Observations of a newb

[gravityBad 0]

So…I’m about to pull the trigger within the next month to get my A license - AFF style. I would like to know if the following is a common scenario to all…especially before actually getting the first jump in.

I find myself purchasing random items ( non skydive related ) and starting to question / justify the purchase because I start thinking in terms of the number of jumps I would be sacrificing.

I would suspect this may be common for a seasoned skydiver, but I feel as though I’ve just ruined the pleasure in purchasing just about anything at this point.

Have I lost it already, before i even start, or are my priorities finally coming into focus?

Can’t wait.

[theonlyski 3]

Quote

So…I’m about to pull the trigger within the next month to get my A license - AFF style. I would like to know if the following is a common scenario to all…especially before actually getting the first jump in.

I find myself purchasing random items ( non skydive related ) and starting to question / justify the purchase because I start thinking in terms of the number of jumps I would be sacrificing.

I would suspect this may be common for a seasoned skydiver, but I feel as though I’ve just ruined the pleasure in purchasing just about anything at this point.

Have I lost it already, before i even start, or are my priorities finally coming into focus?

Can’t wait.

Just wait till you get to purchase a rig. It would take 63 days of $75/day gear rental just to even out the rig I bought.

Not to mention helmet, altimeter, jumpsuit...

"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

[JohnDeere 0]

You got it right! Save the money you can and do as many jumps as you can a month. Worst case is that you find out that skydiving isnt for you and you have some money laying around. Have fun. Were you doing your course at?

Nothing opens like a Deere!

You ignorant fool! Checks are for workers!

[gravityBad 0]

JohnDerre,

I think it will be Spaceland..nothing in stone at this point...but SOON...REAL SOON

[CPrince09 0]

i just did my first jump there yesterday and it got me hooked to im gonna take the class sometime soon

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

Just wait till you get to purchase a rig. It would take 63 days of $75/day gear rental just to even out the rig I bought.

The math is more complicated than that, both in a positive and negative way.

The rig retains most of its value, slowing declining with age and use (though the rising price of canopies of late counters some of this). If you put 250 jumps on it over the next 3 years, the 4700 rig is still going to be worth somewhere in the 3000s. So it might only be 20 days to break even.

But...you do need to pay for repacks, cypres service, and any repairs. that's probably 3 rental days a year in fixed costs. So maybe that bumps you to 29. Depends on how much you're getting out. Work is dragging out my amortization.

Last is opportunity cost. If you love your rig, not having to deal with random quality/fit of rentals is a positive. OTOH, if you get an older, cheaper deal that's not as nice as the rentals you could get, then you need to just more to make up for that.

[randompoints 0]

everything you said is dead on, but it shows you thought about it way to much, you need a girl!!!
or more jumps

[kelpdiver 2]

I need less work. Money isn't nearly as much a problem as time right now. Of course, lose/quit the job and the problem reverses.

[councilman24 36]

The currancy of choice in the past was cases of beer. Sometimes it was a toss up between which had higher value, jumps or cases of beer.

But yes 4 latte's equals one jump. Hmmmm,

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[Ryno118 0]

I did the same with pizza. I used to order a pizza every sunday, but then I worked out that just making something to eat will get me 2 jump tickets a month!

Other habits you will pick up are
*You check the local weather forecast every hour before the weekend.
*When someone asks you where you're from, you reply with the name of your DZ, not your hometown.
*You try to convince the flight attendant on a commercial flight that you really! would be much more comfortable sitting on the floor.
*Your thinking about taking all the but the driver's seats out of your car.
*You find yourself mentally telling the pilot when to flare while landing on a commercial flight.

And many more.

Live hard, Live fast, Die broke.
D.S. 118118

[skybill 19]

Hi gB,
Well pal, yer' off to a good start. Now you need to get er' kneez in da' breeze!! You'll know when yer' in big trouble when:
..you trade your sedan for a Van because it's more DZ friendly!!
..you install a windsock above your garage door (also done by newby pilots)
..you sell your golf clubs to help finance the new rig.
..the weather is blue sky and a steady 5 knots of wind and you bail out of work and head for the DZ.
..the bobbin in your wifes' sewing machine is wound with "E" thread.. that will be later on.
..the beat goes on.

SCR-2034, SCS-680

III%,
Deli-out

[gravityBad 0]

Quote

everything you said is dead on, but it shows you thought about it way to much, you need a girl!!!
or more jumps

funny...I have 3.....wife & 2 daughters ( 1-17yr, 1-14yr ). Actually, I may not have thought about it enough as I think the 17 yr old will retain driving privledges with my old 93 full size Ford Bronco instead of the auto hints shes been dropping lately i.e. 2007 Ultima with 'low mileage' and ONLY '$$$$$$$'or. Where do these kids come up with this---i know, i know---i did the same thing! Seems awful selfish but its a tank and I need to keep her safe

[nakedfool 0]

also, you are afraid to admit something for the first time away from the dropzone because of someone calling "BEER" on you.

BTW there is a super hot girl that jumps there...dunno her name, but saw a picture of her in this months Parachutist

[kmcdrop 0]

I'm a n00b and I've started thinking the same way too. I've got 4 static lines in (looking forward to getting off the leash next weekend).

As far as cost, I did find out one thing: I already owe 3 cases of beer according to some of the JMs. They told me I owe one case each for having my first jump with my own goggles, my own altimeter (Alti-Galaxy), and my own helmet. I bought them for my 2nd (goggles), 3rd (altimeter) and 4th (helmet) jumps. I kind of think they're trying to push the "first time" issue a bit too far. I thought you only owed a case when you had your first freefall, reserve, etc. - in other words the big milestones. If I'd have known this ahead of time, I would have bought everything and made just one jump with all of it as a "first time."

Kevin M. Curran

[brettski74 0]

You're not the first person to start thinking in terms of jump tickets as a form of currency and pricing things in jump tickets rather than dollars and you won't be the last. Either way, it'll sort itself out. Everything's new and exciting for you now. It's kinda like a new girlfriend in that respect. Eventually you'll settle down and start to figure out how skydiving really fits into your life and if at that time you still feel that it's more important than anything else and still price everything in your head in terms of jump tickets, then really what's the problem? As long as what you're doing makes you happy, stop worrying.

[JohnDeere 0]

Yea they are pushing it a little far. Make sure and let them all know that they owe beer for the there first just for each day they jump.

Nothing opens like a Deere!

You ignorant fool! Checks are for workers!

[timefly 0]

I have been divulging every spare penny I get to my skydiving fund since AFF#1. I've never been so poor, but I've never been so happy! I speculate dollars transferred into jumps somewhere between my first exit an first 30 seconds in free-fall, but my mind was elsewhere at the time.

I'm a college student right now so I'm poor as dirt to begin with but I work a part time job and get some other work picking up dog shit for the American Kennel Club when shows are near. Some of the dogs are worth more than a twin otter, but their shit still smells terrible.

When times are really tough I roam around campus at night collecting recyclables from trash cans to turn them in for cash. One night I almost got into a straight up brawl for the turf with some Hispanics who tried to claim my findings.

I now know a standard jump ticket is equal to about 1,550 beer cans or 2,250 plastic water bottles...I wish I didn't know that, and I hope you make more money than me, but if you ever jump out at Elsinore I'm the one the one reeking of dog shit and trash with a smile from ear to ear.

[brettski74 0]

Quote

Yea they are pushing it a little far. Make sure and let them all know that they owe beer for the there first just for each day they jump

I'd suggest that if you owe beer for your first jump with your altimeter, then they owe beer for their first jump with you.

[LloydDobbler 2]

Quote

I'd suggest that if you owe beer for your first jump with your altimeter, then they owe beer for their first jump with you.

Well-played, sir!

Signatures are the new black.

[JohnMitchell 14]

Quote

[you do need to pay for cypres service,

Do what we did. Get Vigils.

Got tired of owning $1250 paper weights.

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

Quote

[you do need to pay for cypres service,

Do what we did. Get Vigils.

Got tired of owning $1250 paper weights.

Talk to us in 10 years!

And in a discussion of depreciation and maintenance costs - every time Vigil comes out with a new model (II, now III), the prior ones lose value. And if they do have to give up on their no service schedule stance, you'll see a big drop. This may well equalize the longer amortization schedule for the presumed 20 year life over 12.5.

You do have some battery costs, which the C2 users do not, as well. The Vigil 1 seems pretty bad on that one, the II is much cheaper, longer lasting.

[Tuna-Salad 0]

I look at things in terms of jump numbers.. If I spend $40 eating somewhere I will say.. "damn that was a jump.."

Or when looking at a new toy.. a tv for example.. $300.. "damn that is 6 jumps"

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

[shah269 0]

Ok here is how I look at it.
I have a bike.
I ride to work as much as I can at 40mpg ~ $2.50 a day.
The bike second hand cost me, $4,000
Oil change every 3K miles ~ $40
Every year she has to be serviced for something $400
New rubbers every 3 oil changes $300
And every thing I wear to keep my self alive $1,000

Long story short......almost every hobby is expensive. Just shy of maybe gardening or raising snails....all hobbies become expensive at some level. This one? I don't know? I just paid $1,500 for all my classes and thus far I've jumped 3 times. Will I buy gear? Maybe this winter? I don't know.

If anything hobbies help us organize our lives and our pockets. Nothing worse than having no hobbies and a house full of those $19.95 things?

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!

[virgin-burner 1]

man, 3 jumps and u're quite the expert, i wish i was that good..

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[d123 1]

Quote

man, 3 jumps and u're quite the expert, i wish i was that good..

It looks like it's not his first hobby ... and 3 jumps says nothing about the person who made them!

Lock, Dock and Two Smoking Barrelrolls!