FOREVER to meet with a person to fill out forms and stuff and while I was waiting one summer (2 summers ago) this girl came in wearing a skydiving shirt and since I've always been into extreme sports, we started talking. She told me she was a traveling massuse but that her real *job* was a skydiver. She said she'd just gotton back from Thailand (a country I'm obsessed with visiting) where they broke a world record and that her boyfriend, named Rambo, and her were going to be doing some stunts for a movie that would be out the following summer, called "Cutaway" and that I should watch for it. She had so many awesome things to say about the sport of skydiving and I was so envious of the traveling, record-breaking, and overall passion in the sport that I never stopped thinking about it and the following summer, I finally began AFF (this is why I planned on doing AFF right from the beginning w/out a tandem b/c I just knew it was for me.) Anyways, about a month after I did my first couple levels of AFF was when the movie "Cutaway" finally came out and I remembered her telling me about it. I wish that I could run into her sometime and thank her for taking the time to talk to me that day while we were waiting. I know when I mentioned her to my AFF instructor, Billy Weber, that he knew her but I haven't met anyone else that knew of her. Anyways, I just want to thank her. I doubt she'd even remember but it's something I'll never forget.
Much love and blue skies,
Carrie http://www.geocities.com/skydivegrl20/

[PLFXpert 0]

Also, here was Frank's story (IFLYME):
Carrie, I really enjoyed reading about how you became interested in skydiving... I like learning how everyone else got so wound up in this crazy sport we all love so much! For me, a buddy and I had been casually mentioning back and forth over the course of a decade... then one day he called ans said "some of the folks I work with are going, and do ya want to go..." So we did the FJC (along with one of my younger brothers), and I was totally hooked the moment I landed! They both did just one more jump, but for me I can't think about anything else most of the time! Anyone else have a story they can share?

[cyberskydive 0]

I moved to the town that my home dz is in, saw parachutes coming down, made the call, next day I was there!
D.Chisolm C-28534
[email protected]
http://www.sunraydesigns.com

[Dutchboy 0]

A friend of mine from the kung fu school (Broken Eagle) was always talking about skydiving and how much she liked it. She was trying to get a few of us from the school to try a jump. I was naturally opposed to the idea, being a pilot. I think they teach you to think skydiving is stupid in flight school. Even now, just doing my flight review, the other pilots look at me funny when I wear a skydiving shirt. I did some research, and looked at all the accident reports for the last 5 years and figured out that this is not nearly as dangerous as people think. I thought I should try it ONCE and see what it is like. I was totally hooked after the one time deal.

[Zennie 0]

I'd always wanted to do it. This Christmas, my parents came down to visit. So I thought "Hey, I'll buy myself & Dad a tandem as a cool gift." Welp, my Dad bowed out when we got to the DZ & he saw the 25 page waiver and learned that some life insurance policies don't cover skydiving fatalities (mine did, I'd already checked). So I decided to take his as well, then they told me I could get a 3rd for another 20 bucks. So before my first jump I had already paid for 3 tandems. Hehehe...
After the first tandem I was completely hooked. 20-odd jumps later I'm still loving it & trying to figure out how to finance my own rig. My wife's a whuffo, but she's been pretty good about the whole thing. She's even considering doing a tandem sometime.
------------
Blue Skies!
Zennie

[jtval 0]

well care,
i'm sure you heard me say/type that ive wanted to do "it" since i was nine.(btw, iwas interested in skydiving too but i was at a friends surprise b-day party and i dont know if this was planned or just happened ( i think they pay for it) but a plane flew overhead and all the parents pionted it out and we saw something exit as we watched this "thing' get lower "it' opened a parachute and landed in her pool{not sure that was supposed to happen either}
by this "event" was larger then life. this guy was a god in my eyes. i was always interested in flight,as we all were wsince we were kids(im guessing) as long as i could remember i was sticking my hand outta the car window trying to figure out how to control the wind. as i got older i learned about skydiving and i took me til i was 25 til i acually did my 1st tandem....i was hooked. i gave up smoking to help pay for my trips and the aff course. then i broken my collar bone he he ha. (haddabitch about it one more time) but while i was sitting on the ground i hadda come up with a plan to jump and catch up to where i was supposed to be. so i quit drinking (well i quit buying it,anyway) to help pat for my 11 day /50 jump crash course(so-to-speak) that includes a 20 jump advance training with billy weber. so needless to say i cant wait to jump again. see you when im high.have fun, live free SKYDIVE!!
JT
hey Im an enthusiast. whoo hoo!! what a post to make it. ha haa
Edited by jtval on 3/11/01 10:45 AM.

[skybytch 259]

Saw the Navy Leap Frogs jump into a county fair when I was a kid, then saw an all-female demo team jump into the Reno Air Races, then saw an 80 yr old women doing a tandem on a tv show... then my boyfriend found a dz only 40 minutes from the house... We were "supposed" to go do a jump at the same time. Well he went one Sunday "to watch" and did a static line without me; I punished him for that one! Wouldn't let him tell me about it for three hours after he got home. Course I had to go do it the next Sunday. I remember hanging under canopy saying "this is so &%$#ing cool!" over and over. That was all it took, I was hooked
pull and flare,
lisa

[jumpergirl 0]

My boyfriend (at the time) had a good family friend who jumped and was always telling Frank about it. One day, Frank asked me if I'd be interested in going and I told him "Hell no!" He eventually talked my mom into letting me go (I was only 16 at the time) and she somehow convinced me it might be fun. I did one static line and before I landed I knew I was hooked! not bad for saying, "OK, I'll do it once, just to say I did it." Besides that, when we split up he said I'd never jump again without him... but he's the one with 5 jumps!!

[Doasfu 0]

Greetings,
Two summers ago I had a pretty miserable time. I'd failed a class or two at school, so I wasn't sure if I'd be going back. I'd wanted to take a trip somewhere with a good friend of mine, but ended up spending the whole summer working without a chance to get away for a while. When the summer was nearly over, and college was just a few weeks away, I thought to myself, "I have *got* to do something fun before I go back to school."
I found a dz near me right here on Dropzone.com, and talked a friend into going with me. I had already moved back into the dorms, and was going to jump on the saturday before classes started. I set my alarm for 6 AM and barely fell asleep an hour earlier than that.
I woke up at 5:58. My roomate had set his alarm for me as well, not trusting me to be able to get up at six. I took a very sleepy shower, got in the car, and drove out to meet my buddy en route to the DZ. Two hours late we were sitting around in the lobby of Skydive Hastings, watching some videos as we waited for the S/L class to begin.
Six or so hours later, after I'd slipped off the strut to find myself beneath a beautiful, perfect canopy, (Well, I'm not going to complain about some line twists) I knew I would be coming back again and again.
I have, although due to a combination of fear and finances, I'm still a student. I'm going to take the refresher course in 20 days, and I think this'll be the last time.
Dan

[skyhawk 2]

i just always wanted to do it did my first tandem loved it threw up hated it then landed. new from then this is what i wanted to do inquired about courses but i had to be 16 (did 1st tandem 15th birthday) did another tandem cause i couldnt wait any longer than i did my course in dec 2000 havnt look back since

[OmriMon 0]

First found about skydiving when i was 8 when i first went to the wind tunnel, did my first tandem when i was 14 and the 2nd tandem a few monthes ago and still waiting till i can do AFF.
Free Skies,
Omri

[Billy 0]

Hay All,
I started thinkin about it after talkin with a gal who came up to the hospital roof,, we had flown her in after she landed hard,, pulled way to early,, even tho she was just gettin around again she was still stoked about the sport,, the a gal loined our flight team who was a very active jumper, did the jump for the cause womens record cancer thing 2 years ago,, they have a party every year at there place in the country that has a grass strip, and invited all of us to come out,, 6 of us did the AFF jump ( never was good with that peer pressure! ) and a couple others did tandems,, I was hooked as was my buddy,, we already have 6 or 7 folks from work lined up for tandems and 1 who wants ta do AFF,, cant wait for that one!!

[skyhawk 2]

i think it proves that tough ppl just pull out very early cause almost everone i know either just fell into it or saw someone / talked to someone that really impressed them

[flyboy62000 0]

When I moved to Cincinnati, Ohio for school I already had my private pilot's license and the school did not have enough flight instructors. They decided to put me on hold from flying to let the people that started with no flight time get further into the program and hire some instructors. During this layoff from flying I was getting altitude withdrawl and decided that if I couldn't fly I would try jumping. I called up the dropzone and scheduled a tandem. Needless to say I totally loved it and was hooked. The next day I did two more jumps and after two weeks I was off student status. I love skydiving and can't wait until friday when I go to Arizona for spring break.
Blue Skies,
Adam

[Patkat 0]

It began, as so many of these stories do, in a bar. I has made friends with a couple of older guys who frequented the bar across the street from the store I managed at the time. One Wednesday, one of these guys, Bill, told me that his son who is my age was going to jump out of an airplane. Apparently, he had done a static line jump the summer before, and since his rappelling class had fallen through that weekend, he was going to go make a jump again. So, having tossed my share of GI Joes and stuffed animals out of windows with home made parachutes, I was a bit intrigued. I got the info on where to go and when the class started and such (just up the road!! I had no idea!!) and got myself psyched up. Hell, who am I kidding - I hardly had time to get excited. And the truth is, it didn't really hit home that I was going to jump until I was fastening my seatbelt in the front of the Cessna six hours later. Amazing.
Then I came back to Maytown the weekend afterward, and I was a skydiver. Hooked. Addict-ted. Adrenaline Junkie. NEED A JUMP. It's hard to imagine the air not feeling like my natural element now.
-Patkat
P.S. Bill's son didn't make it to the class.

[DBTECH 0]

I started flying jumpers in 1979 at the Hinckley Parachute Center west of Chicago.
I made my first jump at Hinckley that same year from a Beechcraft D-18. (it was a static line jump)
I flew about 2600 loads at Hinckley before I moved to Arizona in late 95.
I now have 1160 jumps.
Dave Brownell

[Doasfu 0]

Hey Pat,
I know what you mean about it not hitting for a while. I was totally mellow through my FJC, but then when I was strapping on the gear all of a sudden it hit me that I was really going through with it. Heh. I think the mind likes to convince itself that for some reason we wont be able to make the jump.
Dan

[skreamer 1]

I think I posted part of this on the old dz.com, anyway :
When I was a kid growing up in Oudtshoorn, South Africa, they had the world champs there in the '70s. I can still remember seeing lots and lots of canopies in the sky (all rounds of course). Then my father who was in the military used to bring me the little silk parachutes from '1000 illumination flares. I used to tie fishing sinkers to the end and spend hours and hours packing and throwing my 'canopies'. Quite a few mals too, until I got my packing down! Then I used to take plastic grocery bags, climb a ladder next to the deep end of the pool and jump holding onto the handles. Say, do those count as water jumps towards my B license? heehee Luckily those 'canopies' were REALLY cheap, because they always burst when I hit the water.
Anyway, from then on it was simply a natural progression, I knew I had to try it for real one day. Made my first static line jump in March 93, and then 3 freefalls in April 93. Got scared and walked away, until I worked up the nerve to do AFF this past January (it took me a while mmmkay).
My one regret, is not having had the balls to try out for the parachute batallion when I was in the infantry.
Well, that was my contribution.
/s

[skyhawk 2]

whats with the seatbelts oh wait ive heard about u overseas jumpers :-)
skreamer
man why didnt u thats hopfully what im going to being doing next yr
paratrooper not pool jumper :-)

[skreamer 1]

It was National Service in South Africa, you had to go to the army. I don't think I had the most positive of attitudes, and could have done a lot more in my time there. I did become a platoon commander in the infantry, and really should have signed on for short service, because when I left the army and went to university I started screwing up badly.
Oh, well, don't make the same mistakes as me, Skyhawk. Go in with a positive attitude, make the most of it and you will really have a good time in the army (and make some great friends).
/s

[FallDown 0]

back in early 98' i first watched point break, thought it was an awesome film and the surfing and skydiving sequences looked absolutly amazing( i was a whuffo then and did'nt know how unrealistic the scene was). i've also always been interested in the air and aircraft and when i saw an advert to do charity jumps i coulded resist. went did my ground school and my first S/L jump at 16. tryed to stay current for the next year and a half until i started working then did AFF and started banging out as often as humanly possible. the sport has changed my life beyond recognision and i could'nt imagine living without it anymore.
Blue skies.
jeff

[Deleted 0]

I must admit I was a whuffo as well, but with more of a purpose. I wanted to know the real reason why people did this. What I mean is...I knew they must do it because it is cool, and they all seem to be able to do it again (thus eliminating the fear factor for me) so I found a brochure and hung it on my refrigerator. My sister caught on quickly and went 1/2s with my dad for my 21st birthday. (I tried to ring a good mate to join me, but he bailed. He is now a firefighter and can't imagine anything more adrenaline pumping than crawling into a room full of flames). So, my 21st birthday came and I kept finding these little parachute people all over the place. (I didn't catch on). Then we drive for 40 minutes and pull up to an airport. I figured it out when the sign in the parking lot said, "for tandem students only". Well, that one was over the US/Mexico border and I remember thinking and saying to people when I landed, "Man, I gotta do that again."
5 years later I was graduating from university in New Zealand and my folks came to see me. They asked me what I wanted for my grad pressie and I just told them one thing...$$ for my skydiving licence. They were only too happy to oblige because the NZ$D was at an all time low and I was asking them for only 600$US. So, 300$ apiece and they were off easy. (another sibling asked for a car, and another a loan to start his own business).
I did my S/L course in the process of 2 months (weather in NZ is quite unpredictable) and have been jumping EVERY weekend since.
I have already talked one more person into doing it full time, she had done a tandem and loved it.
Now, the only problem is finances (join the rest of you!). Once I get a job, I have already worked it into my monthly bills. The only way to go!!!
Thats my piece,
Arohanui,
B
NZPF A-2584

[Alias 0]

I've been hanging with a bunch of guys since our mothers sat us next to eack other in pre-school. I'm 34, so do the math. We trout fish, we surf, we hunt (duck, deer and geese)and rock climb twicw a week at the gym. Some have gotten into hang gliding and we all are rescue rated S.U.B.A divers. We started kayaking when we were in high school, some of us went as far as guiding on the New River and The Gauley in WVA.
Last year we did the anual "Drunkfest / Gauley trip" during bridge day weekend. One of the outfitters said"you freaks need to learn to skydive" We wandered over to the bridge, seen it for years, but never thought it was for me.
So, last Spring we all sign up for AFF. 8 jumped that day and me, the one who organized it, was the only one to get winded out. Came back the following weekend solo, and got three in.
Result is out of 8 of us, two, including me are HOOKED!!!! My goal is to get the A and a bunch of learning jumps in this year so we can head to Quincy and jump from Bells, balloons and the bi-plane!!!

[JohnJug 0]

Well, my story started in the winter of '95. I had been interested in skydiving for a while, I think probably from Point Break. So for christmas that year I open one of my presents from my parents and it is just a box with a little slip of paper that says "Go take a running leap out of an airplane". I was incredibly shocked but excited beyond belief. I went up for AFF 1 and when I landed I knew I had to get another, so I talked my mom into buying me an AFF 2. Then it was back to school. My parents wouldn't pay for anymore jumps, so I had to stay grounded for the next three years while I finished college. As soon as I was out I got myself a credit card and maxed it out getting through AFF. Then I had to have surgery getting a plate removed from my leg (I broke it in Oct of 97, not skydiving) and I was back out of skydiving for 6 months. I finally got back into the sport, and got my A license. Then in Dec of '99 I broke my leg again, playing paintball of all things, and was out for another year. Last December I finally started jumping again and am loving it as much as ever. The only bad thing is that this summer I am supposed to get the rod that is my leg now taken out. That will probably mean another 3 to 6 month grounding again, and that I am not looking forward to.
Blue Skies and Healthy Bones
Bill

[skreamer 1]

Dude, I admire your guts for coming back every time. You obviously have what it takes, and I hope that your flares are good and your PLFs are sweet. Sort of puts bitching about credit cards and lack of money for jump tickets into perspective!
Blue skies and safe landings!
/s