alphawolf

Thaks for the reply.
Nice to have another option available.

When I map it out though, Lake Wales is just a *tad* further at 51 miles. No biggie though as the other DZ's are mid 40's...they're all pretty close.

I lean towards SpaceCenter since I haven't been to the coast since I moved here.

Okie dokie.

SpaceCenter sounds cool. :)

Thanks!

I had an urge to go do a tandem jump again, which I did in Z-Hills.

In checking prices it seems I can swing the AFF 1 course.

I'm in Orlando proper and Zhills is much further from me than either Deland of SpaceCenter.

I prefer weekdays as I'm more busy on weekends.

I've run searched on both here and they both seem to have good reps.

So, which DZ to pick for AFF 1?

TIA

Nice reply, Jon.

Getting my parents involved. LOL. My Mother freaked out when I told her what I did.

And if you still have a Mom..what does or would she say when you tell her how much it is to do something many people would TOTALLY not do even if they were PAID to do it?

Really, it does not seem that bad compared to what you can get out of it.

I know people that have spent $10,000/yr just going to DisneyWorld a few times a year.

A good motorbike and track time/training isn't cheap either.

It's really a matter of how you want to live your life.

No worries. No quick decisions here. That is why I am here. I am still a ways off from even taking my AFF and I'm not moving to Florida until February/March.

It's all 1 step at a time.

Thanks, Brian. Yeah- I was just checking the online store that zhills has. Lots of goodies one can get.

Just wanted a ballpark figure for the future.

Hi all,

After one takes the AFF course, I see that ZHills FL lists regular jumps at $20 to 13,500 feet.

I suppose most everyone rents a basic system until they get enough jumps and know what they want?

Or is there a good beginners system one can buy?

Actually, is there an article or thread that recommends what one needs to purchase to get into the sport?

From looking at the gear pages and follwing links I get the impression to get well outfitted it would cost about $3k.

Is that realistic?

What are the actual real costs to get into the sport is my question after one takes the AFF course? :)

What does one typically rent per jump and what does one buy?

TIA

Thanks for all the replies, folks. I really appreciate it.

About the chest/wide shoulders thing- I have a 45 inch chest and broad shoulders.

I dunno- I tend to think since I experienced it once I'll be fine next time.

Yeah- I think the biggest rush will be my 1st solo jump. :)

Have a good week, folks!

JeepDiver,

Yeah- it was cool.

My fav part was tumbling around 'cos I kept my arms tucked in initially.

I'd much prefer to be on my own and able to move as I'd like. Those wing suits look SUPERCOOL. I wanna fly like Batman too! LOL.

I sorta like to control things in general...so for sure I must do it on my own.

skymama- It was during the freefall only. On the plane I was fine, once chute deployed I was fine.

Are you saying one should be able to breath normally during freefall?

I know it wasn't just me because the girl who was scared mentioned it on the gorund after the jump without me prompting her. She was petite and her suit fit her fine.

Adreniline thing. Hmm. I dunno. Maybe. I just recall wanting to take a nice breath in and with the pressure of the wind that seemed hard/impossible.

I am not a panic type person so I was just testing using my mouth then my nose...deep then shallow. Once I decided that was the way it was and I knew I was getting some air just figured that's the way it was.

Could have been nerves, but I took it that there is some special techinique to breathing during freefall.

Hey all,

Little over 3 weeks ago I did my tandem at Z-Hills in Florida. I live in NY now, but will be moving to Florida probably by March.
It was a bit chaotic there on a Sunday afternoon. They got me in on a 4PM jump though. At first I was going to jump with TK and I'm 215lbs so Iw as told we'd fall fast.

But then a more experienced jumper went with him and I jumped with- er...I forgot his name. But he was very calm and I felt confident with him.

I'm 33 and had cancer when i was 22, so I know it's better to try things and maybe regret than not do and always wonder...

So, I finally got around to it. None of the "thrill" rides really do much for me so i figured if jumpin' out of a plane at 13,500 feet didn't give me a WOW factor nothing would.

I wasn't nervous much...just anxious to get on with it.

We were last to leave the plane.

What sucked the most was that I'm a bigger guy than the dude I was hooked up to. So, when we had to get on our knees from the back of the plane and get to the door I was sorta taking a lot of his weight.

The XL Jumpsuit was pretty damn snug too- so that didn't help. I'm not fat, I go to the gym.

I honestly could not wait to leave the plane as my knees were killing me.

One thing I really wish they would have told us on the ground was the fact you really can't breath.

When we went out I did the arch and hand were tucked in, and lots of sensory overload. LOL.

My 1st impression was that I was surprised there wasn't much of a sensation of the ground coming up fast visually. We rolled a few times.

I tried to take a breath and sorta tensed up when I couldn't get a good breath. I tried more shallow breather though the nose and finally I determined this was normal and I'd be fine.

All the while I didn't realize the little dude was trying to get me to release my arms from my chest! He was pulling like a madman at my arms.



OH. Yeah. Release my arms! So, I did.

Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

I felt bad I had tumbled to the earth rolling around while little dude tried with no success to get me to release my arms. Oh, well.

After that it was smooth falling. I played with lowering my arms a bit and was surprised there wasn't as much force against them as I thought there'd be.

The view was FANTASTIC! he day was a perfect Florida day, low wind, bright sun, etc...

It went from violent free fall to perfect calm went he deployed the chute. WOW. It was so beautiful!!!

And I was SO calm dangling from the sky like that. I apologized to him straight away for not releasing my arms. He lied and said I did a great job.

Was surprised how easy it was to chit chat while the chute was deployed.

He explained we'll be landing be lifting out legs and sliding our ass onto the grass. The landing was Smoooooooooth as silk.

I didn't get any video or pics 'cos I knew I'd be back and would do it again.

There was a girl next to us in the plane and she was getting a video done. She seemed very nervous on the plane and I was trying to make small talk to calm her down.

When I landed I found her and asked how it was and she liked it, but complained about NOT BEING ABLE TO BREATH! Man, I was so glad it wasn't just me. We both agreed that SHOULD have been a very important point to make to 1st time jumpers.

I was high from my jump for a good 2 hours...on another planet.

I can't remeber specifics too much because it was too much to take in 1st time.

I don't like tandem. I think for me doing my own jump would be 10x more satisfying.

It's great Florida has a lot of good DZ's and I'll go through the courses as soon as I move there.

I was planning to get my Private Pilots License, but I'd rather get into sky diving more 1st.



I lok forward to getting into the sport more, and glad I found this place!

Regards,

AW