Why do you jump?

[Dutton 0]

I'm an acoholic.

If you learn to skydive, buy gear and make a bunch of jumps, you can intimidate lower experienced jumpers into giving you free beer.

[pirana 0]

What that other person said about 1st one, next few, and continuing.

I considered there to be 3 options - learn to fly, race a car, or skydive.

Flying would be cool but the cost of a plane would not be doable until my kids finish college, and by then I'll be 70.

Racing at a level I'd find challenging would also be expensive, plus it's a pretty rigid schedule. I do want additional rigidity.

Skydiving is relatively cheap, satisfies my need for speed, can be done when I want and am able, and fits my character.

I continue because I still get and dig the rush, and even more so enjoy the totally surreal experience of playing in the sky. There is nothing like it that I have ever tried - though I've still not done the pilot thing.

" . . . 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

[Phosphorus8 0]

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I'm an acoholic.

If you learn to skydive, buy gear and make a bunch of jumps, you can intimidate lower experienced jumpers into giving you free beer.

lol bully!!!

"Well behaved women rarely make history" - Marilyn Monroe

[lowapproach 0]

Simply because it is fun and it is something that not a lot of people can / will do.

[airathanas 0]

Ditto on the "because I can!" response.

Originally I started jumping because I wanted to do something "crazy". Only when I got more into the sport, I realized that it "made sense".

I jump to separate myself from the herd.

I jump because I feel the fear and I do it anyway.

I jump because I hate anything mainstream.

I jump to live.

http://3ringnecklace.com/

[brucet7 0]

My first jump, at age 55, happened for two reasons. First, it was to fulfill a lifelong ambition. I have talked about skydiving over the years and looked into it a time or two, but was never really sure how start, or limited by weight or money. I used to jump out of trees and off the garage, haystacks, and the grape arbor with dish towels, bath towels, sheets, anything to simulate a parachute. Skydiving was in my blood.

The second reason was as an interim reward to myself during a weightloss program. I have losted 75 pounds and rewarded myself by jumping from the plane.

Now, I skydive for a different reason. I love the challenge of learning and improving my skills. I suppose it could be any sport, soccer, scuba diving, basketball, whatever. But I have chosen skydiving. I read, practice, equip myself to get better and better. I don't really have any goals, instructor, pro rating, or license level in mind. I just want to be good at freefall, learn to jump with groups of people, teach and help other skydivers, and land safely every time.

And I jump because I enjoy it.

POPS #10623; SOS #1672

[DocPop 1]

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I don't believe in death...

What!?

There is a lot of evidence to support the existence of death!!

And theres a lot of evidence to support there never being death

No, there is NO evidence to support there never being death.

That is why religion is based on faith (ie. "belief that is not based on proof").

"The ground does not care who you are. It will always be tougher than the human behind the controls."

~ CanuckInUSA

[BDashe 0]

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because I can

+1 that was my first thought.

So there I was...

Making friends and playing nice since 1983

[LloydDobbler 2]

Because - pardon the unintentional cheesy analogy - it delivers me to a higher place.

Like many people, I spend the greater part of my life sitting at a desk, doing work I'm not too fond of (but don't necessarily hate). Then I come home to a different to-do list, or another project that I'm drawn towards and find myself compelled to pursue. There's no chance it'll ever all be done. Life will always be a tug-of-war between different foci - be it career, family, love, or any of the other various priorities that come up.

But when I leave the door of an aircraft, that all fades away. There is no grocery list, no argument with my ex, no bill waiting to be paid. There is no past. There is no future.

There is only the sky, and 50 seconds of complete, utter focus. It's pure and raw. It takes on different forms (it began as an adrenaline rush, then became a challenge to myself, and now it's something even different). But the constant is that it forces me to focus only on the present.

And all of the other things that stress me out and seem so important during so-called 'real life'...they cease to exist for those few moments of clarity.

Signatures are the new black.

[firstime 0]

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You really have a problem here....
You need to ask
1. why did you do your first jump ?
2. why did you do your next few jumps ?
3. why did you keep jumping after that ?

I think you'll find the answer is different to each question .

My son & his friends called me a pussy
they all said "he will never do it again"
I fell in love with something they will never do twice
Their loss...my gain

[brokenwing 1]

If you need to ask you will never understand why

that said it did impress girls ( i was still in high school at my first jump) and i know how to open the door -- wait way back then we didnt have doors

[coekc 0]

Perhaps because I feel like it brings me closer to the spiritual side of life.

Perhaps its because it makes me feel like I do something at a very small percentage of the world does.

Perhaps its because my major is engineering (logic based) and it feels good to do something that defies all logic

Mostly, I think its because I feel like it completes me somehow and I notice that every time I'm away from the drop zone for any extended length of time my mood worsens..even with my meager number of jumps

[shah269 0]

When you do the math per minute there are a lot of cheaper things to do in life than fall from altitude. First 1K ft in 10 seconds, every 1k ft after 5 seconds. 11K ft => 5k ft = 35 seconds @ $22 not including gear. But I can't think of any other activity that brings me such peace. But be it ever so fleeting.

Life through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay.

The only thing that falls from the sky is birdshit and fools!

[skycc 0]

It's my adult fun, I just don't enjoy doing anything else as much. Also, I'd have to agree that the complete mental escape skydiving gives us is great. It makes jumping my perfect stress reliever. I recently lost a very good friend and it was the ultimate test for me to see if the distraction was still possible just days after his death, especially since he was a skydiver and I thought about him constantly at that time anyway, but it was particularly hard to not see him at the dz. Although I was very sad on the way up in the plane, I was distracted during the jump just as always. It's amazing, doing nothing else in life compares to the fun and the mental break that our wonderful sport provides.

It's been that way for 18+ years for me, and I hope it always will be.

[thrillstalker 0]

i have always been the one to push whatever i am doing. with motorcycles i like going fast and with dune buggies i like jumping higher, and with photography i loose myself in the shoot. with skydiving i go fast and high and there is no way that you cant loose yourself skydiving. it is such an unnatural thing to fly/fall, this is why i think the rush is so great. for me it is a very spiritual few moments. i love the way the world looks sharper during and after a jump.

"Never grow a wishbone, where your backbone ought to be."

[MaVriK 0]

Ive always been an adrenaline junky my whole life, and i've always wanted to skydive. Once I got my pilots license, jumping was the next thing on my agenda. Basically i started my "bucket list'' early. haha

But i LOVE the freedom and the views, and there is something serene and absolutely relaxing about being under canopy at sunset.

~MaVriK~
"The Greatest Accomplishment in life is actually Living it"

[Tuna-Salad 0]

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Its fun,i'm addicted,the beer drinking,the challenge,and last but not least women skydivers are sexy as hell !!!!

The thing about sky chicks being sexy.. we need pix to fully understand aforementioned statement. Please do not post such things without proof to back it up. Pix, video, drawings.. anything applicable to the subject at hand. Next time do your homework first.

Millions of my potential children died on your daughters' face last night.

[JohanW 0]

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This is the only activity I have ever engaged in that, from the time I arrive on the DZ to the time I leave, no other aspect of my life enters my mind. Not work, bills, money, housework . . . nothing. It's a true mental vacation. My 2 cents

I second that. One day, before boarding the plane, I told myself I was going to MAKE myself think about crap from life while in freefall. Well, on the ride up, with the stuff that happens (we all know what that is)... I completely forgot and I remembered when I had landed.

+1

I'm happy in freefall. And I like flying.

Johan.
I am. I think.