Bored after 20 years

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This is a feeling that has been growing and nibbling at me for quite a while. I am bored. This year I will pass my twentieth year in the sport and while I find it to be mildly amusing I also find that I look toward a weekend at the dropzone as a necessary evil or chore. I have been going to the DZ every weekend in season for most of my adult life. I just do it because I alway have.

Has anyone else gone through this. How can I make this interesting again? Just for the record I don't want people to tell me to take up freeflying or crw. Not interested in either.

Your thoughts either privately or on forum are appreciated.

Ed

[micro 0]

tried a wingsuit?

edit... or just take a break! nothing wrong w/ that.

I miss Lee.
And JP.
And Chris. And...

[tso-d_chris 0]

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This is a feeling that has been growing and nibbling at me for quite a while. I am bored. This year I will pass my twentieth year in the sport and while I find it to be mildly amusing I also find that I look toward a weekend at the dropzone as a necessary evil or chore. I have been going to the DZ every weekend in season for most of my adult life. I just do it because I alway have.

Has anyone else gone through this. How can I make this interesting again? Just for the record I don't want people to tell me to take up freeflying or crw. Not interested in either.

Your thoughts either privately or on forum are appreciated.

Ed

Not to be pessimistic, but this is a dangerous sport. If you are not getting enjoyment out of it anymore, you may want to reevaluate the risk/benefit ratio. It makes little sense to jump from a "perfectly good airplane" if it is no longer fun. Perhaps a month or season off would help you realize whether you want to continue, quit, or just take a break.

You don't have to skydive to enjoy life.

For Great Deals on Gear

[tso-d_chris 0]

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tried a wingsuit?

The first time I tried a wingsuit, I remember wondering why anyone would bother jumping without one!

For Great Deals on Gear

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Thought about a wingsuit. Have some friends who flock. One of them tried to talk me into one the other day. I don't think I can swing it financially. New suit and rig would set me back quite a bit of money. I can't fit a docile enough canopy (from my perspective) into my current gear to make it safe.

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I have never really thought about the risk/benefit ratio. Skydiving has just sort of become something that I do. Just a habit I guess. I usually take four to six months off a year. I ski during the winter so its not like I don't do anything else. This is more of a naggging feeling, like I should be doing something more interesting or stimulating with my time, but at the same time I feel like I just "have to do it".

[Mike111 0]

i guess theres always BASE.....

but hey im only off studrnt status so not making any recommendations!!!

[pincheck 0]

why not mentor or coach a team or individual from scratch see them grow and become better

Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun

[jsaxton 0]

Try making more than 37 jumps a year

[JumpRu 14]

Get on a 4way team, go to wind tunnel with good coach... if all that won’t help then learn how to swoop (please be careful with that one).

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I actually am an active and current instructor. This is probably the most enjoyable part of this sport for me.

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After you jump for a few more years you might not log your jumps either. Logging has never been a big prioity for me, I usually only log enough to prove I am current and if I am not instructing I don't usually get around to logging "fun" jumps.

But thanks for the input. Most people do the same math you did and have the same comments and/or questions.

[jsaxton 0]

I don't log fun jimps either ;)

[PrairieDoug 0]

There's so much more to life than skydiving... maybe you should try something completely different.

[peek 20]

I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes even when there are no students that need anything and I have the free time, and even with money on account, I find it difficult to figure out what kind of skydive I want to do.

The wingsuit idea some have given is a good one.
Video if you don't yet do it is another.

I find that when I leave last on a big-way and do a lot of diving that it gets interesting again, but there are fewer of those types of jumps now.

What has been going through my mind as a solution is an action-packed skydive, with a lot of movement, perhaps some unexpected event that requires that I deal with using the skills I have developed over the years. (Kind of like some active AFF jumps I've been on!)

Some of the ideas I have had involve tracking or forward movement along with other manuvers, like burble hopping and such. (Not just "tracking" dives.)

However these would require a few friends that are skilled enough to do the manuvers I have thought of, and be willing to try them. I'm afraid that if they tried them and were not very successful that they would give up and just want to go back to regular RW.

[pincheck 0]

Wasn't really talking about instructing persay. more along the lines of helping new talent develop, people that have just come off student status but don't know how to progress now, they don't have a instructor telling them what to do.

you find one or two people who wouldn't say boo to anyone and are painfully shy. these are the ones i am talking about. These are the people who most need to be taken under an experienced persons wing and helped to survive.

Billy-Sonic Haggis Flickr-Fun

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Thats ongoing for most of us that have been around for awhile. There are always people that need some good advice. Its not just the cute little girls that can benefit from our wisdom. New England is a small enough area that newbies stick out and you can still keep track of them pretty easily and most of them welcome the help and the jumps.

Ed

[usedtajump 1]

I know the feeling you refer to and it happened to me after 20 years so I took a break from skydiving to see if my outlook toward it changed. Well, it'll be 10 years this coming May and I've made a total of five jumps since the break. Still don't miss it much, but I guess the intrest in the concept of skydiving is still there as I like visiting this website but as far as actually jumping again, don't think so. Besides, I've got my farm, a John Deere tractor, a motortcycle and endless country roads to ride it on to keep me busy.

Hope it works out for you to stay in skydiving but if it doesn't, no big deal.

The older I get the less I care who I piss off.

[squirrel 0]

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Has anyone else gone through this. How can I make this interesting again? Just for the record I don't want people to tell me to take up freeflying or crw. Not interested in either.

Ed

maybe thats the problem...free your mind, come to the darkside, freefly!

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?

[Vertifly 0]

ironic isn't it.

something so wild and entertaining becoming routine.

even anarchy develops government given enough time

dude, take a break. think of a list of ten awesome things you would do with your life if something as profound as skydiving didn't exist. travel around the world, become a lifeguard, a marathon runner, learn about the architecture of eastern europe and then go see it in person.....etc.

then....we'll see you back at a DZ in a few years. we are the best people in the world, but you already know that.

[squirrel 0]

i have this sticker on my car

"SKYDIVE, not to escape life, but to keep life from escaping you."

got it from my wife, she jumps to enable her life more, not simply for the risk.

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?

[HydroGuy 0]

Tracking derby's with GPS, wingsuits, and maybe (GASP) even freeflying.

Try something new in the wide ranging sport that forces you to learn new skillz. Learning is fun.

What about ground launching?

Get in - Get off - Get away....repeat as neccessary

[hottamaly 1]

I'm falling into that as well. It's like I could take it or leave it. The thing I miss most is the hanging out after a days jumping and shooting the shit with everyone at the DZ. It seems that people don't do that much any more, at least at Perris. Back in the day, we used to start up a fire, bring out the beer and educate whom ever would listen the no shit, there we were stories and bull shit until the wee hours. Everyone seems in too much of a rush lately. I do miss skydiving in general and it's up to me to get my butt out there, but I feel I've lost that urge that was so exciting before. Sad really...

Skydiving gave me a reason to live
I'm not afraid of what I'll miss when I die...I'm afraid of what I'll miss as I live

[dharma1976 0]

come to the ranch

we will corrupt you back into having fun thats what we do best :-P

get a wingsuit and a cute philly and have her smack your ass while she rides you during a flocking dive :-P

or you could take in some newbies and get them excited about doing stuff (Iknow you are an instructor but hell take a bunch of newbies and get a team together and go to nationals or somethign)

Cheers

Dave

http://www.skyjunky.com

CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

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I don't have enough body piercings to freefly. That is why they fall head down isn't it?