TUG/TUB?

[chanti 0]

OK, so in my meagre 226 jumps, I have:
1. Broken a femur
2. Sprained an ankle twice
3. Had 3 reserve rides
4. Torn ligaments in my knee
5. Left half the skin on my hands all over the runway

Recently a whuffo friend said:"don't you think somebody is trying to tell you something?"
I've never once thought about quitting, not even after the femur incident, but when is it time to say:"maybe i'm just not cut out for this?". I love skydiving and I don't want to quit, but I also don't want to be the female version of Scott Lutz

Do other people go through this as well?

-Chanti-

[timbarrett 0]

I found sitting down and reading "Deep Survival, Who lives and Who dies" by Gonzales to be helpful. Maybe you just had a rotten run of luck - shit happens and you can't do anything about that - but maybe you are doing something more systematically to make all this happen to you. Either way get it analyzed by yourself and others (video etc). Try to make sure at least you are not repeating the same mistakes in the hope of a different result...

Note I am not an instructor or indeed anyone with any claim to have useful skydiving advice to give..i have however learnt from mistakes over my years of being alive

"Work hard, play hard and don't whinge"

[tombuch 0]

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Do other people go through this as well?

Sure, but probably not to the same degree that you are reporting. Somebody who knows you and your skill levels will be better able to assess the causes for the seemingly high injury rate, and can better inform your decision about staying with the sport. There are some folks who just shouldn't participate in high risk activity at all, but they are few and far between.

A more interesting topic is our willingness to incur risk and accept injury, and the change that aging has on those decisions.



When I was a young jumper of about 22 I thought nothing about risk, and easily bounced back from injury. I enjoyed risk, pushed limits, and experienced injuries at least as serious and often as you report.

Now I'm pushing fifty, and fifty is pushing back.

My body breaks with less force, and it takes longer to recover from any injury. Plus, all my past injuries have had a cumulative impact and leave me with aches and pains that never really go away. My understanding of consequences has increased, and my tolerence for risk has decreased. I'm much more conservative in all my risk based decision making. I think that is a good thing, but at the same time I don't regret any decisions I made in the past, nor would I trade any of my experiences for pain-free old age.

So, I suppose my answer to your question would be phrased as a series of new questions:

How old are you, how much life experience do you have, and how much risk are you willing to incur?

Tom Buchanan
Instructor Emeritus
Comm Pilot MSEL,G
Author: JUMP! Skydiving Made Fun and Easy

[Glitch 0]

Riddle me this... when faced with a life/death or highly stressful situation requiring an immediate course of action, do you a) think to yourself damn, this is going to suck if I don't do "this" and then do it, b) curl up into a fetal position and pray for your mommy, or c) think "God has a plan for me and this must be part of it..." resigning yourself to whatever the fates have in store for you?

If you answered B or C, then perhaps the TUG/TUB speech is in order. This being said, you haven't mentioned anything about actually receiving the speech, so I can only assume your instructors are confident in your ability to make a decision and do something (right or wrong). EP's and such can be taught and learned, but the ability to "deal with it..." is something that comes from within and can't be imparted from one individual to another. You either have it or you don't.

Your not alone with having a list of injuries incurred by skydiving. My list includes, but isn't limited to the following: fractured tib, numerous sprains, scrapes, and bruises, dislocated shoulder, broken tail bone, compressed/bruised back stuff, etc... So ask yourself "Is it worth it?". For me, it most certainly is worth it (but that's a different thread...) but the price I'm paying is as Tombuch describes and is associated with aging (on this note is does kinda suck getting old...). I've also had 4 reserve rides and should of had two more (we won't go there on a public forum though!)

So now, I guess your at the point where you need to decide if you'll ever regret getting out of the sport of skydiving and all it has to offer. I got out of the sport for a number of years, but came back because of regret. I had regret that I gave it up for family, school, career, kids, responsibilities, etc... AND I knew that I would always regret not coming back when my life would allow it because skydiving really does make me happy. I didn't want to be laying on my death bed with the regret of not skydiving again. So here I am, not making as many jumps as I want and fighting for the time to actually get out to the dropzone after taking care of all the other responsibilities in my life... But I'm here, jumping when I can...

So what are you going to do?

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

[chanti 0]

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How old are you

I'm 28

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how much life experience do you have

Not all that much

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how much risk are you willing to incur?

That has changed in the 3 years that I have been jumping. When I had just started skydiving, I was open to trying new things, even if they made me feel a bit more apprehensive than usual. Since my accident last year, I have been almost overly cautious ... almost paranoid about getting hurt again. In fact, most of the time that was all that i was thinking about on the way to altitude

-Chanti-

[BIGUN 1,075]

Prescription for vision problems:Transcending Fear by Brian Germain

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

[chanti 0]

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This being said, you haven't mentioned anything about actually receiving the speech, so I can only assume your instructors are confident in your ability to make a decision and do something (right or wrong).

I haven't received the speech, I'm just wondering if maybe i'm kidding myself about my actual abilities. When I had the malfunctions, it was a simple task for me to decide - no, i can't land this thing, time for EPs, and it was surprisingly easy. Landing a canopy consistently, accurately and without breaking anything however, is another beast I can't seem to tame

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So now, I guess your at the point where you need to decide if you'll ever regret getting out of the sport of skydiving and all it has to offer.

Absolutely, I know I will. Despite all the trouble, I love everything about the sport and I know I will never willingly be able to quit.

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So what are you going to do?

I guess I'm gonna shut up and jump

-Chanti-

[chanti 0]

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Prescription for vision problems:Transcending Fear by Brian Germain

Thanks Bigun, I know! I'm reading it as we speak!

-Chanti-

[ltdiver 3]

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Prescription for vision problems:Transcending Fear by Brian Germain

Cool! He finally settled on a title for his book. I like it! I'm ordering one, and I think a co-worker needs one as well.
ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[sundevil777 94]

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Landing a canopy consistently, accurately and without breaking anything however, is another beast I can't seem to tame

I suggest getting someone else you respect, that weighs the same, to jump your rig. Video the landings and you will either be able to see what it takes to land your canopy well, or you may find out your canopy has problems. You're not overloading your canopy, but there may be something wrong with it.

I struggled to achieve good landings most of the years I've been jumping. I could only get a stand up maybe 2 of 10 times from my first 3 square canopies, then I finally bought a canopy that wasn't already trashed and landing was suddenly very easy. Those easy landings go a long way toward making a day of jumping fun, and greatly reduce the fear of getting injured.

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[wmw999 2,149]

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Video the landings and you will either be able to see what it takes to land your canopy well, or you may find out your canopy has problems

Good idea. My first post-return canopy was a bear. For me. I was completely unable to master it. Since getting a different (still used) canopy, I haven't had nearly the problems.

You can try upsizing a notch, and you can try having someone give you some serious coaching in canopy control. The other thing you can do is to learn to PLF really, really well. That way you'll always have a good backup plan for landing. And if you make that your primary plan, then the standup will simply be the result of everything being perfect, rather than the definition of everything being acceptable. There's a huge psychological difference.

Take it from someone who PLFs regularly

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)

[Glitch 0]

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...I'm just wondering if maybe i'm kidding myself about my actual abilities.

Once again, you're not alone- I think most of us kid ourselves about their abilites. Unfortunately it takes an incident of some sort for the smart ones to figure it, and some never do. ...and before I get flamed and blasted, I include myself in this group.

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

[FLJB 0]

I'll bite, what is the TUG/TUB speech??

[sundevil777 94]

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I'll bite, what is the TUG/TUB speech??

Take up golf/take up bowling...

People are sick and tired of being told that ordinary and decent people are fed up in this country with being sick and tired. I’m certainly not, and I’m sick and tired of being told that I am

[FLJB 0]

Cool.

I must be doing something right
Thanks!