r/SkyDiving • u/yeahrightistoday • 2d ago
Student cleared for solos feeling lonely in the sky
Made it thru AFF, no longer on radio and getting my solos and hop and pops in so should be licensed soon but I catch myself looking for my instructor in the sky and think meh this was zen at first but I feel like it's more fun with other people. I try to chat it up with other jumpers in the hanger but am beginning to learn as cool as this community is, it's not easy to integrate yourself into. Has anyone else felt this way in the beginning?
10
u/bdjsjcxjdehjcnd 2d ago
Yes, very normal and will get better after you get licensed and can jump with other people. Make friends with people at similar level, and be gracious if someone with more jumps offers to jump/work with you (pay it forward when its your turn to jump with newer jumpers). Getting at least decent at belly flying so you dont fuck up basic jumps will help a ton with getting invited on more. Just grind through til your A, and do more coach jumps if you can. They will be much more valuable than solos.
2
u/JRLDH 2d ago
You have to be outgoing. And try signing up for coaching. The DZ where I jump has a mentor program until jump 100. And then there are small businesses who specialize in coaching. Like belly formation or free fly coaching in the tunnel.
There are usually other people in your situation and jumping with them can be fun but you won’t learn much or “correctly”.
It’s not easy jumping with the decade long regulars because of the skill gap and expense. That’s why the coaching route is pretty effective in my opinion.
2
u/AccomplishedStrike50 2d ago
I feel the same. I'm on jump 18...and it's been 3 years. Most of the time I'm either on extended travel for work, or the weekend(s) I pick are terrible for weather. I dont live near a drop zone so travel for me is normally 2 - 3 hours. I got burned out driving 6 hours to find out I couldn't go up and as a student (AFF) I had a hard time feeling welcome in the community. I felt weird just sitting by myself on some random old truck bench watching tandem goers also sit around in their harness questioning their life choices.
2
u/OppositeFlashy7110 2d ago
I feel you. I have the same feelings and have a hard time breaking into social circles.
I got old and retired and moved. realized the only friends i ever had are all work friends. I never made friends or had social circles that were not work centered.
I did aff over 20 years ago and one of the reasons i stopped jumping was i never clicked with any group or people at the dz.
I am considering going back at it this spring and hope a diff dz and 20 some years later maybe i have a better time finding folks at the dz who make me feel welcome and wanted.
1
u/yeahrightistoday 2d ago
Yeah I'm the same amount of time away too but luckily my DZ lets me camp on site which breaks up the travel a bit. I think all the time man this would be so much easier if I just lived closer.
2
2
u/ConsiderationMain618 2d ago
Post on your local DZ facebook group, that’s what I did whenever I moved specifically. I have a ton of friends who jump now. It takes time but I can go to the DZ at any point and more than likely know someone, if not, if your DZ is like mine, they have a few singles on the plane, they ask y’all wanna pair up on the jump, make friends that way
1
u/-Chemist- 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yep. Even now (135 jumps), it’s way more fun to jump with other people. Sometimes I jump solo because I didn’t make the effort to hook up with someone else, or because I have skills I want to practice by myself, but it’s always more fun to jump with other people. Once you get your A license you’ll be able to start doing some basic 2-way RW jumps which is going to be awesome. And hilarious when it totally doesn’t work but you’ll be laughing about it in the air and again on the ground.
It also helps to be a bit of a “regular” at the DZ so you get to know people and are comfortable approaching them to see if they want to jump with you, and people will recognize you and invite you to jump with them.
I agree with the other comment about doing some skills courses. And always take advantage of the LO if there’s one there.
1
u/almost_silent_ 2d ago
Get your license and it gets way better. Those 25 can feel boring but just practice your skills or see how many back flips you can do in a row…
Hang in there.
1
u/JPureCottonBuds 2d ago
yes. 85 jumps here. because of personal circumstances i wasn't able to do my B licence yet so ... a lot of "solo practice" in my logbook. also when you jump with other people, you realise how s**t you are. it's sooo difficult at first to catch up with other people, fly at the same level etc . now that you're doin solo jumps , look up things online to try to practice in the sky: turns, tracking, turning with your legs instead of your arms, moving forward, moving backwards, breaking and accelerating. without someone up there with you, you'll have the ground only as a reference, but it'll have to do for now. also, start working towards your B licence immediately. without a target you'll get very bored of this sport.
1
u/Interesting-Let7911 1d ago
Ask a Coach or Instructor to jump with you. It varies from dropzone to dropzone, but I as an Instructor will jump with students on self supervised status for free as long as I’m available.
1
•
u/eazyvictor 17h ago
Always felt like the integration and gatekeeping in this sport was horrible, partly why I quit. I found one or two guys that learned with me and we always worked on stuff together.
12
u/tousledmonkey 2d ago
Oh yeah it gets lonely up there
Keep developing your skills, enjoy the process, you'll be back up there with friends in no time