Starting my skydiving training tomorrow!

[degeneration]

Yes, that's right, from tomorrow I'm starting my training towards being a qualified skydiver!!

Doing the AFF (Accelerated Freefall) course to get my 'A' licence in skydiving!

So bloody excited!!!

Was going to be doing it in Spain this summer, up in Empuriabrava (near Barcelona), but turns out Swansea of all places are offering it at a VERY cheap rate (for Britain) so am starting it there tomorrow! Weather won't be nearly as nice, but it is cheaper and I can start sooner, so that makes up for it.

So a full day's ground school awaits and hopefully the altitude awareness tandem and Level 1 of the course too, if the weather is nice.

Here's a promo video for the AFF course from the skydiving company Freefall Addicts. It shows the 8 levels that make up the AFF course, then after I've done all that I have to do another 10 jumps to reach the criteria for the A licence.

If you've not skydived before, I strongly recommend you try it out! You might even get hooked like me and then spend a small fortune (relative to the little I'm earning just now) in learning to do it properly to take it up as a hobbie!

If I can get any cool photos or anything from any recordings of my jumps from ~12,000' above Swansea I'll post them later!!

Yay!

[Markgway]

You've got big balls, my friend.

I would be too friggin' petrified to get IN a plane with an open door nevermind leap out.

Crazy barstard!!

[Yi-Long]

Part of my ninja-training as a kid was to drop from great heights and land safely. My teacher often threw me out of a 7th floor appartment in order for me to survive. Occasionally I even had to wear blindfolds so I couldnt anticipate the landing.

Sure, it was rough, but it's what made me a good ninja.

Anyway, you have fun with your pansy-ass version of dropping from great heights (using a parachute(!) Pah(!)) and return to us safely.

[EvaUnit02]

Just make sure you've had a good night's sleep of 8-10 hours beforehand. Alertness and reaction are crucial in endeavours such as this.

[degeneration]

Well, had my first day's ground training today. Was a lot to take in! Have to learn all the safety drills all the hand signs that the instructors will use in mid air to communicate with you, the skydive procedure so that you can pass the next level.

Am getting close to shitting myself now. I've done tandem skydives before, and that was fine cause the guy I was strapped to jumped out the plane for me... tomorrow I gotta jump out myself... I am crazy...

Worst part, it is in Swansea and First Great Western have decided Easter weekend is the perfect time to close the train lines to do work on them, so I have to get the friggin bus there tomorrow. Have to be in Swansea by 8am, so have to get a bus at 5.44am!!! Buses later in the day manage the trip in 1 hour, but this one somehow takes 2hrs 22 mins?!?!?!??! HOW!

Fucking buses...

[bradavon]

I'd love to Skydive (to see if I could go through with it) but I'm curious why of all things would you want to train in it?

As for me I can no longer Skydive or Bungee Jump since my eye operation 18 months ago. Did I tell you guys? Well I had lens replacement surgery and the doctors have said anything like that is a big no no now.

Pity . I chickened out of both while in Australia and New Zealand, and now can not do either. The risk for me is just to high.

[degeneration]

I want to train in it because I loved it!!!

Same reason for why anyone does anything, be it martial arts, playing football etc. They don't just take part once and then say "done that". They like it so keep playing and training. SKydiving is just another sport, I tried it, loved it and want to keep doing it! Shame it is just a tad more expensive than the likes of martial arts and football...

But I've now done the first two levels of the Accelerated Freefall Course! Made myself jump out a plane at 15,000 feet twice now! Am getting better at holding the stable position while falling, and have done some turns and slight mid-air braking and acceleration. Yay!! I've also managed to open my parachute both times, which is quite important!!

While training the people on the course have a radio strapped to their chest so they can be talked down while flying the parachute. My first solo jump the radio didn't work!! Had to do it ALL myself, and I have never been so scared! Landed in the wrong direction (down wind), but landed without hurting myself. The way I'm looking at it, any landing that you can walk away from without having hurt yourself is a good landing!

Sorry to hear about your eyes brad. It is a shame that you can't do things like this anymore, as skydiving is fecking awesome!

Unfortunately the course that I'm doing in Swansea does not give you video recordings of your jumps, which'll be one of the reasons that it is so cheap to do there. So no photos of me falling through the air unfortunately. T'is a shame as the weather the past few days has been amazing and the views stunning!

But here are some of some other people falling through the air over Swansea!

http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/phpBB2/albu ... pic_id=697
http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/phpBB2/albu ... pic_id=696
http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/phpBB2/albu ... pic_id=628
http://www.ukskydiver.co.uk/phpBB2/albu ... pic_id=627