What Skydivers Hate About Skydiving

People that jump out of airplanes do so because they love it, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some less enjoyable parts of the process. Hating bits of something you do for fun is quite an extreme opinion to hold, but skydiving is an extreme way to spend your time – so let’s examine a few of the less popular things skydivers have to deal with in pursuit of their goals. After all, the challenges make the rewards that much sweeter.

Packing

A parachute system (commonly referred to as a ‘rig’) is basically a magic backpack filled with fabric and string. The speed of your body falling through the air – the ‘relative wind’ – is what causes it to open once you begin your deployment, but the only way to get it back into its container is to carefully fold it up. There are people out there that claim they like packing, but more will admit to hating this part. Initially learning to pack can be a very frustrating battle with slippy, unruly material that will not behave itself, but after a while packing your gear takes but a few minutes. Whether you dislike doing it or not, you still have to get it done if you want to go jump. 

Weather

Skydiving connects you to the weather in a profound new way. Up there in the sky, the world looks and feels different. It’s as if when you are skydiving you see the environment around you in high definition while down on the ground things are drab and normal. Skydivers are at the mercy of the weather, which can cause you to rage and shake your fist at the uncaring sky as it conspires over and over to ruin your plans. The weather doesn’t have to be perfect to go skydiving, but it does need to be quite good. You need to be able to see the ground from up top at your exit altitude (over 10,000 feet), and it cannot be too windy or else landing parachutes becomes too risky.  

Stress

Jumping out of airplanes seems like a stressful thing to do, and if you have not done it before you could be easily forgiven for thinking it is not a relaxing pastime. Skydiving is not about stress, though, it is about implementing training, practice, and knowledge to become confident and cool about what you are doing up in the air. If you are properly prepared, everything is pretty much easy breezy and you can relax. If you are relaxed, everything feels great. Skydivers are far from being intense, high-strung thrill seekers – they are actually much more likely to be measured and calm folk who steer clear of stressful situations.  

Time

Skydivers hate not being able to jump all the time! Skydiving is one of the most amazing things humans can do, but it happens pretty fast. A single jump can change your life, and it is highly likely that as soon as you are back on the ground you will want to immediately go back up again. Once you have a license of your own you can jump again and again, but it is never enough – and people have to do real-world things to sustain their skydiving habit. 

The things skydivers hate about skydiving are minor compared to the majorly positive gains they get from doing it. Sure, packing sucks and the weather will mess with you – but after that first jump you will know why the effort required and the occasional frustration is super worth it. Join us, and find out for yourself!