New skydiver not feeling the 'it' factor

[addictedAlex 0]

Perhaps, like others have said, it's just not the sport for you. For me skydiving was a crazy thrill at the start, It scared me shitless and I was packing at least a semi-chub each time I landed. Now I don't get a buzz out of the freefall part at all, I get the buzz when I'm on the ground and I high-five the people I jumped with and I get to share the memory of flight with them.

I say stick with it for a while if money isn't a factor. Once you have done a solo and scared yourself a bit you will realise how much there is to the sport and hopefully you fall in-love with it and spend all your money like I have

[ufk22 32]

Skydivers by our nature think that this is the coolest thing ever invented and anyone that doesn't love it as much as we do just doesn't get it.
This is not the sport for everyone. No sport is.
Anyone that feels the need to be "talked into" making another skydive shouldn't make another skydive.
Why spent another $1000-$2000 on something that you don't seem to enjoy?

This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

[Keithor 0]

I had some long term goals when I started my PFF (AFF) and felt very little my first few jumps, even through to my A.

There is soooo much to learn and do with instructors/coaches/etc it's hard to think about the enjoyment when focusing so much on learning and safety.

Then I started jumping with other people and moving to/away/beside them. Then I was FLyING. It all changed give it a chance.

[labrys 0]

Quote

driving to the DZ is three times more likely to kill me than the jump.

You might not be feeling "it" because you don't have enough respect for "it"

There were 50 fatalities (just fatalities, that doesn't include many more serious or debilitating injuries) in North America and Europe alone last year. This is a very small community... we'd be aware if hundreds of skydivers were killed or seriously injured driving to the DZ.

Owned by Remi #?

[Andy9o8 0]

labrys

Quote

driving to the DZ is three times more likely to kill me than the jump.

You might not be feeling "it" because you don't have enough respect for "it"

There were 50 fatalities (just fatalities, that doesn't include many more serious or debilitating injuries) in North America and Europe alone last year. This is a very small community... we'd be aware if hundreds of skydivers were killed or seriously injured driving to the DZ.

Just for the record, you were replying to the OP, not me.
I may be a douche, but not in the skydiving forums.

[GooniesKid 0]

Hey bro...if you're not feeling it, you're not feeling it. Why commit time and money (both of which will cost you alot of) to a sport that you're not into. Simple as that.

I great philosopher once said:
"Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner."

[craddock 0]

As others have said you are seriously misleading yourself(or have been mislead) about the dangers of skydiving vs driving. I have seen three fatalitiy incidents first hand in just one 11 month period. Have performed CPR. Have been on site and very close to other fatalities. Lost many more friends or acquaintances that I was not present for. I am unaware of any that got killed on the way to the DZ though. If you do not have the least bit of heightened state of mind as a student you do not have a healthy respect for what your doing.

That being said I remember my first jump course. Static line and I bought the 5 jump package. We had a rather large class (20+ students) and I can remember others so pumped up after the jump going on to me with stuff like "wasn't that the coolest thing you ever did!", That was awesome ect. I didn't down play anything to affect their moment but for me it wasn't. It was a stepping stone. I wanted to swoop, BASE, and go to WFFC I had seen videos and it just so happened that I needed to learn to actually skydive before I could do any of those aforementioned things. I was a student. I studied, I learned, I asked questions, I improved and a year later I left WFFC with my 300th jump under my belt and I won't tell you the canopies I was demoing and swooping. I have done a lot of adrenaline producing activities but my first jumps were nothing too exciting in comparison. But while I have a different calm, cool mindset than many people which has allowed me to push things to the limit in my activities and compete at a high level, I certainly was not bored during those initial jumps and probably checked my handles and went through drills in my head then and even later as an experienced jumper more than most. I did have a period of carelessness around the 100 jump wonder mark.(many will say I always had it but I am talking uneducated risks) Like door diving out of the cessna on a 2000 ft H&P and having the dbag hit my legs on the way up. Silly stuff and not having respect for it is what caused that. Later on after a few malfunctions on smaller yet canopies I was pretty scared exiting that low and dumping subterminal.

I just didn't know any better when I knew it all.

I guess what I am saying is I would be very nervous jumping with you right now. But I would be nervous(to a lesser degree) on exit on a solo jump as well. My choice of equipment caused that but at under 10 jumps you should get that with a big docile opening 7 cell as well. So it's ok to not have your jumps be the biggest baddest thing you have done so far, but it sounds like you need a real healthy dose of reality of what your doing. Read the incident forums maybe. But if you don't have a goal as to where you want to go in the sport and are just already contemplating this... get out, run away. Or take a break and stick around and just watch what others are doing. Dirt dives, Debriefing video, landings. crw, whatever. If it is just ughhh. Than move on and don't look back.

Hell you can even be cocky to whoffos about it and that it wasn't enough for you. We won't know

That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side.

[airtwardo 6]

CSpenceFLY

Have you tried hookers and blow?

Yeah...but it just made me tired & nervous.


To the NetNinja ~
The sport may or may not be something that holds 'it' for you...but you're not really 'skydiving' yet, so might be hard to know.

Currently you are merely learning the tools to survive - in the fastest & safest way we could figure out - for the 'average to slightly below' biped with a valid credit card.

If you're a type A rocket surgeon with a pre-existing adrenaline addiction...yeah, I can see this part being a bit boring.

I would imagine you're getting thoroughly trained and briefed prior to performing a pretty basic & mundane set of tasks - even if yer a total dolt & brainlock - you have two people right there to powder your butt and make it all better.

In the 'crawl, walk, run, fly' scheme of things...you're kinda at the crawl stage - with pretty short leash & training wheels.

Get past that - through the training & out on your own.

Making your OWN decisions regarding what, when & how to jump out of a plane - both the risk & reward will grow exponentially!

I liken it to driving a car in the beginning...drivers Ed has someone on you every second - but the first time dad gives you the keys and says see ya later, the whole world looks different.

Certainly there are 'all kinds of things' to do in the sport, ways to challenge & build skills...cool enough, but there is also an 'it factor' of intrinsic beauty realized when you just leap out all by yourself and with no conscious thought whatsoever - fly your body as naturally & effortlessly, as any bird you've watched with envy.

Do THAT one time at sunset - and reevaluate whether the sport gives you the 'it' you had imagined it might.


But then again~


If it's something you 'always wanted to do' - and somehow 'it' doesn't light your fire - who knows, maybe you had too high of expectations.

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[format 0]

CSpenceFLY

Have you tried hookers and blow?

I prefer Your question but I'll quote Niels Bohr
"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it."

What goes around, comes later.

[Boogers 0]

InternetNinja

I am finding no sense of enjoyment through any of the jumps.

Keep in mind also that student jumps are "boring" compared to the things you'll get to do once off student status. Once you start flying formations with other jumpers, the excitement goes way up. The number of directions you can go is plentiful: Formations, canopy relative work, head-down, sit-fly, video, wing suits, free-fly, BASE, demo jumps, competition, instructor... There's something for everyone. And once you've got a couple of hundred jumps you start getting invited on ever bigger and better things. As the years go by, your fun keeps getting magnified. You'll find yourself five years down the road doing things you never even imagined when you started. So if you really want to do it, give it a fair shot. Make a goal of 100 jumps, or 200 jumps. And if you still aren't having fun yet, fine, walk away from it. But I'll bet you won't.

[format 0]

for example, in order to get this,
you need time with patience.
If you get it, it's hard to explain

[craigbey 0]

You can stop now and you'll always have those 3 jumps. Nothing wrong with that. You made the jumps and you landed safely.

But please don't let time distort the reality of what you have done.

http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4576363


We already have enough people telling stories that can be summed up with...
"The older I get, the better I was".

[Joellercoaster 6]

wildcard451

***... and if you still aren't having fun you're probably dead on the inside..

That's a pretty fucking stupid statement.

It's OK, you're American, the subtleties of British humour go past you sometimes. I get it. But when it happens, maybe abuse shouldn't be your first resort?

Sarcasm. It's a thing on the Internet nowadays.

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[DrDom 0]

Well you certainly do have an issue there...
wow...
I have to say that its fairly interesting that you feel "nothing". I felt anticipation, anxiety, fear, and then once in freefall I think it was a mix of sensory overload followed by "what now". Just as I got bored with my 2 instructor jumps they had me exit solo with the instructor after me. Jump 4 was awesome because it was new. Jumps 5 and 6 were a Cessna jump (previously an otter) and the "new" was amazing again! [note: yes i'm one of those freaks who likes jumping a Cessna]. Jump 6 was my "backflip" which again: new and awesome.

I hope that you can find something a little new each jump but more than one of my friends has said that they "don't feel it". One of my best friends now has a D license and just told me the story of the early years when he made one jump and "didn't get it". Now he is at the DZ 4 days a week and ground launches the rest for canopy fun.

Maybe you'll find it and maybe you won't. But its dangerous and expensive and if you don't love it its NOT worth it. I'm super technical so I love all the gear, the packing, the technical flight. Being under canopy was a dream. But not all people feel the same. Nobody will ever disrespect you for having tried and not enjoyed it... most people won't even try it!

You are not the contents of your wallet.