Why did you start skydiving/ BASE jumping?

[lkolkin 0]

I should've asked it differently. Not why did people start skydiving, why did people make that first jump?

I don't do it for the risk now. If anything, I try to avoid the risk. But the initial attraction for me to make that first jump was the excitement of the risk.

Symnatics I guess.

[Mad47 0]

Most of the people do not have any ideas what skydiving is about when they start. Well, at least I was like that (started because of girl). Understanding comes with time and priorities tend to change. After only year and a half in sport I can say with confidence it is not about adrenaline rush.

[hookitt 0]

You saw the movie "Adrenaline Rush"

What they described is exactly what happens to me.

Humans are the only species of animal that intentionally places themselves in danger. Some prefer to stay as safe as possible, others do not. Most of the people reading this forum are in the "do not" category.

Then there are those who push even further by swooping, competing, instructing and the one that makes the heart pound the most, is BASE. There are instances in skydiving that make the heart pound but they are MUCH different that standing on the edge of some building looking down at the palm trees on the divider.

Placing yourself in danger is fun. Strange as it my sound that's what it is.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[DrewEckhardt 0]

I started skydiving because it looked fun.

I started BASE because it scared me and skydiving no longer did.

[jumpinfarmer 0]

I'd never been in a plane before, thought I would like to try it once wile away on a trip. I did a tandem, wasn't impressed, continued on trip a couple days latter it sank in that I had done the most awesome thing in my life but was to damn stupid to realize it. On the way home I stoped and took AFF and did three jumps, after the first AFF I knew I was hooked. After I got home know one could believe what I had done (very out of character for me) in three weeks I was at a DZ near home finishing AFF. It's been the best thing I've done in my life I don't know what took me so long to get started, I had thought about it for a long time but was to chicken.

[skypuppy 1]

It's funny, I didn't start jumping for any reason, just worked all summer and then saw a poster at university advertising the course and figured I might as well do one, as I figured I hadn't really had a vacation all summer... I didn't know anything about skydiving at the time - in fact I'd seen 'Moonraker' earlier that summer and said to myself, 'man that;s all just impossible, you can't really do that...'

Just planned on doing one, really, but during the course the instructor started saying how you could go on from static-line to freefall, so I thought maybe that would be neat... 8 jumps later there I was... After the first freefall I thought, ' you know, it would be sort of neat to do it right...' and 2 or 3 jumps later after being driven back from a bad spot (we were using rounds back then) my original first jump jumpmaster looked at me and said "Well, you might as well drop out of school now, you know you're going to sometime...' Couple of months later I bought his rig when he upgraded...

As for BASE jumping, I had over 1000 jumps, was an instructor, PFF instructor, Rigger, CRW competitor and I really thought BASE was more about parachutes than about me - I mean it was about figuring out how to use the parachute to conquer the object, all I had to do was start it on its way... Like Carl said - 'The whole world's jumpable...'

I know what he meant...

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[flygirl03 0]

after viewing my first jump video my parents asked me what possessed me to WANT to do that.
i told them i think it started when i was about 8 an spread my arms and jumped off our neighbor's hill...pretending i could fly

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
earthbound misfit

[MissMae 0]

I started because a guy I worked with payed for 1/2 of my jump just to get me started. I continued because I loved the feeling of it and how free you feel. there isn't anything like it in the world. I actually layed in the driveway for about an hour when I got home and just looked at the sky. I've never looked at it the same since.

take the time to appreciate the people around you.

[shmali 0]

I've always wanted to feel what is was like to fly, control your body against the wind, soar up high and watch everything with a surreal detachment. I had quite a few plane trips (at least 1 a year) while growing up to go see family and such. And i would always want the window seat (unless i got a ride up front in the cockpit). The feeling was always quite different everytime. Then freshman year in college a bunch of us got together and went and did tandems. Well like putting fuel on the fire I was hooked. I bided my time waiting for the right opportunity and finally this summer it came, i had enough money to go through aff w/ my college club. And man i haven't missed a heartbeat since. standing in the door at 14k just watching everything so far away and then pooof there goes the plane and it's just you. Everything that you do from this point to the moment your feet touch will have some result. It is a new experience every time. i sometimes wonder will i grow out of it, is this just a phase, and then the smell of Jet A hits me at the end of a 20min call and it hits me again, how could i grow out of this.

Pineappe Death Juice, If you have to ask you'd rather not know!

[flyinggoose 0]

My wife wanted a Tandem for her birthday. A one time deal back in June. I wanted nothing to do with the sport In July we were in AFF. Now we have our own rigs. Watching and listening to the canopies open at 2500 did it for me.

"Never waste a heartbeat."

[beej 0]

I was mesmorized one evening by the BBC documentary "The man who fell to earth", it was about an aging welsh chap who skydived and jumped from angel falls. Anyone else see this? Awesome footage from clem majors and tom sanders....

----------------------------------------------------
If the shit fits - wear it (blues brothers)--

[michaelflying 0]

always wanted to

www.skydivekzn.co.za

[Lee03 0]

Like airtwardo and CrazyDave.. it all started for me when I saw the old tv series "Ripcord" (Damn, thought I was the only one that remembered that show) was probably 8 to 10 years old at the time. Ken Curtiss, before he was "Festus" on Gunsmoke and Larry Pernell, before he was Elly May's boyfriend "Dash Riprock" on the Beverly Hillbillies, were the stars of that show. When I saw that show, I always knew that some day I would be a skydiver! Just something I always wanted to do.

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To put your life in danger from time to time ... breeds a saneness in dealing with day-to-day trivialities.

--Nevil Shute, Slide Rule

[bodypilot1 0]

Quote

Some prefer to stay as safe as possible, others do not. Most of the people reading this forum are in the "do not" category.

Many people drive the crazy streets and freeways everyday.....

I think it should be put maybe, that some people are just too stupid to realize just how much danger they put themselves in everyday in doing so, and "we" just see skydiving and BASE jumping as an everyday thing because we have learned how to make it as safe as humanly possible?
I'd much rather jump from a plane, than have to drive everyday with another car coming at me, at a high rate of speed, not knowing if they are drunk, turning the stereo or reading! And to think they will be "safe" with just that little yellow line seperating them!

www.WestCoastWingsuits.com
www.PrecisionSkydiving.com

[ripper0289 0]

I started skydiving because I was so deathly afraid of heights. Sort of facing my fear to see if I could conquer it. I only have a few jumps under my belt, and I still feel the nerves looking down nearly three miles to the ground, but I go. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I do.

[Squeak 17]

I did AFF 1 as a one off thing.
I had always wanted to try it, but everytime I had the money, a bill or debt of some sort would come along, this continued for 20 years.
Then last year whilst watching TV an Ad for a DZ came on Tele, my wife asked me what I wanted for my upcoming birthday.
I pointed to the TV and said, THAT.
She said good, cause that's what I got you, yesterday.
The rest is history

My wife rocks BTW

You are not now, nor will you ever be, good enough to not die in this sport (Sparky)
My Life ROCKS!
How's yours doing?

[mikemc 0]

I needed a new way to get my adrenaline kicks or i would be under lock and key right now!!!!

[testpilot 0]

Because I wanted to.

Dave
D830
http://www.skydiving.co.za

[bojana 0]

It just felt right.I find it amazing how it changes your life.

[Newbie 0]

i hate the risk element to the sport, and i take solace in the fact it's a calculated risk im taking, and not one i've assessed lightly. I'm not a risk taker by nature but that's just me.

What gets me buzzed is when i feel like i can fly like a bird, and that's why i started. A solo tracking jump, trying to beat the clouds was one of the most memorable of the few jumps i've made. Hell, even falling straight down the tube and being 2 miles up and just free, with the most beautiful view in the world is good enough to make me whoop for joy. Ever since i saw Superman i wanted to be able to fly and see the world as he saw it - when i put my hand out like him and tucked the other one under my armpit on my first tandem, i knew this was what i had dreamt of.

"Skydiving is a door"
Happythoughts

[WrongWay 0]

I did my first jump cuz I had nothing better to do that weekend.

I did three more that weekend by the way.

Damn that was a long time ago!!! It's hard to imagine I was once a whuffo who did things on the weekends like go to parties or had "movie nights".

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[canopycandy 0]

I didn't really think about it. I just knew it sounded like fun. It was on my list of things to do before my birthday. And someone asked me to go with them while I was having a few cocktails.

The more I've dissected it, though, the more I realize that I continue skydiving for deeper reasons ... the biggie being that my mom has Alzheimer's Disease. I'd rather die quickly than waste away.

[TheBachelor 5]

I just wanted to try skydiving once. I loved that first jump so much, I stayed with it.

There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

[vonSanta 0]

I have this odd thing that pops up now and then. A question.

I wonder what it'd be like to [insert thing here].

It's gotten me hurt before, like when I wondered what'd happen if I sat on the hood of the old car and my friend drove it straight into a stack of hay as fast as the old wreck would go.

So I wondered what diving wrecks would be like - and I do that. Same with climbing really big (to me) rocks. Then a pal started skydiving and my sister said "I wonder what it feels like".

It may scare me shiteless (skydiving certainly did, as did deep dives with no visibility and climbing rock wall over your ability) but there is something that forces me to sort of at least try it out once. My sister is the same except she's more of a crazy type. I made the mistake of asking her (since I wondered what it'd be like) how it felt to track really hard and get lots of speed. I got a long answer and wanted to do it. So, here I am

Santa Von GrossenArsch
I only come in one flavour
ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

[dropoutdave 0]

Quote

I think it should be put maybe, that some people are just too stupid to realize just how much danger they put themselves in everyday in doing so, and "we" just see skydiving and BASE jumping as an everyday thing because we have learned how to make it as safe as humanly possible?
I'd much rather jump from a plane, than have to drive everyday with another car coming at me, at a high rate of speed, not knowing if they are drunk, turning the stereo or reading! And to think they will be "safe" with just that little yellow line seperating them!

I don't know about anyone else but I am much more afraid of dying in a road accident since I started skydiving. It's possibly because skydiving has put much more perspective on life and risk to me.

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