Skydiving

Bstatic

Just looking around at skydiving prices for beginners and that. I've never dove before but really want to. I looked at skydive.ie, the one off jumps are a bit pricey and they offer a course you can take for about 1200 euro and you get to do loads of jumps and become a "jumpmaster" which is cool, but again pricey.

But then I remember an article I read in the sunday times last year that was about holidays for under 1000 pounds, and one was for a trip to a skydiving place in florida, where you stay in the complex for a week, its a bit secluded so you don't get to see much, but they train you there and you get to do a few jumps every day and this was all included with flights and everything.
Pretty cool!

Anyone got any advice?

Lord Panic

Go and skydive, its amazing. Did my first jump ever yesterday, a solo jump in Offaly, at the skydive.ie drop zone, it was ****ing amazing! Its totally worth the 320 euro, about 8 hours training, lots of waiting to jump, ya gotta be very very patient and be prepared to have to entertain yourself for ages while waiting, but its totally worth it when ya get to jump out of that plane. Didnt bother with a tandem jump, solo's more rewarding, and then ya can jump at 30 quid a pop, danm all money if ya ask me! Cant explain how amazing it was, better than any other extreme sport i'v ever done, believe me, screw skateboarding, bmx, wakeboarding, snowboarding, kiteboarding, just go jump out of a plane! If ya progress fast ya can build up to beginning freefall and pulling your own ripcord for real after about 7/8 jumps, anything from 25-45 jumps to be diving from 10000 feet, or in the case of skydive.ie, 13500 feet soon, they're getting a new plane! Do it, but be prepared to be very very patient, its totally worth it.

Evil Phil

Dunno the terminology but I take it your jump was just a parachute jump and not actual sky diving. Or am I wrong?

Bluehair

Sounds like Lord Panic did a static line jump which is still sky-diving (but with no real free-fall)

Tandems are the way to get into the sport. Do one see how you like it and progress onto AFF training if you decide it's a sport for you.

Do a search Bstatic I've posted loads on this before.

Skydive.ie (Irish Parachute Club) is one of the best in the world. If you're serious they can help out with suggestions for a florida or spain trip to dropzones there for training.

Fyi if money is a big concern this ain't a cheap sport.

D

Did a tandem skydive in the US on a J1 absoloutely brilliant. Even have a video. I was completely fine on the way up and when I jumped. But for the second or so when you move up to the edge of the door in preparation to jump I was so scared and at that moment the camera guy gets a nice big close-up. But I would do it all again.

Lord Panic

Yeah, did a static line jump, because money was a concern! I was 100% sure i was gonna like it, and an AFF course is 1400 euro, and thats providing that you pass all the elements! I'm not gonna risk paying 2 grand to freefall, with the static line you do three jumps, then three pulling a dummy ripcord, and then you get to dive for real, building up to you 10000 feet jump in between 25 and 45 jumps, depending on the progress and length of time beteen each!

So 320 for a static line, and then 30 a jump, seemed much cheaper and better value than AFF for my situtation. And not to put anyone off AFF, but we were gonna sign up for it because we had waited almost two days to jump, but the chief instructor said you needed completely clear blue skies to do it, he advised us that if we took that route we'd be waiting a very long time to complete the course!

The route i would'v taken if i'd had the money would be to do a tandem jump at 320, and then become a static line student for an additional 120, jumping at 30 until i get my licence! Couldn afford to do a tandem adn convert, and honestly just wanted to do the static line jump so i could do it for myself, much much more rewarding! At least i got the whole weekend out of my 320 euro as opposed to a half hour between training and jump!

Bluehair

Some people seem to thrive on the static line progression but i hated it esp for the freefall progression (3 sec, 5 sec, 8 sec etc).

It's very difficult to learn freefall skills 'on the hill' when you've got limited air to work with and I stunk at exits early on!

Once I went to florida and did AFF though I was laughing.

One BIG bonus to static line though is you end up with excellend canopy control skills much earlier than most aff students, this was very apparent in the US I must admit.

Any idea when the porters coming in then?

FX Meister

Are you serious when you say Irish Parachute Club is one of the best in the world? I thought it was a terrible dropzone and the staff were really stuck up their own asses. Waiting all day to get one jump if you're lucky. They totally put me off the sport in this country.

Bluehair

Really?

As far as waiting around its one of the limitations of living with Irish weather and having limited (non-turbine) equipment. But I believe there's a better aircraft on the way this summer.

I must admit I've not been in the sport for a few years so don't really know who's who down there these days but there was a great crowd at the time and I know a few who are still around. No matter what dz you go to you'll always encounter some with a 'skygod' attitude 'we're not worthy :mad:

Having jumped at a lot of places though I'd still say overall the IPC is one of the best, shame they put you off the sport here though do you still jump abroad?

FX Meister

I haven't jumped abroad. Mainly due to holiday limitations and I'd rather climb on my time off that sit around a drop zone waiting to hear my name. Maybe in the future I'll head somewhere I can train properly.

Lord Panic

Spent the weekend back down in Clonbullogue, camped out, got to jump saturday and sunday, met a heap of the people in the place and they were all cool! Maybe you need to meet them outside of skydiving hours..... Crazy Crazy bunch, loved it! It does not take long to get hooked!

MooShop

im really interested in getting in to parachute jumping and sky diving, its something i've always wanted to do since i was young, just reading some of your posts, not sure of some of the terminology though. can anybody explain the differences between the different jumps? what exactly is a static-line jump???

Lord Panic

Tandem jump: After a short training you go to about 10000 feet, strapped in front of an instructor who's in charge! He jumps out, you freefall for aboout 30 seconds, not sure how long exactly, then he pops the parachute and ya float down! You might get to control the parachute, but they do everything! Thats 320 a pop with skydive.ie, i'v never done it, but it looks amazing!

Static Line: Same price for the first jump, but about 7 - 8 hours training, about stuff like canopy control, malfunctions, exiting the plane etc. They teach you how to do absolutely everything to get you out of the plane and down safely. Ya fly to 3500 feet, jump out on your own, and a "static line" about 10 feet long opens your chute automatically after you exit the plane, so you've very little to worry about! After that you get about 4 minutes under the canopy flying down, and go straight to sign up and do it again! Jumps are 30 euro each after that, the progression, depending on your progress is about 3-6 static line jumps, 3-6 "dummy ripcord pulls" where you pull a dummy ripcord as ya freefall,the parachute still opening automatically, proving to them that ya'll be able to do it for real, then the static line is removed, and you do it for real! You progress into freefall like 1sec, 3sec, 5sec, 10sec etc.. Licence can be obtained anywhere between 25-45 jumps, and then ya can go to dropzones anywhere in the world and throw yourself out of a plane!

Accelerated Freefall (AFF): On your first of 7 jumps you jump out at 10000 feet with two instructors holding on to you, giving you signals as they assess your position, and basically teach you the elements of skydiving in 7 jumps, each of which you must pass, or do that lesson again! The whole course is 1400 euro for the 7 jumps, more if ya gotta repeat them!

MooShop

thanks for that Lord Panic, it sounds really cool, hopefully i'll get to do it this summer, think out of the three types you described, the static line sounds the best i.e more value for money (cos money isn't something i have alot of!!!!)

ando

Hey does anybody have another phone number for SkyDive.ie club? I rang the number on the website but I keep getting 'the phone number is not in use'

I'm organising tandam jumps with 5 other lads for charity, any help appreciated

Lord Panic

1850 260 600 Should be the number, just rang it and it dialled, try again?

chillywilly

here is the question that every first time sky diver wants to know...how often do deaths/injuries occur? has it ever happened down in offaly?

Lord Panic

Asked that question the first time i jumped, was told that it's one of the safest dropzones around, open 49 years, only one fatality about 20 years ago, and that was a visitor who wasnt associated with the club who screwed up of his own accord! I think a general rule is about 60 deaths a year worldwide, but thats out of almost 5 million jumps. That data's coming from lots of different web stuff, most of which report roughly the same numbers!

Edit:
Should also point out that on average 92% of skydiving related deaths are human error, a point easily verified on www.dropzone.com which records worldwide fatalities, its very rare to see a report which does not state human error as cause of death.

therecklessone

Did a tamdemjump from 12,000 feet in Taupo, NZ. It was the best thing I have ever done, and I'm a complete coward (I won't even get on the waltzers!)

I know its a long way away, but New Zealand is the one of the cheapest places to do skydiving in the world. I'm hoping to go back in a couple of years, and I'll consider their 25 jump skydive course if I do.

ando

cant wait I'm currently waiting for others to save up the cash but I'm deffo doing this. Am I mad, yes but fcuk it

Bluehair

Lord Panic wrote:

Should also point out that on average 92% of skydiving related deaths are human error, a point easily verified on www.dropzone.com which records worldwide fatalities, its very rare to see a report which does not state human error as cause of death.

Very important point that.

Equipment failure or the like is astonishingly rare in skydiving I've a great deal of faith in my gear and its maintanence.

I'd like to add to the above point by Lord Panic that the vast majority of those 'human error' deaths or injurys were whats known as 'under good canopy' meaning the parachute functioned fine but the skydiver did something stupid while flying it (usually 'hook turns' or 'turf surfing', putting the parachute into a dive near the ground and pulling out at the last second :rolleyes: )

Skydiving is as safe or as risky as you make it.

chillywilly

so what you are saying is tandem skydiving is pretty darn safe with professionals?

but id say it takes alot to put your life in a total strangers hands!!?

therecklessone

chillywilly wrote:

so what you are saying is tandem skydiving is pretty darn safe with professionals?

but id say it takes alot to put your life in a total strangers hands!!?

Like I said earlier, I'm a complete coward but I had absolute trust in my tandem master. I think it was the fact that all I had to do was enjoy the ride that made me so relaxed.

FX Meister

Hey, I've seen someone who jumped one tandem and one solo jump in Offaly pack a chute for the first time to be used by a new jumper. I wouldn't be too confident jumping on that chute if I knew about it.

Lord Panic

If you're a static line student you have to start packing that early, you're not allowed to go into freefall without having got your packing licence! The students without a packing cert are VERY closely monitored by a licensed instructor, who checks out every step, and its up to him to sign it off as being done correctly in the end! Do ya think that any instructor putting his name to someone's work would do so if he didnt think that it was 100% perfect? I know i wouldn't!

The rig's are checked before every jump, and that instructor would have alot to answer for if a bad pack job was discovered!

Safe as houses!

chillywilly

my house fell down yesterday....

Lord Panic

Well, eh, I doubt it was built by a skydiving student!!

blondie83

Did a static line myself out in Clonbuillogue a while ago, and it was absolutely brilliant! I remember after landing and getting back up just being totally out of breath and exhilletated (sp). If you look at people who are just after jumping, when they get up gather their canopy and walk off they always have huge grins on their faces!

Will have to agree that the training and facilities there were excellent. I was mildly worried before I got their, but the training pretty much dispels any doubts you might have in your mind, as you cover all the stuff that could possibly go wrong.

jumpmad

I dont think you've got it right there, all the people packing in the IPC are qualified, having past a packing test, Any gear on the rack that is packed and signed off is as safe as a parachute can be.

What you might have seen is somebody practicing for the test as most people practice and practice and practice, getting each practice pack job checkeds OR maybe your right the person packing had only done 1 tandem and 1 static line but he or she might have been packing well before they even started jumping as you dont have to jump to learn to pack and do your test.

The IPC is a great club with great people, cant wait for the porter
I'd advice everyone to give it a go just once because you'll be hooked from that one jump.