Skydiving isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime experience for everybody! In fact, there are lots and lots of people who make skydiving a cornerstone of their lives. If that’s not crazy enough for you, catch this: once you get started as a hardcore, every-single-day kinda skydiver, it’s not all whoop-whoops and high-fives. In fact, there are things you begin to hate. Okay–not hate, per se, but resent a lil’ bit for getting in the way of your freefallin’ good time. Curious? Here’s the skinny.
The Dreaded Weather Watch.
Weather is really important in the skydiving world, as you might imagine. Because of the rules that have been set down for our safety (and the safety of the rest of the hurtling objects which share our sky), we have to jump in clear skies. When the day looks cloudy and we’re yearning for a leap, that means that we’ve generally got five weather websites open in our browsers at breakfast–and we’ll choose to believe the most optimistic of the lot.
The Necessary Evil of Packing.
Right. So–while this author actually quite enjoys packing, she’s in the distinct minority. It seems like the majority of skydivers all over the world kinda detest packing their parachutes, which is a shame–because a packed parachute is pretty necessary in order to make a successful skydive. Sure, it can be tiring (especially at a hot dropzone in the summertime), and it can slow you down…so I understand the frustration, especially when you’re churning out a dozen jumps a day. (Luckily, we have professional packers who’re more than willing to compress our nylon on our behalf if their palms are crossed with silver.)
Jumping in the Rain.
Picture a raindrop.
What side is the round side? What side is the pointy side?
Yeah.
It might be unscientific, but jumping in the rain sure does feel like flying at top speed through a billiion tiny little spikes. It doesn’t help that it’s almost always cold when it happens (or that parachutes don’t fly super-duper-well when wet.) Jumping when it’s threatening to rain is always a crapshoot, and when you lose, you really lose. Your visibility on the jump is shoddy, for one–ever seen windshield wipers on a helmet?–so you can’t really check out the majesty around you. It hurts. (Pointy ends of the raindrops, remember?) Finally: if you really get nailed, your gear has to be lain out to dry. BumMER.
The Mighty Skygods.
When some folks get into the sport, a strange thing happens–their little heads puff up like the blueberry girl in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. One day, they’re student skydivers–the next, they’re what we like to refer to as “skygods” (or, in other words, tireless self-promoters.) Suddenly, they can’t seem to stop peacocking around and forcing everyone around them to listen to preening exaggerations or undeserved lectures.
While we sit quietly and try valiantly not to yawn and roll our eyes, we meditate on the fact that skygods usually outgrow the phase. We also revel in the fact that we’re never at our Chattanooga dropzone when we run into these guys–so we can go on home to our warm, welcoming, ego-free home turf and leave the skygods behind for someone else to ignore. It’s a great feeling.
The Fact that We Can’t Be in the Sky All the Time.
Honestly, the A-number-one thing we hate about skydiving is that we ever have to do anything else. We’re head-over-heels for this stuff–and you’re going to see exactly why when you join us for a jump.
Maybe this is your weekend to join our ranks! Book your skydive online today with Chattanooga Skydiving Company!
