why do you laugh at whuffos?

[Krosfyah 0]

It seems to me that people love to laugh at whuffo questions.
Why is this? I mean sure "wow what happens when you reserve chute doesnt work" "are you going to test your cypress?" "when the chute opens do you go up?" type of questions are mildly amusing, but a lot of people in the community seem to have a sort of "im a skydiver, youre a lowly non-knower (whuffo) i will laugh at you and not bother to explain anything to you" attitude which i think is pretty self defeatist.
This sport is based around small tightly knot communities. Wouldnt it be great if it was based around larger communities with even more of a diverse group of people involved?
Why dont we all, the next time we get a question like "isnt it like minus 100 degrees up there?" not laugh and revel in our 'superior knowledge', but rather pull up a chair, open a few beers and try and spend a few minutes telling people what it's really like and what the real deal is?
I know some non jumpers (whuffos is such a stupid word to me - where the hell did it even come from??) ask pretty ridiculous questions, but i think we would all do better to talk positively about what we do, try and open even just one persons mind to the glorious experience, and tell them what the real deal is, and then ask them if they wanted to come and try a jump with us at the local school, instead of laughing at them, then doing nothing other than making sure we have a good mental note of the "yet another stupid whuffo question" that we were asked to tell our buddies about while huddled around the manifest.
Anyway, you might think im being a humourless fool but reading this forum, and listening to the tone in jumpers voices when describing a non jumpers question makes me think that some peoples egos could do with being taken down a few notches from the high echelons they seem to have propped themselves up on.

[AggieDave 6]

You get this attitude in ANY organization that your apart of. Geez, you should have heard the jokes and stuff we had going when I worked on an ISP's tech board. God, that was horrible, but very very funny. Ever hear of a PEBKAC?
Most of the whuffos (it came from WHa FOr you jump out a dem planes) don't want to know, they just want to write you as a jumper off as crazy and leave it at that. They don't want to confront any fears that they have to experience what we know about. Instead of a quick answer, if we try to actually explain things 1)we'll waste a crapload of time, 2)we'll annoy the hell out of the whuffo and 3)annoy the crap out of the rest of the jumpers around. Atleast I know I'd probably start to get annoyed. I know if I respond with a sarcastic joke then actually give a quick, one line explaination, they laugh and come away with just a little knowledge, but I don't spend my time trying to really get involved.
Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.-General George Patton-

[3fLiEr 0]

most questions stem from a lack of thought about some simple laws of physics...................... thats why the questions are seen as laughable............ think back i am sure most people here did not think in such a thoughtless manner..........
anyway most people on a DZ will rip the piss outta each other coz thats the way we are - nothing evil about it........ so if we do it to each other why not do it to non-jumpers??
bsbd
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[fonz 0]

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Ever hear of a PEBKAC?

Good one
Alphons
http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven/skydive

[Emma 0]

Bullshit. I totally agree with your point, Krosfyah.
It really pisses me off when I hear people taking the piss out of whuffos AGAIN. NONE of us were BORN skydivers. There was a time when Olav Zipster did his first ever jump. Maybe you could say that there is a difference between people who haven't jumped, yet have the desire to do so, and 'true' whuffos who have no interest other than as a spectator; but whatever the distinction, I resent the implied superiority of skydivers (many of whom have only been in the sport 5 minutes and have a handful of jumps) that smirk when another 'stupid' question is asked.
Yes, it can be funny when they ask if you can breathe in a cloud and stuff. But not everyone in life has the same experiences and not everyone has experienced this wonderful thing we have, freefall. I like to think skydivers are pretty cool people, but being snobby, superior and disdainful of people who don't jump not only does us a disservice, it's ignorant and WE miss out. The whuffos of today may well be the new skydivers of tomorrow. That is, as long as some ego-infested, jumped-up five-jump-wonder doesn't put them off totally by laughing at their questions. Yes, you skydive. Yes, you have conquered all instinct and fear. You have laughed in the face of gravity and tickled death's testicles! You must be some kind of god!
No, you are not, so stop being so fucking impressed with yourself.
I've said it before on here and I guess I'll say it again; jumping out of aeroplanes doesn't make you a better person. it just makes you someone who jumps out of aeroplanes. Get over it.

[kingbunky 3]

i agree with you, but i think that what happens between the jumper and the whuffo in real life is different from what we see in here, amongst a bunch of jumpers. when someone finds out i have been skydiving (only 8 jumps, all iad) they have questions, some silly, some not. i try to answer them as best i know, or direct them somewhere they could find out for themselves. i don't know about you, but i got started because i met up with someone who jumped, asked a few stupid questions and decided to try it out. you often see comments about skydivers being avoided at work because all they talk about is skydiving ... we want more people to experience what we have! i don't laugh at whuffos or put them down, i encourage them.
that said, it's still fun to laugh at their silly (to us) questions, theories and misconceptions in our own little place here! "Jumping out of planes for the thrill of it all."
-J.Geils Band

[3fLiEr 0]

says she.............. ;op
bsbd
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[ADRNALN 0]

I laugh at Whuffos 'cause they're funny!!!

[Emma 0]

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says she.............. ;op

As I said, five-jump wonders. I am a sky-goddess of the highest order and therefore entitled to a little snobbery and big-dick-(clit, then) swinging, as well you know. Fool. ;)

[skreamer 1]

I don't mind the whuffos, its the one jump tandem wonders that piss me off. Tandem luggage finding out the difference in jump ticket prices between theirs and mine and then bitching about it. One of my mates did one tandem and now he reckons "he's done a jump and its not that big a deal", why would I possibly want to keep on doing it?

[R00tj00se 0]

Clit swinging eh? Emma, I think you just found your niche in the porn movie market!

[fonz 0]

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I think you just found your niche in the porn movie market!

(shameless smartass sarcastic sexist remark)
Yeah, think of all the jump money you'd make
Alphons
http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven/skydive

[mccordia 73]

Usualy I just try to explain in a simple way how it work (you have a reserve, what an AAD is, and how safe it is compared to driving) and yes...it does sometimes get repetitive to explain, but who cares (since I'm usualy the one who brings it up anyway)
When people snort and start talking about how dangerous it is, I just laugh it away with the "Horse-riding, Driving a Car and Winter-sports are many times more dangerous, and you do that don't you?"
But the good thing about being open about it to people (instead of acting superiour) is that you can sometimes realy spark an interest with people.
So far I've managed to get my father, sister and three collegues to try a tandemjump, and my brother and nephew both started jumping because of what I told them.
It took no 'pushing' from my side...just an honest explanation about how I love it..what it does with me and how it makes me feel...
I don't hate whuffo's...the only thing that can really bug me are those 1 tandemjump skygods who keep acting like they are experienced skydivers when they have no real intention of getting into the sport.....(Fonzy, you know "EddyRulez"?? from the .nl forum...:)

[skybytch 259]

Apparently mine is not going to be a popular opinion on this subject, but oh well!

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we would all do better to talk positively about what we do, try and open even just one persons mind to the glorious experience, and tell them what the real deal is, and then ask them if they wanted to come and try a jump with us at the local school, instead of laughing at them

In the previous sentence replace the words "jump" and "school" with "bible study" and "church"... it's just evangelism of a different sort.
I stopped being a skydiving evangelist some years ago. Why? I got tired of talking about it to people who are never going to make the trip out to the dz to watch, much less actually jump. If someone is really interested and really wants to know about skydiving I'm glad to tell them what I know, point them in the right direction to get them started and jump with them once they are off student status. But most non-jumpers will never take the plunge; talking to them about it is a waste of my time and theirs.
Why do I laugh? Cuz they irritate me! If they really want to know they'll find out and go do it. If not, they're just talking out of a paper asshole - "oh yeah I wanna do that BUT..." Put up or shut up. And then you get the ones who "saw that on TV" and therefore spout off like they've been jumpin' for years, but with totally incorrect information. It just pisses me off to correct them; it's better all around that I shut up and go laugh about them with my jumper friends.
I jump out of airplanes. That doesn't make me a goddess (wait, yes it does... ) and it doesn't make me any more or less special than any other human being on the planet. It just means that I like to jump out of airplanes.
pull and flare,
lisa
--

[AggieDave 6]

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In the previous sentence replace the words "jump" and "school" with "bible study" and "church"... it's just evangelism of a different sort.

I sometimes tell people who ask what my closing pin necklace is that it's a religous symbol...makes sense to me atleast.
Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.-General George Patton-

[Muenkel 0]

I guess I am a whuffo for now. I did 2 tandem jumps last month. The experience opened a whole new world for me. I have alot of questions and I am sure many of them are stupid, but that's how you learn and excel. I will taking my AFF this May and my goal is to earn my A license by Summer. At what point do I graduate from being a whuffo?
Here's my whuffo question: Both times I did my tandem jumps, I experienced no nerves whatsoever. Not even a queesy stomach. Is this normal? Should I expect to start puking during AFF?

[fonz 0]

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I sometimes tell people who ask what my closing pin necklace is that it's a religous symbol.

When they ask me about mine (Thanks Pammi!), I usually just say "it's a parachuting thing".
If they're interested, they'll ask the next question. If they just shrug and go "ah well, whatever", I known enough.
Alphons
http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven/skydive

[AggieDave 6]

If you have one jump, then it's more of an attitude then anything. People with one jump who are still whuffos don't have the desire to learn and actually do it for real. You do, so you're not a whuffo. Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.-General George Patton-

[scottbre 0]

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So far I've managed to get my father, sister and three collegues to try a tandemjump, and my brother and nephew both started jumping because of what I told them.
It took no 'pushing' from my side...just an honest explanation about how I love it..what it does with me and how it makes me feel...

I have also gotten non-jumpers interested in skydiving by just talking to them. I am friends with a couple who will both be starting and more than likely continuing to train as skydivers once spring comes around and they get out from under some debt. I have managed to cajole my mom into doing a tandem at some point, and I just recently talked to a girl who I hadn't known until that evening, and got her more interested in going at some point, sooner if not for the expense of a first jump.
Maybe it's just because I am still fairly new to the sport, but I love having the opportunity to talk to someone who doesn't know anything about it. And I have never gotten the "you're crazy" comments from anyone that I have told that I skydive. The farthest towards that extreme is, "Well, I have no desire to do that." But even people who aren't interested in doing it themselves are still intrigued by the process and how it works.
God forbid that we might actually be doing something so interesting that other people what to ask us questions about it.
"Let the rabbits wear glasses. . . "

[fonz 0]

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many of them are stupid

Dude, not asking a question because you think it's stupid could cost you your life up there!
An ancient Chinese proverb says: "Asking means temporary embarrassement. Not asking and remaining ignorant means lifelong embarrassement."

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Should I expect to start puking during AFF?

Puking isn't commonly done, but it's quite normal to develop nervousness. I think it's because of the following: Although in the back of your head you know that things can go wrong, you may still consider a tandem jump a mere "ride". Like a rollercoaster, but more fun (btw: do skydivers still get excited about rollercoasters?). When you do AFF (or S/L, for that matter) it's different because this time you are in control. You're not going along as a passenger with an experienced skydiver, you're actually going to jump yourself. Just knowing this could make a difference.
Alphons
http://www.liacs.nl/~avwerven/skydive

[Zennie 0]

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Maybe it's just because I am still fairly new to the sport, but I love having the opportunity to talk to someone who doesn't know anything about it. And I have never gotten the "you're crazy" comments from anyone that I have told that I skydive. The farthest towards that extreme is, "Well, I have no desire to do that." But even people who aren't interested in doing it themselves are still intrigued by the process and how it works.

This is pretty much my take. I always try to explain as much as I can:
a) To maybe have at least one more whuffo in the world with a bit more understanding; or
b) Get someone to try their first jump.
I've never got the "you're crazy" thing either. I usually get "You must really be into adrenaline rushes." So I say "Nah. If I wanted adrenaline I'd BASE jump." So of course they ask if I would and I reply "Absolutely."
That's when they think I'm crazy.
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[3fLiEr 0]

So I say "Nah. If I wanted adrenaline I'd BASE jump." So of course they ask if I would and I reply "Absolutely."
So in a way of skydiver talking to whuffo "why dont you then!"
bsbd
"In a world where we are slaves to gravity I am pleased to be a freedom fighter"

[Zennie 0]

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"why dont you then!"

If you could guarantee I wouldn't get caught by my wife, I would.
"Zero Tolerance: the politically correct term for zero thought, zero common sense."

[MarkM 0]

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When people snort and start talking about how dangerous it is, I just laugh it away with the "Horse-riding, Driving a Car and Winter-sports are many times more dangerous, and you do that don't you?"

This is bullshit. Half the people that drive or ride horses haven't had a friend that has died in the activity. Skydiving isn't as dangerous as a lot of people think, but it isn't as safe as a lot of skydivers like to say it is.

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I stopped being a skydiving evangelist some years ago. Why? I got tired of talking about it to people who are never going to make the trip out to the dz to watch, much less actually jump. If someone is really interested and really wants to know about skydiving I'm glad to tell them what I know, point them in the right direction to get them started and jump with them once they are off student status. But most non-jumpers will never take the plunge; talking to them about it is a waste of my time and theirs.

God I totally agree. My favorite is "I've always wanted to do that". Well then DO IT. But most don't really want to IMHO.
I used to watch people skydive and tell myself there was no way I'd ever do that. I don't know when that changed, but it was a totally internal change and not something I did because other people convinced me to do it. I totally respect anyone who wants to jump even if they haven't yet, but I don't feel the need to try to make any converts.

[jfields 0]

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If you could guarantee I wouldn't get caught by my wife, I would.

I hear ya, Zennie!
The other issue is saving money for another rig.
Justin