Skydiving for Beginners and The Challenges

Do you dare to try the extreme sport of skydiving and face the challenge of falling through the air? Typically this sport requires you to jump from either a helicopter or an airplane from a small airbase called a drop zone.

Falling Back to Earth

Before getting into this spectacular sport you must know that skydivers jump off a plane at the height of 13,000 feet which is equivalent to 4,000 meters. But that’s not all you will experience a state of free fall temporarily before you can open your parachute which will serve as your break to soften your descent until such time you attain a safe and slow speed to land.

In fact, your parachute doesn’t fully inflate itself until it reaches the height of 2,500 feet. Part of the reason behind this is that every skydiver follows the rule of having two parachutes. The first parachute is considered the main one while the second is just back-up just in case something happens to the first.

After your parachute gets fully inflated you can now steer it in wherever direction you want and control your speed using the parachute’s steering lines. If you’re an experienced diver steering your way accurately to a safe landing is an easy task. The basis of skydive competitions are the exactness of your landing in a specified spot and the technique of how you landed.

Aside from preparing yourself for a dive from the plane, activating your parachute and free falling down to the surface, there are actually different areas of specializations in this sport.

Group Formation

Diving in a formation with a group is considered an art. This works by diving and creating a formation while in the state of free fall before breaking off and then opening up your parachute as you land back to the surface. An interesting trivia on this sport is that the world record of skydivers who have performed this is 400 and they were able to stick with their formation for about 4.25 seconds from the height of 25,000 feet in Udon Thai, Thailand.

Freestyling Solo

This is considered the most entertaining kind of skydive. This is where skydivers can perform some tricks by doing some acrobatic stunts like rolling, tumbling and other aerial tricks while on freefall before opening their parachute and landing. Usually skydivers performing this would need a partner skydiver.

The second skydiver won’t be performing stunts but instead their purpose is to film the entire performance from a video camera lodged in their helmet. This type of dive is in fact a registered competitive sport since 1996 by the FAI.

Free Flying Your Way

This kind of skydiving is also considered an art by which you get to control your body to move in different static positions while on freefall before opening up your parachute and landing safely. Some moves you need to learn before performing this dive are Sit Flying, Back Flying and Head Down. This will help you control your speed and flight.

Before opening up your parachute you will need to do some exit rolls as you end your free fall so you can land safely.

The Challenge of Extreme Skydiving Adventures

Skydiving! If the very word gives you a shiver of dread, you are hardly alone. Or perhaps you’re one of those people who lives for thrills like these. Either way, extreme skydiving adventures might be just the activity you’ve been looking for. People like to throw around the phrase “pushing your boundaries”, but extreme skydiving actually delivers on this promise. Truly, no sport can give the same kind of adrenaline rush as jumping out of a plane into free fall at ten, thirteen, even as high as eighteen thousand feet above ground!

Now, not everyone is ready to jump, as it were, straight into this kind of extreme sport, save for the very most hardened thrill seekers among us. It takes more than a little bit of mental preparation (or a truly exceptional disposition) to be ready to jump out of a plane and plummet to Earth at speeds exceeding a hundred miles an hour. For instance, consider how far one falls in extreme skydiving. Say you jump out of the plane at thirteen thousand feet; typically one opens the parachute at about twenty five hundred feet and then gently drifts the rest of the way. This means there is a free fall of nearly two miles!

Obviously, you can’t just jump out of a plane completely unprepared. Skydiving lessons are a necessity, not just a good idea. There is of course a small degree of danger associated with extreme sky diving, so lessons are an absolute must. Skydiving certification can be obtained relatively quickly, depending on the particular skydiving instructors and methodology used. Sometimes you can become certified in as little as two days.

Listen, learn and ask questions of the highly qualified instructors.  They will have jumped hundreds of times and more than likely have had a hundred different experiences.  Take advantage of their knowledge of the equipment, planes, and other key elements that go into a safe and successful jump.

After learning a little on how to handle yourself and your equipment while extreme skydiving, you should feel much less apprehensive than before if you were, and more prepared whether or not your attitude was more of the “I was born ready” variety. And as with anything else, preparation is key.

Extreme skydiving can be an unparalleled thrill, but without proper preparation is hazardous. With the required number (or more, never do a real dive until you feel ready) of skydiving lessons under your belt, you will be perfectly ready to experience the unmatched exhilaration that skydiving, and especially extreme skydiving have to offer.

Taking the lessons you have learned it is time to find your gear.  Your life depends upon the quality of the gear.  Rent or purchase through reputable sites.

Once you have passed the test and received your certification you are ready for an extreme skydiving adventure.