It was hardest for me to learn to...

[DrDom 0]

shorehambeach

Without doubt for me - door fear.

I did not like that door opening during AFF and for the next 50 + jumps. The door and I were like opposite poles of two magnets.

I'm STILL there...

My landings are poor, my packing nonexistant... but I know those are things you can "learn"... the door is the door. Its like a big evil monster with pointy teeth I'm asked to walk into the mouth of...

You are not the contents of your wallet.

[Skytrooper 0]

Quote

-Other: It was hardest for me to keep from talking about skydiving to people who didn't also jump. I'm sure it's almost annoying as people with children blabbering on and on about their rugrats to people who don't give a shit about that stuff.

True!

[Nataly 38]

Other.

- Chicken arms. Wait. I still do that! D'oh.

"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

[Boomerdog 0]

Sunday night when I leave the DZ, I'm planning the next weekend. Everything between time at the drop zone is $#!t. Is it Saturday yet?

[rwieder 0]

That 's what ate my Lunch, FRA. It's a real challenge to keep from going low while turning points. I really de-arch hard to slow down for deployment! My X-Fire 169 is really forgiving on openings. Were it not for that I believe it would cause me to bench myself.

Best-
Richard

[nigel99 143]

You know 2 weeks ago we had a talk from a guy with 30 000 jumps about safety and learning.

He estimates that with 30 000 jumps he has about 1000 hours under canopy, which as he pointed out the average kid does on a skateboard in a year
The point being, we are all really beginners in this sport and should be continually learning, and don't be hard on yourself for taking a 'long' time to catch on.

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[frogerina 0]

nigel99

The point being, we are all really beginners in this sport and should be continually learning, and don't be hard on yourself for taking a 'long' time to catch on.

I need to frame this...

[elightle 8]

Other: balance skydiving with family life. The scales always tipped in favor of family life, which is why there are no gold medals in my closet. But I wouldn't trade the family time for all the gold medals in the world. Skydiving will always be there but kids grow up so fast - I am so glad I didn't miss any of that.

[mcpep 0]

obelixtim

Quote

Same, took me 27 to get off the damn rope. Crazy

That indicates your instructors were not very good. Its not a reflection on you, but rather a reflection on them.

Anyone doing more than 7 or 8 DRP's is not being trained properly, unless their jumping is irregular.

My jumping probably wasn't regular enough if I'm honest. I can't blame the instructors though, they are excellent and most other jumpers got off the rope quickly.
It's just bloody tricky!! And there were several times I got 2 good consecutive DRCPs only to bugger up the 3rd
During my slow progression I read a lot though which gave me more confidence so it's fine :)

[ILUVCHUTERS 1]

Landing/accuracy. Although my accuracy has improved, I'm still crap at the actual landing part, which is why I'm still perfectly happy jumping my 168. I am really really good at PLF's...

[NWFlyer 2]

This is one of those things I only really know looking back in retrospect, but I'd say awareness - the ability to do my thing and still be aware of what is going on around me. In freefall, under canopy, you name it. When I think back on how myopic I was, I consider myself fortunate that the "big sky theory" worked in my favor.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[DrDom 0]

NWFlyer

This is one of those things I only really know looking back in retrospect, but I'd say awareness - the ability to do my thing and still be aware of what is going on around me. In freefall, under canopy, you name it. When I think back on how myopic I was, I consider myself fortunate that the "big sky theory" worked in my favor.

Yikes. Thinking of my last7 jumps I think I can say I'm actually surprised with how little I noticed. I watched some videos and I see my instructors communicating with me and although I respond I dont really REMEMBER it. Its strange but almost like my brain pushed through the sensory overload (I'm still new, this is still overwhelming) and did "what it needed to" but never generated the memory to go along with it which makes me question: am i truly aware?

You are not the contents of your wallet.

[obelixtim 100]

NWFlyer

This is one of those things I only really know looking back in retrospect, but I'd say awareness - the ability to do my thing and still be aware of what is going on around me. In freefall, under canopy, you name it. When I think back on how myopic I was, I consider myself fortunate that the "big sky theory" worked in my favor.

"Conscious thought and awareness in the air".

The gospel according to Captain Hook at a seminar he ran for noob RW'ers back in 1976, that I absorbed which changed my skydiving right away.

My computer beat me at chess, It was no match for me at kickboxing....

[NWFlyer 2]

DrDom

***This is one of those things I only really know looking back in retrospect, but I'd say awareness - the ability to do my thing and still be aware of what is going on around me. In freefall, under canopy, you name it. When I think back on how myopic I was, I consider myself fortunate that the "big sky theory" worked in my favor.

Yikes. Thinking of my last7 jumps I think I can say I'm actually surprised with how little I noticed. I watched some videos and I see my instructors communicating with me and although I respond I dont really REMEMBER it. Its strange but almost like my brain pushed through the sensory overload (I'm still new, this is still overwhelming) and did "what it needed to" but never generated the memory to go along with it which makes me question: am i truly aware?

It's one of the big reasons that we introduce new variables to your skydives slowly. Right now, you're in the air with instructors - who have the skills and experience to be where they need to be, regardless of how aware you are of where/how you're moving. That's because experience tells us that most students and new skydivers have that myopia, and it's why you can only jump with folks with an instructor or coach rating until you have your A license.

But even after you have your A license, it's one of the reasons you'll be advised to stick to smaller groups for quite a while - having to only keep track of one or two other people at a time lets you build that awareness in a more controlled environment. It's also why many people will advise sticking to belly flying for a while instead of jumping straight to freefly - you get to build your awareness at the relatively slower speeds of a belly jump.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[jdkalou 0]

I saw this and my search was over for "What was the hardest for me to learn...." Not talking to people who don't jump is by far the hardest thing I am STILL working on.

[SivaGanesha 2]

NWFlyer

and it's why you can only jump with folks with an instructor or coach rating until you have your A license.

I thought there were exceptions to this rule under certain circumstances--assuming you are referring to USPA rules as opposed to the practice at particular DZ's. For example, the USPA BSRs require that student group freefall jumps be conducted with a Coach, Instructor, or D license holder--but there could be people on the jump who aren't coaches/instructors. USPA BSR's E 6 a:

Basic Safety Requirements

The student is supposed to at least be done Category F, though--USPA Section 6.1 B:

Advanced Progression

I've always wondered, though, how much sense this makes. Theoretically according to the SIM, a 4-way with two D-license holders and two students just done Cat F would be legal. Even though the two D-license holders are presumably highly competent, the two students will still need to achieve horizontal separation FROM EACH OTHER at pull time. Given that the tracking skills up to Cat F are pretty minimal, there would seem to be some question as to whether this could be done safely.

"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

[NWFlyer 2]

Yes, there is the D license holder situation as well (at the dropzone's discretion). But the point was not to parse USPA rules, but to point out that most dropzones do their best to control the environment for newer jumpers so that they can gradually build their awareness.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[mattjw916 2]

I think the concept of "just because X is "legal" doesn't make it necessarily a good idea" would probably apply.

In fact that applies to a lot more than just jumping with students.

NSCR-2376, SCR-15080

[SivaGanesha 2]

NWFlyer

Yes, there is the D license holder situation as well (at the dropzone's discretion). But the point was not to parse USPA rules, but to point out that most dropzones do their best to control the environment for newer jumpers so that they can gradually build their awareness.

I completely agree that most DZ's will try to introduce new skills only gradually so that students and newer licensed jumpers can build their abilities in a safe fashion. And I'd say that it is wise to do so.

But I also do feel that the possibility exists for newer jumpers to find themselves in a situation where they are in over their heads due to the fact that much more is 'legal' for a newer jumper than is necessarily smart.

"It's hard to have fun at 4-way unless your whole team gets down to the ground safely to do it again!"--Northern California Skydiving League re USPA Safety Day, March 8, 2014

[NWFlyer 2]

SivaGanesha

But I also do feel that the possibility exists for newer jumpers to find themselves in a situation where they are in over their heads due to the fact that much more is 'legal' for a newer jumper than is necessarily smart.

Of course, and once you have an A license, there are essentially no restrictions on what you can do, who you can jump with, or how many people you can jump with - at least not at the BSR level. Dropzones may have specific restrictions (camera, wind limits if using rental gear or wind limits for certain license levels, different landing areas, etc.), and there is the wingsuit BSR out there.

But since this is a big boy sport with few restrictions on licensed jumpers (at least in the U.S.), the best we as more experienced folk can do is counsel and advise newer jumpers who are putting together their own jumps, or if we're organizing jumps, keep them at an appropriate level for the experience on the jump.

Pulling this back from the brink of being a complete tangent, and back to the original question - I would also say that it was difficult for me to learn how much was "too much." I had some great mentors and got some great advice, and I also had some not-so-great influences giving me more questionable advice. But the vast majority of it was somewhere in the middle.

The funny thing is that some of it can only be learned through experience, and hopefully not the hard way. There are a lot of jumps now that I am far less likely to get on now, knowing what I know now and having seen what I've seen, that I would have happily hopped on with a couple hundred jumps.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[GLIDEANGLE 1]

I was a BAD student.

I had a LOT of trouble with the transition from tracking to flare-wave-reach-pull. I would become unstable during this transition. I learned to slow down and breathe.

I also had trouble getting the timing from break-off to pull correct. This resulted in pulling low. This was fixed by MANY repetitions of that whole sequence in walking drills on the ground.

The choices we make have consequences, for us & for others!

[DrDom 0]

There is a bit of maturity and responsibility both ways. I think an "A" license holder should know their limits and discuss anything "new" in a dive. I think that more seniour jumpers also should discuss this with lower level jumpers to ensure they arent encouraging someone to overextend

We are "grown up" which means we can do what we want... but I would hope we all want to survive the day and as such we should be considering the decisions we make and who we take with us.

In flight schools they do not send you up in a jet once you get your private pilot license for a reason ;)

You are not the contents of your wallet.

[ufk22 32]

Hardest thing was figuring out who was telling me something that was true/right and who was clueless as to what had happened on the dive/giving wrong advice/covering their butt at my expense.
As to the awareness thing, somewhere between 100 and 200 jumps the awareness comes, usually not before.

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.

[DrDom 0]

I'm still amazed people seem to find it harder to get stable than get over the door fear. I'm stable out the door... I'm unstable walking towards it all weak legged and nauseous.

I could also say landing but I'm the king of the PLF ;)

You are not the contents of your wallet.

[Andy9o8 0]

As an 18-19 year old student jumper on the DZ? Hardest for me to learn to STFU. Hands-down.