Squeeezer 0 #1 February 3, 2015 Hey! How would you spend 13.500 USD just when you are getting new into skydiving? Windtunnel? Boogies? Jumps? Trips? I've already got a rig, equipment and my certificate. During the spring I will head off to the US, Sweden and spain to start skydive on fulltime in 7 months. How would you spend the money to have as fun as possible in the sky? My plan now Is to do like 500 skydives and then maby a hour or two in the tunnel. How would you spend the money If you where new in the sport of personal experiences? My goal is to live on the sport, work with it, compete in it and so on. I've been looking a long time for something I love that I can live on and since people are needed on dropzone I want a "kickstart" into the sport. I've been working my ass off and eated noodles now In 8 months to do this. So please give me good some good tips If you have any. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dthames 0 #2 February 3, 2015 Pick your primary discipline first. Then create a plan.Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!” Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CSpenceFLY 1 #3 February 3, 2015 Come to the US in March, go to the Fitz boogie and then head to Florida. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wolfriverjoe 1,340 #4 February 3, 2015 Decide what discipline you wish to pursue. Find a DZ with an on-site tunnel. And cheap accommodations (or favorable weather for tent camping). Take a canopy control course. No matter where you plan on ending up, you will still need to land at the end of every jump. Find a good coach who does both "in sky" and tunnel coaching. Listen to that coach's advice. That will determine how you split your time between the sky and the tunnel. My $0.02"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 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RXB17 0 #5 February 3, 2015 Do yourself a favor and spend much more than an hour or two in the tunnel. The amount of progress you'll make in the tunnel with several hours will vastly exceed the progress you would make with a few hundred skydives and minimal tunnel time. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bluhdow 31 #6 February 3, 2015 At least 5 hours of tunnel should be budgeted for. Go to Ogden, Utah.Apex BASE #1816 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yvanpec 1 #7 February 3, 2015 do 200 jumps, start base jumping and dont spend a dime on another load again. have fun with girls with the money you save. that would be MY plan. Better be on the ground wishing you were up there than being up there wishing you were on the ground. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
grue 1 #8 February 3, 2015 SqueeezerHey! How would you spend 13.500 USD just when you are getting new into skydiving? Windtunnel? Boogies? Jumps? Trips? I've already got a rig, equipment and my certificate. During the spring I will head off to the US, Sweden and spain to start skydive on fulltime in 7 months. How would you spend the money to have as fun as possible in the sky? My plan now Is to do like 500 skydives and then maby a hour or two in the tunnel. How would you spend the money If you where new in the sport of personal experiences? My goal is to live on the sport, work with it, compete in it and so on. I've been looking a long time for something I love that I can live on and since people are needed on dropzone I want a "kickstart" into the sport. I've been working my ass off and eated noodles now In 8 months to do this. So please give me good some good tips If you have any. If you're buying in bulk you can get tunnel time for around $600/hr if you plan ahead. Five hours of that, plus 500-ish skydives and pack jobs if you buy tickets in bulk and work out a deal with a packer or two.cavete terrae. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
D22369 0 #9 February 3, 2015 yvanpec do 200 jumps, start base jumping and dont spend a dime on another load again. Where oh where is the like button!!!? RoyThey say I suffer from insanity.... But I actually enjoy it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bluhdow 31 #10 February 3, 2015 yvanpec do 200 jumps, start base jumping and dont spend a dime on another load again. have fun with girls with the money you save. that would be MY plan. Easy to say when you live in Switzerland! I spend more money on BASE than sky jumps via airfare and lodging.Apex BASE #1816 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wmw999 2,121 #11 February 3, 2015 This, and I would also suggest, if you're not going to be traveling to the US again (or for a long time), go ahead and budget some time to go see something cool close to where you end up staying. E.g. if Eloy, go to the Grand Canyon; if Lodi, go to Yosemite National Park, or visit the wine country -- etc. Keeps you fresh to go back to jumping. 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) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yvanpec 1 #12 February 3, 2015 Bluhdow ***do 200 jumps, start base jumping and dont spend a dime on another load again. have fun with girls with the money you save. that would be MY plan. Easy to say when you live in Switzerland! I spend more money on BASE than sky jumps via airfare and lodging. I have been on the other side......I m big into surfing and suffered from being landlocked for years. Now i can finally be a smartass about BASE jumping. dont take it away from me please ! Better be on the ground wishing you were up there than being up there wishing you were on the ground. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 558 #13 February 3, 2015 I would buy a BASE rig, spend a week jumping off the Potato Bridge, then blow the rest on a trip to a famous cliff in Norway. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jumpsalot-2 2 #14 February 4, 2015 Don't forget Utah ..... Life is short ... jump often. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alexg3265 0 #15 February 4, 2015 I spent my 13k on an industrial machine, a new canopy, my wife's new container, lots of jumps, some moving expenses, lots of beer, an hour in the tunnel with the wife and kid, more beer... Do whatever makes you happy. It'll go quicker than you think no matter what so have fun. Good luck!I was that kid jumping out if his tree house with a bed sheet. My dad wouldn't let me use the ladder to try the roof... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lukasz_Se 2 #16 February 4, 2015 If you wanna do tunnel time, hurry up and go to Russia!!! Thanks to the shit storm in ukraine, exchange rates are silly right now, you can buy 1h+coach for like 350-380 euros! After that...well it's your money, I would spend it on travelling and jumping :) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yoink 321 #17 February 4, 2015 Squeeezer My goal is to live on the sport, work with it, compete in it and so on. I've been looking a long time for something I love that I can live on and since people are needed on dropzone I want a "kickstart" into the sport. I'll tell you something - I wouldn't be planning to drop 13.5k in a couple of lumps sums in a hurry. Here's the thing - almost everyone who gets bitten by the skydiving buy gets bitten by it hard at your point in the progression. It's THE BEST THING EVER. but only for a few percentage of people is that actually true.. Don't make irreversible decisions yet. Take a holiday for a couple of weeks and see if you really enjoy banging out a dozen non-stop jumps a day when you're not doing it with people you know. Personally, for me, it got old pretty fast. When you first qualify there's the ambition to teach, to compete, to master every discipline and to completely LIVE the sport. Lots of us have that, but few of us stick with it. My advice would be to bank the 13.5K, spend a bit of it on solid basic progression for a year and go on a skydiving-only holiday toward the end and see if your desire to be immersed in it 24/7 is still there. . Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IJskonijn 38 #18 February 4, 2015 dthamesPick your primary discipline first. Then create a plan. This, tunnel time is pretty useless if you're going to be a full-time CReW-dog. That said, a good canopy course is always money well spent, no matter your discipline. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeatlast 0 #19 February 4, 2015 I'd Email or Phone Chicagoland Skydiving and buy one of their Pro Passes (or any similar US drop zone that offers the equivalent). All you can jump for the season for $5199.00 (it was $4999.00 until 31st Jan) this leaves you $8300 for a trailer / food etc... Get all of your stuff for your trailer from Walmart and return it every 30 days for a full refund (that way you can have a trailer full of fantastic goodies and never have to pay for them) Then learn a skill that will be useful for your long term skydiving career - Camera / AFF Instructor / Tandem Master or Rigger... Job done!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
potatoman 0 #20 February 4, 2015 Let's make this cash last.... When you get to the US, get a bike, side panniers etc for gear. Road trip it from one DZ to another. DZ accomodation is normally much cheaper than hotels, and plenty of places you can stay for free(bunk beds, or tenting). You will meet loads of friends, and you can then even follow them to events/boogies, they will probably offer you accomodation, tips etc. Then there is Lodi, cheap ass prices, but you need good friends to have fun. So get all the friends you made on yourr travels, to have a mini goodbye boogie at Lodi. Along the way, hit a tunnel (perris or so), and then there is bridge day. You gonna need about 5 years and a much bigger budget.You have the right to your opinion, and I have the right to tell you how Fu***** stupid it is. Davelepka - "This isn't an x-box, or a Chevy truck forum" Whatever you do, don't listen to ChrisD. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hodges 4 #21 February 4, 2015 Don't pick a "primary" discipline to focus on just yet. How could you possibly know what you'll want to be doing in 1000 jumps time? Focus on a variety of skills for your first few hundred jumps. Do some 4-way (enter some comps), some big way, some freefly (enter some comps), fun jumps, accuracy events etc and put "working" out of your mind for now. When it comes to realizing your long term goal of working in the sport, your skill set will be considerably more robust than if you did 1000 freefly jumps, for example. (Also, what keeps me in the sport is knowing I still have things I haven't done. Doing it all in your first year might be like playing The Sims with the unlimited money cheat. Once you've "unlocked" everything, what's the point in playing?) Just my opinion...! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hodges 4 #22 February 4, 2015 I heard about this the other day. Didn't have much luck trying to find anyone who had actually made use of it. I'd love to take a year out and bang some jumps out at some point. You'd make money if you did at least 6 jumps a week all year. Sounds pretty good to me. I wonder if you get treated the same as any other jumper in terms of priority for manifest etc? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tred 0 #23 February 4, 2015 i would also be interested to know how that works Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy9o8 0 #24 February 4, 2015 tredi would also be interested to know how that works Well, the part about buying something with the specific intent of using it, then using it, and then returning it for a full refund - rather than renting it honestly - is called "stealing". It may or may not be strictly illegal, but I happen to feel it's unethical. The skydiving community already has enough detractors as it is, people who think we're bums and druggies, and don't let us retrieve our cutaway mains and try to run us off airports. I don't think giving them ammo to call us thieves, too, is all that good an idea. Pardon my high horse. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Remster 24 #25 February 4, 2015 Andy9o8 ***i would also be interested to know how that works Well, the part about buying something with the specific intent of using it, then using it, and then returning it for a full refund - rather than renting it honestly - is called "stealing". It may or may not be strictly illegal, but I happen to feel it's unethical. The skydiving community already has enough detractors as it is, people who think we're bums and druggies. I don't think giving them ammo to call us thieves, too, is all that good an idea. Pardon my high horse. I think the question was about the pro pass... http://www.skydivecsc.com/experienced/info/csc-pro-pass/ Spaceland does something similar http://houston.skydivespaceland.com/shop/lift-tickets/unlimited-jumps-2015/Remster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
