sswayne

Thanks to both of you, looks like Byron it is... I actually will drive by it on the way (I am coming from Salt Lake City for a hockey tournament in San Jose). If I find some time to get away, I will definitely check it out. Thanks again guys.

I will be in San Jose for the 4-day labor day weekend, and not being familiar with California or its dropzones, was wondering if anyone could recommend a fun jumper friendly dropzone that is within driving distance of San Jose?

Perhaps "skipped" was not quite the correct word to use... on the B license application, you include an A license number OR a photocopy of a completed A license application. I did the latter via an A proficiency card with the license stamp. In other words, I earned the A license, but just didn't pay for it to be processed.

After 6 years of on and off jumping, I set a goal this summer of gettng into the sky more often and completing my A license. But with water training in early August and passing 50 jumps, I decided to just get my B license instead. I took the license test and sent all the paperwork in today. This worked out so well I thnk I need a new goal... coach rating? C license? Thanks to all the guys/gals at Skydive Utah for all the advice, coaching, and encouragement. It is absolutely an awesome dropzone and I feel privileged to be part of its community.

Sorry it had to come to that (the split), but hopefully it works out for both of you. I can empathize with your situation as my wife too is not a big fan of me skydiving. However, I am lucky that she understands that it is something I love to do and would be miserable if I wasn't doing it. Besides, it gives her an exuse to have a little more lattitude in her spending; as she sees it, if I spend $100 on skydiving, she gets to buy $100 worth of shoes. Works for me!

I would say this is not so uncommon... on my first 20 or so jumps I would get "door anticipation" nervousness, later it moved to "opening anticipation" nervousness, and now I'm pretty much relaxed, knowing what to expect, and being prepared for the worst. It goes away with more jumps and more knowledge of your gear. But I agree with others that a little fear is good... you are jumping out of an airplane!! I found that practicing my EPs and concentrating on a good approach to the door and subsequent exit took my mind off the jitters.

I had the same experience coming back after a three year hiatus, and was surprised to be looking forward to jumping out the door while on the way up, rather than questioning why I was even doing this! Come to think of it, I too had been previously jumping with my brother, who eventually gave up the sport, so the "doing it on your own" thing makes sense in my case too. However, I still check my gear a lot and practice emergency procedures at least twice on the way up... my new found relaxation did not lower my IQ

If some people are more nervous on the second jump, maybe it's because they now know what to expect, and remember it all too well! Myself, I trusted my tandem pilot and looked forward to my second tandem. I got the extra bonus of landing that jump in the the DZO's sub-division where a party was planned.

Exactly, I like the idea that an AAD could potentially save me from a mistake that I made like loss of altitude awareness, or fiddling too long with a hard pull, both of which are unlikely but yet possible. Having said that, I don't "rely" on it and would still jump without one.

That's what I thought when doing my first jump off student status... without the instructors and all the tasks to do, I looked at my altimeter and said "wow, I've got some time to kill"

Yes, I feel the same way, didn't finally try it until I was 37!

I was at 21 jumps and 3 years off from jumping... at my DZ all I needed was an AFF refresher with an instructor and one AFF dive at half price. Then I was good to go on my own again. Guess it depends on the DZ and the DZO.

My brother is bipolar and is on lithium (not sure about other meds). He has had two tandem jumps without incident and wants to start AFF.

I had a similar situation coming back to the sport after 3 years off. With only 21 jumps I was a little nervous about doing everything "right" and surviving my next jump. I dropped by the DZ late on a Saturday to talk to the DZO and watch some landings and packings... just to get the "feel" of it again. That actually reduced my anxiety a bit right there. Then the next morning, I took a short AFF refresher with a thorough instructor and he felt I was ready to go, so I was set up on the next load. That review reduced some anxiety as well which was slowly being replaced by confidence. We headed for the plane and everything came back to me as I rode up to altitude, including the anticipation buildup right to the door. But immediately after exiting, it all went away and I remembered why I came back in the first place. Problem solved. I found that practicing pulls and EP's in the plane and simply relaxing and breathing during freefall did wonders to balance my confidence/fear equation.