Newbie and loved it

[lovinglife 1]

Hi Everyone

I did my first tandem skydive over the weekend and loved every single second. I cannot stop thinking about it. 

Im thinking can anything ever be as exciting as this.

Does the constant thinking about it fade over time, is this normal?  Or should i book another tandem soon and if i still feel the same look at taking it up?Though i understand its not a cheap hobby. 

 

Thankyou 

[kleggo 143]

you should book accelerated freefall.

It will cost you half your income for as many years as you jump :-)

[lovinglife 1]

Thankyou. Is that the AFF courses? Sorry if thats a daft question. 

I have been looking at them. Trying to decide if its just still a high from the adrenaline of my first tandem or if you really can fall in love with it that quickly.

Edited May 28 by lovinglife

[wmw999 2,313]

It's the same thing. And consideration is good -- this is a fabulous sport (going on 50 years), but it's expensive and time consuming. And you can make friends that last a lifetime 

Wendy P. 

[Bokdrol 42]

7 hours ago, lovinglife said:

Thankyou. Is that the AFF courses? Sorry if thats a daft question. 

I have been looking at them. Trying to decide if its just still a high from the adrenaline of my first tandem or if you really can fall in love with it that quickly.

You can sign up for doing AFF level 1 only. That way you don't commit to the whole expensive course and it's (possibly) not much more £ than a tandem. You'll get ground school training on one day. That'll teach you the essential basics of skydiving, emergency procedures, body position, equipment etc etc. and then next day (or even same day if you are lucky) you go up with 2 instructors who will keep a grip on you to keep you stable until it's time to deploy your nice big, slow, easy handling student canopy. An instructor will even deploy for you if you want or if you can't. You'll then get a brilliant solo descent from about 6k. Far more exciting than a tandem and it's 'real' skydiving. Once you are under canopy you get talked down to the ground by 2 way radio comms, and even told when to flare for landing. Try it. If you like it, you can continue. If not, you've done a proper jump, not a carnival ride. 

[lovinglife 1]

Thats great. Thankyou for the replies. 

Definitely going to be looking into it. 

Thankyou again

[wolfriverjoe 1,462]

12 hours ago, lovinglife said:

Thankyou. Is that the AFF courses? Sorry if thats a daft question. 

I have been looking at them. Trying to decide if its just still a high from the adrenaline of my first tandem or if you really can fall in love with it that quickly.

AFF is the current preferred way to advance to your license.

As noted, you go through several hours of ground school, then go up with your own rig, with 2 instructors holding you from both sides.
There's a bazillion videos of it out there.

Some DZs require a 'working tandem' (where you have specific goals to meet and tasks to accomplish). Some require tunnel time.
Both of those are for good reason and give you practice and experience at things you need in the air.

Some places are pretty good at giving 1st time tandems the 'Hey, if you want to do this for real, here's how' speech.
Some, not so much.

Is it possible to fall in love with it that fast?

Oh yeah.

My first jump was a static line (older method of training).

I landed from it, took a couple of breaths to get my head straight and said "I am SO doing that AGAIN".

And I did.
A lot.

Edited May 29 by wolfriverjoe

[lovinglife 1]

Thankyou all. Looks like I'll now be adding up the sums and see how soon i can book it 

[dudeman17 311]

On 5/28/2024 at 4:47 AM, lovinglife said:

I did my first tandem skydive over the weekend and loved every single second. I cannot stop thinking about it...  should i book another... ?

Congratulations on your first jump and congratulations on your new-found addiction. You should probably run now, as fast as you can, before all your plans for the rest of your life vanish in a puff of turbine exhaust.

You have gotten some good encouragement here. However, there is one thing I am compelled to address.

Regarding AFF training...

17 hours ago, Bokdrol said:

An instructor will even deploy for you if you want or if you can't...  Once you are under canopy you get talked down to the ground by 2 way radio comms, and even told when to flare for landing.

No, no, a thousand times no. This is as bad a thing as you can tell a prospective AFF student. Please never tell one this again.

Solo skydiving, even once, even the first time, is not Disneyland. It is not even skiing, surfing, or mountain biking. It is a total commitment, and a blatant act of self-reliance. A solo skydiver, even on their first jump, should be trained, prepared, and self-confident enough that in theory, they should be able to perform the jump alone. They should be able to exit, maintain their stability, maintain awareness of their altitude, perform their tasks, pull on time, deal with their opening, perform EPs if necessary, identify their landing area and wind conditions, fly a proper pattern and land - by theirself.

Now to be sure, a student should never be allowed to actually do that. Freefall stability is a subtle thing and can be tricky to learn. So yes, instructors go with. They help maintain stability, they have hand signals whereby they can help trim up the student's body position, and prompt them along their dive sequence, including altitude checks and when to pull. And if the student has trouble with the pull, the instructors can assist, and often do pull for the student. And while under canopy, there is (one-way) radio assistance. But all of this should be considered by the student as assistance, and should never be relied on as primary function. Students do sometimes flail exits and lose their instructors, and radios do sometimes fail. If a student is not prepared and confident to see it this way, they should keep training until they are. If they can't achieve this, they should stick to tandems or reconsider what they are getting themselves into.

 

18 hours ago, Bokdrol said:

An (AFF) instructor will even deploy for you if you want (as if by predetermination)

Yeah...  umm, NO.

[Bokdrol 42]

4 hours ago, dudeman17 said:

Students do sometimes flail exits and lose their instructors, and radios do sometimes fail. If a student is not prepared and confident to see it this way, they should keep training until they are. If they can't achieve this, they should stick to tandems or reconsider what they are getting themselves into.

That's very relevant (and my schoolboy '2 way radio' error, too).  Thanks for a clearing up my non-instructor waffle. I'm sure that any inaccuracies/misconceptions would be ironed out at ground school.

Edited May 30 by Bokdrol

[lovinglife 1]

Thankyou for all the advice

[Bokdrol 42]

On 5/30/2024 at 4:59 PM, lovinglife said:

Thankyou for all the advice

So, have you decided what you are going to do next?