Societies

Jumping out of a plane must be the greatest thrill, so i wanna give that a go. as long as it doesn't cost an absolute fortune. Apart from that i'm not sure what i want to join, maybee the badminton one because thats the only sport i'm half good at.

1) It's about £170 the first time, all in. For two days traning, transport, accom, insurance and a £1.50 a drink, any drink, bar - 20yards from the accom. Each jump after that is only £17. Your first freefall (jump 6) is on us!

2) Getting your license is expensive. Of those who make the first jump, 0.5% nationally get it in the end. 5% of our club do. But at £17 a time it's not THAT bad...and if you come one the (awesome) skydiving trip to Gap (French Alps) we'll qualify you for the lowest price in Europe.

3) It IS worth joining and doind, even for the one jump. Most people end up doing just one jump. Lots do 1-5, only about 3-5 qualify in the end out of the 80 that join, for many reasons...most often because they only ever wanted to do 1 jump.

321cya!

Yer, that sounds good. I mean all the training and stuff is gotta cost a bit, but £17 a time after that i thinks good value, considering your going up in a plane and everything

I will see, i'm enthusiastic now but would i have the guts to actually do it??.... hmmm.

Same here, it's all very well saying i'll do it now but sitting on the edge of the plane looking down is a whole other kettle of fish

Brabzz are these all solo jumps then? The first 6 with a fixed line and the 7th freefall? Not sure I like the responsibility of pulling my own cord... might forget if i'm enjoying it too much! :P

Yep, they're all solo! First ~5 are static line (as in the films....kinda).

Jump 'task'

1 Get out, stable and in the correct position. Land.
2 Get out, stable and in the correct position. Land.
3 As above, but deploy a dummy 'handle' (ie pretend to open it)
4 As above, but deploy a dummy 'handle' (ie pretend to open it)
5 As above, but deploy a dummy 'handle' (ie pretend to open it)
6 As above, but now it's a real handle and no 'static line' - 3 secs ff.

After that, the freefalls get longer and they start to incorporate turns, manovers and funky stuff like unstable (front-roll) exits. Until you complete the previous stages -perfectly- you don't progress. If you do it all perfectly (and many do), jump 6 is 'first freefall' (on us, but it's tradition to buy the whole dropzone bar a beer - it's that big an achievment!). Jump 18 is the qualifying jump (again, you buy the beer). At that point you can go anywhere in the world, hire a parachute (a fiver or so) and jump. Solo!!! You'd be one of only a handful of people in the UK to be able to do that...which is pretty damn cool.

After that it only gets better...formations, freefly, wingsuit etc. There's nothing quiet like getting a few mates, jumping out at sunset together and just dicking around/grabbing onto each other/'throwing' people around in freefall! or jumping with an airbed/rubber raft or soaring over valleys/lakes with a wingsuit.

And believe it or not, after 75 jumps or so, you'll look back at the first few and wish that 'sh*ttin a brick' factor was still there!

Basically, i'm joining. Want my money now?
The wingsuit thing is basically my ultimate dream. Coolest. Thing. Ever. Closest to flying you're gonna get until we're at the matrix level of technology.
On their first jump. do people have trouble landing in the right place given they're controlling their chute all by themselves?
Are you going to be involved with the society this year now that you've left uni?
...Now all I have to worry about is vertigo....

SO MANY societies I want to join but I'm really worried about overdoing it and not having any spare time at all! I want to check out the capoeira society, Spotlights, Dance soc, International Affairs, Jazz Funk Soul/Rocksoc, Stop AIDS Society, STAR..... and who knows, maybe I'll go to some lectures, too!

How in the world do you organise your time effectively at uni when there are so many opportunities?!

I'm waiting until after the first few weeks of lectures before joining any societies so I know how much free time I'll have.