YeeLing

Woohoo! Way to go girl! Congratulations!!!

Good quote. I will find one of these weekends to visit a DZ around here. Of course I will keep you all posted with details and questions. Thank you all so much for encouraging. Very nice lot of people indeed.

Thank you all sooo much for the advice! I really appreciate it. I was dreaming about skydiving the night before and this morning my brain was planning my AFF course when I woke up. As to hanging out at a local DZ - it is a great idea but (this probably sounds very silly) how do I just hang out there? So I go there and approach people? Isn't it a bit weird?

you don't know how far ahead I was thinking this through. I accounted the possibility that it would eventually cause me to lose interest in my main job. I think that's just me being silly. If I have to choose to buy a mac or take up an aff course, I would still go for the mac - I think it's still not too late to turn back? Life is tough indeed. still at an early stage

Ooops I'm terribly sorry about that Thanks for the link! I'll check it out. I've been living away from home for over 12 years now and I don't see my family very often. When I do, I don't stay too long. They'll see skydiving as testing or rather pushing my luck. So I can understand it in a way and accidents do happen, whether or not it's my time to go - but it is one situation where I don't want to put them in. This is one big factor holding me back. awesome! I'd love to watch your aff1 vid! oh yes I did the youtube search too. I saw a student spinning up in the air uncontrollably. *urgh* and get a rough idea what they mean by a spinning main parachute. Thanks Jess! Good luck on your aff 3&4 ! You're one tough cookie!

Hey folks! I've only done a tandem jump two weeks ago and never in my life would think of doing it every other weekend! Needless to say, I was very wrong. Everytime I look up into the sky, my heart gets drawned to it - like falling in love with the sky and all I could think of is "I want to get up there". I found myself reading up on it and wanting to know more about it. (Obsessed perhaps?) I absolutely agree with dreaming1300 in his previous post. I couldn't (and still can't) stop thinking about skydiving and was slightly evangelical about it too when people asked how it was. So I have this brilliant idea of taking it up as a sport (surprise, surprise). However my excitement was short lived. I was bombarded with some strong comments and questions. My mom even asked me NICELY not to do it. Nevertheless I think I'm back on my feet again and spirit back up. I read the articles in dropzone on interviews with skydivers! How inspiring! Anyway, the reasons why I posted today are: 1. to tell everyone I think I'm in love with skydiving :-) and it seems like I'm not the only one who feels and describe it this way (*phew* glad I'm not going crazy) 2. ask for advice from people who a) will be starting AFF soon/doing AFF i) why have you done it? ii) any objections from family/friends? iii) how was your experience? (both good and bad) b) AFF instructors or experienced skydivers of various disciplines - i) what's the most common mistake ii) what sort of experiences (both good and bad) have you had with AFF students iii) how will a student learn to control the canopy? I can understand the freefalling bit of the course where the instructors help deploy the canopy but as far as I can gather, most injuries happen during landing. Will radio signals be sufficient to aid the student in this? Reading the incidents on the database make my heart and hands go slightly limp. But I would still like to learn and understand more about winds, speeds, controls and what one can do when things go wrong. This is just so I can feel if it's within my understanding capabilities. Ideally, I wish there would be someone I can just meet up with and speak to about his/her experiences and some 'guidance' I suppose. Meeting someone experienced in the sport provides some form of superficial reassurance - not sure why. Unfortunately this is often difficult and I do not wish to tread on personal areas of people I barely know. Pardon me if my post seems to focus on worries and accidents but I really am just weighing out the risks of AFF to be able to decide. Please advice. Thanks a bunch! Btw, I think skydiving is by far the coolest sport I've seen.