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npgraphicdesign

When was your skydiving epiphany?

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When did you realize that you're not just trying skydiving a few times, but you've actually fallen in love with the sport?




Jump number 2.

I was young & dumb, but I knew I'd stumbled upon something that was life altering in more ways than I could fathom.

I was right. ;)


Yep, except when I did jump number 2, I wasn't young and dumb anymore. Old and foolish maybe, but I sure wouldn't want it any other way.



Young at heart Granny...young at heart! ;)










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

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Probably when I was 5 or 6. I grew up next door to Xkeys and always watched the jumpers coming in under canopy. I turned to my mother when I was really young, maybe around 9, and told her I was going to be a skydiver. I also knew I wanted to be a pilot, and I was always into astronomy and the weather. So, I guess I always loved the sky... maybe something I was born with. Neither of my parents are into any of that stuff. Went to the DZ for my first jump when I was 13, got told to come back on my 18th birthday, and I did... so that was that. (and I also went to college at FL Tech to fly and got an aviation bachelors, and now doing a masters in aeronautics/aviation human factors..... so I guess I stuck with everything after my epiphany when I was 5. lol :D) So, anywho... I consider my epiphany to have occurred way before I started jumping.

Apologies for the spelling (and grammar).... I got a B.S, not a B.A. :)

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I wanted to try it after my dad started jumping when I was 12. Knew I had to do it when I went on my first observer ride when I was 13/14. My parents and I lied about my age and I made my first static line on my 15th birthday. It was also the day I had my first reserve ride and was tossed across the sky after cutting away from a spinning malfunction. That's the instant adrenaline became my crack. 18 years later, I'm still an addict. :)

Adrenaline is my crack

DPH #3
D.S. #16 FAG #12 Muff Brother #4406

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on jump 18 my daughter was on the plane doing her first self pull at the age of 17. when I video taped her leaving the plane I knew that this was something my kids and I were going to do together for many years. Jumping is fun...but.. jumping together with familly is incredible!!!!!

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I had always wanted to skydive but didnt know there was a centre in northern Ireland so it was just a pipe dream;). as soonas i seen the stand at the university advertising the uni club and signed straight up regardless of price. as soon as I did jump number one on static line, it was so surreal under canopy. couldnt hear a thing except the flutter of the slider and just thought WOW

Dudeist Skydiver #170
You do not need a parachute to skydive, you only need one to skydive again

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Hooked: Watching jumpers land at the DZ while waiting for my first jump - Tandem.

Hooked again: After Tandem landed, signed right up for AFF.

Line and .....: Cat A - first canopy flight by myself.

Sinker: - First Instructor release for free fall in AFF
Live deliberately; Dare greatly; Land gently
SkyPainter
SOS 1304, POPS 10695, DS 118

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I am reading through these and I get more and more excited! I have done 2 tandem jumps and start Level 1 AFF this Saturday. It amazes me that this can get better and better every single time. I haven't even experienced anything yet! Wow, I am definitely happy I got into this.:)


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I've not yet had my 'epiphany' ... but I can't wait, the suspense is killing me! :P SkyIsLove... congrats on the tandems and making the decision to continue through AFF... I'm on C1 and loving it! B| Good luck!

"One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar" ~ Helen Keller

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Knew before my tandem landed I was all in. I was so into it, but so calm that my TM asked if I was OK. I was just taking it in and thinking, definitely, this is me.

Had kind of a next level awareness leap on jump #40. Distinctly remember it as the first jump where I was able to completely relax, absorb it all in real time, see and understand the adjustments and results from exit to landing, and recall all details afterward. It was just a 2-way from a Cessna, but with a real cool coach (John Berger). First points on the hill to boot.

I use that when jumping with new people to guage where they are at. How much do they seem to be taking in real time, and how much detail can they recall accurately shortly after landing. I detect the real veterans doing same for me.
" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

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Level 1 after waiting for winds to calm down I was on the sunset load. Beautiful stand up landing with the sun going down behind me when I saw the smile on my instructors face I could wee he know I was hooked

Second one was about jump 40 when I went to the search at skydive u and found out I really could fly
You can't be drunk all day if you don't start early!

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About jump 12 or 13. I was doing one of my 30 sec delays and the jumpmaster (Jim Hooper) followed me out, swooped down in front of me, and grabbed my wrists. I knew right then that I'd just finshed falling and just started flying (ok, so he was doing the flying, but could learn!).

-----------------------
Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

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pirana - I love your picture! My favorite.



Got it off some site with tons of cartoon images. One of these days I'm gonna get around to printing it on sticky paper so I can plaster it on my helmet. I also want the one where he has pulled and the only thing coming off his back is camping gear, and the one that is a view from the top of the cliff with the coyote shaped hole in the ground.

Wil E, my hero.
" . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

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Two of them...
1. First solo after AFF. Did nothing except relax, float and enjoy the view.

2. High H&P about jump 40 or so. Played in and between the clouds. I met God on that canopy flight.
My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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September 10,2007 approx 11 am Lodi,CA 1st tandem.... 1 week later I was in AFF, addicted like a crack head. The addrenalin rush lasted literally like 3 days!!! Couldnt go to sleep, woke up WAYYYYY too early.. skies, clouds and large pieces of fabric have NEVER looked the same.
If flying is piloting a plane.. then swimming is driving a boat. I know why birds sing.. I skydive.

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Have epiphanies all the time (with 45 jumps).

First one occured on jump #1. Solo unassisted. Many of my classmates who went through the jump program ahead of me stated that I would not remember my first jump -- how wrong they were! I remember every split second of that jump! I even remember the jumpmaster waving to me as I exited.

Once I went over the hill, and was belly to earth, I remember having perfect awareness of where I was in time and space. It was the most surreal experience I have ever had. I remember relaxing and thinking -- this is zen. I am in a perfect state of relaxation and awareness -- and I am thousands of feet off the ground burning through altitude at 120 MPH!

I have to say that no jump has ever rivaled that first jump. But I still do have a stupid ass grin on my face when jumping with others or on my way home from the DZ. Everyday of jumping provides epiphanies and new ways of looking at my life and the world.

It's a journey not a destination!:)

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Jump #1 ... it was love at first jump (tandem) for me. I was planing to go jump, check it off my list and move on, but once I stepped out of that airplane (well, more like being pushed out by my tandem master while I was kicking and screaming) I knew I've stumbled upon something life changing.

I landed ... but never really landed for about ... 3 days. Experienced jumpers at the DZ took a look at me and said to each other "look at her ... she got bitten by the bug ... she'll be back".

They were right ... few days later I was in first jump course.

O

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