I'm deliberately leaving out details that don't affect the story, but would make it obvious where this was. That's not necessary to the story. I'm not naming names, and I never will. That's not what this is about. I just want to share this question and get other people's insight. West Coast dropzone. A few weeks ago. Weather is pretty bad all day. Very few people jumping, most old-timers staying on the ground. Finally clears up late in the afternoon, but there's a thunderstorm moving in off in the distance. Group puts together a 10-way, invites someone on it. He's a relatively low-timer, a few hundred or so jumps. He looks at the coming storm, declines. They go and do their jump anyway, works perfectly, no problems landing. Within five minutes of getting back on the ground, rain storm moves in. They're all celebrating a great jump, watching the video, "beating the rain." "You should have come - it was great! There was no storm! You should have come with us!" Despite everyone who talks about how they'd rather be on the ground wishing they were in the air, is there still a level of "oh, you didn't jump, everyone else did, you're a wuss" in this sport, despite everyone claiming that's not the case? I believe so. But am I wrong? I could be. I think there's still level of "safety is boring" or even "risk it, it's more fun" in this sport, that although rarely seen, does appear from time to time. And I hope it's not the kind of attitude that could wind up killing those more impressionable. What happens if the weather turns bad - or the storm picks up speed, and a low-timer, coerced into taking the jump, can't handle the turbulence, or can't reinflate his partially collapsed canopy? Are we looking at an undiscussed problem, or am I just making something out of a nothing?
