bored with the sport

[mwabd1 0]

So as I sit and sip my tasty beverage I must ask.....how do you deal with getting bored in this sport?

For those that do not think that it can happen, just ask someone, it happens. I used to just try to scare myself and get the heart pumping but that does not do it anymore.

I was hooked from the start but spent many years doing tandem videos and i do blame that for some of the boredom but now I can do what I want and find myself just wanting to hang out and it seems that the nightly Bonfire is becoming a lost art. Maybe I am getting too old for this?

I work on the road so I get to visit alot of different DZ's and am still making new friends everywhere I go. I just seem to have lost that spark that made me wake up at 6am on a Saturday to get my butt to the DZ.............

So what do you have to do to stay interested?

.......I hereby reject your reality and instead choose to insert my own!

[CSpenceFLY 1]

Organize a off DZ boogie.

[stayhigh 2]

you gotta have something other than skydiving.
how about surfing, kite boarding, rock climbing. base jumping ect..
mix n match is important.

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[JohnMitchell 16]

Work with students, do a fun jump, get on a team, go to a boogie.

I can get a little tired of it too. That's why I like a variety of things to do in the sport. Some days I'd just rather go shooting or biking (but not often.)

Maybe take a year off and see what you think.

[riggerrob 643]

Bored after a mere 13 years?
Hah!
It took me 33 years, 6400 jumps, 4300 tandems, over 4,000 reserve repacks, more than 20 reserve rides ... before I burned out.

Every year I tried to challenge myself to earn a new rating:
A through D licenses.
competing at provincial and national level, Instructor B for static-line, IAD, Progressive Freefall.
Vector TI, Racer TI and Strong Tandem Examiner.
FAA Master Rigger, Canadian Rigger Examiner, Exhibition Jump Rating, a couple sets of military jump wings, Private Pilot, jump pilot, BASE, wingsuit, a bit of outside video, the first handy-cam videographer in Canada, delivering seminars at PIA Symposia, writing packing manuals, AVOP, etc.

This year I challenged myself by earning a Class 2 (bus) commercial driver's license with an air brake endorsement.

[Blink 1]

Quote

Bored after a mere 13 years?
Hah!
It took me 33 years, 6400 jumps, 4300 tandems, over 4,000 reserve repacks, more than 20 reserve rides ... before I burned out.

Yeah...but you're Canadian. You can't compare apples to oranges.

[kallend 2,027]

Quote

So as I sit and sip my tasty beverage I must ask.....how do you deal with getting bored in this sport?


So what do you have to do to stay interested?

?

Have you tried bowling? Or golf?

...

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

[rhys 0]

Quote

I was hooked from the start but spent many years doing tandem videos and i do blame that for some of the boredom but now I can do what I want and find myself just wanting to hang out and it seems that the nightly Bonfire is becoming a lost art. Maybe I am getting too old for this?

if you profile is correct it astouds me that you could get bored of tandem videos alone, let alone the sport in general... sheesh I did my forst 800 on an old racer (no freefly) with a mavric 200 (in 2002) and was still haing fun, once I got my vector3 I was like a kid in a candy store.

I have done as many tandem videos in a year as you have (on your profile) total jumps and I am not yet bored of them (not even close).

Sacring yourself seems like a stupid thing to do, at just over 1100 jumps you should stll have heeeaaaaps to learn, maybe skydiving is not for you.

If you are bored with it and are resorting to scaring yourself, you should quit for the benefit of the rest of us and the reputaton of the sport.

Sorry to sound hard on ya but at just over 1100 jumps you are far from achieving even a fraction of what you are capable of.

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[airtwardo 7]

This year I challenged myself by earning a Class 2 (bus) commercial driver's license with an air brake endorsement.

There's a 'special' endorsement for a Set 400?

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[Ron 10]

Pick a new aspect of the sport.
Get a wingsuit, learn to freefly, get an instructor rating, join a team.

If that does not work, pick up another hobby and spend some time doing it. If skydiving is all you do, it can be pretty easy to burn out.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[beowulf 1]

Competition has really kept me going. VFS is takes so much time and effort to be any good at, that I don't see myself getting bored with it any time soon.

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

I work on the road so I get to visit alot of different DZ's and am still making new friends everywhere I go. I just seem to have lost that spark that made me wake up at 6am on a Saturday to get my butt to the DZ.............

So what do you have to do to stay interested?

Find multiple challenging and/or new things to do. Flat RW, vertical RW, CRW, wingsuit formations, swooping, etc.

And do other things. Some days I'd rather stay home and play with my power tools.

[rhys 0]

Quote

There's a 'special' endorsement for a Set 400? Shocked

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, then the world will see peace." - 'Jimi' Hendrix

[flyhi 24]

Downsize.

Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.

[Croc 0]

CRW

"Here's a good specimen of my own wisdom. Something is so, except when it isn't so."

Charles Fort, commenting on the many contradictions of astronomy

[NickDG 23]

In the beginning the sport did hook me. At least for the first few years. After that it was the people that kept me going. Try to be more friendly . . .

NickD

[rdufokker 6]

Riggerrob, 6400 canadian, thats like 5000 US!!

Irony: "the History and Trivia section hijacked by the D.B. Cooper thread"

[sinjin 0]

base proximity wingsuit= attempted suicide+crack+orgasm, all at the same time.

if u need more than that, try marriage.

dont let life pass you by

[skr 1]

I didn't get bored, but I did walk away
from being an active jumper once for
a few years because the only dropzone
within 500 miles was so painful to jump
at.

I ended up going to China as an English
teacher.

It resembled jumping quite a bit.

I had to pay really close attention to
what was going on all the time.

And new and bewildering situations
came up several times a day.

And the adrenaline was pretty good, too.

The first time I walked down into the
bowels of the subway in Beijing my heart
was beating as fast as on any jumprun.


Jumping is such a powerful experience
that it's hard to think there can be anything
else as strong or as meaningful.

But there is probably a lot of stuff, both
inside and outside of jumping, that can
have that kind of power and meaning
if we can only open the doors of our minds
a little and let it in.

Maybe you could do a little scouting and
report back. Lots of people come across
this question, and maybe we could pool
some answers.

Skr

[beowulf 1]

I have always thought traditional rock climbing was much scarier then skydiving. Especially lead climbing. If I weren't skydiving I would be rock climbing.

[Scrumpot 1]

Quote

But there is probably a lot of stuff, both
inside and outside of jumping, that can
have that kind of power and meaning... ...and maybe we could pool some answers.

Combat.
Live firefight. Nothing else even comes close. Reportedly anyway. - I've personally never partaken. But maybe just for purposes of "pooling your answers".

Much props and respect to all our vets (many good close friends) BTW - which is why I post. I know that none of them themselves, ever would.

Just FWIW.
Blue (and peaceful FRIENDLY) Skies,
-Grant

coitus non circum - Moab Stone

[hangdiver 1]

Quote

Combat.
Live firefight. Nothing else even comes close.

Yep, that's what my son says.

Join the Army Rangers...Special ops

"Mans got to know his limitations"
Harry Callahan

[maxwell88 0]

Here's what you should do....

If your really getting bored with it. Quit jumping and use the money you save from jump tickets and gear to fund my AFF course

Seeing me learn to skydive will give you an overwhelming sense of joy, you know it makes sense!

max

[JimGoFast 0]

Quote

Quote

I was hooked from the start but spent many years doing tandem videos and i do blame that for some of the boredom but now I can do what I want and find myself just wanting to hang out and it seems that the nightly Bonfire is becoming a lost art. Maybe I am getting too old for this?

if you profile is correct it astouds me that you could get bored of tandem videos alone, let alone the sport in general... sheesh I did my forst 800 on an old racer (no freefly) with a mavric 200 (in 2002) and was still haing fun, once I got my vector3 I was like a kid in a candy store.

I have done as many tandem videos in a year as you have (on your profile) total jumps and I am not yet bored of them (not even close).

Sacring yourself seems like a stupid thing to do, at just over 1100 jumps you should stll have heeeaaaaps to learn, maybe skydiving is not for you.

If you are bored with it and are resorting to scaring yourself, you should quit for the benefit of the rest of us and the reputaton of the sport.

Sorry to sound hard on ya but at just over 1100 jumps you are far from achieving even a fraction of what you are capable of.

Well Said. I will emphasize on the fact that I don't think he is being hard on you, rather just stating that you can't have possibly "arrived" in the sense that you have learned all there is to learn in the sport. Stagnation is a mother$%^*#! in any sport. You HAVE to push yourself to new heights and challenge yourself. The challenge is the reason you were so into it in the first place...Find a new one within our beloved sport :)

Just Enjoy The Ride...

[DZrollergirl 0]

Although I am new to skydiving, it is simply a NEW hobby--not my only hobby. I have three other time consuming interests that I've been doing most of my life, so I juggle all of them and never get bored of any of them! I do whichever one sounds fun that day/weekend/whatever. I think the key is not letting one singular hobby be all you do. Anything gets old if done constantly. Pick up some new interests and skydive when you're in the mood! Have fun!