moriarty

Ive never done any jumps (i'm just looking to get started here) but I do have a number of other 'dangerous' activities that I participate in (Motorcycling, Scuba diving and Snowboarding to name but three). I also have friends from these activities who have responsibilities like you (children, infirm spouses etc) and they are just as committed to their sports as I hope you (and I) will be to this. I would say, though, that your guilt is not manufactured by yourself, rather it is a product of the fear and ignorance of others. Tell someone you want to jump out of a plane and regardless of how safe it actually is, all they will hear is of you jumping out of a plane and falling back to earth. They may also come out with the story that someone they 'knew' died whilst skydiving (rubbish) or that they saw a skydiving death reported on the telly (It's probably so rare that its been newsworthy). If you seek to educate these people, you may not get very far. Even though other 'safer' sports such as running or horseriding actually have a much higher proportion of injuries per head, my experiences tell me that this kind of argument is had at an emotional level - one you will have to rise above. You shouldn't feel guilty - you should feel good that your children have a mother who values experience above mollycoddling and has the guts to back those values up. Matt

Hey all. Went to Amsterdam for new years with a group of friends and while under the influence of alcohol, friendship and, er, fine spirits, I made my new years resolution - by the end of the year I will be able to jump out of a perfectly good aeroplane and take the short route back to the bar (well, it helps when you've got a thirst on). I've had a bit of a nose around the forum here and this looks like as good a body of knowledge as one could hope to find. So you get the questions. Well not really questions, more the sort of discussion points a new chap would want your opinion on. Static line vs AFF - I've seen a report on one site that said it may be cheaper to complete the static line course and then transfer to the AFF system as it allows you to bypass the expensive first few levels (especially if you need to re-take anything). Anyone got an opinion on this? Great Britain vs Johnny Foreigner - Been looking for prices and it seems that the UK is one of the more expensive places to train. In fact, based on the assumption that I'll not need to retake anything, The most conveniently located course for me is nearly £1000 more expensive than the same course in South Africa (for example). My thinking is that if there is no difference in the quality of the teaching, I might as well learn to jump in a country where they take their Rugby seriously and have a jolly nice holiday for free. Any suggestions/recommendations/horror stories? Burnin for learnin - I've heard that some foreign based courses (such as the ones run by our American cousins) do not contain all the relevant requirements for jumping in the UK (where I'd probably jump regularly following qualification). Apart from America, are there any other countries that have significantly differing standards from 'the rest'? The importance of being regular - So how often do y'all go jumpin' then? Three jumps every other Saturday? Six times a day, seven days a week? Thanks in advance for any responses, Keen of Islington.