Should I just expect problems?

[jsaxton 0]

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Some interesting scenario discussion 'after hours' is why I always carry TWO hook knives and have for 25 years.

That one's too easy:
Because you just DROPPED the first one!

[JohnMitchell 16]

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On the other hand, I'm an experienced scuba diver, which helps me see many correlations between scuba and sky diving.

Skydiving and Scuba pretty much have the same basic concern . . . running out of air.

Hope you're enjoying your jumps.

[maestrabella67 0]

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Skydiving and Scuba pretty much have the same basic concern . . . running out of air.

Hope you're enjoying your jumps.

That's a good one!
Yes, I have been enjoying my jumps... AFF 1 was awesome! #2 not so hot, #3 better than 2 definitely. I'm having knee drop issues during free fall but I will get them sorted out. I kinda have to if I want to continue.

Thanks.

[tbrown 26]

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There is an old skydiving saying: "there are two kinds of jumpers, those that have had a malfunction and those tht will". So unlike SCUBA where you prepare for a POSSIBLE problem in skydiving you prepare for an EVENTUAL problem"

Hmmm....well, first of all, maestrabella67, have you ever encountered a problem while scuba diving ? It seems to me that whether scuba or skydiving, the more you do either one, the greater your chances of eventually encountering a problem. Both sports take us to places we would ordinarily not be able to survive without our equipment and a cool head to keep on top of things.

I returned to jumping after a very long (22 year) break, and during my first few jumps back, mostly in the first month or so, found myself thinking on the plane ride up, "Do I really want to be doing this again ? It's only a matter of time before I'll have to do a cutaway and trust my reserve to save me".

It's lind of a personal choice as to what you want to make of it. As a scuba diver you have more time to react, so long as you don't completely run out of air. Even if you do have to beat a hasty retreat to the surface, you can always hope to get to a hyperbaric chamber where things can be made right. In freefall, we get down to 2 - 3 grand, where we're only 11 - 16.5 seconds from a collision with the planet. Which isn't as bad as it sounds, if you consider how many times you come that close to a collision on the freeway. It's just that thing that gravity doesn't respect any time outs, the ground just keeps getting bigger and bigger, faster and faster, until you either get something open or go in.

I don't think either one of these sports are for just anyone. They're both for the people who really want to be there. Because the other thing they have in common is being weightless in a world of incredible beauty that most people can't even imagine. I can't say that we're really "willing" to pay the price to be there, but sky & scuba divers both feel we can control the odds enough in our favor to make it worthwhile for the rewards we get.

If you're just getting into skydiving, you are confronting some very real feelings about just what it is you're doing. Falling and loud noises are supposedly the only two things we're instinctively afraid of from birth, and skydiving's got them both. I haven't been scuba diving, so I can't really say what it feels like to be breathing under water - and relying on equipment that allows me to do that.

But skydiving can be an incredibly spooky thing to get used to. Most of us get used to it soon enough that we learn to deal with it, but I don't think the fear ever quite goes away. But for the most part, we don't feel resigned to inevitably having to deal with a problem. Those of us who stick with the sport are having too much fun with it, while we're prepared to deal with a problem if things go wrong. And if we're not enjoying it, or if the prospect of having a problem weighs too heavily on our minds, we get out of the sport. A lot of people do - I did myself back in 1980.

In the end, it's an extremely personal equation, with variables that can change at any time.

Your humble servant.....Professor Gravity !

[Pulse 0]

I too SCUBA and skydive. In regards to emergency situations I go about it the same. YES, expect problems and work to guard yourself against them. This also goes for flying, driving, playing with fireworks, cooking over open flame, etc...

As an instructor told me once and I now tell others, "ALWAYS expect a malfunction until you're parachute proves you wrong." Expecting something that doesn't happen is always better than having the unexpected thrown in your face when you're not ready.

"Any language where the unassuming word fly signifies an annoying insect, a means of travel, and a critical part of a gentleman's apparel is clearly asking to be mangled."