Dobbo049

Ok well I'll look into that too :) Deffinatly another option. Thanks for all your suggestions

Thanks :D I think that's the path I'm going to head down. Ill look into doing it in the USA but I can't see how it would be cheaper to do the course, fly there and back, accommodation and food than it would b to do it closer to home :)

Thanks, cost isn't a big issue, but if I'm going to do the full course I cant really afford to do lots of other things too. And if I'm going to start the course I want to Finnish it. If I can't complete it because of lack of time and funds there's a good chance I might not be able to continue until next year and I don't want to leave that much of a gap between courses or I'll end up going backwards. Like I said I'm going to go to the DZ soon and have a chat n see what they recommend.

Oh HA! I didn't realise the other one was bedford, that's closer anyway. I've seen the MK one so that one came to mind first :) I'll check one of them out. I'm thinking of going down to the drop zone at some point too to see what they recommend. Thanks or all the advice

Ok, well like I said there's a wind tunnel not to far from me and it would club cheaper than a tandem to do so I'll look into that :) Thanks

Thanks Yeh I realise now I'm asking a lot. And It seems to be that the best way to answer my questions is to get out there n do it. Problem is I cant afford to do everything, it is for my birthday after all and I was hoping to do it without having to invest too much of my own money, I cant afford to do wind tunnel, static line and the course. I am pretty serious about doing it but I guess there will always be a chance that I don't like it. Maybe I should just do AFF level 1 and see how it goes? or find out what the consequence's are of backing out of the course if I where to feel I really didn't like it. I'm not going to deny that I wont get really nervous and stressed the first time, because I probably will, but maybe sometimes In a situation like this, the first time is the hardest? I've never been one to give up very easily, I'll stay up all night just to get something to work properly. I honestly think I would have to really HATE it to want to give up straight away, I'll give it a damn good go first. And I cant think of any reason why I wouldn't like it but I understand some people react in unpredictable ways. I guess I just gotta try it?

Actually I was going to ask about that, is it worth doing to you think if I'm not going to bother with a tandem? I have family in Milton Keynes so I go there quite regularly, I have actually seen the one there several times. It's at the xscape indoor snow slope. Thanks for the suggestion.

Ahh cool, yeh I'm from Bury St Edmunds, still a bit of a trek for me but there doesn't seem to be any Immediate close ones too me.

Again, id love to do it in a different country. The issue with doing it sooner is that It is still supposed to be for my birthday, so I cant really have my birthday sooner :P Also I'm no immediate rush as I probably wont be able to afford to get my own gear this year. I'm definitely looking closely into doing it at beccles though, have you been there then? I think a friend of mine done a charity jump there, I might have a chat with her at some point.

I love to come to Norway one day but probably not very practical considering we where suggesting finding somewhere closer than 3-4 hours :P Yeh well I've been to Beccles before, obviously not for skydiving but for other reasons, its not that far from me. To be honest I didn't even know they did it there. Yeh UK weather can be shocking, that's why I'm planning to go around my birthday in June, June is always where our summer is, after that it seems to go down hill, but with England there will never be a guarantee of perfect weather, I don't mind waiting as long as they take that into consideration. :)

To be honest I need to do a bit more research on the ones local to me, I ran some searches for skydiving schools before I found this site and realised it was such a good database for drop zones :P So naturally I stuck with the one I landed on, but I will definitely look at closer ones. Thanks for pointing it out :) Added: Yeh sorry, update that. My closest one would be beckles, this is there site. they seem to offer it for a much better price actually too. http://www.ukparachuting.co.uk/tandem/aff-courses Amateur move

Thanks for the reply! very helpful. Cost isnt a huge issue but obviously its not "cheap" so If I can save money by avoiding a tandem jump as well as the training I would. I was looking at static line but I think I would prefer to do the full AFF course, take a look at my last post to see what I was looking at. Its not surprising people do it in Spain, in fact the company I was planning on doing it with have a separate branch in Spain which they also recommend using. So I will definitely look into doing it in spain, England isn't great weather wise but It would be around my birthday in June and June is usually the best time for clear skies in the UK. So Fingers crossed if I go through with it.

Thanks for the replies, The DZ that caught my attention was still 3-4 hour drive away. Hence why I was thinking about doing the intensive course, they provide accommodation. This is what I was looking at doing . . http://www.skydiving.co.uk/Accelerated1week.htm But you think It would be better to do the courses separately over a longer period of time? Thanks

Hello! I'm new here, this if my first post, so please go easy on me :D I'm Stuart, I live in the UK, I'm 20 years old, I work in agriculture, I'm also training to become a tree surgeon and I am a skydiving virgin! Skydiving has always fascinated me, ever since I was a little child I always got those mini toys that you could throw out the window and they would parachute down to the ground. I had an action man once but I think the size of the parachute was a little out of proportion to the size and weight of the action man . . . it kind of “fell” to the ground. :/ Anyway I've always wanted to do it but I've never been that excited about doing a tandem jump. I think it’s just the combination of being strapped to a bloke and him doing all the work (excuse the way I put that, haha), I'm the kind of person who enjoys doing it myself, I'd be just as excited about learning how it all works than free-falling from the sky. It will be my 21st this June and I've been playing with the idea of doing an intensive week 8 level + 10 consolidation jump course. I'm fairly certain I will LOVE it, I've always been a bit of a speed freak, I'm ok with height’s, I love the buzz of adrenaline you get from doing exciting things and all In all I just cannot think of a single reason why I wouldn't like it. I don’t enjoy sports like football and rugby so I want a sport that excites me. I will probably crap myself the first time but that will be the case whatever, I bet most people where scared the first time. :P But as I said I am new to this, I've not done it before and I was hoping to get some advice and questions answered . . . Firstly . . Is it a good idea to jump straight into the course, or should I maybe consider doing a tandem jump first? I won't be able to afford to do everything for my birthday so I would rather skip it. Secondly . . Once I've completed the course (plus 10 consolidation jumps) can I simply go to any dropzone, anywhere in the world, show my license and do a jump for a small charge? Or can you become a member to some clubs and jump when you want? or is it not as simple as that? Do they expect you to complete their own course and stuff? To put it short, if I where to go on holiday and find there was a dropzone nearby I’d like to be able to turn up or phone in and book ahead then get there and be able to jump. How does it work? Third . . If I were to do the consolidation jumps separately, do you need to complete them within a certain amount of time? If so, what are the consequences if you don’t? Forth . . On the same subject I won’t be getting my own gear for a while, do most places let you hire equipment? Or if doing a solo jump do they expect you to have you own? Fifth . . Once you have your license are you clear forever? or are you expected to take regular refresher courses to renew it? My last question is about safety. All in all it doesn’t really worry me, I mean I’m training to become a tree surgeon, climbing trees and slinging a chainsaw around isn’t exactly the safest occupation to be in. Compared to that skydiving probably isn’t that bad. But anyone would be a fool to ignore it. I wanted to hear from any personal experiences, how many jumps have you done? have you ever had to use your reserve or AAD? And why? Was it through complete fault of your own and you will never make the mistake again? Or was it through a complete unforeseeable malfunction of your kit? Has you or anyone you know had any mild or serious accidents? (please don't feel you have to talk about it if you are uncomfortable to do so) Thanks for reading, I hope some of you can answer my questions and maybe give me some advice :) Stuart