Pro Tips For a Better Skydiving Experience

Pro tips, you ask? Your wish is our command!

We’ve been dedicating our professional lives to hosting the very best tandem skydives on the planet, and we’ve been doing just that for as long as we can remember. If you’re looking for pro tandem skydiving tips, you most certainly have come to the right place. Without further ado, here’s a roll call of our best advice for experiencing the best possible tandem jump. (Spoiler: It takes just a little effort on your part, but the effort pays off immensely.)

Pro Tip #1: Be prepared.

Guess what? A great skydive requires great preparation. (See? We told you there would be a little bit o’ leg-work involved.) In the best-case scenario, you’ll prepare both mentally and physically for your first-time freefall. Here’s how.

Here’s the hack: Treat your first tandem skydive like a sporting event. If you take care of the physical side of the experience, you’ll be helping yourself out immensely when you square up to the mental side. Eat moderately and nutritiously. Get your beauty sleep the night before. Arrive warmed up and stretched out. Finally: Do not, under any circumstances, show up with a hangover or under the influence of anything.

 Oh: And listen to your body. If you’ve come down with a head cold, skydiving is not a good idea. Call us up to reschedule.

A few extras for the serious A students out there: Pack water (or any soft drinks you prefer), reading material (and/or games) and a few healthy snacks. These will come in handy in case the weather keeps you waiting.

Pro Tip #2: Be Patient.

…Speaking of which, let’s talk about waiting.

Skydiving is a real-live sport, and the weather sets the parameters. It’s not a ride where everyone gets into an orderly line, stares into smartphones and shuffles predictably through. Skydiving requires suitable weather and equipment conditions for safety. Remember that the weather conditions need to be right in order to allow you to have the most enjoyable experience, and sometimes nature doesn’t cooperate! For your own best interest, we may need to wait it out.

We have some skydiving tips to share with you to help you accommodate the weather variable. Our best tip is to make it easy on yourself! Avoid making plans immediately after your scheduled jump. It just adds stress!

Pro Tip #3: Be A Banana.

Your tandem instructor will guide you through the process from soup to nuts, but here’s our best crack at a skydiving tip for leaving the aircraft gracefully: Make yourself into a banana! An “arched” body position results in the best, smoothest skydive, and that’s the easiest way to remember what a good arch feels like. That’s it!

Pro Tip #4: Be Present!

Ask any sport skydiver and s/he’ll tell you: Skydiving is the ultimate meditation. Warming up your meditation muscles on the ground will help you calm down, open up your mind and heart and experience the deepest skydiving experience possible.

Start by putting down your phone (and your inner monologue) and paying complete attention to the tandem skydiving training brief. After that, you can shake off any feelings of intimidation by mindfully placing your focus outside of yourself–on the parachutists sailing down into the landing area; on the packers, carefully folding colorful parachutes; on the weather and the way its subtle variations affect the process; on the quality of your own heart rate and breathing while you’re patiently waiting for your turn. Limber up with stretches and breathing exercises. If you practice being 100% present on terra firma, you can be 100% present for the experience to come.

Finally, stick around! Make a day of it and celebrate your accomplishment. A skydiving dropzone is a fun, interesting place to be part of a community. Make the rounds and collect each and every one of your well-earned high-fives. We’ve got one waiting for you!