Bored after 20 years

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No areas suitable for ground launching around me that I know of but the concept is interesting to me.

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I don't think anyone could corrupt me into having fun. I am rather straight laced uptight kind of guy. Jumped at the Ranch off and on for a couple of years 96-97? I think and I left the way I came.

Flat is good, change is bad and head down is a poor student exit.

[skybytch 273]

Go try sitflying even if you think you aren't interested in it. It's a lot funner (and a lot harder for us old school RW jumpers) than you might think.

Try doing freestyle - you know, T's and daffys and Arabian rolls like Dale Stuart used to do.

Do some tracking dives. Not just the typical zoo tracking dives either; try doing formation tracking.

Get a group of people together and do more challenging skydives on a regular basis. Doesn't have to be for competition, doesn't have to be 4 way or 8 way. Plan to get together once a month and spend the whole day jumping as a group.

Go do some hop and pops, high or low. Play with your canopy. How long has it been since you've collapsed it? That's loads of fun, especially if there's a low timer in the air who can see you do it. Do some cross countries. Grab a friend and go fly your canopies relative to each other - you don't have to dock or even get all that close.

Try a wingsuit. You can pick up a used Birdman Classic or GTI pretty cheap, and a used Triathlon or Sabre (also available pretty cheap) will work great with it. Add an appropriately sized used container and reserve and you're good to go. One warning though - wingsuits can be addictive!

You can pick up used DV cameras pretty cheap. Get one and go video some loads landings, then show the video to everyone at the end of the day. Great learning tool for all and it's kinda fun to be a target for the swoopers. Plus you can get some interesting footage for use on safety day or for teaching your students.

Throw that camera on your head and learn to fly it. Used open faced helmets are also pretty cheap; if you're handy (or if you're not but have a friend who is) you can set it up for next to nothing. You don't need a camera specific jumpsuit to do this.

And probably the best advice I can give - don't go to the dz every weekend, and when you do go to the dz, don't always spend the whole weekend there. Instead, find something else to do for a day or a weekend - go hiking, ride a bike, fly a kite, go for a drive in the country, clean the garage, etc. There's more to life than skydiving, even when the weather is awesome.

[squirrel 0]

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I don't have enough body piercings to freefly. That is why they fall head down isn't it?

yeah, kind of agree. however, i must be the freek of the freefly world, no piercings, no tats.

________________________________
Where is Darwin when you need him?

[Tink1717 2]

Take a LONG break. Maybe sit out an entire season. When you come back, if you're still bored, find something else to do. Boredom breeds complacency. Complacency kills.

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[darrenspooner 0]

Time to take a break pal, you have habituated. If you had lobster thermidore 3 times a day for 7 years you'd be bored too. You need something different right now. Don't sell your gear, but unless you have a novel experience you may as well sit and wait to die. Skydiving got comfortable.

[Dazzle 0]

Don't know if you've done a team before but I've not and now that I have one (or 2) I'm looking forward to this season more than any that I can remember.

[bob.dino 1]

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I'm falling into that as well. It's like I could take it or leave it. The thing I miss most is the hanging out after a days jumping and shooting the shit with everyone at the DZ. It seems that people don't do that much any more, at least at Perris. Back in the day, we used to start up a fire, bring out the beer and educate whom ever would listen the no shit, there we were stories and bull shit until the wee hours. Everyone seems in too much of a rush lately. I do miss skydiving in general and it's up to me to get my butt out there, but I feel I've lost that urge that was so exciting before. Sad really...

I was at Perris at the start of August 2005 with a couple of friends. Two hours after jumping finished, 50% of those at the Bombshelter were Aussies . Perris, while great for many things, doesn't seem to have the same community vibe as some other DZs.

[hottamaly 1]

I agree, the locals just don't hang out like they used to. Bummer. It's always fun when folks from other countries are there, it seems to pick it up a bit.

Skydiving gave me a reason to live
I'm not afraid of what I'll miss when I die...I'm afraid of what I'll miss as I live

[sunshine 2]

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There's so much more to life than skydiving... maybe you should try something completely different.

Ditto. Life is too important to waste your time. I still jump, but not like i used to. I can easily skip the DZ for a weekend to enjoy other activities. Life is so much more than skydiving.

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meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[Belgian_Skygirl 0]

If you don't like to jump any more, just don't...I met a guy from about 50 years old some time ago and he told me he had jumped for over 20 years. 8 years ago he got bored. He quit. Now he found himself new hobby's: he goes to the north pole once a year for 4 days to drive a snow scooter, to live in the colde etc..; he started to dive, ... and he doesn't feel sorry about his decision.

A sport of a hoby must be enjoyable, especially higr risk hobby's or sports s.a. skydiving as if one does not enjoy it any more, the risk remains... and it is an expensive sport: spending lots of money on something which isn't fun any more... it is a pitty...

I am rather a newbie in the skydive world, but I always do what I like to do and I don't what I don't like to do ...

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No dive, like skydive... wanna bet on it?

[Tonto 1]

I've been jumping 21 years, and have often hit a kinda plateau..

Up to 1000 dives I was either in a 4 way team or doing camera.
from 1000 - 2000 mainly AFF and Tandem
from 2000 - 3000 a lot of CRW
from 3000 - 4000 I worked too much, never played.
from 4000 - 4800 I've squeezed 200+ wingsuit dives in among the AFF and hung up the drouge.

I LOVE AFF. I LOVE knowing I don't know what they will do, or how I will solve it, but solving it anyway. I love learning things from people I've taught, or from those with 10% or less my number of dives...

But mainly, it's the people that make this sport. They're a timeline through my life, coming and going while the sky remains constant.

I'm not bored.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[RossDagley 0]

This coming from the man who offered to coach me when few others would just for the "experience" (quote unquote). Tonto, I hope to still have your zest for this sport 20 years down the line.

[tso-d_chris 0]

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I was at Perris at the start of August 2005 with a couple of friends. Two hours after jumping finished, 50% of those at the Bombshelter were Aussies . Perris, while great for many things, doesn't seem to have the same community vibe as some other DZs.

As a general rule (certainly not absolute) if you want the community / family of skydivers vibe, you have to find a good Cessna DZ. Big drop zones tend to not compare in this aspect.

For Great Deals on Gear

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And they still jump with you?

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I have thought that maybe adding a rating would help spice things up. Maybe even get a rigging ticket. I have done just about every hobby that has interested me at one time or another and this is the one that lasted the longest. It is hard to explain, but I still enjoy it. I am beginning to think that I am going through an early mid-life crisis or something. Not looking for danger so much as something different.

[scrublink 0]

Bored yes. Complacent no. I am one anal bastard and considered by my peers to be safety conscious. This is a "different" kind of bored. Almost defies description even to myself.

[brierebecca 0]

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I don't think anyone could corrupt me into having fun. I am rather straight laced uptight kind of guy. Jumped at the Ranch off and on for a couple of years 96-97? I think and I left the way I came.

Flat is good, change is bad and head down is a poor student exit.

No offense, but this is why you're bored. Doing the same thing for 20 years would make anyone bored. Maybe it's time to try new things in the sport, or stop doing it for a while. But refusing to try new things and complaining that you're bored isn't going to get you anywhere.

Just my 2 cents.

Brie

"Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

[dharma1976 0]

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I don't have enough body piercings to freefly. That is why they fall head down isn't it?

if that was the case some of em would have to be dick down fliers

Dave

http://www.skyjunky.com

CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing.

[The111 1]

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Thought about a wingsuit. Have some friends who flock. One of them tried to talk me into one the other day. I don't think I can swing it financially. New suit and rig would set me back quite a bit of money. I can't fit a docile enough canopy (from my perspective) into my current gear to make it safe.

You do not need a new rig, just a square stable canopy that you can fit in your current rig.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[MattFallsFast 0]

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I don't think anyone could corrupt me into having fun. I am rather straight laced uptight kind of guy. Jumped at the Ranch off and on for a couple of years 96-97? I think and I left the way I came.

Flat is good, change is bad and head down is a poor student exit.

What the hell are you carrying on about? You've done 750 jumps in 20 years, won't try anything new and say change is bad. Sounds to me like you've lost your will to live.

[RMURRAY 1]

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Get on a 4way team, go to wind tunnel with good coach... if all that won’t help then learn how to swoop (please be careful with that one).

I agree.
sign up for a tunnel camp. find a 4 way team. get a fast canopy (as long as you are not a part time jumper) - and careful with this one of course - . spend some money on top notch coaching.

rm

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For me to be comfortable with a wingsuit I would have to significantly upsize my current canopy size. I presently load my canopy at 1.7:1 and can't fit a larger one inside. Although I might be able to wrap it in bungies and strap it to the outside.

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I actually have tried new things in the last twenty years. I just can't afford to buy a new rig to get into crw or freeflying or a wingsuit. I have actually done more new things in the last couple years than I ever have. Did you know that there now is a "diet" coke?

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That would also explain the jangling sound I hear when they walk by.