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Tuna-Salad

Why did you start skydiving?

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This probably a repost but oh well.

I started skydiving in January of last year. I saw an ad in the paper for skydive city and pretty much said "Hey that looks fun" so I told a friend of mine about it and he agreed to come to the AFF class with me. Myself and him have both been jumping regularly since then. It is almost a friendly competition to see who has more jumps since we both started at the same time. I did not get to jump for 3 weeks after AFF class because of weather and chose to let him jump that day as I had done it once when I was 18 and he had never done it. So there it is in a nutshell.. sometimes I question why I'm there or if I'm losing my sanity but I can deal.
Millions of my potential children died on your daughters' face last night.

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I never had any intention of starting skydiving let alone even doing a tandem until it came to christmas 2007, had no idea what to ask for and just put it out there as an idea expecting nothing to come of it but obviously my parents took it seriously and got me a tandem...

About 3 weeks before i was supposed to be doing the tandem i got a text from my dad saying he had been speaking to a friend and had decided to change my tandem for AFF1. After i did that i thought that it would be a waste of 6/7 hours ground training to never do it again. So here I am. B|

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My Dad used to jump in the military. He used to tell me stories about jumping and how much he enjoyed it.
I was basically addicted before I did my first jump!
About 5 years ago I started a "bucket list" with one of my buddies. We were going to do something cool every month.
Problem is, the first event on our list was AFF. After that we had little money left for anything else.
So our bucket list is still full of things to do...

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I don't really remember not wanting to, going back to being about 12 years old.

Wendy W.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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I saw a demo when I was about 10 at a July 4th celebration. ParaCommanders onto the shore of a river. Hit their X about 15 feet across. Decided then I'd try it. Used to make parachute for my GI Joe's (the big ones) and throw them off the 3rd story fire escape at our grade school.

Saw the flyer posted in the snack bar in college. Got my parents to pay for it for my birthday. (Mom wasn't home.;))

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

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Husband jumped while in the Army...blah, blah, blah for 18 years I had to listen to him recall how much he enjoyed the experience and he wanted to jump again. It just scared me...I hate heights. Swore I'd NEVER jump out of an airplane, HA. Did my research online...liked all the backup's etc. so for our 18th anniversary I signed us up for Static Line class. I was totally terrified on the first jump. That was 5 years and 200+ jumps ago. You CAN teach an old dog new tricks! :D

_________________________________________


Old age ain't no place for sissies!

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I was a Whitewater Rafting guide, Kayak instructor, Snow Skier, and Mountain Biker when I lived in WV and PA, and when I moved to Florida (where you could not do any of those things) I asked around "What is there to do for fun around here?" and found skydiving. I told the T/I that I was probably going to take the course (IAF) after my first tandem, so I wanted an altimeter and to "pull the parachute" on my first jump and the rest is history. I got on the ground and charged $1,100 to my charge card after landing to cover the cost of the IAF program. 1 year later, I had about 250-300 jumps.

Mark Klingelhoefer

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i wanted to have an impact in life and thought, skydiving might do the trick! :P

more seriously, it's something i always wanted to do, but never really inquired about it, thought it was too expensive or whatever reason i came up with. then circumstances in life had changed, and i signed up for AFF directly. no tandem, just signed up and put the dosh right there on the table.. :)

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

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Having recently finished grad school, I just wanted to try it and see what it was like to be under a parachute. Not knowing anything about it, I signed up for the static line class, expecting to make just one jump. I didn't even know there was such a thing as freefall. After the first jump, I was hooked and immediately went up for my second static line jump.

Then I found out that you could actually jump without the parachute coming out and do it yourself! Been addicted ever since......
Dano

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Having spent many hours dangling from ropes under helicopters, and hanging out on the skids of Huey's, I always thought "how fun would it be to jump off this thing?" Well, never could afford to get into it with a wife, 2 kids and a measly salary as an enlisted sailor but, after getting divorced and commissioned, well lets just say I started having fun. Here I am 4 years later and can't remember what I used to do for fun before this. (BTW, still yet to do a helicopter jump)
"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest" ~Samuel Clemens

MB#4300
Dudeist Skydiver #68

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It was my sons fault. My daughter and I were in line for the Skycoaster at the local amusment park. My son didn't want to ride it and at the last minute he changed his mind and stepped up. After that all he could talk about was going skydiving, I kept telling him sure whenever your ready not thinking it would ever happen. Then one day he called me to say he had scheduled us for tandems the next day. I spent all night researching saftey stats...
The next day we were on the plane...his TI asked who was going out first and he said he was...well...dad ain't riding back down after son goes out the door..........
The rest is history.

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Got hooked into doing a day of static jumps at Ricks in 2000. Thought it was awesome but I was poor and in college and spent all my money on my trad rack.

Fast forward 8 years later and I get hooked again to do a tandem. After that, I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass me again.

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You left out a very important reason: "I always wanted to". For those of us who grew up jumping off the garage roof, out of trees, and off of swingsets while visions of "Ripcord" danced in our heads.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

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one of my early memories is watching my dad do military static line jumps. fast fwd to when i was 9 or 10 dad's stationed in germany we are watching a demo dad's like an e-7 or e-8 so we got to stand on the OTHER side of the caution tape about 20 ft. from the x. this guy comes in under a paracommander with the belly wart slung to the side. STOMPS the x stands it up hits the chest release the harness falls off of him. and he steps away. THAT was ever so cool. fast fwd again to 1979 i'm in the army at ft. campbell at the replacement depot on a sat morn. just got in the night b4. I see square parachutes way off in the distance. I head over that way to check it out. meet the sport club. hang out with them all day. they invite back to the clubhouse. I get there and they say want a beer? I walk to the fridge. open the door. and remember the part in "pulp fiction" when they open the case and the golden glow comes out? it's just like that. the fridge is stacked top to bottom with michelobe gold. I think to myself. I've found a home. so i voted. "I'm only here for the beer":P

i have on occasion been accused of pulling low . My response. Naw I wasn't low I'm just such a big guy I look closer than I really am .


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Quote

You left out a very important reason: "I always wanted to". For those of us who grew up jumping off the garage roof, out of trees, and off of swingsets while visions of "Ripcord" danced in our heads.




B|Bingo! B|










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

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I did the AFF class just to see if I WOULD jump. Really did not intend to go more than the one time. But decided that the people at the dropzone were a good group of people and wanted to hang around.
The strong can always afford to be gentle, It is only the weak who need to "give as good as they get."

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BASE jumping. . .

I had always wanted to do a skydive since before I turned 18. Birthdays came and went and I just didn't want to spend $200 to strap myself to some dude and jump out of a plane. The tandem thing just never really interested me.

Fast forward to 2007. . . I was climbing El Capitan(3200' vertical wall) in Yosemite. We were about half way up at a bivy spot called "Dolt Tower" when I just hear "wwwwwwwwhhhhhhooooooooosssshhhh!!!!! and see a body falling perfectly flat throught the air!! Then "whack" canopy opens and all is quiet. the jumper landed safely and I looked at my buddy and was like. . ."Holy SHIT that was fucking SIIIICK!!" So, not more than 2 weeks later we were at the base of Hlaf Dome just waking up to climb at about 5am. I hear this noise and by the time I could pinpoint it he just trailed out of sight. I look up at the visor(2000' above) and see a lone figure just swan dive so friggin gracefully off the lip and then FLY !!! These guys were wingsuiting off this thing! I watched the wingsuiter fly for about 30 seconds before disappearing around a buttress. Never even saw the deployment! Again, I just looked at my buddy in awe and said "Dude, that was the coolest thing I've ever seen!!"

So, fast forward to late July of '08. Again climbing. We were on the E. Face of Longs Peak (known as the Diamond). It's a magnificent wall with a 5.5mile hike to get to the base of it!! Just plain huge, beautfull, steep and, intimidating towering a good 1000' above the glacier and valley floor and as broad as it is tall. Well, it's 8:00am and we were about 300ft up a route that goes dead nutz up the middle when . . ."WWHHAAAABAAAMM" !!!! We nearly shit ourselves thinking it was a rockfall!! After the noise of the opening we looked out to see a canopy gracefully flying to the glacier in this beautifull alpine setting. . .I just looked at my buddy (the same guy as before) and said "Holy shit dude. . .I HAVE to do that!! That looked like the single, most fun thing I could imagine doing!!".
He just looked at me like yeah right. and said "well fuck we better finish this route".

Two weeks later I got paid and scheduled AFF. AFF Level 1 happened August 30th and I fell In LOVE with skydiving!!! Now with 137 jumps and just a handfull of BASE jumps, I still can't believe how fucking awesome this sport is (as well as how much I DON'T know and, still need to learn!!)!!

So, that's my story!B|
Hope to see y'all out there !!
Cielos Azules
Rich- Frijol Saltando!!

If your gonna be dumb ya gotta be tough.

Your mom goes HandHeld

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For the money, the fame, the women, and all the notoriety one gets by bringing it up in every single conversation one is in. That and the booze.

And the chance to wear full pajamas that have such bad color combinations you'd never wear them elsewhere - full coverage outfits in the middle of summer is nice too

leather hats

{I like the sport - it's fun} :S


...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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Wingsuits!
It was 06 before I saw the first one - a youtube video. Seeing that changed my life, but it seemed impossible. I was already too old, I thought, to be able to do it; I hadn't even made a skydive. Well, at least I could do that, so off I went to Cal City. I grew up near there, and had even made a bungee jump near the drop zone in 1980.
There I met a jumper older than me who turned out to be a wingsuit pioneer. He was on the plane for my tandem, and his jump inspired me to sign on for the full ride. Thank you Tom Sitton!
One year later I was making my first wingsuit flights, and since then it's been all I imagined, and then some.
And one other thing: I feel younger now than when I started!
;)

But what do I know?

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Got fed up with just going down the same old pub with my mates and meeting the same old people. So decided to mix life up a bit. Always wanted to do a tandem one day so I looked up skydiving on youtube when bored one night to see what to expect and saw all the freeflying, wingsuit ect videos and knew this is what I want to do with my life. My mates did not want to do anything so I booked 10 days off work, flew over to spain on my own and did my AFF. never even bothered with the tandem. Last year was one of the best years of my life and this years going to be even better. Best decision I ever made.
Live hard, Live fast, Die broke.
D.S. 118118

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