kallend 2,103 #26 August 1, 2009 QuoteI feel you dude. Skydiving has never been a big thing for me. I've been jumping for over three years now and still only have 75 jumps. If I jump more than twice a month I consider it a lot. To me there are other things I'd rather be doing. I find kiteboarding and wakeboarding to be a lot more fun personally, and skydiving only happens if I can't do the one of the other two on a weekend. Not trying to blast the sport, its a lot of fun and I appreciate the passion a lot of people have for it, but to me its always just been more of something to fill the time when I can't kite or wake. It's not clear to me that skydiving is an optimal activity for those with a casual attitude towards it and who do not maintain a high degree of currency.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #27 August 1, 2009 My problem tends to be the currency required to do it (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
surfbum5412 0 #28 August 1, 2009 QuoteQuoteIf you're losing interest at skydiving at 100 jumps, haha, just stop now and go away tourist.Come back and read these words in another 10 years or so. If you last that long, maybe you'll begin to understand the value of welcoming others into this sport with a more supportive demeanor. My greatest personal challenge in maintaining interest in skydiving is trying to ignore those with your type of elitist attitude, knowing the harm this does to our sport. What harm does this do with a guy that has done 100 jumps in the last 4 years? Haha. I surf too, so I have a different take on this. If someone told me that in the last 4 years, 25-50 of those days they went surfing, I would be thinking "kook" in the back of my head. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflychris 0 #29 August 1, 2009 When I started to BASE I lost all intrest. I think I have made maybe a 12 skyjumps in the past 2 years. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PogMoThoin 0 #30 August 1, 2009 QuoteQuoteI feel you dude. Skydiving has never been a big thing for me. I've been jumping for over three years now and still only have 75 jumps. If I jump more than twice a month I consider it a lot. To me there are other things I'd rather be doing. I find kiteboarding and wakeboarding to be a lot more fun personally, and skydiving only happens if I can't do the one of the other two on a weekend. Not trying to blast the sport, its a lot of fun and I appreciate the passion a lot of people have for it, but to me its always just been more of something to fill the time when I can't kite or wake. It's not clear to me that skydiving is an optimal activity for those with a casual attitude towards it and who do not maintain a high degree of currency. Perhaps that was presented in the wrong way. A casual attitude is by far the way I approach this sport. My point was merely that not everyone who jumps is completely obsessed with it or is out there all day every weekend. I do a jump or two every other week for the most part, have never lost currency, and ensure that I maintain my gear in excellent condition. Granted my jump numbers are low, but I still consider jumping a blast, and definitively don't have a "casual attitude" towards it. It's a great thing to do, and whether you are out there all the time or once every other week the stoke of it is still shared by all. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SethInMI 174 #31 August 1, 2009 I will chime in as another "infrequent" jumper. I have 216 jumps over 7 years. I have jumped at least 10 times a year every year, but never more than 60. I love skydiving; I should get my new container next month, and I plan to use it for many years, but I don't think I will get more than 50 jumps a year very often, as I haven't over the past 7, and I don't think that will change. But I am not sure that makes me less safe. I think a separate thread would be necessary to discuss the increased likelihood of death or serious injury (not per jump, but per year) among jumpers making less than 50 jumps a year. And I don't think there is any shame in being a "tourist". I have picked up and put down a few hobbies that I would like to return to someday when I get some time. Working on cars, mountain biking, woodworking, indoor soccer, raquetball...I did them, I don't now, but I hope to again someday. Pick it up, put it down, pick it up again someday. Lots of people do just that. Be safe and have fun, whatever you do. SethIt's flare not flair, brakes not breaks, bridle not bridal, "could NOT care less" not "could care less". Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hackish 8 #32 August 2, 2009 The downsize comment comes from the fact that many generous people at the DZ have loaned me gear until my new gear is covered and the insurance covers it. This has been a wide variety from a nitron 135 which to be perfectly honest was a big scary up to a sabre 210. The simple fact is that last year I anxiously waited and checked the weather for the weekend. Recently it's just been like blah, maybe I'll go do some jumps. I'm not sure if the excitement has faded or if it's just the lack of my own gear. I know that there is lots more space in a 170 for me so I'm resisting the idea of downsizing. I did have some fun designing a few things and doing some study of equipment. I can't remember if I showed you the no-drop toggles I built in the fall or not. Interesting fun stuff but I'm not going to become a master rigger nor do I want to try and make a living sewing/inventing stuff. So I guess the reality may just be summer stress with my business (15h days all week) or that I just need a change in pace. -Michael Quote Doing too much of *any*one thing can burn you out on it. "Variety is the spice of life" and all that. Didn't you get bored with sports cars at one point? A lot of it may depend on the DZ as well. Some DZ's really keep things mixed up and rolling along while others sorta count on jumpers volunteering to keep things fresh. Other times, it's politics. Maybe a short break til insurance kicks in will be exactly what you need. Your comment about the 170 downsize seems a little odd though....sort of doesn't seem to belong in the context of the post. Is there more of a story there? Downsizing after a haitus isn't the smartest thing you might do, but you already know that... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DSE 5 #33 August 2, 2009 you didn't show me your "no drop toggles" but obviously I wish you had. Michael, having met you and experienced your enthusiasm first-hand, I suspect you're more a victim of "I don't have my own tools" than a loss of a love for the sport. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jclalor 12 #34 August 2, 2009 I find myself asking why I still do this, I love the sport but have had the unfortunate experience of sitting next to 2 fatalities on the ride up since january. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #35 August 2, 2009 Well said. (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SimpleJack 0 #36 August 3, 2009 I remember jumping less often until I finally decided to sell my gear. No big loss. I did it for almost 5 years. Boredom is the biggest reason I left. The sport just gets old. Passion is fleeting. Enjoy it while you have it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
