Currency advice needed?

[blue24 0]

What is your currency level...at least jumping 2 times per month, more often...less often? I realize this question is different for people based upon experience level and skill.
What is your personal "safety" currency meter?

What are your thoughts on defining currency for a low-time jumper like myself? I only get to jump about one day a month--3-4 jumps in a day. Is this too little to keep "current"?

I travel so much I do not get a chance to skydive as often as I like.

[LDiCosimo 0]

Where are you? Who are you licensed through (assuming you are licensed) If it's USPA and you are licensed then yes, jumping once a month will keep you current. If your not comfortable with that then either beg or buy a coach for your first jump of the day to help shake out any cobwebs.

I've taken 6 months off once due to some stupid stuff and came back just fine. I wasn't so relaxed on my first jump after 6 months, but then again it was early march in Minnesota and below zero F at altitude.

[nigel99 143]

There are two types of currency.

The first is to stay "legit". Within the US it is clearly laid out in the SIM.

The second, is currency in terms of maintaining and developing your skillset. In reality this differs from one person to another. I have found that anything over 2 weeks, my skill level drops back a notch and my anxiety increases.

If you intend to jump alot in one day you also need to consider the fact that your performance will start to tail off later in the day. I don't like doing more than 4 or 5 in a day. The 3rd jump of the day is my favourite.

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

[davelepka 4]

Jumping once every 30 days will keep you current as per the USPA written regs.

Jumping once every 30 days won't keep you very current as per reality. This doesn't mean you shouldn't jump if you can only jump once every 30 days, it just means you need to remember that you only jump once every 30 days, and make your decisions accordingly.

For example, once you have 100 jumps, your wind limits might be different than the wind limits of a guy with 100 jumps who jumps every weekend. Likeiwse, you might need to jump a bigger canopy than that guy as well.

Even if you show up every month for two years, by your math that's only going to add up to 75 jumps. You'll make friends and be a 'regular' at the DZ. Maybe you'll get invited onto 10 ways or 20 ways, or some other type of advanced jump based people 'knowing' you, but you need to remember your overall expereince, how you came to that level, and your recent currency at the time.

It's OK to be a guy who only jump once a month for 2 or 3 jumps, as long as you act like a guy who jumps once a month. It's easy in the beginning, but as time goes on. some people fall into the 'I've been jumping for two years' trap, and forget to act like a guy who jumps once a month.

[NWFlyer 2]

When I was a brand-new jumper, more than a couple of weeks without jumping made me nervous. I have never been technically uncurrent, but there have been times that I felt less current than I wanted to be.

I hurt myself last October at just under 800 jumps. I'd already done nearly 200 jumps last year. When I came back in early April (just under the 6 month mark where I would have become officially uncurrent) I was a hair nervous, but mostly because my most recent jump had ended in an injury, not because I hadn't jumped in 5+ months. I'd done a couple tunnel sessions during the time I was out, which helped. I found that my skills hadn't atrophied in that time off. Of course, I didn't get any better, but I had enough jumps when I got hurt that what skills I do have are pretty well ingrained. Still, I made a point of doing a couple weekends of smaller jumps before I showed up at our local boogie last weekend to do bigger-way jumps and deal with the increased traffic of the boogie atmosphere. I'm glad I did - it allowed me to be relaxed and ready to handle the extra challenges of big jumps and boogie chaos.

When I look at the periods of my skydiving career in which my skills improved the most, there's a couple themes - one of which is currency. The time periods when I've been jumping consistently are the periods in which my skills have improved the most.

So while you can jump once a month as a newer student, if you can jump more frequently, I'd recommend it. Depending on where you're traveling, can you jump when you're on a trip? Or do tunnel time if you're visiting somewhere with at tunnel? I find tunnel easier to squeeze in on a business trip because I can do it on weeknights and all I have to bring with me is my jumpsuit and helmet (and if push comes to shove I can leave my helmet at home and borrow a tunnel pro-tec to save space in my suitcase).

"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