Older skydivers, or old farts?

[Tonto 1]

I've been jumping 20 years, as have several other jumpers from my DZ.

10+ years ago, there were a few caravans, no electricity, a couple of students and a club membership of about 30 of which about a third were "Lifetime" or "founder" members and a Cessna.

Now we have a 2 hangars, a clubhouse, a classroom, 2 briefing rooms, a video room, bunkhouse, a canteen, a bush pub, electricity, about 200 members and a Pilatus PC-6 which is currently undergoing an upgrade from H2 to H4 airframe and will be getting a Dash 36 engine.

We're the busiest club in the country, doing 34% of all jumps done in South Africa, the remaining 66% spread over the other 16 dropzones.

Recently, some of my generation of jumpers have begun searching for "the elusive fun factor." They feel that something has gone missing with all this progress having been made.

I can't see what they're talking about.

We're going 2000ft higher, twice as fast. The club is full of new people, and they're doing well, and having fun. We're dominating at Nationals in multiple disiplines. We offer coaching in everything from FS to Wingsuits. We have bonfires, bands and party till 2am (plus) on a regular basis.

Can people really get nostalgic about funneled 4 ways out of a Cessna? If so, when the Porter was out for a weekend getting it's airframe upgrade - where were all these people when the Cessna WAS there? Is it really the skydiving, or is it that their lives are now filled with meetings and deadlines and all the commitments and responsibilities they've picked up over the years, and what they're missing is not the good old days, but who they were in the good old days?

I've tried to keep up with this sport. I've jumped rounds with front mount reserves, and 8mm Camera on a motorcycle helmet. Are ZP, carbon fibre, microline, slinks, wingsuits, turbines, riser turns etc really that bad? Are we on the right track, or have we really lost something along the way?

Personally, I think that our students are safer, our gear is better, and our DZ is more comfortable, and I think that's a good thing.

Am I wrong?

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[ChrisL 2]

Nope. I think you are right.

Thats my relative newbie opinion!

If its the danger factor that is missed, then theres still plenty of other
activities out there that are more dangerous than skydiving.

Maybe I'm a pussy, but I like to make my jumping as safe as I can.
The safer the better

__

My mighty steed

[Lindsey 0]

Maybe they miss the bandit drunk naked jumps out of the stolen cessna with the unlicensed pilot into whoever's back yard party is going on, with car gas running down the side of the plane because the pilot was too f'd up to remember to put the gas cap on....heh. Nostalgia....

linz

--
A conservative is just a liberal who's been mugged. A liberal is just a conservative who's been to jail

[DanglesOZQld 0]

Seems to me that a lot of the newer jumpers don't get what we have gone through just as we don't undertstand the round parachute jumpers prior to us.

Some are old farts but there are a lot of good stories and experiences out there - don't discount what ya don't know - you might learn something new or interesting! BSBD! -Mark.

"A Scar is just a Tattoo with a story!!!"

[tso-d_chris 0]

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10+ years ago, there were a few caravans, no electricity, a couple of students and a club membership of about 30 of which about a third were "Lifetime" or "founder" members and a Cessna.

Now we have a 2 hangars, a clubhouse, a classroom, 2 briefing rooms, a video room, bunkhouse, a canteen, a bush pub, electricity, about 200 members and a Pilatus PC-6 which is currently undergoing an upgrade from H2 to H4 airframe and will be getting a Dash 36 engine.

I've jumped regularly at small single Cessna DZs, and I have lived five minutes from a Super Skyvan, Super Otter, and a way fast Porter. I've also jumped many other jumpships. My personal favorite is Skydive Missouri's wide body 182, which gets to 10K in about 13min. Doesn't mean I don't like tailgates or turbines, I just don't dislike Cessnas.

The smaller DZs have been more fun and personable. The larger DZs have a better party atmosphere after the sun goes down. It is usually much easier to make a lot of jumps in a short period of time at a big DZ, as well.

There is more information and coaching available at large DZs. There is more free information and coaching available at small DZs. At smaller DZs jumpers are more motivated to bring new jumpers up to speed in order to have another person to jump with. At larger drop zones you are more likely to find professional skydivers that won't gear up without a paycheck.

Spots are usually more within the jumpers' control at smaller DZs. The pilot is within earshot, and GPS is less likely to be relied upon than at many of the larger DZs.

The student training has more to do with instructor experience than with DZ size, or even training method, IMO. I've seen excellent and not so good instructors at dropzones of all sizes.

I think it is inevitable that if a DZ reaps the benefits of being large for an extended period of time, they will lose sight of all the benefits they reaped from being small. It's not so much that one is better than the other as it is they offer different things to jumpers.

For Great Deals on Gear

[riggerrob 558]

Tonto,

You hit the nail on the head!

"... what they're missing is not the good old days, but who they were in the good old days?"

Back in the good-old-days, they were slim and sexy and got to hit on the hot chicks. They could party all night and skydive hard the next day. Their knees didn't ache after packing, etc.
They were big fish in a small pond, but now the pond has gotten bigger.

[airtwardo 6]

That make a lot of sense...I hadn't thought of it quite that way.

I also get the feeling that it's really a whole different sport than 20 -30 years ago.
As an 'old fart' I remember 'those' days and still relate some of it to my skydiving today. But more recent additions to our ranks have a completely different frame of reference.

For many it's some what of a 'carnival' ride. It doesn't have the same 'edge' for lack of a better word, than it did decades ago. That's not a bad thing, the gear is better, the planes safer, instruction for the most part, is more comprehensive.

The committment toward the sport was a deeper personal thing in regard to being and staying on top of your game. The RSL the AAD, full time packers and trubines have added a measure of safety... and at the same time pulled a bit of the old 'soul' from the sport.

There have always been "Old Guys" around, pissin' & moanin' about the good ole days...because skydiving is growing the way that it is, there are just more of us crying in our soup than there was when 'we' were coming up.


I'd love to be around 30 years from now to hear 'this' generation gripe about how great the 'Good Old Days" were!

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

[Andy9o8 0]

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I'd love to be around 30 years from now to hear 'this' generation gripe about how great the 'Good Old Days" were!

That is so true. In 30 years the "new kids" will be referring to ram-air canopies as "those old death rigs", while the "old-timers" (the ones born way back in the 1980's) will be saying, “Yeah, the landable wing suits and retro-rocket skyboards changed this damned sport forever. Why, when I was your age, you needed a PARACHUTE to survive a skydive...”

[airtwardo 6]

when I was your age, you needed a PARACHUTE to survive a skydive...”

***

...and we actually used AIRPLANES to get to altitude!

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

[rushmc 18]

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Maybe they miss the bandit drunk naked jumps out of the stolen cessna with the unlicensed pilot into whoever's back yard party is going on, with car gas running down the side of the plane because the pilot was too f'd up to remember to put the gas cap on....heh. Nostalgia....

linz

Now THATS A PARTY!!

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[wmw999 2,121]

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Recently, some of my generation of jumpers have begun searching for "the elusive fun factor." They feel that something has gone missing with all this progress having been made.

They're not young, it's not new, and many of them are no longer cool and edgy. But the upside is that there are packers now for when one's knees have gone bad

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)

[tso-d_chris 0]

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...and we actually used AIRPLANES to get to altitude!

The irony here is that the parachutist predates the airplane!

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[BigM 2]

One of my all time favorite sayings applies here:

"Nostalgia just ain't what it used to be."

"When I die, I want to go like my grandmother, who died peacefully in her sleep. Not screaming like all the passengers in her car."

[darrenspooner 0]

Ahh, good old habituation. You do something enough times it gets boring, good or bad. Same horror movie 100 times - boring, not scary or entertaining. Favourite meal 100 times - boring, not enjoyable. Same everything else 100 times - boring. Simple behavioural principle. The pursuit of novel experience brings new emotional experience. The thing about the old skydiving was risk and challenge. Now its considerably safer and less challenging in many respects. The older guys were pioneers. They are not any more.

They are not pioneers any more. People did what they did milions of times since, and therefore its not novel or challenging any more. My respect to the pioneers.

[banjobill 0]

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Personally, I think that our students are safer, our gear is better, and our DZ is more comfortable, and I think that's a good thing.

Am I wrong?

t

You are correct. I started on rounds ("rags") and we are all so much better off now. Having said that, are you a turtle?

....with a capital P and that rhymes with T and that spells TROUBLE!!!

[airtwardo 6]

Y.B.Y.S.A.I.A!

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

[bob.dino 0]

Tonto:

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Recently, some of my generation of jumpers have begun searching for "the elusive fun factor." They feel that something has gone missing with all this progress having been made.

riggerrob:

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Back in the good-old-days, they were slim and sexy and got to hit on the hot chicks.

darrenspooner:

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The older guys were pioneers. They are not any more.

These days it's the swoopers that are the bleeding-edge these-idiots-are-going-to-kill-us-all hot shit hot dogs that get the girlys moist and the older guys are having difficulty adjusting to being called Grandad.

Is that a fair summary?

[airtwardo 6]

get the girlys moist and the older guys are having difficulty adjusting to being called Grandad.

Is that a fair summary?


***

No it's NOT a fair summary...

But it IS accurate! .....And..... Fuck You!

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

[bob.dino 0]

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Fuck You! [Tongue][Sly]

Oh shush Grandad. Stop fussing and let the nice nurse give you a bath.

[grue 1]

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Fuck You! [Tongue][Sly]

Oh shush Grandad. Stop fussing and let the nice nurse give you a bath.

Careful, before he yells at you to get off his lawn.

cavete terrae.

[airdvr 197]

I can relate a little to what your friend is saying. I think the different disciplines have fractured the skydiving community at alot of DZ's. Used to be it was all about RW and everyone wanted to do it. Now we have freaks and swoopers and flockers and it seems no one wants to do CReW. I don't see anyone organizing big ways at the end of the day and after an RW dive there's no de-breif to discuss what worked and what didn't. I actually heard someone a few months back refer to our 8 way as a big way!

Please don't dent the planet.

Destinations by Roxanne

[airtwardo 6]

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Fuck You! [Tongue][Sly]

Oh shush Grandad. Stop fussing and let the nice nurse give you a bath.

***

Damn it...when IS my cane !?

I'm gonna WHACK that guy if I ever CATCH him!

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

[Joellercoaster 6]

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Oh shush Grandad. Stop fussing and let the nice nurse give you a bath.

Hey, that part sounds OK.

--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

[rehmwa 2]

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I think the different disciplines have fractured the skydiving community at alot of DZ's.

true, Certain types of skydivers -have-allowed-the different disciplines to fracture the community. I'd also say high performance canopies have made impromptu CrW much more rare and that was a big way to make bonds - hooking up right after a good freefall.

Lastly, it's much more mainstream, so the personality mix is way more diverse than a long time ago. We aren't drawn to each other with the same personality types as much anymore.

That's the way it is. It's unlikely to expect most DZ to have that 1 Cessna DZ feel anymore where everyone jumped with everyone else and all of us would go and be social with each other the rest of the week.

...
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

[timbarrett 0]

I am pretty new to this wonderful sport but I must confess, when I read the stories, to being stunned and amazed - to say nothing of incredibly impressed - that anyone who has been jumping since the "old days" is even alive let alone still jumping. I run into guys who have more years in the sport than I have total jumps and it seems to be another world...

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