How did you start skydiving?

[Jessica 0]

You still suck donkey balls though!

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I'm going skydiving Friday!!

What about Sunday? I'll be there then.

Skydiving is for cool people only

[racer42 0]

That's so sweet. See you Sunday.

L.A.S.T. #24
Co-Founder Biscuit Brothers Freefly Team
Electric Toaster #3
Co-Founder Team Non Sequitor
Co-Founder Team Happy Sock

[jraf 0]

Having done about everything else aside from surfing it was time for skydiving. Found ZHills on the Florida.com web site. Signed up for AFF, went to grab a drink at the Orlando Ale House on Kirkman and wound up drinking well over 12 beers. Next day at 11 AM phone rings asking if I will make it to the DZ. Well I was supposed to be there at 8 AM so I figurted next week.

Next week I drove out friday night to be there on satyrday morning, drank a six pack at the DZ and woke up more or less (I think less though) in time for the AFF course. Too much wind that day though. That evening drank about 10 beers went to sleep.

Next morning I woke up, did refresher got on the plane and exited at altitude. There were two strange guys flying around me, but OK it's not my private air space. I was scared shitlless, but I paid for it.

Now I know what to be scared of. The jumping is nothing. The drinking at the DZ is REALLY scary!

jraf

Me Jungleman! Me have large Babalui.
Muff #3275

[splittail1 0]

Do you remember those Nike/rebok commercials where they were bungee jumping? Well, I was a kid at the time and was watching one when my dad asked me if I would rather skydive or bungee jump. the idea had never crossed my mind but I immediately knew I would rather skydive and got an itch to do it right then so I put it on my life list of things to do.

Then, me and a childhood friend made a deal we would go at 18... so we finally got up the nerve at 20 and went for a tandem.

A couple of weeks later, still high from the jump and feeling as though I should go by myself to complete the task, I was at a Niners game with a high school buddy, Sebazz, telling him about it and we made arrangements to go in a couple of weeks for our AFF level one. We invited our friend CellJumper and one thing led to another and we all fell in love with it.

[scottbre 0]

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How did you start skydiving?

I let go of the strut of a Cessna 182.

"Your mother's full of stupidjuice!"
My Art Project

[dzdiva 7]

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I let go of the strut of a Cessna 182

On purpose?!?

"It's not just a daydream if you choose to make it your life..."

[lurch 0]

At the end of the class, I had a choice between a cool-looking certificate and a logbook. I took the logbook.


LMAO....
You took the Red pill.
I wonder how you deal with it if you're one of those who took the Blue pill? Didn't finish jump school? Walked away?
(horror) Settle for ordinary reality? Never!

Live and learn... or die, and teach by example.

[eddytheeagle 0]

As a small kid I saw a parachutist land in a tree on a demo . That got me interested, and many, years later, I decided I wanted to have a fun holiday, so I went skydiving. After my first jump, I knew I was hooked

Don't underestimate your ability to screw up!

[Islandcool 0]

I'm a little kid playing on the ballfield in Kona on the Big Island. All of a sudden I look up and there are 4 or so canopies flying around. Bright pretty colors. They land and go into one of the pavillions to pack. They drive off and a plane flies over again and once again canopies open and the same thing happens. I am just in awe. They jumped all day. I stay there all day just watching and waiting. There was no dropzone in Kona. So I didn't get to see it too much. Any time skydiving was around I'd check it out. I was always heavy and couldn't do it. I forgot about it because it was one of those things that just wasn't going to happen at my weight. 23 months ago I get a gastric bypass. I loose a bunch of weight. Little over 5 months ago I drive to Skydive San Diego to sight see and get some info. I look at the prices for AFF and I'm waffling if I should do it or not. Should I be responsible with my money and save it for something really important...blah blah whine whine. A tandem lands and the guy just falls on back on the ground. He's moving around but I can tell that he was glad to be on the ground. The instructor and video guy are laughing and shaking hands with the guy. I ask the woman next to me is you friend ok? She says yes but I think he's a bit overwhelmed. She then says he has brain cancer. He gets up and the instructor takes him by the arm and helps him walk off the landing area. I see the scars on his head from the operations. I say fuck it. This guy is going to die and he's living life what the fuck am I whining about. I go straight to the bank pull out the cash and I jumped the next day. Absolutely the greatest thing I have ever done for myself if fufill a childhood dream.
Ed

[suz 0]

Last September, the guy I really fancied asked if I wanted to come and watch him jump outta plane. I thought that I'd be sitting on some deserted beach, in the hot sun waiting for him to land...
Turned out that he'd invited me to the North Queensland Champs. I had just received back my tax check, so it was a perfect time for me to do a tandem. It was my very first time I was ever in a plane, just the thrill and excitement of the whole event made me come back for more.
I'm no longer seeing that guy, but we're really good mates now.

Don't bother me, I'm living happily ever after

[skymick 0]

I cant remember what triggered em to want to go skydiving, I remember I always wanted to do it when I was about 16 but my parents talked me out of it (they must fo thought it was a phase I was going through and would forget about it ) and for a while I forgot about it, but one day 2 years later I was at home bored shitless and thought..."might go for a jump" and booked in for SL that w/e.

I did S/L for the next nine months...every time Id dive down to the DZ id be wishing it wouldm start raining for the wind will pick up so I wouldnt have to jump..Id be abosoutely scared shitless! I ended up giving up after a few scary jumps and did 2 tandems over the next 2 years. In Janurary I came back and did AFF and been going hard ever since

[skygod7777 0]

well, i had always wanted to ever since i can remember (i grew up at a dz). and i had been asking for a year or so, and we had a guy lined up to take me on a tandem (i was only 7), and then he died in a airplane crash. but then a good friend of my dad's decided he would take me. and sure enough, on mothers day i made my first skydive at 7 years old.

now, when i started going by myself was at 11. i had been asking for about a year again, and it was always on parent sending me to the other for them to say no.

well, one day, i sat down next to my mom, and said "hey, you going to let me jump today", and she just sat there for a miniute, looking off into space (and i'm thinking that i was about to hear no, or go ask you father, and that would always be no) and then just says "sure, go tell you dad i said you could". and when i did, he had to go talk to her, he didn't even believe me (hehe, i had tried this once or twice
that's how i got started.

later

[AirMail 0]

I guess I had wanted to skydive for quite a while. When I moved to Buffalo I decided I wanted to make some changes in my life. Then my wife of 30 years decided she was moving to CA forever so I called my cuz at Marana and arranged a trip. My son also wanted to jump so we met there and did our first tandems from Marana's Cessna the same day. Before I reached the ground I knew I would be jumping for the rest of my life. That was May 15, 2002 and I now have 63 jumps. I hope to have 163 by the end of this season. I wish now I had started this adventure 30 years ago.

Patrick

--
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
Postal Rodriguez, Muff 3342

[jdfreefly 1]

I was delivering pizza in a shore town in south jersey. There was this house that always had partys, half the people living there were girls, half were guys. One night, when I delivered, one of the girls, who was really hot, asked me if I wanted to stop by when I got off work. Needless to say I stopped in after work.

The girl turned out to be a druggie loser, but I became drinking buddies with one of the guys in the house. One night, drunk out of our minds, I notice a Parachutist magazine sitting on the table. I enquired and he answered.

Not only was he a jumper, but he worked at the dropzone on the weekends. I went and did a tandem a couple of days later.

About a year after that, it was America's Cup at Crosskeys. I lifted my head out of the tandem canopy I was packing, it was already my 20th tandem pack that day, looked at him and said, "all I did was deliver a fucking pizza!" He still laughs about that one.

Over 900 jumps later, and almost 6 years. Life is good.

Methane Freefly - got stink?

[Snowbird 0]

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"all I did was deliver a fucking pizza!"

That was SOME pizza!

Let's see. Dreamed about flying all my life? Yup. Watched parasailing on the lake and wanted to do it on the highest rope, but was only 12 and couldn't? Yup. Thought the best superpower Superman had was flying? Yup.

But I wasn't athletic or a risk taker or 'cool', and I worked a typical J.O.B. that barely made ends meet. The itch to do something WOW was always there though. I tried SCUBA, not my thing. I like rockclimbing, but only occasionally. Got into jiu-jitsu, loved it and dedicated myself to it for several years but when the local dojo closed I was left high and dry.

Life was a rut, I needed to shake things up. My dad had died and left me with many questions about life. Work sucked. I felt under-educated. I was even questioning my marriage. So what's a girl to do as her 30th birthday approaches? Tell everyone that all she wants is to go skydiving.

September 14th, 2001. I have the option of a tandem or the FJC. But a little voice tells me that this isn't a one-time deal so I take the FJC to avoid paying the big bucks twice. Little did I know...

FJC $170
Student progression $ don't ask I repeated a lot of paper pulls...
My own gear $3000
The best 17 months (and counting) of my life? priceless.

Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
-Robert A. Heinlein

[vmsfreaky1 0]

I saw some sort of doco when i was about nine with wind tunnels and ppl jumping from DC-3's...i thought they were floating! and they had big baggie jumpsuits (which i thought was cool) then when i was MUCH older some friends went for a tandem and i thought id go as well....never thought i'd continue with it, but as soon as that canopy opened i asked if i could sign up for AFF! loved everything about it ever since....

[jtval 0]

how did I start skydiving?


I tripped!

My photos

My Videos

[Unstable 9]

HELL, i've known i've wanted to jump since i was 5. this wasn't a question i had in mind. As soon as i turned 18, a buddy of mine from my phys lab up at KState and i took the FJC, and it was everything i've been dreaming about. No chance i'll be quitting anytime soon!

s. smith
manhappening kansas

"One time, i heard your dad went into the resturant, and he ate all the food in the resturant, and they had to close the resturant" - ralph wiggam

=========Shaun ==========

[n2skdvn 0]

kansas cool i was born in topeka! nice to meet ya!

if my calculations are correct SLINKY + ESCULATOR = EVERLASTING FUN
my site

[MC208B 0]

I painted myself into a corner at work. The PDX pilot supervisor for the company I work for was bullshitting about jumping ( he had about 3,000 jumps then) and I said so what? He said "put you money where your mouth is" and I did. Made a tandem with him shortly thereafter and then took the FJC a month or so later.

I've been flying airplanes since I was a little kid and thought that people that jump out of them are crazy, and I am right!

Then again, jumpers are the best, most interesting people I have met in my life!

[MrHixxx 0]

My little sister bought me three tandems when I went to her winging in Pensacola in '97. First jump: sunset tandem over the white sandy beaches of Perdido Key into the Florabama Bar and Grill. We have both been hooked ever since...

-Hixxx

death,as men call him, ends what they call men
-but beauty is more now than dying’s when

[TheBile 0]

I've always wanted to try skydiving for as long as I can remember. I always thought it looked so cool, but I also thought that it was one of those exclusive sports where you had to know somebody to get in to it. That misperception married with the expense on the sport meant that I kept putting it off.

When I was 28 I made a promise to myself that I would do it before I turned 30. I did my first jump 5 months before my 30th birthday.

My only regret is that I didn't take up the sport when I was younger and had less financial responsibilities. Now I feel I don't have enough time left to get good at it.

My sinister side also likes the look of horror and concern on my parents face when I told then the details of my jumps. My mother originally thought I was doing an S/L jump which was scary enough for her. When I showed what the first AFF jump was actually like she turned white.

Gerb

I stir feelings in others they themselves don't understand. KA'CHOW !

[Amazon 7]

I did my first jumps compliments of the USAF. At the time it was a whole $55 extra a month and so I volunteered for 3 weeks of fun with the Army at Ft. Benning. That was very early spring of 1975. I got my jump wings after the 5 jumps, and went back to my base. I wanted to try freefall so I would not have to be hooked up via dope rope on every jump. The local dropzone was out to the west of Homestead FL with the gators and a long haired guy named Tom Manning was kind enough to show me how to throw my body out of airplanes. I ended up making about 100 or so jumps there before I was transferred. I kept it up for about 4 years after that then stopped for way too long. Hey stuff happened, life intruded and did not jump for 22 years. I started jumping again on the Ides of March 2003, and even with the pitifull weather in Seattle have made about 20 jumps in a little over a month. All this new gear needs to be jumped to break it in. I managed to actually fly to someone and get grips in my 5th jump back so I guess you do not totally lose your flight skillz. Now I just have to learn all this new kewl stuff. I actually managed a sitfly for a bit last weekend. Freefly is fun. Even for little old ladies
Lots more to come.

Amazon

[kallend 2,026]

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I started on 2 May 1998 because I was headed to a "Airborne" Unit and wanted to know what it was going to be like. Talk about loving it. The people on the DZ made it so much better. 2 yeas and 350 jumps later, I get to go to Airborne School at Ft. Benning. Ouch, I now know what a PLF is. I know that if I have a hard/bad landing, I'll walk away because of what they teach you. Feet and knees together and it will be OK.

Hi Patrick! Nice to see you (although we are unworthy).

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[ozthebum 0]

When I was growing up (9 or 10 maybe), I lived in a town called Modesto in Ca. Everyother weekend my Dad and I would stop in at the Lodi dropzone on the way to his house. That's where I decided that I someday was going to skydive. Zoom ahead in time to 2002, I was TDY to MacDill Fl, and one Friday I was walking from work to pick up a rental car for the weekend. I heard a plane fly overhead and looked upward as I usually do. It was at that exact moment that I saw a half a dozen dudes going static line out the back of a C-130, and I said to myself..."Self, that is pretty fuckin cool! Maybe I should finally try it."
After I got home from work I looked in the yellow pages and called up the first DZ I found (Z-hills). The next day I was jumping out of a plane. About six months later I was able to jump at Lodi, seeing the DZ from "the other side of the fence" was the best thing that has happened in my life so far.