Old jumper wanting to get back into the sport

[Hunt_Joshua_G 0]

Hey guys my dad is an old jumper and jow that I have started jumping he is wanting to start again. he hasn't jumped in 15-20 years. Any idea what he needs to do to get back into the sport?

"When the people look like ants-PULL,
When the ants look like people-PRAY."
"Only skydivers know why the birds sing."

[billeisele 122]

no simple answer, depends on physical condition and mental capabilities

having an MD checkup would be a good start, knees? heart? eyesight? strength? flexibility? weight?

Give one city to the thugs so they can all live together. I vote for Chicago where they have strict gun laws.

[darkwing 4]

As someone who has gone through a long layoff, I can relate. Tell him to go to the DZ and talk to the folks there. Take his logbooks with him. I think he will be REALLY happy he came back.

-- Jeff
My Skydiving History

[kefran 0]

i would suggest to take him with you to the DZ and then he could easily go for a tandem ...

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I never used 2 rocks to start a fire ... this is called evolution !

[IanHarrop 37]

I was out for 16 years. Coming back to skydiving was the best thing I ever did.

Go to the DZ and talk to people. It worked for me.

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops, away above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me" Dorothy

[cocheese 0]

Seriously, if you two can't figure out how to get him back in the sport, I would question getting back into the sport.

[Glitch 0]

I was out for a short 16 yr hiatus... when I looked at getting back into the sport, I contacted multiple DZ's and discussed it with them. My replies ranged from a mandatory FJC to a quick discussion about modern gear / EPs and a check out dive. Costs ranged from gear rental and pay for the slot for a check out dive to >$2K. Guess which one I chose! I had a D license and @450 jumps when I came back.
YMMV. I think a lot depends on what your dad is comfortable with...

Randomly f'n thingies up since before I was born...

[NickDG 23]

It somewhat depends on how experienced Pops was when he took the big wuffocation . . .

Back in the day experienced jumpers would just dust off their gear and go jump. In fact if they did ask how to go about it, someone usually retorted, "You do it like this. Shut up and get on the plane."

But then some years ago my pal Pat Works, after a long lay off, wrote a PARACHUTIST article about re-entering the sport intelligently. And ever since then that's the way everybody is supposed to do it. And today that's the way it is because people worry less about killing themselves and more about getting whacked by someone else.

If Pops took a powder in 1988 (20 years ago) and only had a hundred jumps, or less, then of course, he'd pretty much have to start over.

On the other hand let's time trip a bit and say Pops had a few thousand jumps, and now suddenly finds himself in the Otter. What a shocker that would be . . .

"No thanks, never wear one [seatbelt's]."

"Holy shit, that's really two parachutes in there?"

"Why's everybody wearing fishbowls on their heads?"

"Jesus, half the plane is tandems. They didn't ban those?"

"Sure are a lot of new rig types," [Looking at mudflaps]. "There's Billy and Joey rigs, Mary and Sandra rigs . . ."

The biggest shocker though would come when Pops got to the door where he'd naturally stick his head out to check the spot. When everyone behind him starts screaming, "Go, Go, Go!!!!" He'd think, "How nice of them, everybody is cheering me on."

NickD

[RickNC 0]

And I thought I was bad coming back after 8 years.

[patworks 5]

To get a feel of some of the history read United We Fall by Pat Works. Available free online at http://www.cs.fiu.edu/~esj/uwf/uwf.html

Pat Works nee Madden Travis Works, Jr .B1575, C1798, D1813, Star Crest Solo#1, USPA#189,

[NickDG 23]

LOL, Pat, I bought and read your UWF when it was first published . . .

It's the skydiving bible of my generation!

NickD

[rfreddo 0]

Congrats to Dad for wanting to get back in the saddle, and to you for being his role model. I had about a 13 year layoff between 1994 and 2007 (D license and 1000+ jumps before the layoff), and found it pretty easy, but somewhat intimidating, getting back in. The biggest issue for me was getting up to speed with all of the changes in the sport. For example, when I stopped jumping, ZP canopies were almost unheard of (at least where I jumped), Cypress was synonymous with student, experienced jumpers all wore frap hats, if anything (Dad will know what that means) and hook turns / swooping were something done by the outlaws down at Deland (hooks would get you kicked off many DZs). Flying a pattern was pretty much unheard of as most jumped 7-cells and were aiming for the peas. And if you found yourself head down or on your back, it was a sure sign that you needed to arch harder and get back in proper belly flying position. Oh, and then there's the whole generational thing. Seems to be a lot more ink and piercings at the DZ these days!

So for me the transition was made a lot easier by getting back in the USPA (got my 20yr certificate a week after rejoining. Pretty cool.) and reading Parachutist, getting my hands on a current SIM (there have been a LOT of changes), haning out at a DZ and lurking on Dropzone.com. But probably the best thing I did was spend 30 minutes in the tunnel at Eloy. I was surprized that the flying was really like riding a bike, but as far as a confidence boost, I think it was irreplaceable. If Dad can find an instructor who will spend some time with him in the tunnel, then make a jump with him for recurrency, he will be well on his way to getting back in with both feet.

Good luck and blue skies to you and Dad! We can always use more old farts around the DZ!