Parachute jumping / skydiving

kc66

Does anyone here skydive? Im sure a few of you have done parachute jumps? Just havent seen any threads about it so Ill start one.
I did a few jumps a few years ago and its one of the best experiences of my life. Did the solo jumps. Scary stuff climbing out along the wing of the plane.
Im definitely going to try getting back into it.

StJimmy

I've never done it but it's something I really wanna do. I've been thinking about it for a long time now actually...

So is it hard if ya wanna get into it?

Bikey

i've just been thinking about giving parachuting a go. any suggestions on where to go? initial pointers?

Aviator55

IPC Clonbullogue.
Look up http://www.skydive.ie
You'll never regret it. Well, except for the way up on the first one. And, once you get addicted, every month when your bank statement comes in.

FX Meister

It's good but I found most of the people in Offaly to be douche bags. It's a pain in the ass with all the waiting around you have to do.

carveone

Never jumped there myself - met some of the Irish guys (and girl of course! better say that as I need a reserve repack and she's the best!) in Florida at various times though - pretty decent fellows really. Have a tendency to pull goddamn low though! Funnily enough they have less scary gear than some of the other europeans I've met!

There is a lot of waiting around I gather. Don't forget that they're primarily a tandem DZ. That's where the €€€€s are. They have a Porter now which is a fast plane. I'm spoilt I guess - 4 jumps/day is average for me, 8-10 when I'm on a roll and not packing for myself.

The landing point sucks ass - I will not land with sheep and get crap all over 1000s of dollars worth of gear thanks. I've seen Headcorn in England - ok, nothing can be worse than that (*everything* was brown) but still...

There is also a DZ in the North - stunning facilities, gorgeous Cessna Caravan, bit pricy cause of sterling, bit slow cause Irish people have a problem with mornings.

kc66

On my first jump I landed right in the middle of a giant thistle. Was pulling thorns out of me for hours after. Heard about a lad who landed in a bog hole in the next field though.

carveone

Great. I guess the poo field has other charming aspects to it that I wasn't aware of. Don't see what's wrong with landing on good old grass. Now I sound like a grump

Just to address the rest of the posters - if you want to just do one jump and then that's enough, a tandem is probably what you want. While technically the most dangerous of the student disciplines, it gives the best overall view of what skydiving is really about. ("Dangerous" is versus AFF and solo exits - from what I've seen, the student doesn't always get their legs up, leaving them prone to ankle/leg injuries. ie: do what you're told! In a solo situation you don't have the chance of some big tandem master sitting on you). And that's enough for 95% of first jumpers really.

> So is it hard if ya wanna get into it?

Oh yeah. It's like skiing or skateboarding or other sports where it helps not to be a klutz. If you want to just fall out of the plane and pull it's not going to be majorly difficult. I've coached about a dozen first freefallers and they all did fine . You could just do that (and be bored silly).

Like every other technically complex sport though, getting good at any of the disciplines (rw, freefly, freestyle, canopy piloting, crew, style & accuracy, vrw) takes many hundreds to thousands of jumps, preferable close together in time, and a lot of work and really good coaches.

So there. As you can tell I like to talk about my favourite sport. I should stop now.

Conor.

ICHIGO

sky diving would rule is it hard to get doing it?

FX Meister

It seems like it's too hard for you to read the above posts so I'd say you would consider it hard to get doing it.

Zenith74

I did two jumps last summer (first time I'd done it) at Clonbullogue. If you want to go solo you do a one day training course (€320 which includes your first jump) where they teach you all the routines and generally try to scare the crap out of you. After the training they load you into a small (SMALL) plane, climb to 3000 feet, open the door and have you climb out along the wing strut from where you let go. Your first few jumps are 'static line', so a cord attached to the plane pulls your chute.

It's an incredible experience that I'd seriously recommend to anybody, you will not regret it. It's a bit difficult to stick at it though if you don't have a lot of time on your hands. You can sit around for hours waiting for your next jump, assuming the clouds are high enough, the wind is weak enough, it's not raining etc etc. I'd love to do more jumps but I think I'll just stick to motocross, less hanging around...

javelin

would it be easy to rent or borrow gear at the dropzone? anyone who knows? I wanna jump over here, but I dont have any gear with me and I have to renew the license first..

blue sky,
johanna