repeat jumpers--how do you know?

[heidihagen 0]

can instructors/dz staff tell who is likely to return after their first jump?
also, can you tell how long someone is likely to stick around? (10, 25, 300+ jumps???)... get licensed AND use it, jump frequent enough get their coach rating, etc?

do you know? if so, how? it's so easy to get hooked, i'm curious what the responses might be i guess.

i didn't lose my mind, i sold it on ebay. .:need a container to fit 5'4", 110 lb. cypres ready & able to fit a 170 main (or slightly smaller):.[/ce

[Gravitymaster 0]

The average time in the sport is about 5 years. At that point many jumpers begin to realize how dangerous skydiving really is because they have lost a few friends. Responsibilities and fear seep in and many leave the sport at that time. Some return to jump later in life, some never do. I don't recall the stats on first time jumper returning, but a lot of it depends on whether the first jump was a tandem or some other discipline ie AFF, SL.

[TomAiello 26]

I too would be very curious to hear people's thoughts on this.

I've not really developed a feel for it. I've had students who I thought "that guys going to be in it for life" who really didn't jump much after that, and a couple who I thought "I doubt that one will stick around" who had 100 jumps a month later.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

I have been teaching all but one year I have been jumping (24 years) and I can't say that I have any idea whether or not a student, even a return student is going to continue in the sport. Some of the ones who show the most enthusiasm on the DZ just don't have the patience to finish their training. Others whom you would not consider cut out for the sport continue trudging along and work hard to get to the level where they can give back to the sport. I am seriously baffled by it sometimes.

Chuck

[outlawphx 1]

I stopped after 5 years, mostly because I got bored. I saw plenty of accidents, but that wasn't a huge reason for me to get out of the sport. The initial thrill went away along with most of the challenge, so I took up sportbiking instead.

Now, 9 years later, my curiosity got peaked by the imergence of freeflying and swooping. So I'm back jumping, and I'm really enjoying the challenge of learning to freefly. I'm also like the general attitude of freeflyers, as you're not so dependent on everyone else to have a good dive. I'm not going to be bent out of shape if I or someone brainlocks on the next point, or funnels the exit, or misses a grip, etc.

So I've found what I needed to get more fun out of the investment (time, money, risk, etc) I put into the sport. As with everything in life, people will do what they perceive as giving them the best cost/benefit ratio.

[tso-d_chris 0]

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I too would be very curious to hear people's thoughts on this.

I used to jump at a DZ where the DZO would not allow tandem passengers, only tandem students that had sat participated in an IAF ( Instructor Assisted Freefall or tandem to AFF progression) first jump course. His reasoning was that it seemed the people who thought skydiving was something they merely wanted to try once were more likely to stick around than those who were sure they wanted to get a license before they even tried it.

I don't know the accuracy of his system, but I do know that his first jump students came away with a much better understanding of the sport and the equipment than do most tandem "passengers" I've encountered.

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[malboy 0]

ive been the course organiser for our Uni skydiving club for the past 2 years, and ive seen hundreds of students come for static line courses. ive noticed that often its not the jumps that get people to keep coming up every weekend [often with months in the winter with no jumps] but the parties we have to welcome the new students, and the general atmosphere of the Dz.

though of course there are ppl that the jumps are everything, and its obvious, after a few jumps, that theres no getting rid of them [i was one ]

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[Reginald 0]

I can’t tell after 1 jump but I can tell after a student has been at the DZ several weekends in a row watching high winds and low clouds not getting to jump. The ones that have the perseverance to show up regardless of it they get to jump or not for a few weekends are the ones with enough perseverance to make it through to an “A” license. That or the ones that are recently divorced.

"We've been looking for the enemy for some time now. We've finally found him. We're surrounded. That simplifies things." CP

[scaryshari 0]

EVERYONE thought I'd give up/quit. I was too scared, hence the name.

is

[Orange1 0]

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His reasoning was that it seemed the people who thought skydiving was something they merely wanted to try once were more likely to stick around than those who were sure they wanted to get a license before they even tried it.

Yes, skydiving was only gonna be something I was gonna do once ... then again, none of the 5 friends who did the FJC with me stuck it out - 2 jumped once, 2 jumped twice, one jumped 3 times.

But after I rode the plane down on what would've been jump 4 or 5, the JMs did think I wouldn't be back (though they only told me that after the next time I'd jumped) ... the wierd thing was that I lost a lot of fear after doing that...

Skydiving: wasting fossil fuels just for fun.

[Remster 30]

We have something somewhat similar at our DZ. The tandems are one offs, but, if they decide to take PFF (canadian AFF) thens its the 10 jump package deal to get the solo licence. We dont do PFF jumps on a 1 by 1 status.

An article on this was published in Skydiving 1 month ago actually. It showed better retention during and after PFF.

As far as telling which tandems will stick around with PFF, well, thats pretty much a crap shoot IMO.

Remster

[ryoder 1,590]

  Quote

can instructors/dz staff tell who is likely to return after their first jump?
also, can you tell how long someone is likely to stick around? (10, 25, 300+ jumps???)... get licensed AND use it, jump frequent enough get their coach rating, etc?

do you know? if so, how? it's so easy to get hooked, i'm curious what the responses might be i guess.

I called one correctly. About 20 years ago at a small Cessna DZ, (where static-lined rounds was the only training option), a tall long-haired bearded dude showed up on a big-ass black motorcycle to make his first jump. Immediately after doing a good PLF, he jumped up and screamed: "OH, WOW! THIS IS BETTER THAN SEX AND DRUGS!!!"

I turned to another jumper standing next to me and said: "He is definitely one of us."

And I was right. Within a couple years, he had several hundred jumps.

"There are only three things of value: younger women, faster airplanes, and bigger crocodiles" - Arthur Jones.

[mdrejhon 8]

Good thread. Thanks for starting this one!

Initially I thought I'd only go a few weekends a year, and hum, do less than 50 jumps a year. Instructor warned me I'd not be current, and to be a participant of Deaf World Record, I need 100 jumps and a B.

So both of these two give me some incentive to jump more. Here I am, 68 jumps in less than 3 months. I own my own gear now.

Dunno what future years will bring me, what mood and finances I'll be in, but I'm fairly certain I'll do another 300 jumps at least.

Scared? Nah. I'm more scared of performing in front of an instructor! (I get so damn tense, and I'm still a bellyflopper of a bellyflyer at times) Although my first jump wasn't as scary as my first rollercoaster ride, you could see me grinning 5 seconds into the freefall of my first jump.

[cloudseeker2001 0]

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EVERYONE thought I'd give up/quit. I was too scared, hence the name.

You came out for the parties and a chance to get away from JR!!!!!!!!!!HAHAHAHA!

"Some call it heavenly in it's brilliance,
others mean and rueful of the western dream"