Should I take up golf?

[Fmrjmpr 0]

Ok, here goes.

I have been back in the sport for almost 6 years. I am a rigger, coach and tandem instructor.

I have had a string of things happen that are making me question whether I should stay with it. Namely, on sunday, I got spun up on a tandem. Everything I tried to fix the spin made it worse. I finally pulled high to get out of it. We landed safe and the student was pleased (oblivious, but pleased). Then on Wednesday, I failed three times to get in on some very basic RW jumps. It seems I have lost the ability to fall slow. And finally, yesterday, I hit an abandoned windsock holder. There were no streamers or anything on it, just a pole. I didn't see it until it was too late to do anything about it.

These things are, to me, unacceptable in someone with my experience and qualifications. I am thinking I need to quit before I bounce or injure a student. What do you think? Should I get the "Take up Golf: speech?

[chanti 0]

I don't believe anybody should get that speech unless they are a serious threat to the safety of other skydivers. What happened to you doesn't sound like recklessness, just bad luck.

I'm having a similar sort of "am I jinxed?" feeling at the moment - lying in bed with a broken femur, and 3 reserve rides in 186 jumps. My mom suggested i take up knitting

Unfortunately, bad things happen. Don't give up what you love and what you are passionate about because you're going thru a rough spell. It will pass.
-----------------------------------------------------------

-Chanti-

[Tonto 1]

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These things are, to me, unacceptable in someone with my experience and qualifications.

It's easier for us to answer if you fill out your profile, so we can see what that experience is.

My thoughts?

I stopped doing Tandem a couple of years back after I had a partial reserve malfunction. It simply wasn't worth it for me to be responsible for someone else using equipment I had confidence issues with.

I've also gone low on a few dives. If you're middle aged, and have put on a few pounds, you may not be able to do what you used to without dressing silly, or defying the laws of physics.

A friend of mine hit a windsock a few years back too... and he's now head of National Safety and Training out here - so we do make mistakes.

You sound like you set yourself high standards. In this sport there is no shortage of people on the other extreme. We all screw up. The really, really good ones just fix it before anyone notices.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[bch7773 0]

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These things are, to me, unacceptable in someone with my experience and qualifications. I am thinking I need to quit before I bounce or injure a student. What do you think? Should I get the "Take up Golf: speech?

Well with one post and no profile....
I'm guessing someone at your DZ who you don't like did these things, and you want to kick them off the DZ?

MB 3528, RB 1182

[Fmrjmpr 0]

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You sound like you set yourself high standards. In this sport there is no shortage of people on the other extreme. We all screw up. The really, really good ones just fix it before anyone notices.

Yes, I have high standards for myself. But I believe that my standards are the minimum needed to get by in the sport. What I see in myself is a marked decline in ability that is becoming a safety issue. The old adage about being on the ground wishing you were in the air as opposed to being in the air wishing you were on the ground is ringing true this week.

[Fmrjmpr 0]

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I'm guessing someone at your DZ who you don't like did these things, and you want to kick them off the DZ

Nope. It was me. I posted this way to keep the responses non biased.

Briefly:
Began jumping in 87. Stopped in 92 for school, stated back in 2000. 1188 total jumps, 936 since returning to the sport. Senior rigger, Strong/Vector tandem rated, USPA coach. Waiting to take the check dive for AFF rating. (got weathered out both times I tried)

Does that change your opinion?

[AggieDave 6]

Sure, take up golf. Its just as good of a reason as any to walk (or better yet, ride around in a little car) and drink beer with your friends.

However, take a deep breath, figure out what has you so very distracted in life, take care of that and then continue skydiving.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[ladyskydiver 0]

When's the last time you took a vacation (i.e. one of those 1-2 week fun things ) - non-skydiving related? Maybe what you need is to go on a vacation (sit by a pool, drink foo-foo drinks with umbrellas in them, etc.) and chill. Figure out what's going on with you and then decide what's right for you.

Best of wishes to you.

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

[kenneth21441 0]

personally would not recommend taking up golf. With the time that you have had. Just learn from it and grow. We all make mistakes and we learn from each one of those. Correct?

So with that said just keep jumping if you want to really try gold do it on you home PC...

Keep blowing holes in the clouds,,,,

Kenneth Potter
FAA Senior Parachute Rigger
Tactical Delivery Instructor (Jeddah, KSA)
FFL Gunsmith

[LawnDart21 0]

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I got spun up on a tandem. Everything I tried to fix the spin made it worse. I finally pulled high to get out of it.

Things go wrong up there sometimes, you tried some stuff, didn't work, so you ended the skydive. You did the right thing, and everyone survived, where's the problem?

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I failed three times to get in on some very basic RW jumps. It seems I have lost the ability to fall slow.

Tandems can ruin your ability to do RW. Watch some of your tandem videos, DEARCH much? LOL, it's a side effect of spending all your time under a drogue.....lol, RW skills do come back.

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I hit an abandoned windsock holder

Okay, I agree, no excuse for that one....lol Everyone has a bad landing or overlooks something from time to time, jump numbers and time in sport mean nothing, we are all capable of brain farts, and most people have them from time to time, as long as you walk away from them, no foul.

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These things are, to me, unacceptable in someone with my experience and qualifications.

People with far greater experience, qualifications, and time in the sport than you have had far worse weeks than yours and are still around. Cut yourself a little slack, your gonna give yourself high blood pressure....lol

--
My other ride is a RESERVE.

[chopchop 0]

Dude.. I have weekends when i think the same thing.. and then the next weekend, I fly my ass off.. Sounds like you are having a few bad days.. don't get hung up on it. Things will turn around for you.. Just keep doing what you do. And don't forget to have fun doing it.

chopchop
gotta go... Plaything needs a spanking..

Lotsa Pictures

[JohnMitchell 14]

Sure, golf for a while, and when you get bored as shit by golf and golfers and golf stories about golf things that don't really matter, and you keep looking up at the perfect blue sky and remembering what it was like to be there, you'll come back, oh yes, you will.

[pkasdorf 0]

The right answer isn't in the poll. Something's bothering you that does not let you concentrate on your jumps. You should figure that out. It is the only reasonable explanation apart from rustiness due to prolonged inactivity.

HISPA # 18 POPS # 8757

[popsjumper 2]

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The right answer isn't in the poll. Something's bothering you that does not let you concentrate on your jumps. You should figure that out. It is the only reasonable explanation apart from rustiness due to prolonged inactivity.

I don't understand this....there is nothing in the world that occupies my mind when I'm in the air other than what's going on from take-off to landing.



That's one of the beauties of it for me...the whole world could go to pot and I wouldn't care as long as it doesn't interfere with the jump.

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[Eule 0]

Caution: low jump numbers here.

My first thought after reading your post was that maybe something else is on your mind. I don't know what it is - it could be within skydiving (a buddy of yours got hurt, the DZO kicked your dog) or outside (too many bills, significant other wants to leave). It doesn't even have to be a nominally "bad" thing - maybe you and your other half just had a kid, which is great, but now you are putting pressure on yourself, or getting pressure from others, to stop jumping because of the kid. That is perhaps quite a bold conclusion to leap to based on a few sentences on a message board, but that's what I thought.

The tandem thing I can't really speak to. On the RW dives - have you been doing a lot of RW lately, or mostly tandems? I couldn't itemize the differences for you but it seems to me like tandem instructing and RW are Different and doing lots of tandems would mean that you're not going to go out and turn a hundred points on a four-way the first time you try it. On hitting the pole - well, what the hell is an unmarked pole doing in a landing area? (Assuming it _is_ in, or very close to, the landing area.) Go hang a windsock, flag, or blade on it, or paint it Aviation Orange, or just remove the damn thing.

Again, just my opinion. I hope it helps.

Eule

PLF does not stand for Please Land on Face.

[dmetz 0]

Just suck it up and drive on, dude.

Maybe try just hanging out at the dz one day. Don't do any jumps, just hang out and observe everyone else. Sit in on, some AFF instruction or some coaching, just to take it all in. When you realize that you already know everything that these younger jumpers are being taught to survive, maybe you'll stop trying to punish yourself for being in a slump. Just a thought

_________________________________________

"If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?"

[pkasdorf 0]

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The right answer isn't in the poll. Something's bothering you that does not let you concentrate on your jumps. You should figure that out. It is the only reasonable explanation apart from rustiness due to prolonged inactivity.

I don't understand this....there is nothing in the world that occupies my mind when I'm in the air other than what's going on from take-off to landing.



That's one of the beauties of it for me...the whole world could go to pot and I wouldn't care as long as it doesn't interfere with the jump.

If I'm not mistaken, you are not frmjmpr. Me too, when I jump there is nothing else but.... sometimes, when I have something bugging me that is not easy to put aside it has interfered with my jumping abilities. Simply that, no offense meant!

HISPA # 18 POPS # 8757

[mcashatt01 0]

If there was a pole with no windsock or other eye catching things on it, chances are someone is going to run into it.

The good thing is that you just ran into it and didn't jab a toggle. Just sounds like a run of bad luck.

I'm no where close to having a tandem rating so my opinion means squat, but I've often heard the TM's talk about tandems hurting the rest of there flying.

In the end only you can make the decision to leave the sport, but I believe like the others on this forum. If you do leave you'll probably be back.

I love to play golf, I used to take it seriously and it sucked. Then I realized that the whole fun was being able to drink and drive without getting harassed by the police. Play every man drinks one beer per hole, loser of each hole has to chug another beer before reaching the next hole.

[Mike111 0]

this isn't any advice but more of encouragement.

For me, backsliding used to be the bugger- in AFF i was fine (lol you would expect to do it then) yet bout jump number 40 i was told i was backsliding. seems i hacve gone backwards in skill!

Ahh fuck it... it will get better with practice... even if it feels ive gone a step back...as long as you were safe - the fact you didnt turn low to avoid the windsock is a good thing.... and you have fun... thats all that matters.

IMHO of course... wanrin g- low jump numbers

[HeyRobin 0]

Whatever you decide, I hope part of the plan is to go tie streamers or something onto that pole.

or better yet, remove it if you can.

[mattyblast 0]

Don't sweat it--sounds like a string of bad luck. Don't over-analyze it, just keep jumping and re-build your confidence. Are you anywhere close to a wind tunnel? It would be a great place to work on your fall rate/de-arch technique.

"DOOR!!!"

[wmw999 2,121]

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My first thought after reading your post was that maybe something else is on your mind.

Low jump numbers or not, that's a thought well worth considering.

My suggestion would be to make a couple of high hop and pops or something like that. A jump where the point is simply to enjoy the air, then enjoy the canopy ride.

Pack slowly, remembering where all of the pieces go and why, not just "gotta pack to get on the next load." There are a bunch of components to skydiving; maybe actively enjoying some of the background ones, that were once peaks to achieve, would be good.

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)

[skydude2000 3]

Are you kidding man? You think jumping is frustrating??? I'd give you a week before you throw your new clubs into the pond, lol. Never give up!


Blue ones!

PULL!! or DIE!!

[Mike111 0]

I would definately agree... or destroying them in the bunker after 12 attempts to get out

[Orange1 0]

I know this is a serious post but every time I look at the thread I get this image: you on a golf course, taking a wild swing and knocking someone unconscious with the ball. You are then told: "maybe you should take up skydiving"

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.