Your skydiving experiences.

[Alice]

I did a jump with Cloud 9 from 12000ft awhile back.

Andy has been jumping for many years and has a good safety record. His wife is also an experienced skydiver. The weekend I jumped a bigger plane came over from Taupo so there where about 10 experienced skydivers jumping at the same time, I was the only tandem, we lept out with them. I knew one of the guys and had been encouraged by him to try it. Glad I did, it was a buzz.
Sitting on the edge of the plane with your feet sticking out the door looking down flying along is cool, yu feel safe as with a parachute on. Once we fell outa the plane I kept trying to hook my legs around Andys legs, I not sure why it just happened instinctivly, probably to try to get hold of something solid. After we landed he said it was not a good idea cause thats how they stear themselves, woops.... Anyways, we landed where we should have. Its awesome actually and leaves you buzzing and on a high for awhile. Good adrenalin rush, a scensory overload leaving the plane, dam noisy.
One of the guys lost a shoe, so make sure yu have your shoes on properly.
Later I went up in the plane again, the others keep jumping all day, we had to wear a small emergency parachutes in case anything went wrong, as the last guy jumped the pilot gave the plane a wiggle so the guy fell off, then he launched the plane into a steep dive straight back down, woooo, good for the stomach.

[deeknow]

Well, I jumped out and went "aaaahhhhhhh fffuuuuuccckkk", then the 'chute was open and I was floating down ... then I thought "shit, I better make sure the 'chute looks OK"

LOL !!! Classic. Reminds me of the static-line jump I did a few years ago. My missus at the time jumped just after I did in the same plane-load, as I was descending I heard over the radio the ground staff calling out to her and saying "well done, your in control" ... when we all got on the ground she admitted to doing exactly what you just described, ie leaping out, screaming and only looking up at the chute after calming down, there was no "control" involved. We all pissed ourselves laughing about it at the time

[judecatmad]

as you well know, a tandem master would never do a hook turn at low altitude - just too dangerous

Indeed - this wasn't a tandem jumper. He was a guy who'd done an AFF course a few month prior in Florida (a popular thing to do in the UK at the time).

NOBODY in their right mind - tandem or solo - would EVER do a low hook turn. It's suicidal behaviour.

But then, so is base jumping IMHO. Good fun, but man, the potential for things to go wrong.......

[dnos]

Do it, you will not regret it.
Has to be the most exhilarating thing I have done.

[Bloody Mad Woman (BMW)]

DO IT. There were two words to describe it TOTALLY ORGASMIC. I did it in Australia, fearful of heights - my thought was how the hell was I going to jump out of the plane! Well I had absolutely no fear in the end - so excited - biggest buzz of my life - we were at 14,000 feet. Beaut landing - I immediately wanted to go and do it all again. I have the DVD of it (somewhere).

[Hitcher]

Please note the following article from British Medical Journal about potential risks associated with parachute jumping.

http://pla.ce.bo.free.fr/biblio/para..._challenge.pdf

[ManDownUnder]

Unfortunately I exceed the recommended weight limit for a tandem jump. Bugger...

'ang about - you weight more than TWO people should???

FARK!

[Colapop]

It's the associated underlighting that gets the weight up - Go Tron!

Umm Hitch - big long lots of words.... not good...

[Swoop]

A friend of mine got killed after he did a low hook turn (a turn too close to the ground).

Was this in NZ?

i fly a mix of tandems and sport jumpers at Matamata.

Oh shit. You'll know Pete R and Kermit then.

the reserve takes over 2 hours to pack due to the extreme care that's put into this one, and that if the reserve is unused it's unpacked after 6 months (I think) thoroughly inspected and repacked.

Your memory is spot-on with those facts!

[judecatmad]

Was this in NZ?

No, it was in the UK many moons ago.

If my memory serves me right, I stopped in 1994 so it would have been around then. One of my biggest regrets is that I gave it up thro losing my nerve. Should have pushed on through.

And now....well, not enough money for that addiction any more!

But definitely, ANYONE and EVERYONE should have the opportunity to jump out of a plane at least once in their lifetime

[MementoMori]

Excellent. Well my opportunity has come up so I think I shall take it. I contacted the guys and they're gonna ring me and talk me into it further. From the email I got though, they're bloody passionate about it which is always reassuring.

Cheers for all your replies, will be sure to post up my experience when I do it!

[marty]

Was this in NZ?

Oh shit. You'll know Pete R and Kermit then.

Your memory is spot-on with those facts!

yeah pete is next door. kermit occasionally does a jump with us. if this cloud clears we've got some booked at 12 noon today actually.

there was a death at mercer 2 weeks ago from swooping in - just before the nats

[Swoop]

yeah pete is nextg door. kermit occasionally does a jump with us. if this cloud clears we've got some booked at 12 noon today actually.

someone died at mercer 2 weeks ago swooping in - just before the nats

I guess you will be busy with the herc and the nats coming up soon!!!

[marty]

yeah i'm flying friday and monday but have to work at my real job over the weekend bugger it all....hope to fly the accuracy jumpers as that is heaps of fun, with quick turn arounds and lots of yelling and laughing

[vixter]

skydiving is thee or one of thee best things ive ever done in my life i started out many years ago doing a charity jump on a static line and thought fuck this is good and continued untill i gained catergory 8 basically jumping with who you want when you want!!!

if you just wanna do the one do the tandem as you get to experince the free fall if you think ya gonna get hooked then go through the static system!