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NickDG

I've Become Him . . .

By NickDG, in Skydiving History & Trivia

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NickDG    23

NickDG
When I started jumping the debate over calling ourselves "sport parachutists" or "skydivers" was pretty much over with skydiver winning out. Yet my Instructor hated the term skydiving, never used it, and yelled at us when we did. Although I had a tremendous amount of respect for him, I thought at the time, what an old fuddy duddy . . .

Now here it is all these years later and I think I've become him. Has anyone noticed what I can only describe as wuffo terms that have crept into common usage among jumpers?

I remember a time no jumper said "chute" when they meant parachute. To me a chute was always something coal went sliding down. The other one is "diver" when they mean skydiver. That term always conjures up something to do with water for me. We did and still call what we do a dive, like in, "how did your dive go?" Yet, I don’t recall anyone referring to themselves or another as a diver unless it was someone exiting late on a big way.

In general I now live in a world where people are peeps and I live in Cali instead of California, so I shouldn't be so surprised. Oh well, I suppose like my Instructor before me I'm closer to the sunset load than the early bird.

And stop calling me a bellyflyer . . .

NickD :)BASE 194

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wartload    0

wartload
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I remember a time no jumper said "chute" when they meant parachute. To me a chute was always something coal went sliding down. The other one is "diver" when they mean skydiver. That term always conjures up something to do with water for me.



I have, too ...

It's interesting, to me anyway, that the current generation's terminology seems to reflect how the media has talked about the sport over the last several years, rather than how those inside the sport traditionally talked about it. Have we lost our roots?

Just musing on this theme ...

One reason may be the ease of entry to the sport. If you have a stack of cash, and are interested, you can soon call yourself part of the fraternity. By the time you have genuinely earned your place as an authentic participant, you (and your cohort of fellow students) have adopted the media's vernacular as your own.

The big change seems to have come about with the advent of tandem jumps. I have a neighbor who insists that she's a skydiver (and proudly/loudly calls herself one at social events) because she made one tandem jump.

I have a hard time NOT telling her that she could as easily have been a sack of sawdust.

In earlier times, you came into the sport as a student, rather than high-speed luggage. Although SL students ("dope on a rope") seldom had malfunctions, there was always a chance that they could, and they'd be on their own if they did.

I think that this may have caused students to study as much about the sport as they could, and about the only place to learn was from other participants. There wasn't really much of a body of "popular" literature available then--and you almost had to be in the sport to even learn where the few books on parachuting could be bought.

Adding to this need to learn was the perception that you, as a new parachutist, would be pretty much responsible for yourself. I first heard about AODs (ADDs) after I'd been in the sport for 3-4 years. Even then, they were for the (very few) rich guys, or clubs bought them to let students use. Within a few jumps, students were taking care of themselves: pack badly, and it's your ass; have a malfunction, and you need to know how to do a cutaway and deploy the reserve.

More often than not, newcomers back then learned the language of the sport from experienced parachutists in sometimes very basic, but intimate environs. Now it seems as if fairly large numbers of students assemble at large commercial operations. They show up there with pre-conceived ideas and terms, often gotten from the 'Net, popular magazines or TV programs. Then they share them with other students. There's almost a sub-culture of new jumpers. Small wonder that the language sounds more like USA Today than old issues of Parachutist.

Another thing that I've noticed is that, although I'm more than happy to call a "square" canopy a parachute, they really have always struck me as being something distinctly different from round canopies. They perform far more like soft-winged gliders.

That's not at all a bad thing. It's just different. I first learned how to be a parachutist. Later on I learned to fly airplanes and Ultralight aircraft--on which I'd often kill the engine and fly as a light glider. When I returned to parachuting, and flew my first "square", I thought that the experience was distinctly more like flying a "draggy" glider than like steering a parachute. The landings were a world apart, as well.

So maybe that explains things a bit...maybe the terminology has changed with the sport. It's entirely possible that what's being done now is not sport parachuting, but new evolutions of flying--both in freefall and under canopy (even though I smile at the new "flying" suits, knowing that similar "moth" and "bat" suits were used by some very early exhibition parachutists).

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RogerRamjet    0

RogerRamjet
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Yet, I don’t recall anyone referring to themselves or another as a diver unless it was someone exiting late on a big way.



We always referred to those last few jumpers on "large star" jumps as flyers, not divers. You have succumbed to "Big Way" for "Large Star" also :D

That is probably to do with PC more than anything. When we did speed stars, they were called 10-man, not 10 way. (Circa 1973-80)

-----------------------
Roger "Ramjet" Clark
FB# 271, SCR 3245, SCS 1519

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slug    1

slug
Hi MBD

This subject has come up befor:o.

the new wave jumpeers , and the "industry" consider 1 tandem jump a "skydiver". An example was a survey "who's the most famous skydiver". some jumpers considered GW Bush:D:D:D
To be the most famous.

I'm sure our elders faced similar situations, and our children and their will also face situations where they get left behind by new ways(not better just new).

I got 100 jumpsB| I want to be pied:S. We launched a 2 way and 6 other people closed so I got a SCR:) Do we log tunnel time:o:S.

Whatever[:/] You can't stand in the way of "progress"
it just business. ie 10 tandems befor a freefall:$

But some of us can:D:D:D inside and just be happy we were then skydiving was dangerous and sex was fun.:).

R.I.P.
B-7881

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riggermick    7

riggermick
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When I started jumping the debate over calling ourselves "sport parachutists" or "skydivers" was pretty much over with skydiver winning out. Yet my Instructor hated the term skydiving, never used it, and yelled at us when we did. Although I had a tremendous amount of respect for him, I thought at the time, what an old fuddy duddy . . .

Now here it is all these years later and I think I've become him. Has anyone noticed what I can only describe as wuffo terms that have crept into common usage among jumpers?

I remember a time no jumper said "chute" when they meant parachute. To me a chute was always something coal went sliding down. The other one is "diver" when they mean skydiver. That term always conjures up something to do with water for me. We did and still call what we do a dive, like in, "how did your dive go?" Yet, I don’t recall anyone referring to themselves or another as a diver unless it was someone exiting late on a big way.

In general I now live in a world where people are peeps and I live in Cali instead of California, so I shouldn't be so surprised. Oh well, I suppose like my Instructor before me I'm closer to the sunset load than the early bird.

And stop calling me a bellyflyer . . .

NickD :)BASE 194




Nick, not to stray, but did you get the PM I sent you over DZ.com mail? It hasn't always worked well for me.


Cheers. Mick.

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jakee    1,561

jakee
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Damn you said it exactly Well done. Do your static lines, get cleared for your clear and pulls, do your 5, 10, 20, 30, sec delays, etc. Earn your way to freefall, however long it takes. [Some didn't even make it]...couldn't leave the plane in a stable position to pull safely. Earn all the above...THEN you are a true SKYDIVER in my opinion. I had to do all the above just as my students and friends. I don't like the idea of skipping all these things and jumping tandem. Where is the pride of accomplishment and glory and achievement??? Glad I jumped when I did. The rewards were earned. The way they should be!!!!



Well I never did a Tandem, but I didn't learn by static line either. Does it make me any less of a skydiver because I went through the faster AFF method? I still jump out of a plane, and I still save my own life with a parachute. (And its not like I wasn't commited either, after my first jump I immediately moved into a hut on the DZ and lived there for 6 weeks, did 50 jumps and sacrificed 3 months of traveling I'd saved the money for)
Do you want to have an ideagasm?

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wartload    0

wartload
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Well I never did a Tandem, but I didn't learn by static line either. Does it make me any less of a skydiver because I went through the faster AFF method? I still jump out of a plane, and I still save my own life with a parachute.



Yes ... sorry ... there's no way you can be a skydiver, Jakee!

Just kidding.

If you understood the point of the posting, it wasn't intended to be about who is, and who isn't, entitled to consider themselves to be a skydiver. It was a discussion of differences in the culture(s) within the sport as a result of the differences in the processes between then and now.

I still do think, however, that someone who has made a couple of AFF or tandem jumps (or even one or two SL jumps) looks foolish calling themselves a skydiver or parachutist.

I also think that there's a difference between jumping a round or flying a square ... not saying that one's somehow superior to the other, but only that there's a distinct difference.

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skybytch    273

skybytch
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And stop calling me a bellyflyer .



Okay. You're not a bellyflyer, you're a BASE jumper. :P

I must be getting old too, cuz I have to laugh when someone calls a canopy (or even better, a complete rig) a "chute" and I only use the term "diver" to describe someone leaving the plane after the base.

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NickDG    23

NickDG
Calling me just a BASE jumper is wrong too, and kind of proves the point. I make BASE jumps for fun and for money. I make skydives for fun and for money. So when someone asks what I do the only term that covers it all is the old fashioned one, "Parachutist."

BTW, I sign with my real name and BASE number because I've been doing that since going on line in 1985 and it's how people know me. I wish everyone did that as most times I don’t know who I'm talking with. For instance, I just realized " skybytch" is someone I've known for years, LOL . . . Hi Lisa!

NickD :)BASE 194

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GreenLight    8

GreenLight
Ya and the short term would be CP... I think a canopy pilot is someone who flies a can of peas. So in a tandem jump is the tandem master the pilot in command?
Green Light
"Harry, why did you land all the way out there? Nobody else landed out there."
"Your statement answered your question."

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Beerlight    0

Beerlight
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I think a canopy pilot is someone who flies a can of peas. So in a tandem jump is the tandem master the pilot in command?



I believe you are correct.

Ain't know way a jumper should be called a Canopy Pilot. That's just wrong.......

Additionally, (I'm jump number handicapped, but I've been around the sport a long ass time :o), I remember when there was this guy out doing a daffy, and now everyone's calling is "Free Flying".

So, let's bring the sport back to it's true, old school, grassroots, terminology.

RW not a fucking bellyflyer
CRW not CF
Jumper not CP
AFF not AFP
Safety Meeting (the kind where ya go to the end of the runway at night to haveB|:ph34r:):ph34r::D:ph34r:


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