AdrenalineBluez

I applaud your dedication and support for your wife... With that being said I can share what I have learned having a non-skydiving spouse. My participation in skydiving initially made her a basket case. I attempted everything under the sun to ease her mind yet make sure she was aware of the risk involved. All of it pretty much to no avail. In the end it really was not anything I said or did that started to make a difference. What did help the most is just what many have reccomended already. I took her to the DZ and I took her often. In the course of making some new friends she began to explore the sport on her own. She still to this day has no desire to jump. However, she does know a good deal about the sport for someone who doesn't jump.That knowledge was the best solution to her anxiety. While she still recognizes that skydiving has an inherant amount of risk she has become familiar with the various pieces of equipment and procedures that skydivers use and perform to mitigate as much risk as possible. So in this humble and low timers opinion... You will do yourself the most good by going to the DZ with your wife. I can promise you at the very least you will meet some new and interesting people. You will come to find out skydivers are a very tight family and for the most part do our very best to look out for each other. You will learn a good deal about how the gear works and why it works by simply observing and listening in to the chat. You can learn even more by asking a few questions. Who knows you might even have some fun while doing it "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

To answer you question about how long it took to over come the fear after my first chop. I had a cutaway on the sunset load and was on the second load of night jumps a couple hours later.. However, after my first chop I always had something nagging me about my gear... I hadn't been packing my gear and as a matter of fact I hadn't packed my mal. So I was always wondering what was in the bag... If you aren't packing for yourself. Learn!!! It solved my gear fear problem and has made jumping a whole lot more fun... With that being said, getting with your rigger as mentioned above is the best advice there is for learning you gear... As with anything else "knowledge" is power... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

There are some people that roll through AFF without repeating any of the jumps. Those people are the exception to the rule. Quite a few people end up repeating at least one jump. For me, I repeated two jumps... With that being people don't "fail" AFF levels. A student has X number of tasks (TLO's) to complete at any level of AFF. The instructor has the very tough job of training his student to successfully complete these tasks as well as maintain body position/atlitude awareness etc etc. With some students it sticks with others it doesnt. If you don't complete the learning objectives, your body position is out of whack, you lose alti awareness etc etc you repeat the level. It isn't failure but rather the instructors call. You are not failing but rather being given another chance to work on skills that in the end are the things that make you safe and keep you alive. He/She is ultimately responsible for turning out a student that is equipped with the skills to be a safe individual while on self supervised student status and beyond. Don't be so hard on yourself. You didn't get the "Take up Golf" speech. So you instructors probably see you as a good skydiver in the future. Relax a lot of people have some difficulty in AFF. Have fun while you are at it After all that is why you jump isn't it? As a side note: You can see by my #'s I am not a guru on the sport. However, I have been there done that with problematic AFF jumps. Trust me it gets better... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

Try to get anything I can over their head until 2k. However, at my skill level this is unlikely... I have seen enough AFF video of flailing students to know that it takes a skill I don't currently possess to pull off a manuever like that... "I have no friends below 2k" It sounds cruel but facts are facts and a hard deck is a hard deck... So to answer the question. I hope they have an AAD... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

I don't bring up jumping to my non-jumping friends. I will provide information is queried but thats about it. A handful of people in the last two years have made the "I have always wanted to try that" comment. At that point I will offer up the DZ# and offer to go with them. It is up to them to "make the leap". So far our sitter is the only one out of about 50 that has gone and done a tandem. So no, I don't encourage or discourage it until they have committed to doing it themselves. "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

Great helmet!!! The visor is the only draw back to me... I change mine pretty often because they scratch up and get cloudy so easily. It seems the square holes in the lens that the ratchet fittings go in to are most often the culprit to making a the change a pain in the a**. So have an exacto knife handy to fine trim the holes... The best method I have found is to put one side on with the visor in the closed position. Get it snugged down some then start working your way around to the other side taping it in place at the bottom edge. Use the plastic the replacement came in or saran wrap to keep from getting tape residue on the lens. If you make sure to get the pseudo seal snug all the way to the other side you should be able to just screw it down. Takes me about 5 minutes to do. As a side note I order them in lots of 3 or 4 incase I have a mishap or so they are on hand to avoid shipping wait times. Good luck... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

Vans are just what I always seem to have on my feet... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

As of last Saturday I had not jumped in 8 months and 12 days. For some reason I hit the wall with fear. At almost 160 jumps it finally shut me down and I turned my back on the sport for lack of knowing how to over come it. It was a tough battle getting back. However, I am back. I made a couple of jumps on Saturday and I heave never felt as good in my life as I do right now!!!! Nothing really mind blowing here information wise. I just wanted to say thanks. To the staff at Skydive San Diego. In particular Patrick. Without him I can seriously say I would not have made it back. To my Bro Butch... Man you are the best!!! Thanks for sticking it out even when things looked pretty grim for me making a return.. To Eric thanks for the support man. Hopefully the world has stopped spinning today... To my wife who sucked it up when I shut the world off because I was broken... I LOVE YOU!!! To Brian Germain who's book and words of wisdom provided the final key to unlocking the door... Relax... Focus... Flow... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

I had just purchased a full face helmet (Oxygn A3). At the time I had about 5 or 6 jumps on it. I was only 20 or so jumps in to the sport as well. I was so excited come time to exit I forgot to put the face shield down. As luck would have it it didn't rip off on exit. Since I wasn't licensed I was solo, and had time to deal with it. It had to have been comical if anyone saw me flip flopping all over the sky. I would get it closed and it would pop back open. I was upside down, or on my back, or any other position I could think of to get it to seat. It finally did... The rest of the skydive was uneventful... P.S. You would think I would have learned my lesson. But I have since done it again. Still have not lost a visor tho.. Props to the guys that build em... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

Or the old military version I picked up with 7 P's Proper Planning Prevents Painfully Piss Poor Performance "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

The customer service is SLOW to say the least. I ordered one and it took over 11 weeks. Which I understand is fast. Mine was a little large, which was ok because I got a little larger. However, out of the three I have seen ordered mine was closest in fit. One the other hand after some effort both of the other two were replaced and fit fine the second time around. For some reason they like to ship them either way too small or way too large. I know for mine I was measured three times and one of them was by a rigger that is used to ordering suits. So..... On the other hand I have 150+ jumps on mine and not a single sign of wear... Mine held up very well. Not the case for one of the two others it fell apart in a hurry... Again it was replaced and has held up over another 100 jumps just fine. You can cancel your order. Though it is tuff to do when you can't contact them. Contacting them is hit and miss at best. Or you can wait it out.. You might end up with a suit that works and holds up. I look at it this way. It was inexpensive and has done ok by me. Would I do it again? No... Am I ok with the product I got? Yes... All in all they arent bad suits when they are done well... The problem is they can show up junk or ok.. You just never know... Good luck... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

I served a decade and a half in the Navy. After more knee surgeries than I care to count the Navy finally got tired of putting Humpty Dumpty back together again and put me out. At first I was terrified. I didn't know anything else!!! What the hell am I gonna do??? It was panic. I had other skills and I knew it but the apprehension was there. Then I got the pipe dream. I can go make ass loads of money!!! Yeah I am a computer wizard the civillian sector is going to be the place to be... WRONG!!!! Errrrrrrr Ok RIGHT!!!! Things to be aware of. 1. My salary now is about 20K more a year than your E-6 with 14 makes. The checks are about 100 dollars and some change less than my E-6 checks. The taxes you DONT pay on your BAH make a huge difference. So know that you need to see a lot more cash in the civilliam sector to take home what you do now in the military. 2. Medical insurance. You can pretty much rip a limb off in the military and they will put you back together and send you on your way. Civillian coverage it aint that way from most employers. Co-pays, or only getting full coverage until you have covered "x" amount out of your pocket. 3. You now have to buy your own work clothes. Sure our uniform allowance wasnt much. However, uniforms made going to work easy. You didnt have to think about what to wear. I loved that... Cripes I am so fashion challenged I have to let my wife dress me... There are a lot of other little factors to consider. All or none of which may be important to you. You said you enjoyed the security. That is a big thing. However, with a good education and job experience you can virtually rest assured that as long as you apply yourself in the civillian sector there is security to be had.

Fresh out of AFF and not quite to my "A" License I went up for a solo. On the same load is a close friend I started AFF with. He was in the habit of opening a little lower than I did at that point so he usually exited first. Well today I wanted him to tell me how my exit looked so I would go first. The dive was uneventful. However, when I dumped at the planned 5k (which we both agree'd to) and looked up to watch my main open. "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm wazzat body in free fall doing RIGHT THERE???" I actually heard and felt the sound as my buddy whizzed by me and my still snivleing canopy close enough I could have kicked him... The bigger realization was that I either slid under him or he slid over me in free fall. Because at opening he actually ended up back up jump run further than me. Just goes to show at that level you have no idea how much you are really moving around in the sky. I wont touch on the alti awareness thing either. Embarrassing story to tell to say the least. Scary as hell ta boot... Deffinately lucky to be alive.... And one of the driving forces behind me being such a huge seperation nazi... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

I voted no... Aside from the obvious saftey issues I am not going to hose a pilot or his ratings so I can cloud bust... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"

It is a scene from the movie Endless Summer II. They are flying in to some surf spot in Costa Rica or something like that. Not sure weather or not Bruce Brown grabbed it from somewhere else and put it in there for humor or it really happened during filming though... "Uh oh! This is gonna hurt!"