Any sky divers here?

[emttim]

Ok, so I'm trying to decide if sky diving is worth doing concurrently to scuba diving since I did sky dive once when I was 18 and I loved it. What kept me away? The cost. Now, I'm looking at getting my parachute license so I can do solo dives, but inbetween the fact that it's $50 if I don't have my own gear, and the fact that it'll cost around $2,000 to get the license makes me question if it's worth it. What makes me really suspicious of how much the sky diving equipment such as the parachute, jumpsuit, etc. cost is that on all the manufacturer and dealer web sites, no prices are listed at all, which just seems shady to me to not even offer a ballpark figure.

So I figured it's easier to ask if any of you guys sky dive as well and whether you think it was or is worth the cost when you could have spent that money on scuba diving. I figure it costs me around $200 to go down to Monterey for a few days and do say 7 dives, so if I average 30 min a dive (it'd be more but I'm being conservative), that's 210 minutes of entertainment at a cost of $0.95/minute. If I sky dive, once I have my license but no equipment, figure 60 seconds of free fall followed by a 5 minute float down so 6 minutes of entertainment at a cost of $8.33/minute. But if I had $50 and not $200, or didn't have the time off work, I could still sky dive so I guess that's the flip side.

Anyway, yeah just wondering if any of you guys do that as well and what your opinion is on it. And before anyone says I'm crazy for sky diving in the first place, I just want to humbly point out that you are on life support equipment when underwater and many wouldn't exactly view that as sane either.

 

[Grish]

My boyfriend-ish sky dives, but scuba diving is his primary passion. We're going down to florida at the end of august to do some diving of both varieties (my first time). I say do what you love to do...there's nothing in the books that says you can't have both (as long as you have the proper surface time in between, haha). I get the investment factor, but only you can make the choice of whether or not it's worth the money. I'm personally perfectly happy sticking with tandem jumps haha.

 

[emttim]

I'm personally perfectly happy sticking with tandem jumps haha.

Yeah...reason I'm not is they cost $149 - $199 or more depending on what you get vs $50. ;P

 

[Grish]

Yeah...reason I'm not is they cost $149 - $199 or more depending on what you get vs $50. ;P

Well...what was it, 2000 to get certified, you said? Plus buying your own gear. Plus you have to dive something like once every six months to keep your certification current, or at least that's what the boyfriend-ish says. I guess it all depends on how often you think you'd be doing it. If i REALLY like sky diving, I might do it once every couple of years. Most of my expendable income is definitely going towards scuba diving.

 

[skynscuba]

I've been jumping for 36 years, since 3 days after my 18th birthday. I'm sure I've spent $100k in 2008 dollars.

fdog here also has thousands of jumps, and I've seen a few others I recognize as experience jumpers post here.

You should wander over to Lodi, where tandems are $100, and other jumps are similarly cheaper ($15 walkup, $13 in blocks of 50 for experience jumpers with their own gear). PM me and I will answer whatever questions you have, and/or put you in touch with a good instructor.

 

[wguy00]

I went sky diving once (not that tandem BS either!) and man, that was a rush. Why not dive another once or twice with the jump school's gear just to make sure that this is something you want to spend the money on. If you're debating it, then you're not sure. One or two more jumps at an extra ~$50/each is pennies compared to buying a $3000 rig and deciding it's not for you.

Just my $.02.

 

[emttim]

I've been jumping for 36 years, since 3 days after my 18th birthday. I'm sure I've spent $100k in 2008 dollars.

fdog here also has thousands of jumps, and I've seen a few others I recognize as experience jumpers post here.

You should wander over to Lodi, where tandems are $100, and other jumps are similarly cheaper ($15 walkup, $13 in blocks of 50 for experience jumpers with their own gear). PM me and I will answer whatever questions you have, and/or put you in touch with a good instructor.

No offense, but I will not dive Lodi. Ever. Lodi has an extremely terrible reputation as far as safety goes, and in fact, my friend is a part-time paramedic for AMR in San Joaquin county down in Stockton...and he's transported several people who jumped at Lodi and their parachute didn't deploy; this was in the span of only one year. All of those people were Critical Care Transports which meant that they could either live or die, and if they lived, there was no guarantee there would ever be a full recovery. Plus by the time I got done paying for gas, it's no cheaper to dive in Lodi versus here in Davis. There's a difference between accepting risk and unacceptable risk. But I will PM you anyway though because you live in the area and I do have plenty of questions as far as gear goes.

Well...what was it, 2000 to get certified, you said? Plus buying your own gear. Plus you have to dive something like once every six months to keep your certification current, or at least that's what the boyfriend-ish says. I guess it all depends on how often you think you'd be doing it. If i REALLY like sky diving, I might do it once every couple of years. Most of my expendable income is definitely going towards scuba diving.

True. Well, diving once every 6 months is nothing to stay certified...hell it takes more time and effort to stay certified as an EMT. I don't have to buy my own gear...the only difference it'd make is each solo dive is $24 and the equipment rental is $25...so I'd be saving $25 per jump. I'd have to jump far more than I plan to in order to save money in the long run...not like with scuba equipment where the savings starts to add up quick from owning your own gear. But yeah, most of my expendable income is indeed going toward scuba diving too, but then sky diving's a different kind of rush...far, far different.

I went sky diving once (not that tandem BS either!) and man, that was a rush. Why not dive another once or twice with the jump school's gear just to make sure that this is something you want to spend the money on. If you're debating it, then you're not sure. One or two more jumps at an extra ~$50/each is pennies compared to buying a $3000 rig and deciding it's not for you.

Just my $.02.

It's not $50/each for jumps unless you're already close to your license and have enough training to jump on your own...it'd be about $200 a pop. I'm debating it primarily because I'm not sure if it's worth it at this point in time due to financial constraints...I do plan to be a licensed jumper eventually anyway, just depends on when due to the cost. But yeah, I don't plan on buying my own gear until I'm confident that it would be worth the expense. Plus I'd rather just pay the equipment rental fees and use the saved money to get a dry suit.

 

[skynscuba]

No offense, but I will not dive Lodi. Ever. Lodi has an extremely terrible reputation as far as safety goes, and in fact, my friend is a part-time paramedic for AMR in San Joaquin county down in Stockton...and he's transported several people who jumped at Lodi and their parachute didn't deploy; this was in the span of only one year. All of those people were Critical Care Transports which meant that they could either live or die, and if they lived, there was no guarantee there would ever be a full recovery. Plus by the time I got done paying for gas, it's no cheaper to dive in Lodi versus here in Davis. There's a difference between accepting risk and unacceptable risk. But I will PM you anyway though because you live in the area and I do have plenty of questions as far as gear goes.

This is sorta like someone who has made a SCUBA dive at a resort course saying that they will never dive at Monterey, because there is always someone killed diving there. (true, more SCUBA deaths there than skydiving in Northern California).

Lodi actually has a pretty good safety record. They are also the most active dropzone in Northern California, so statistically there will be more accidents. You'll find that there have been a few deaths at your closest DZ to home, and a lot of serious or permanent injuries.

I have a very active skydiving friend who said a few years ago that she personally knew over 100 people that died skydiving. Considering the past several years, I'm sure that number is over 120.

Like SCUBA, there is a lot that you can do to improve your personal safety, and there are gear issues that can arise. You are more likely to be "taken out" by someone else in skydiving than in SCUBA.

 

[wguy00]

It's not $50/each for jumps unless you're already close to your license and have enough training to jump on your own...it'd be about $200 a pop. I'm debating it primarily because I'm not sure if it's worth it at this point in time due to financial constraints...I do plan to be a licensed jumper eventually anyway, just depends on when due to the cost. But yeah, I don't plan on buying my own gear until I'm confident that it would be worth the expense. Plus I'd rather just pay the equipment rental fees and use the saved money to get a dry suit.

I said an extra $50/jump. IIRC, that was the cost difference between bringing your own gear and renting the school's when I did my jump.

 

[Beachlover]

I have done three AFF and absolutely loved it. I did'nt love it enough to get my license, someday I may go back and decide to get it though. If you've got the extra cash, why not go and do a jump or two and see how strong your desire is after the jumps and decide whether or not you want to get your license. I love to dive and it is a great source of enjoyment/relaxation for me, but I've always got room for more fun stuff. Good luck.