Random Advice Givers...

[Kynan1 0]

This past weekend, this person first told me how I should do a sitfly exit, then proceeded to say how she didn't try a head down yet and she's at 400 jumps..and said she is a "good skydiver".
Fortunately, I had just jumped when she freaked on me about doing a head down with only 100 jumps, so I just shut up and agreed with her. The next time a stranger gives me advice I don't ask for, I'm going to have to keep it real on them. It's getting a little old. Or, maybe I'll walk around dropzones telling people that smoking can kill them, then proceed to rip apart their high fat diet, then recommend they don't go above 55mph on the ride home.
This isolated story aside, Perris has some awesome people there, staff and skydivers alike.

[Fab 0]

What is wrong with giving advice to someone with lesser jumps? You don't necessarily have to follow it or anything.

Do you know with only 100 jumps you will probably drift alot (cover a lot of horizontal distance) when you are trying to go head down..at the risk of running into someone during freefall?

_______________________________________

[damion75 0]

I am curious as to what point you are trying to make with this post?

Are you trying to impress us with your freeflying ability at 100 jumps? Or your social skills?

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Fortunately, I had just jumped when she freaked on me about doing a head down with only 100 jumps, so I just shut up and agreed with her. The next time a stranger gives me advice I don't ask for, I'm going to have to keep it real on them

***************

Not one shred of evidence supports the theory that life is serious - look at the platypus.

[feuergnom 28]

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so I just shut up

seems like a good piece of advice for yourself

if someone approaches you with some advice, i'd try to listen, maybe it's something that i am missing completely.

edit to add: but with 100 jumps you probably know all this and your are probably bulletproof & invincible anyway, so why should i give a ..... nevermind

The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle

dudeist skydiver # 666

[FFlyer 0]

Headdown at 100 jumps? Well good luck with that, im glad I wont be in the sky at the same time as you. Because you will easily cover enough sky to drift into everyone elses airspace on your load.

Seriously though, the person giving you advice had 4 times your jumps and you dont think they might have learnt something in that time worthwhile listening to?

And in my personal opinion, 100 jumps is far too soon to be trying headdown. I didn't start giving HeadDown a try properly till after 300 jumps.

[dragon2 2]

I also agree with that "good skydiver" .

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[Broke 0]

my coaches and instructors always said that one should not freefly until they have good rw skills

Divot your source for all things Hillbilly.
Anvil Brother 84
SCR 14192

[Stumpy 284]

Ah but this guy is already flying camera as well so he obviously has "Mad Skillz"....

Never try to eat more than you can lift

[popsjumper 2]

All else aside, I'm curious as to how many jumps you have to have to try head down before you can ensure that you DON'T drift all over the sky while learning.



Instead of bashing the guy, help him out with some constructive help...something along the lines of how to do it without drifting.

With 100 jumps, I'm reasonably sure the guy can get stable on his belly before pull time.

(this from a pure belly-flyer)

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

[dragon2 2]

How about starting in a sit? With a coach or someone that can fall straight down? No way he can fall straight down at 100 jumps in a sit. Learn THAT first. If you move too much in a hd (and I can assure you he WILL), stuff like this can happen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEtPxivFQyE

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[mr2mk1g 10]

The big difference is however that your eating a high fat diet won't get ME killed.

You trying your hand at HD without proper coaching or experience to attempt it safely however, can!

Not all advice is entirely selfless.

[AggieDave 6]

People tend to give "random advice" on a DZ when they hear someone bragging about something that is stupid.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[airtwardo 7]

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People tend to give "random advice" on a DZ when they hear someone bragging about something that is stupid.

Amen!

Like this one time at Band Camp.....

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

[DougH 270]

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People tend to give "random advice" on a DZ when they hear someone bragging about something that is stupid.

I have been caught by that one before. But I try to learn from the verbal bitch slaps, instead of getting all defensive. You learn more than way.

"The restraining order says you're only allowed to touch me in freefall"
=P

[Mr17Hz 1]

Are you for real? If not - I hope you realized that trolling only creates a bad image for our sport, a lot of non skydivers read these threads; and won't as easily catch and sarcastic humor, but instead use what is written as official research in reports and media.

If you are - maybe you should think about advice that you're given. While having 400 jumps may be well over what is needed to safely fly heads down - 100 is pretty low. Can you sit stable? What safe position are you going to go into when you become unstable? Are you jumping with audibles? Your 400 jump friend is still alive, and is likely to have seen someone that pushes themselves go in. It happens in this sport, it's a shame that some people don't realize the seriousness of it until they see it happen.

You don't need to have tried flying heads down to be a good skydiving, how many people on the 400 way do you think had any heads down time?

Choosing not to take advice, or to rate the quality of someone's advice is your own right, and should be excecuted with caution...

But coming onto public forums to whine about how little you feel that someone with 4 times as many jumps as you do knows - that's not only immature, but lining you up for a good bounce bingo bet.

Matt Christenson

mattchristenson@realskydiving.com
http://www.RealDropzone.com - A new breed of dropzone manifest software.

[Kynan1 0]

The point of the post was simply, don't give advice, unless asked for it. The sport places too much emphasis on jump numbers and not individuals.
I can't imagine asking someone, "How many miles have you driven in your car?" Then take their advice based on the miles driven.
The funny thing is, I jumped with the load organizer the next day and while doing a sit dive, I mirrored him and went to a head down later in the dive. He was laughing and said, "Nice head down. Very straight." That is coming with someone with years and years in the sport and thousands of jumps.
Point being, you have these relatively new people who go around blowing advice and it is merely opinion, not fact. Moral of the story, never judge a jumper by a jump number, it's a litte naive.

[peregrinerose 0]

I hope that very few people heed your words. I have learned as much from unsolicited advice and information as from being a student. Sometimes the information provided wasn't applicable to me, sometimes I already knew was was being told to me, but sometimes I learned something new, or at least was made aware of some more questions I could be asking.

I would far rather have unsolicited advice than have someone hold their tongue and not tell me something that I could learn from.

One of the hardest lessons I've learned in this sport is that sometimes it's necessary to keep my ego in line, shut up, and realize I don't know it all.

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

[JohnRich 4]

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The point of the post was simply, don't give advice, unless asked for it.

I disagree.

If someone is doing something improperly and/or dangerous, we have a duty to speak up about it and try and straighten them out. Not only for their personal sake, but also for the reputation of the sport itself.

[Mr17Hz 1]

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The point of the post was simply, don't give advice, unless asked for it.

That's the worst advice I've ever heard... and quite frankly, I don't remember asking for it.

Matt Christenson

mattchristenson@realskydiving.com
http://www.RealDropzone.com - A new breed of dropzone manifest software.

[slotperfect 7]

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The point of the post was simply, don't give advice, unless asked for it.

Forgive me for being blunt, but that is complete bullshit. This isn't golf, it is an activity in which one mistake could kill you or someone else or both.

If I see someone do something very stupid and/or dangerous, I will speak to them about it. For one, I feel that I owe that short conversation to the sport which has saved me many times through the same type of conversations from someone older and wiser. Secondly, I am an S&TA and that sort of conversation comes with the territory.

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The sport places too much emphasis on jump numbers and not individuals.

I completely agree. Jump numbers are only a very rough measuring stick, but they are a place to start. When I have conversations as I mentioned above, I handle it very tactfully and very matter-of-factly as a professional. Jump numbers hardy ever enter into the conversation - I am addressing the incident, not the experience level. VERY RARELY do I have someone not receive the information I convey. It's all in the delivery.

In your case, why not find a professional to give you a little coaching to start you off so you learn both the details on how to fly your body and also the "bigger picture" stuff to set yourself up to be safe? That is mutually beneficial to yourself and others.

Arrive Safely

John

[Orange1 0]

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I can't imagine asking someone, "How many miles have you driven in your car?" Then take their advice based on the miles driven.

Well, insurance premiums may depend on how many years you have had a drivers' license, and many car rental companies won't rent to people who've had a license less than 2 years. Maybe not based on miles per se, but it's pretty much the same thing.

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[bigbearfng 18]

Hmmm, I guess you shouldn't have to pay attention to any of the "advice" in the SIM from folk with a few more jumps than you either eh?
I sincerly hope that your ego doesn't kill you.....or worse yet someone else.
I know that a lot of responses sound confrontational here, but please do a hard cold reality check on yourself!
And in the meantime I'll take a pass on jumpin with you.....

[Kynan1 0]

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If someone is doing something improperly and/or dangerous, we have a duty to speak up about it and try and straighten them out. Not only for their personal sake, but also for the reputation of the sport itself.

I misspoke. And I agree to some extent.
It's the way advice is given that rubs me the wrong way. Some people are tactful and genuinely care about another skydiver, others get off on blasting someone with fewer jumps.

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I sincerly hope that your ego doesn't kill you.....or worse yet someone else.

I don't have a big ego, especially in skydiving. I feel like other peoples egos get crushed when they have 500 jumps and can't do a simple head down.

[catfishhunter 2]

LOL Simple Head down huh? Whew and I thought that shit was hard. Guess we'll see you on the next head down big way record with 120 jumps since it is just a simple head down and since it is simple why don't you go organize a 10 way headdown with the guys at Perris. Since it is simple I am sure you can get 9 of the best jumpers there to go up and jump with you and your simple head down..

MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT
Life is Short and we never know how long we are going to have. We must live life to the fullest EVERY DAY. Everything we do should have a greater purpose.

[Mr17Hz 1]

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I feel like other peoples egos get crushed when they have 500 jumps and can't do a simple head down.

I'm sure that the issue was not that he/she could not do a simple heads down, more that he/she was trying to show you by example that she chooses not to fly heads down - but is still an experienced skydiver.

You don't need to be doing any head down flying to have fun on a skydive, you can do plenty of other dives and have a blast. In fact, at 100 jumps you're probably not very safe in the air. I hope these are solos or that you're jumping with VERY experienced people, because the last thing we need is for you to cork into someone at 60MPH when you go unstable and decide to fix it by arching on your belly.

I've had 5 digit skydivers say things like "What's your hurry, I didn't downsize to this canopy until I had 5,000 jumps."

If you consider the danger level, someone with 400 jumps saying "What's your hurry, I don't jump heads down and I've got 300 more jumps than you do" is proportionally similar.

I was told a number of times by jumpers that you should have 150 jumps, and an audible before you even think about freeflying; let alone fly heads down. Why? because when you're freeflying you're not always in a position to be looking at the ground... Could you jump without an altimeter and deploy at the right altitude? This is the kind of advice that goes around my home DZ, Skydive Chicago, which is one of the larger freefly oriented dropzones in the world.

I dont care if a 400 jump skydiver, a 15,000 jump instructor, or your wuffo mother told you that you shouldn't be working on jumping heads down at 100 jumps. Unless you happened to have spent hours in the tunnel or have some other form of outside experience that has provided you with a faster learning curve than the rest; the fact remains that not only is it good advice - but that by coming on here and whinning about that advice; you're not proving to anyone that you're mentally ready to be jumping so agressivly.

My mother and father told me they thought skydiving might not be the best hobby to get into. I didn't listen to the advice, but I also didn't come onto dropzone.com and tell everyones mom and dad to shut up because they don't know enough about the sport to be giving advice.

Matt Christenson

mattchristenson@realskydiving.com
http://www.RealDropzone.com - A new breed of dropzone manifest software.