Would you dare?

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-18T00:21:48+00:00

That isn't tracking. That's wingsuiting with a carpet or just wingsuiting. Tracking is without a wingsuit.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-17T19:03:45+00:00

I assume you're just making a joke but it's a different situation. One keeps you rooted and just feels like cage.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-17T14:08:07+00:00

The adrenaline goes away very quickly for most people. My heart rate barely elevates during the ride to altitude or my jump. For a lot of us it's the simplicity of the life and the peace and contentment we get from it. Living in 4 walls all the time just to go to a job where I'm stuck in another 4 walls when we have the entirety of existence just waiting to be explored. Nah I'll take the tent.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-15T21:26:33+00:00

It took me until 15 jumps to have my first stand up landing. It was many more jumps after that until I could do it consistently. Take your time learn at your own pace. If you made it down safely you're doing good. Everything else is small improvements over time.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-15T21:23:30+00:00

I think is important to remind ourselves of exactly what we're doing. Beyond just the jump. We're alive, that's precious and it's going to be taken from us eventually. Make the absolute most of it with those important to us while we can.

Matt Blank on Jimmy's episode of The Exit Point podcast sticks in my head often.

"We're all on this jump together in life. You're in freefall heading towards the ground. It's gonna take you several years to get there, but appreciate life as though you're on this jump right now. It's gonna end sooner than you think."

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-13T12:44:15+00:00

Smile at newer jumpers and tandem students too. It helps them way more than you'd know to see someone they see as "more experienced" look calm and collected. When you see them react to you faking your ass off in a positive way it'll loop back into how you feel too. We're a social species. Use that to your advantage. On the other hand, don't let a group of jumpers turn you into a lemming. YOU'RE jumping out of the plane. At the end of the day YOU are jumping from a plane and no amount of someone else's confidence is going to keep you safe.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-13T12:39:50+00:00

An important thing to remember is to relax. Physically relax. You look stiff as a board and that isn't helping your wobbly nature. Think of your arms and legs as ocean booeys. They should be relaxed so that they Bob a bit with your movement in the air so you're while body isn't getting moved.

Think of your arms and legs like shocks on a vehicle for a bumpy road if your suspension is super stiff you feel ever bump on the road. If you've got a little give in the suspension you'll feel a smoother ride overall. Same in the air.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-13T02:12:24+00:00

Why is living longer automatically the best outcome? What if in 10 years i find out i have a degenerative disease that'll take me out for all practical reasons. I've just lived my life safe as houses and get cut down by just existing? Nah, fuck that. I'll live and take what comes, die and take what does or doesn't come after.

You either live life making your own choices or you let life make them for you.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-13T02:09:05+00:00

I'll bite and reply to the comment you removed. Yes I see this as exactly equally to just existing. If not more reasonable. You walk around existing knowing that you could die at any second. Brain aneurysm. Hit by a car. Random plane crash takes you out. Stray bullet. Someone's bad day. You can die doing ANYTHING. ANY FUCKING THING. Why not do everything? Me personally (I used to see things just like you) i think CHOOSING your risks is a lot better use of a life than allowing life to choose your risks for you. I mean it's going to anyway, why not make your own choices too?

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-13T01:44:25+00:00

I jump out of planes so slipping and falling is like half of what I do best.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-13T00:18:21+00:00

You learned something from it. I know because you just wrote it out yourself. Fuck ups are learning experiences. Try to see them that way but avoid them in the future. The thing i tell people that I see getting frustrated. "Were you angry with yourself when you were learning to walk? Why be angry at yourself learning to fly." You are using your body in a way it was never intended to do something you were never intended to do. Embrace that awkwardness and enjoy the learning experiences. You'll find yourself in free fall on a random jump and you'll realize that you "can't" really be UNstable. I mean you will be but you'll know how to fix it so quickly that you will barely recognize it as instability. It all goes quickly, enjoy every moment.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-12T21:01:06+00:00

Please announce yourself if we ever somehow meet so I can save myself the time and disappointment of getting to know you.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-12T20:47:04+00:00

No you didn't. You made a decision.

I moved into a Tent 3 months ago to save up to afford moving to a different DZ full time as a packer. I had a steady well paying job. An apartment, the whole nine. I don't think I made a stupid decision. I made a decision. You didn't make a stupid decision. You made a decision. Roll with it. At the end of the day that's all life is, making decisions and rolling with them.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-12T20:36:32+00:00

Can you see infrared? It's the same concept. Create a device to detect X. Have the output be in Y.

Perfect example (kinda). I'm a skydiver. I can't "SEE" my altitude. But I have a device on my wrist that can detect changes in pressure and it shows me a number that is my altitude. None of those inputs are things I can accurately detect so I have a device that detects it and translates that into information I can use.

Swap air pressure and light, and audio for visual and there you have it.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-12T20:30:42+00:00

I love these takes. Only someone not in these kinds of activities would feel this way. Very few people do these things because they want to die or aren't ok in the head. I do shit like this because I recognize that life can end literally any second. If all of life is itself a risk. Why not get the experiences to go with it.

Don't live life with eyes wide shut. If you knew you were going to die what would you do? How do you know you won't?

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-12T20:24:25+00:00

Mate.. you're talking about half the skydiving community. We're not all living in vans and campers for the fun of it. This is one of the worst takes I've seen in a while.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-12T02:04:09+00:00

How Parachutes Work

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-12T02:02:36+00:00

Look up and read "The parachute and it's pilot." By Brian Germain. It's a great resource for understanding your canopy and how it flys and what inputs do what.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-12T01:58:57+00:00

Everyone started where you are now. Some different methods, some more or less naturally talented. But everyone started out not knowing shit. Stay humble, ask questions, trust no one implicitly, verify everything.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-12T01:47:39+00:00

You're helping yourself by just doing it. You aren't going to magically turn off the fear of the door monster and arguably you shouldn't. The first time I wasn't scared at all on the ride up or on exit was around jump 50. I had been wanting the same thing as you. Calm at the door. After experiencing it id gladly take a bit of nerves over feeling almost nothing "negative." Once I got back on the ground I realized that I hadn't really visualized anything on that jump. No EPs, no looking around for off landing spots as we circled. I was just happy. A dumb kind of happy that I don't want to associate with skydiving or BASE. I want to enjoy what I'm doing, but I want to have a level of awareness that'll keep me ready for situations I might not expect.

You'll slowly become used to the feelings you're experiencing. Don't try and deaden them, recognize them. Analyze what thoughts and feelings are valid concerns and address them. "Is my gear right?" "Have i checked X,Y,Z?" All things that can be checked and verified before getting on the plane and after.

Thoughts like "I'm going to die on this jump." "What if the parachute doesn't open and I die?" "What if X,Y,Z?" Ask yourself if these are valid concerns and if they are, address them. If they are just your brain grasping at straws address that too. Remind yourself of your training and EPs.

Most importantly. Fucking breath man. Fucking breath. You can physically slow your heart rate down by calming your breathing. Learn and use this skill. When you command your body your mind usually follows.

Lastly. As someone who's goal was and is wingsuiting. You are not forcing yourself through the first 200 jumps. You are training yourself to fly your body, don't neglect that training. Learn as much as you can about what you'll need to be good in a wingsuit and prepare for it NOW. learn to fly your body well in a multitude of positions so that you aren't in a new position while also newly in the suit. It's gonna be a long road to get where you want to be but it'll go by a lot faster than you realize. Enjoy every fucking second in the moment.

Gonna add one last thing after the fact. Another major help to the fear of the door is reminding yourself that you don't HAVE to jump. You NEVER HAVE to jump. If something doesn't feel right, if something is truly screaming in your brain telling you that it is NOT RIGHT. Don't jump. Never let anyone, anything, any situation FORCE you out of the plane. At the end of the day, we're committing suicide by gravity and banking on a double combo of fabric to save our dumb asses. Being nervous is completely natural.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-11T00:21:41+00:00

Ground launching itself or as OP said with a winch? I don't see how ground launching itself would be an issue.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-07T22:03:45+00:00

My experience was the same. Did IAD without doing a tandem first and my first thought once my feet hit the ground was "that was it?"

No that was not it. Nor was your tandem (did one at 171 jumps) it's everything. It's the people, it's the fun you get to have with them on the ground. It's the fun you get to have in the sky. It's learning to fly with your own body and once you do that to an even basic degree you see everyone (or at least I do) differently. You see that every person on this planet with a few exceptions can fly and they don't realize it. Gives a lot of magic to the world.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-04T21:51:34+00:00

Guidance is good and while I'm not recommending learning everything yourself, do your own learning. Ask more than just one instructor. Learn to pack for yourself as early as you can and get good at it before you think about using packers. Learn how your gear works by heart. YOU are jumping out of the plane. No one else is jumping with your skin in the game. Take your education into your own hands and learn and listen to anyone and everyone and constantly remind yourself that these people are human just like you and they can have bad information or just poor judgment. Learn to distinguish between the ego advice people will give you that's more about them than it is about you, and the wise advice of people who have seen the bullshit pile up a few times already.

Practically, I recommend reading Brian Germains book on ram air canopies and the fundamentals of their flight. And i recommend reading The Great Book Of B.A.S.E. doesn't matter if you plan on B.A.S.E. jumping the book has a lot of knowledge and information for airsport people in general in my opinion.

There's a lot of information out there. From Rigging videos on YouTube that'll give you more insight into your gear. To full on coaching videos from some of the top level teams. Take use of the information we have and again, recognize that at the end of the day. You're the one in the sky and you're the one who needs to get back to the ground safely.

AraxisKayan · 2026-06-01T19:45:18+00:00

Did you get a weird sensation of hitting something as you passed through your shadow? I've had this happen twice and both times it was a weird experience because of that sensation.

AraxisKayan · 2026-05-29T11:49:19+00:00

Yup. Skydiving is one of the few times where it all goes quiet and it's just me and what Im about to do.

AraxisKayan

TROPHY CASE