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Did my 1st Skydive yesterday :)

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Look into doing AFF level 1. Will probably about the same price as tandem + SL, but you get to jump from max with 2 instructors, you get video, you deploy and you land it.

Where do you get these prices from? And I think video/still pictures is only available for tandem jumps?

Reply 81

brabzzz

Original post by hamza7

Where do you get these prices from? And I think video/still pictures is only available for tandem jumps?

They were from memory, which is a bit hazy.
SL courses are about 150-200, Tandem's 200-250, and AFF is 1000-1500, of which roughly a quarter was always charged to AFF1 only jumpers...in the hope they'd then see the error of their ways and upgrade to the full course :smile:

Ahhha: a quick google:
http://www.skydiving.co.uk/Accelerated.htm?quicktabs_3=4#quicktabs-3

Your instructors will have their helmet mounted video, which you can ask for a copy of. They use it for training/debriefing. If you want professional 'outside video and stills', it would be a rare dropzone indeed that would refuse a "will you do me outside vid/stills for £75 if i do an AFF1 course with you...and maybe AFF1-8" ;-)

edit: shop around. BPA.org.uk and ukskydiver.co.uk are great sources of into.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 82

NB_ide

Original post by brabzzz

I quit a few years ago

...

1 reserve ride (on jump 993!)

Are they related?

Reply 83

brabzzz

Original post by NB_ide

Are they related?

Not at all...I was quitting anyway :biggrin:

It was in the French Alps - decided that a last week of skydiving with mates would be a great farewell. I had my mal on day 6...so i guess it cut my skydiving career short by a day - mostly because i had to spend day 7 walking around fields looking for my cutaway handle!

Statistically, 1/750 should be a mal (forcing you to use your reserve). I held out longer than most :smile:

Lol, it really isn't a big deal - pull 2 handles and land the reserve. Oh...and buy the whole bar a round - tradition!

Reply 84

NB_ide

Original post by brabzzz

Not at all...I was quitting anyway :biggrin:

Lol, it really isn't a big deal - pull 2 handles and land the reserve. Oh...and buy the whole bar a round - tradition!

Why were you quitting?

(and what malfunction did you have?)

Reply 85

brabzzz

Original post by NB_ide

Why were you quitting? (and what malfunction did you have?)

I didn't pack it (for once a friend did!), but it came out and all i could see was ground, sky, ground, sky...lol. A spinney thing - twists gone wild :smile:

On a docile canopy it's rarely an issue, but i was loading a Crossfire2 119 at 1.8:1. Chop!

Meh...i'd just got made redundant and something went click. I'd spent 3 years working my balls off working monday-friday, and every weekend and holiday for the last 6 skydiving. There had to be more to life than that - if you get into it, it takes over your life, for better or worse. You'll have the very best times of your life skydiving, and also the very worst.

Sold my gear and went travelling, for what turned out to be 3 years...
I do miss skydiving, but there's so much else to do too!

Reply 86

NB_ide

Original post by brabzzz

I didn't pack it (for once a friend did!), but it came out and all i could see was ground, sky, ground, sky...lol. A spinney thing - twists gone wild :smile:

Valid. I'm just starting, as you may have read, and really enjoy it. But I don't earn a lot of money and have always been very frugal and careful about my expenditure. We'll have to see how much I end up doing, but I expect to end up doing maybe one or two days per month, basically, just to stay current. I have a load of other hobbies and other things that I derive great pleasure from and skydiving hasn't taken over my mind yet.

I wonder if I could get to do camera work or something, at some point.

Reply 87

brabzzz

Original post by NB_ide

I wonder if I could get to do camera work or something, at some point.

You can start packing soon, after a few dozen jumps. If you pack 4 or 5 an hour, you're looking at £25-50 an hour. At a busy dopzone with lots of SL students (Netheravon), it means you can leave after a weekend with half a dozen jumps and not be much out of pocket. Especially if you sacrifice the first hour's evening beers and pack the mountains of student gear instead.

Camera/instructing requires you to become a DZ bum and basically live there every weekend. You need to really get into the scene and know the right people. There's a chick at who started jumping - at 16, self funded - at Headcorn, where i jumped for a few years. She took that approach, and started doing camera at 200 jumps, the earliest possible point. A couple of years later she had 2000 jumps (mostly camera...so never mind free, she was being paid for it) and had obviously become pretty damn good too.

Cheap it aint... training, jumps, camera gear, suits, rigs, tunnel time, coaches... there's nothing quiet like it though.

Reply 88

NB_ide

Original post by brabzzz

Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

Reply 89

cyfer

Although this is a necro-bump, if anyone is still here from the original thread, I am going forward as planned as going skydiving after my last GCSE exam on Monday!

(static-line)

Reply 90

NB_ide

Original post by cyfer

Although this is a necro-bump, if anyone is still here from the original thread, I am going forward as planned as going skydiving after my last GCSE exam on Monday!

(static-line)

**** yea!