Latest / Adventure Sports Podcast / Ep. 1150: Skydiving (and Trombones and Yachts) with Pete Waldroop Revisited

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Ep. 1150: Skydiving (and Trombones and Yachts) with Pete Waldroop Revisited · Adventure Sports Podcast

0:06
[SPEAKER_00]: You're listening to the Adventure Sports podcast.
0:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for adventuring with us, as we discover what incredible athletes and outdoor enthusiasts are doing all over the world.
0:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Now here's your host, Kurt Linville.
0:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Hello Adventure Sports Podcast Family!
0:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So today is Friday, which means it's a flashback episode, of course.
0:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And here's the funny thing, I texted my old friend Pete Waldrup today.
0:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And we were texting back and forth, and men so many things have happened, so much water has gone under the bridge.
0:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Since he was on the Adventure Sports Podcast on episode, you ready for this?
0:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Eightteen.
0:49
[SPEAKER_02]: And now this is episode 1150.
0:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Holy cow, it's just so much fun.
0:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Pizza great guy and we were just texting back and forth and having a good time.
1:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I remembered that he had been on the show way back in the beginning.
1:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I thought, you know what, tomorrow is flashback Friday.
1:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to, I'm going to find this episode if I can and replay it, just for nostalgia sake of nothing else.
1:16
[SPEAKER_02]: But it's about skydiving.
1:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And the fun of it is going to be that you're going to hear what the Adventure Sports podcast was like way back in the day before modern technology made podcasting sound so much better and the podcast for shorter back then I think this one's just a little over 40 minutes but I do remember that it was a really fun episode and man the things that I could tell you about Pete we actually met believe it or not sixth grade.
1:47
[SPEAKER_02]: We both played the trombone.
1:49
[SPEAKER_02]: He went to one elementary school.
1:51
[SPEAKER_02]: I went to another and the director decided to pull all the elementary schools together for a combined concert and we were kind of competing because I was first chair at my school and he was first chair at his school.
2:11
[SPEAKER_02]: and we actually enjoyed each other quite a lot.
2:13
[SPEAKER_02]: We ended up going to the first year of college to the same place and we stayed in touch ever since then we did free wheel together which is a 500 mile road biking trip in Oklahoma that we used to do and more recently Pete brought a bunch of friends out to Colorado and we spent a week just kind of exploring Colorado and all the things that it has to offer but there was another adventure I've got to tell you
2:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Pete took me out on his yacht and his yacht is rated for I think about 15 foot seas and we got cotton storm that had 15 foot seas and the yacht fell off of several waves that were breaking about 15 feet high and literally dropped down into the trough.
3:00
[SPEAKER_02]: We both wondered, I think, if this was going to turn out well, but in the end, it did, we made it to our destination, and I mean, it was me, him.
3:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Stuff was flying through the air everywhere inside of this boat, and
3:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Everyone was turning green and slamming into things and we were trying to batten down the hatches But I mean it was it was craziness But Pete was at the helm and steady Eddie men.
3:31
[SPEAKER_02]: He got us there through the storm and we will always have that special and precarious
3:38
[SPEAKER_02]: memory together.
3:39
[SPEAKER_02]: So tonight we were texting back and forth and I let Pete know that I was climbing Kilimanjaro which I hadn't told him yet and he donated to we see hope to help the kids in Africa.
3:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Pete, thank you very much.
3:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I appreciate that.
3:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I love the support.
3:54
[SPEAKER_02]: We've had other people that have donated as well.
3:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And so the grand total for the Adventure Sports podcast is 1556 and I feel really good about that 1556.
4:07
[SPEAKER_02]: But of course that's out of $20,000 we're trying to raise a dollar per foot rounded up.
4:13
[SPEAKER_02]: for Kilimanjaro.
4:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So there's still plenty of room for you to contribute and participate in be a part of a Kilimanjaro climbing for change 2026.
4:24
[SPEAKER_02]: We see hope expedition.
4:28
[SPEAKER_02]: There are 15 climbers that are going to be climbing Kilimanjaro and each one of those 15 climbers is raising $20,000 for We See Hope.
4:39
[SPEAKER_02]: It is a wonderful cause to help young people in Africa that wouldn't really have a crack at life without a little bit of a leg up.
4:48
[SPEAKER_02]: and we see hope provides that they get housing, they get education, they get entrepreneurial skills so that they can build a life, they get a chance that they probably wouldn't have had otherwise.
5:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Just think about what it would be like to be a child living on the streets without parents in Africa.
5:10
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's what we see hope is trying to address.
5:12
[SPEAKER_02]: so it's such a great cause so here's the here's the great thing 15 people climbing Kilimanjaro each raising $20,000 is a $300,000 goal and I hope we make it.
5:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I want to make it.
5:28
[SPEAKER_02]: I want to see $300,000 for the kids but drumroll
5:36
[SPEAKER_02]: We are at $105,000, almost $106,000 right now for we see hope.
5:45
[SPEAKER_02]: That is so awesome.
5:47
[SPEAKER_02]: We've broken a $100,000, and you can be a part of this.
5:52
[SPEAKER_02]: All you need to do is go to charity.pledget.org slash climbing for change.
6:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And I will put that link in the show notes, of course.
6:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And if you scroll down to the bottom, you can see the Adventure Sports Podcast section.
6:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Click on that, and that way we get credit for the money that you donate to help.
6:16
[SPEAKER_02]: We see hope, help these kids in Africa.
6:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I gotta tell you one more story about Pete because it's one that just sticks out of my mind.
6:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I lived on a large farm in Northeastern Oklahoma in the foothills of the Ozarks and Pete came over on a weekend and we were just kicking around the farm, playing in the creeks, running through the fields, all the things young guys do.
6:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And we came to a large creek.
6:42
[SPEAKER_02]: It was big enough that it was kind of in a flood stage.
6:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And it would have been a serious swim to try to get across it.
6:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So it was pretty good size, you know, strong current, that kind of stuff.
6:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And we had just been having so much fun, laughing, goofing off, that kind of thing.
6:57
[SPEAKER_02]: We stood on the edge of this stream and all the sudden,
7:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Pete looks at me and his eyes are as big as saucers, and I look at him, and I'm the same way.
7:07
[SPEAKER_02]: We were both hit with a sudden terror for no reason, scared to death.
7:17
[SPEAKER_02]: We looked at each other and we said, let's go!
7:20
[SPEAKER_02]: and we turned around and ran, we ran for our lives.
7:24
[SPEAKER_02]: And to this day, I do not know what that was.
7:26
[SPEAKER_02]: It's one of the things that I count in the category of mysteries that happen in the woods.
7:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And some people believe, you've probably heard the Sasquatch episode that I put out.
7:40
[SPEAKER_02]: I actually talked about Sasquatch a few times on the podcast, but some people believe that the reason why there aren't more Bigfoot
7:49
[SPEAKER_02]: is because Bigfoot makes sub-automal sounds kind of like an elephant does, but they're the kind of vibrations that actually generate fear and panic in people.
8:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So it scares people away.
8:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, I have no idea.
8:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm speculating, obviously, we don't even know if Bigfoot is real.
8:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, all of this is just a fun story.
8:12
[SPEAKER_02]: But it happened to Pete and me standing on the banks of this flooded stream.
8:18
[SPEAKER_02]: For no reason, we were having so much fun and all of a sudden we were terrified.
8:23
[SPEAKER_02]: We took off and we ran for all we were worth.
8:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know what it is, I don't have any idea, but it's just kind of a funny story.
8:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Pete, thank you for all the good times that we've had.
8:33
[SPEAKER_02]: And here is the episode on Skydiving with Pete Waldrup.
8:42
[SPEAKER_05]: and we had it what's called a rap and basically we crashed parachutes to each other.
8:46
[SPEAKER_05]: We were spinning, so I had one of my buddies parachutes was wrapped around my head, and we were in a spinning, you know, massive tangled canopies.
9:14
[SPEAKER_02]: This is the Adventure Sports Podcast, brought to you by 180 Tech.
9:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Get out there and have some fun.
9:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Welcome to the Adventure Sports podcast.
9:37
[SPEAKER_02]: This is your host, Kurt Lindville.
9:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Today is about skydiving with Pete Waldrup.
9:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Pete grew up in a small town in the Ozarks of Northeastern Oklahoma.
9:46
[SPEAKER_02]: He did a lot of road biking, canoeing, hiking, and camping.
9:49
[SPEAKER_02]: But then when he turned 18, he found his true passion.
9:53
[SPEAKER_02]: He took up skydiving since then, he's led an adventure-filled life as an entrepreneur, trying all sorts of adventure sports, including sailing and wakeboarding and of course skydiving.
10:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Pete now has over 2,800 jumps and his active in skydiving competitions, competing at the USPA
10:09
[SPEAKER_02]: U.S. National Skydiving Championships for the last five years, he's been awarded one bronze and six silver medals in various disciplines including canopy relative work formations and four and eight person free fall formations.
10:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Pete, welcome to the program.
10:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So, Pete, I know that there are going to be a lot of listeners are going to have a lot of curious questions about skydiving.
10:31
[SPEAKER_02]: It's one of those sports that is pretty edgy and people just always want to know, what is that really like?
10:37
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm glad you're here today to help our listeners understand more about the sport.
10:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Will you take a few minutes to tell the listeners more about yourself and your connection and experience in skydiving?
10:47
[SPEAKER_05]: Sure, I'm happy to do it.
10:48
[SPEAKER_05]: Good morning, everyone.
10:49
[SPEAKER_05]: I started skydiving like you said when I was 18 and I actually saw the sport, the town that I grew up in, amazingly held the world team in chips files 4 or 5 and I saw the sport then and I just all those years thought about it and my brother did the same thing he was older.
11:04
[SPEAKER_05]: So when he turned 18, you had to be 18 in Oklahoma to a skydive.
11:07
[SPEAKER_05]: And so, our parents were not going to agree to sign for us when we were younger than 18.
11:13
[SPEAKER_05]: So, we're 18.
11:13
[SPEAKER_05]: He went out and made his first jump.
11:15
[SPEAKER_05]: I was there watching him in five years later, six years later, I went and made my first jump the same way.
11:20
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think it just hooked me for life.
11:23
[SPEAKER_05]: I made about 550 jumps between then and the time I got out of college or a little bit after college I guess.
11:28
[SPEAKER_05]: And then I took a break for a few years from the sport, like a lot of people do as life takes over.
11:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And then I got back into the sport several years ago,
11:35
[SPEAKER_05]: And I'd always thought that I would, and I wanted to.
11:38
[SPEAKER_05]: And I found that there were a lot of scatterers who'd done the same thing.
11:41
[SPEAKER_05]: Life kind of took over and they got busy and then they came back to that sport that they loved.
11:46
[SPEAKER_05]: But I'll tell you what, when you're three miles up in the air and you open the door and you look out and you're looking down at clouds, you completely clear your mind of anything that is out there.
11:58
[SPEAKER_05]: Any of the stress and the problems and the day-to-day worries and the relationships and the work and
12:02
[SPEAKER_05]: all the stuff that's going on it disappears and you have this moment of startling clarity where all you do is you realize I'm about to leap into space and I love it.
12:13
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm going to fly through the sky for the next minute and a few seconds and then I'm gonna get into this canopy and I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm a sore like a burp or a plane and it's just fantastic.
12:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow you make it sound so much fun and I gotta tell a listeners it's been quite a while
12:30
[SPEAKER_02]: But I actually did one jump with Pete and he was there for it and I can tell you from that jump that I did his description is dead on dead on it's just an amazing experience.
12:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I think everyone used to do what at least once like I did and and
12:45
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm glad that Pete has been able to make a lifelong passion out of it.
12:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Pete, why would you encourage people to try skydiving?
12:52
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, I'll say that I think if you're looking for something that you can be passionate about and you like the thrill idea that it's a great sport to try.
13:02
[SPEAKER_05]: But beyond even that, I think the camaraderie of the sport and the people that are there, you will meet people from all different walks of life, doctors, lawyers,
13:13
[SPEAKER_05]: Every profession you can imagine, mechanics and I, one of my good friends does pull work for a electric company and you're just going to meet people who have this single bond together and you're there in that environment and, you know, background and race and religion and all the things that sometimes separate us, don't matter when you're skydiving, you become a part of
13:43
[SPEAKER_05]: I would say it's an opportunity to go try something and see if you love it.
13:46
[SPEAKER_05]: It's fun.
13:47
[SPEAKER_05]: A lot of people come out and try the sport, a lot of people like you did a cut, a lot of tandem and they try it and they say, okay, it was awesome.
13:54
[SPEAKER_05]: I may not do it again.
13:55
[SPEAKER_05]: But then you get those folks who kind of like me, they do it and they're like, I know, right then, I've got to do it again and I want to be a part of what's going on.
14:03
[SPEAKER_05]: I can walk to a drop zone anywhere in the country and I love the smell of, you know, parachutes and just the whole environment and I walk in and I feel home wherever I am.
14:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I would have really enjoyed doing skydiving as a long-term sport, but I had some things in my life at the time that just made it seem like it was a long reach, and then I started my family and, you know, life just carries on, but I would have really enjoyed skydiving as a lifelong pursuit because it is that fun and it is that it's just like Pete said.
14:34
[SPEAKER_02]: uh, amazing way to get rid of all the stress, you know, for the, the few moments that you're, you're in free fall and then under the canopy, there's nothing else going on except for, for what you're doing right there, right then.
14:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And when you, uh, you land, then any stress that you had, it's gone.
14:51
[SPEAKER_02]: You just burned it all off when you stepped out of that plane.
14:53
[SPEAKER_05]: Yep, that's exactly right Kurt.
14:55
[SPEAKER_05]: I've known for a long time and certainly share the adventure bug out that I have as well and I love your podcast for that reason.
15:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So people are going to want to know more about how you got into skydiving, not just the wise, but if someone wanted to try skydiving today, what do they do?
15:11
[SPEAKER_02]: They go to some drop zone and then what?
15:14
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, great question for sure.
15:16
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a lot easier today than it was 20.
15:18
[SPEAKER_05]: Twenty-three years ago when I started or actually sorry make that almost 30 years ago Now that I'm doing the math.
15:28
[SPEAKER_05]: It's actually quite a bit 29 years ago Today, of course, you know get on the internet and find a drop zone near you We didn't have that then.
15:36
[SPEAKER_05]: I just happened a normal one was but find a drop zone now what I would suggest is I do a little research I would only go to a USPA drop zone.
15:44
[SPEAKER_05]: That's the United States parachute Association
15:47
[SPEAKER_05]: And those are the drops of them that have been rated by the SPA for safety of the equipment and people in their following the practices and I would start that there are a few drops of them out there that are not U.S.P.
15:58
[SPEAKER_05]: affiliated and I wouldn't go there to start.
16:01
[SPEAKER_05]: I think there's some risk to the sport and you want to go to the safest possible facility.
16:06
[SPEAKER_05]: So the next thing I would do is look around for the drop zone.
16:08
[SPEAKER_05]: If you've got a choice, I live in Dallas.
16:11
[SPEAKER_05]: We have a choice of drop zones.
16:12
[SPEAKER_05]: There are some smaller ones where they have one single 182 aircraft.
16:17
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a four-person plane.
16:18
[SPEAKER_05]: Those are fine.
16:19
[SPEAKER_05]: I will say what I did was I found a drop zone.
16:21
[SPEAKER_05]: I go to Skydive Dallas, which is a fantastic facility.
16:24
[SPEAKER_05]: And they've got two larger aircraft.
16:27
[SPEAKER_05]: One's a twin otter.
16:28
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a host 23 skydiver.
16:30
[SPEAKER_05]: And the other is a, it says in a caravan and it holds 13 or 14 something like that.
16:35
[SPEAKER_05]: So these, these are quality or crap will maintain and the equipment is well maintained.
16:41
[SPEAKER_05]: And so the better skydivers tend to go to these larger facilities.
16:46
[SPEAKER_05]: So by that nature, there's more, there are the gears newer, better than structures are current.
16:52
[SPEAKER_05]: So I think look around and try to find the best facility near you to go to.
16:56
[SPEAKER_05]: Then it's pretty easy.
16:57
[SPEAKER_05]: You get there, you tell them, hey, I'd like to skydiving.
17:00
[SPEAKER_05]: They're going to ask you, how do you want to try it?
17:01
[SPEAKER_05]: There's a couple of methods.
17:03
[SPEAKER_05]: The first method and the easiest way to try it is the way you try to cut it, which is by tandem.
17:08
[SPEAKER_05]: And what you do is you sign up for a class.
17:10
[SPEAKER_05]: It'll take you about half a day, probably by the time you do it all, but really what you do is you show, if you watch a 30 minute video, then when they call you your slot, you put your gear on, and you go up with an instructor, you're attached to them and free fall, and they're going to walk you through the whole skydive.
17:25
[SPEAKER_05]: So what you get to do is experience skydiving, everything from opening that door and looking out in the space and realizing, how, what did I do?
17:32
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm about to leave from a plane to free fall to actually sorting through the clouds, although
17:40
[SPEAKER_05]: them in opening anapy and landing and you get the whole experience and it's the safest easiest way to do it.
17:46
[SPEAKER_05]: That's going to cost you a couple hundred bucks and if you want to add videos, probably another hundred bucks, something like that to give you a sense.
17:52
[SPEAKER_05]: Then the other way to do it is what's called accelerated free fall, and with the free fall, what you do is you go up with two instructors, your fully coached prepared skydiving, you have a full day of training before you go, and then they go up with you and assist you, but you have your own parachute, you're not attacking you when they make sure that you can open the parachute, etc.
18:11
[SPEAKER_05]: I always recommend that you do the tandem first, because it gives you a chance to really see the sport and
18:16
[SPEAKER_05]: One of the things that happens at first time and frankly, a lot of times after you jump out of a plane, you get what's called sensory overload.
18:23
[SPEAKER_05]: It's almost too much to take for the first couple of seconds that you just let from a plane, right, and so I think tandem is a great way to try this sport safely to start.
18:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And then what we a lot of people who love this character that can then go on and do the accelerated free fall program.
18:39
[SPEAKER_05]: So either those are great, but that's the order I'd recommend it find a great drop zone do a tandem jump see if you love it.
18:45
[SPEAKER_02]: So since we overload I've got to tell a little bit of my story Pete because you mentioned that I'm the kind of guy who does well under pressure.
18:53
[SPEAKER_02]: and 10 situations, I generally make wise decisions and get through just fine.
18:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I preface it that way because one of the things that they teach you is, you jump out of the plane the first thing you wanna do is, you know, arch your back and put your arms and legs out so you're in that free fall position.
19:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, I stepped out on the strut of that airplane and we rolled off of that plane and I was probably two, three seconds before I remembered to hit that hard arch and get into the freefall position because it was since we overload.
19:21
[SPEAKER_02]: We were just doing flips and I loved it.
19:24
[SPEAKER_02]: But I was like, wow, and then we kind of had an interesting dive.
19:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know if you remember Pete, but um, our drug shoot, which is used
19:32
[SPEAKER_02]: to slow a tandem dive down and free fall a little bit had had twisted a little bit and it started to spinning and the funny thing is that here I am in free fall and I'm watching the world spin in circles and with a sensory overload I was like wow what's going on I didn't even realize
19:48
[SPEAKER_02]: that we were spinning like we were.
19:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I just, you know, it was just stuff was going on and I was excited and having fun and I was just surprised.
19:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess to say that it was so much of a growth experience that at first I didn't realize that I hadn't hit my freefall position and then when we were spinning I didn't even collect that we were spinning for a few seconds.
20:10
[SPEAKER_02]: So there is some sensory overload.
20:12
[SPEAKER_05]: Yep, no question.
20:13
[SPEAKER_05]: And everybody experiences exactly what you did, including me and everyone else has done the sport.
20:18
[SPEAKER_05]: And even, you know, first 100 jumps, I think, are kind of tough.
20:22
[SPEAKER_05]: And then you gradually get, I won't say tough, but I'll say you get some of that since you're a real good.
20:27
[SPEAKER_05]: But they gradually get where you're, you're really cognizant throughout the whole process.
20:32
[SPEAKER_05]: When we're competing now, we're trying to be, I'll, I'll
20:35
[SPEAKER_05]: exiting the plane and moving in under second.
20:38
[SPEAKER_05]: And so you've got to be completely aware what's going on at all times.
20:42
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm looking at the whole team.
20:43
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm trying to take it all in.
20:45
[SPEAKER_05]: That doesn't happen.
20:45
[SPEAKER_05]: The first jump you make, of course, right?
20:47
[SPEAKER_05]: When you hear a leap again.
20:48
[SPEAKER_05]: And all you could think is, oh, my gosh, I just left for a plate.
20:51
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm crazy.
20:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I, the moment for me was when the instructor told me it was time to step out on that airplane stretch.
20:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I couldn't believe I was stepping out of an airplane.
21:02
[SPEAKER_05]: That's right.
21:02
[SPEAKER_02]: You know?
21:03
[SPEAKER_02]: And then once I'm in that position, as soon as he put his weight behind me, I was gone, I didn't have a choice about jumping or not jumping, you know, we're just going, but it was, it was amazing experience.
21:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So, yep.
21:16
[SPEAKER_02]: Pete tell us about one of the most amazing skydiving experiences that you've had that you would say really hooked you on the sport.
21:22
[SPEAKER_02]: It give us an idea of why you've kept doing this for goodness.
21:26
[SPEAKER_02]: What are we saying now?
21:27
[SPEAKER_02]: 30 years?
21:28
[SPEAKER_05]: 29 years.
21:29
[SPEAKER_05]: That's not it.
21:31
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, great.
21:32
[SPEAKER_05]: I think there's so many great experiences like that.
21:35
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, for me, if I think in in more recent years, one of the great experiences was going to the US Nationals in in 2010 with a team that I trained for all trained with all year and, you know, being in the door first jump at Nationals and.
21:53
[SPEAKER_05]: looking out and realizing that all the work we'd put in, not only were we're scatting and leaping out of a plane, but I can still remember vividly the picture in my mind and every moment of how beautiful it was that day.
22:04
[SPEAKER_05]: It was in the outside Chicago and it was a little bit crisp and cool.
22:07
[SPEAKER_05]: It was in September.
22:09
[SPEAKER_05]: And I just remember thinking, you know, here I am with these four guys.
22:12
[SPEAKER_05]: There's four of us in four way that are doing the competition in one video person above us, but the video person is just as important as the rest of the team.
22:20
[SPEAKER_05]: And I remember thinking, you know, I love these guys
22:23
[SPEAKER_05]: Here we are, we're getting ready to do, we trained for a year to do this, to be here for ten jumps.
22:28
[SPEAKER_05]: And I thought, man, this is one of the greatest experiences of my life to just get to do this.
22:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And I've done that several times, that same thing back in the 80s when I started skydiving with a team that I, with then, for camp, you're all to work for building formations with our canopy's open, as opposed to building women freefall.
22:46
[SPEAKER_05]: I can remember thinking the same thing then that, you know, here it is, we've trained hard, we've worked hard, and I'm about to do this and it's just so rewarding.
22:53
[SPEAKER_02]: That's neat.
22:54
[SPEAKER_02]: I think a lot of people may have thought that you would say, oh, it's the feeling of flight, it's the freedom, it's the, you know, that the experiences you have flying through the clouds or what have you, but I like it.
23:06
[SPEAKER_02]: They what you brought out was, um, camaraderie, friendship,
23:10
[SPEAKER_02]: hard work, goal achievement, you know, competing, doing something that you've worked hard for and you have that fulfillment.
23:16
[SPEAKER_02]: That's that's really cool.
23:18
[SPEAKER_02]: So what is it like when you fall out of a plane and you jump out of a plane?
23:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Does it feel like you're falling or do you feel like you're flying or take us through the the experience from jumping to the plane
23:32
[SPEAKER_05]: You're on the ground, you've got your parachute packed.
23:34
[SPEAKER_05]: One of the things that's great in today's skydiving world is that we now have professional packers in when I was growing up.
23:41
[SPEAKER_05]: And I was a poor kid from Oklahoma in the 80s.
23:44
[SPEAKER_05]: I did mountain packing, so I packed my own first time 550 jumps.
23:48
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't pack anymore.
23:49
[SPEAKER_05]: I'd face someone to pack my parachute for me.
23:52
[SPEAKER_05]: It caught me six bucks plus tip and it's well worth it.
23:55
[SPEAKER_05]: So I put my newly packed parachute on.
24:02
[SPEAKER_05]: A little less if we're not training, but on a training day, we normally train 12 and 12.
24:08
[SPEAKER_05]: So, put your gear on, and the plane comes around, they have a load number.
24:12
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm on Otter 27 for example, and so I'll walk out to their craft when we're sick by the loader with 24 other people.
24:20
[SPEAKER_05]: We'll climb on the plane, and in the summertime, of course, in Texas, it's hot, hotter than blaze, and you're on a jump suit to parachute and helmet, and you're sweating like crazy.
24:30
[SPEAKER_05]: uh, in the spring and fall, it's really beautiful, but you're not, not quite so hot.
24:34
[SPEAKER_05]: Anyway, so they shut the door on the plane.
24:36
[SPEAKER_05]: It's just so hot.
24:37
[SPEAKER_05]: Plain takes off and that's uh, you know, fine.
24:39
[SPEAKER_05]: We were actually on a grass strip.
24:41
[SPEAKER_05]: A lot of them are on concrete strips, but I'll get a little bouncing around.
24:44
[SPEAKER_05]: And then at 1,500 feet, we can open the door.
24:47
[SPEAKER_05]: So some of us are actually sitting back by the door.
24:49
[SPEAKER_05]: And usually the teams like us are at the very back of the plane for a variety of reasons mostly because we get out first.
24:55
[SPEAKER_05]: And so we'll pop that door open and just sitting there with 1,500 feet with the door open where you can easily just fall out which is always funny because it never happens, but you could if you wanted to.
25:05
[SPEAKER_05]: And now you're letting that cool air blow in and cool you off and you're finally finished up sweating in the summer because it's hot.
25:10
[SPEAKER_05]: And playing circles, you know, climbed to altitude, it takes about 15 minutes with an auto versus 45 with a says no 182.
25:18
[SPEAKER_05]: Another good reason to find a drop zone with an order if you think those orders work.
25:23
[SPEAKER_05]: That's right.
25:24
[SPEAKER_05]: So it gets cooler and cooler as you climb.
25:26
[SPEAKER_05]: And we competition jumped from 10,500 feet.
25:31
[SPEAKER_05]: We fund jumped from 13,500 feet.
25:33
[SPEAKER_05]: So you get to 13,500.
25:34
[SPEAKER_05]: It's actually kind of chilly.
25:36
[SPEAKER_05]: Even in the middle of summer, it's fun.
25:37
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a good 30, 40 degrees cooler than on the ground, typically.
25:41
[SPEAKER_05]: And by this time, we've probably closed the door.
25:44
[SPEAKER_05]: So people can get ready to do gear checks, safety checks, all that.
25:46
[SPEAKER_05]: So we go through all that.
25:47
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm very excited.
25:48
[SPEAKER_05]: It's about unknown for this.
25:50
[SPEAKER_05]: In a lot of skydivers are, I have my gear checked every time by someone else on the plane to make sure my pen, which holds the parachute in, is in good shape and everything.
26:00
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, it's good on my gear, and so we get on jump run.
26:04
[SPEAKER_05]: There's two lights on the plane, one's a red light, one's a green light.
26:07
[SPEAKER_05]: The red light comes on and that's the signal to open the door.
26:10
[SPEAKER_05]: So the door is open back up if it was closed.
26:12
[SPEAKER_05]: And now we're looking out, I hope today's, we would spot the plane, which means we'd tell the pilot where to go.
26:19
[SPEAKER_05]: pilot just goes where he's going to go and tells us to get out.
26:22
[SPEAKER_05]: So it's there you go.
26:23
[SPEAKER_05]: Let's work from the skydiver.
26:25
[SPEAKER_05]: So when the light goes green, then that's our signal to exit.
26:28
[SPEAKER_05]: So the first team immediately climbs out of first group.
26:31
[SPEAKER_05]: And what I mean by climb out is there's handles outside the plane.
26:34
[SPEAKER_05]: And so in four of it, for example, our camera guy will get on a step behind the door.
26:40
[SPEAKER_05]: He actually climbs outside the plane completely.
26:42
[SPEAKER_05]: And then, and then,
26:44
[SPEAKER_05]: two of the skydivers in the forward group are outside the plane and two are in.
26:47
[SPEAKER_05]: And so depending on which position you're in, you'll be in one of those.
26:50
[SPEAKER_05]: And we'll give what is basically a silent count, shake down, out, or ready set go, and then the group leaves together.
26:58
[SPEAKER_05]: And you know, you got all that wind at you if you're competition jumping, you're really thinking about the skydive.
27:03
[SPEAKER_05]: What's fun when you're fun jumping is that you can really enjoy the view and the majesty of it and the excitement of I'm getting ready to jump from a plane.
27:10
[SPEAKER_05]: That first couple of seconds, you definitely get the roller coaster feel, even today, you get that falling sensation.
27:17
[SPEAKER_05]: But after about five seconds, that's gone.
27:19
[SPEAKER_05]: And then you really feel more like you're flying.
27:21
[SPEAKER_05]: And you lose track of the fact that you're screaming towards the earth at 120 to 125 miles an hour.
27:27
[SPEAKER_05]: And you're just focused on building formations flying your body, learning to be better, like anything.
27:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And then you get, you fall to about 4,000 feet, we'll do a break off.
27:37
[SPEAKER_05]: Everybody will do what's called a track to get away from each other.
27:40
[SPEAKER_05]: And so you put your body into a plank kind of position and you fly as far away from the other skydiverses you can for a few seconds.
27:47
[SPEAKER_05]: And then, and that way when you deploy your parachute, you don't have as much of a likelihood of running in each other under canopy, which is bad.
27:55
[SPEAKER_05]: So,
27:56
[SPEAKER_05]: Then you've got to depending on the parachute style that you have, some are really fast and aggressive like mine.
28:02
[SPEAKER_05]: You've got a couple of minutes of canopy ride getting to the ground.
28:05
[SPEAKER_05]: And, you know, I love being under canopy and sometimes in the summer we'll go up and we'll just deploy our parachutes right out the door and float around and fly around clouds and it's just, that's one of my favorite part of it.
28:16
[SPEAKER_05]: But then you come in, you land the parachutes are extremely guideable today.
28:21
[SPEAKER_05]: Mine will land going about 30 miles an hour and so then I try to slow it down before my
28:25
[SPEAKER_05]: my feet can't run that fast and I hit the ground.
28:28
[SPEAKER_05]: But we'll come in and we'll land and take our rigs in and then go again.
28:33
[SPEAKER_05]: When we're competition training, I have two rigs and I'll actually pick one up and meet the plane.
28:37
[SPEAKER_05]: I just got out of and get on it and go again.
28:38
[SPEAKER_05]: We'll do what it called quads.
28:40
[SPEAKER_05]: So four loads in a row, then we're down for a load and then four loads in a row, down for a load, four loads in a row.
28:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
28:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow.
28:45
[SPEAKER_02]: That's a very good description.
28:47
[SPEAKER_02]: So when you jump out at say 10-5 or 13 and you deploy your shoot right away, how long are you in the sky before you get to the ground?
28:56
[SPEAKER_05]: So it are jobs and they won't let you deploy over 10 because we're actually
29:01
[SPEAKER_05]: We're actually in the air pattern for the Jets coming into DFW above that.
29:06
[SPEAKER_03]: Oh, he guides.
29:08
[SPEAKER_05]: Which is funny because there are times when you actually look over and you see a jet off and you wonder if people are getting ready to watch you from those jets.
29:16
[SPEAKER_05]: But it's very cool.
29:17
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, you've got a good, I don't know that I've ever timed it, but I'm going to say you've got a good 10 or 15 minutes under canopy that you're just probably 15 minutes that you're just floating around out there and it's so fun.
29:27
[SPEAKER_05]: Sometimes I'll do it.
29:28
[SPEAKER_05]: Long distance jumps, so go out a few miles, and then float back to the drops and if it's windy, that's fun also.
29:44
[SPEAKER_04]: Hi, this is Alan Carl, world writer.
29:49
[SPEAKER_04]: You're listening to the adventures
30:00
[SPEAKER_02]: you mentioned quite a bit about competing and that it changes the dynamic of the fly, but you mentioned two types of competing, right?
30:06
[SPEAKER_02]: You do canopy relative work, you also do free fall formations, tell our listeners what this means.
30:12
[SPEAKER_05]: Sure, I'll say that I used to do canopy relative work in the 80s when I started jumping, but what that means is you open your parachutes again for us.
30:21
[SPEAKER_05]: or eight, but what we do is two different things.
30:24
[SPEAKER_05]: One is we try to build different formations like a diamond with four canopies.
30:27
[SPEAKER_05]: And so they would give you several formations and you try to build them, you have a time to event two or three minutes.
30:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And you try to build them as many times as you can in the time you have.
30:36
[SPEAKER_05]: And then the other canopy formation competition was you build a stack.
30:39
[SPEAKER_05]: So four jumpers, high hold and on each other's the top.
30:41
[SPEAKER_05]: So we chose parachutes.
30:42
[SPEAKER_05]: And the top rotates to the bottom, and it's called surprising the enough rotation.
30:47
[SPEAKER_05]: You try to do as many of those as you can in the two minute time.
30:50
[SPEAKER_05]: So that's canopy road to work and I really don't do that anymore.
30:53
[SPEAKER_05]: It's become a data part of the sport.
30:56
[SPEAKER_05]: And it's a little more frankly, a little more on the risky side because you're messing with an open canopy Curtis.
31:00
[SPEAKER_05]: So I've gotten older and I've got a little more cautious how about that.
31:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm glad to hear it.
31:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Speaking of caution, tell us about a time when things did not go as planned.
31:10
[SPEAKER_02]: We know you got through it because you're here to tell us about it.
31:12
[SPEAKER_02]: But when things didn't go as planned and what you learned from the experience and any advice you might have,
31:18
[SPEAKER_02]: for our friends out there who are, you know, saying, whoa, what would I do, you know?
31:22
[SPEAKER_05]: Yep, happy to do it.
31:24
[SPEAKER_05]: So, you know, like any skydiver with 20, 100 jumps, I've got a few of those stories.
31:29
[SPEAKER_05]: I have ridden my reserve parachute four times, so I can draw on those four and I give you a couple of instances.
31:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute.
31:38
[SPEAKER_02]: For people that don't know, you rode your reserve.
31:40
[SPEAKER_02]: What does that mean?
31:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Oh, thanks.
31:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I should clarify that.
31:42
[SPEAKER_05]: So when you go up, you have a main parachute that you use on every jump, but you also have a reserve parachute packed by professional rigor.
31:48
[SPEAKER_05]: that if something happens or is wrong with the first one, you can release it and then you use it.
31:54
[SPEAKER_05]: So in 2800 jumps, I've used minors for four times, which is right about on average, one every 800 jumps or so is typical, something like that.
32:03
[SPEAKER_05]: So I'm going to get some a little above average there, but anyway, we're both depending on how you want to think of it.
32:08
[SPEAKER_05]: But so in the 80s, when I was doing canopy rolls of work, we're building formations one day and we had what's
32:19
[SPEAKER_05]: We were spinning, so I had one of my buddy's parachutes was wrapped around my head, and we were in a spinning, you know, massive tangled canopies and guys are screaming and I remember thinking to myself, okay, this is really bad in your heart, right, pumping in.
32:33
[SPEAKER_05]: And it's really, it's pretty frightening.
32:35
[SPEAKER_05]: It's one of the reasons I don't do a lot of crew anymore.
32:37
[SPEAKER_05]: Can't do a lot of work, but, you know, you've got can't be around your head, and then you really learn there as you've got to keep yourself together and execute your safety procedure.
32:48
[SPEAKER_05]: and really make a judgment call.
32:49
[SPEAKER_05]: So in this particular case, the other guy that was wrapped up with me, I yelled at him to cut away.
32:55
[SPEAKER_05]: I said, Kelly, cut away.
32:56
[SPEAKER_05]: I probably yelled at more panic in my voice than that.
32:58
[SPEAKER_05]: And he did.
32:59
[SPEAKER_05]: And I thought that would clear his parachute.
33:02
[SPEAKER_05]: But his parachute was still wrapped around my head in my back.
33:04
[SPEAKER_05]: And I finally got an off of my head where I could see which not being able to see while falling through the air's bad.
33:10
[SPEAKER_05]: But I was able to look up and see that my
33:14
[SPEAKER_05]: And then I had a decision to make.
33:16
[SPEAKER_05]: I could either cut away and ride my reserve.
33:18
[SPEAKER_05]: Or I could try to land this mix of parachutes.
33:21
[SPEAKER_05]: And it wasn't a great decision to have to make because you know, I've got one parachute wrapped around mine.
33:26
[SPEAKER_05]: So it's not flying quite right.
33:27
[SPEAKER_05]: The other parachute was also wrapped around my back.
33:29
[SPEAKER_05]: So I couldn't see if it was covering my reserve.
33:31
[SPEAKER_05]: And if it would clear.
33:33
[SPEAKER_05]: So I made the decision to land the two together, and it obviously worked out okay, and I'm still here.
33:38
[SPEAKER_05]: It was kind of a rough landing.
33:39
[SPEAKER_05]: It was kind of funny.
33:40
[SPEAKER_05]: We have a pee pit, which is designed for accuracy Johnson.
33:43
[SPEAKER_05]: I thought it because it's a little softer than gravel.
33:45
[SPEAKER_05]: So I thought if I could hit that pee pit, I would be, if I hit it, I don't know what was going to.
33:50
[SPEAKER_05]: I thought that might be softer.
33:51
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, the parachute didn't fly quite like it normally did because it wasn't flying, right?
33:54
[SPEAKER_05]: I ended up like just a few feet short of the peas, and I kind of crunched in.
34:01
[SPEAKER_05]: You would expect them to come running out and check if you're okay, but mostly what they do is just laugh at me.
34:08
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, you said, P pit and I was thinking P doubly.
34:14
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, with that experience like that, wow, another one that similar was a couple years ago, I had I'd been.
34:21
[SPEAKER_05]: Upgrading my canpes to more more aggressive ones.
34:24
[SPEAKER_05]: And I had gone to what's called a katana 150.
34:27
[SPEAKER_05]: It's 150 square feet to give you some sense.
34:30
[SPEAKER_05]: The old days, I jumped a 230 square foot canpes.
34:32
[SPEAKER_05]: So much, this is a much more canpe, which means it reacts more aggressively to turns.
34:39
[SPEAKER_05]: Let me get a lot more speed when you land.
34:40
[SPEAKER_05]: And consequently, there are some more dangers to it, but they're more fun for the advanced skydivers.
34:46
[SPEAKER_05]: And so I had, this was the seventh jump on this new canopy.
34:50
[SPEAKER_05]: One of my buddies kept telling me, hey, your body position is not very good on opening.
34:53
[SPEAKER_05]: And I'd done it that way for years.
34:55
[SPEAKER_05]: I had 1,000 plus jumps at this point in time, and I'm like, whatever.
34:58
[SPEAKER_05]: And sure enough, I did what I usually do, which was neat in my head and looked to watch the parachute open, which threw my body position out, which put the canopy in a spin that was non-recovered,
35:08
[SPEAKER_05]: I knew as it flung me around two or three times, there was no way I was going to get that canopy to fly straight.
35:13
[SPEAKER_05]: So again, you got to think straight in situations, and I just went to my emergency procedures which I practiced before every jump.
35:21
[SPEAKER_05]: I released the main parachute with my right hand, and then in my camp in case I actually don't have to pull the reserve, so I waited to see if the reserve would come out and did.
35:30
[SPEAKER_05]: And, you know, I follow the procedures carefully, but I think the most important thing about skydiving is you're gonna get in situations like that and you have to keep a calm head.
35:39
[SPEAKER_05]: Folks, sometimes don't, and they pay a tough price for it if they panic under those circumstances.
35:45
[SPEAKER_05]: You just can't, we all get jacked up on a adrenaline, but the key thing is you just really learn, I have to stay calm.
35:53
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I saw something with my own eyes and I'm gonna tell this quick story because it's along the same lines
35:59
[SPEAKER_02]: When I tell the story, people think I'm making it up, but that's okay, I'm gonna tell it anyway.
36:03
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a true story.
36:04
[SPEAKER_02]: One of the guys was quite a bit lower under canopy.
36:06
[SPEAKER_02]: A guy above him had a tangled shoot and Pete, he panicked.
36:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Just like you said, you gotta keep a cool head.
36:13
[SPEAKER_02]: He didn't, he was screaming his way to the ground.
36:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And of course, my heart's stomping and I'm thinking, oh no, I'm getting ready to see a huge tragedy.
36:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, one of the guys that was below looked up,
36:23
[SPEAKER_02]: grabbed a toggle, swooped, and caught the guy's parachute as it fell by with his hands.
36:28
[SPEAKER_02]: It was unbelievable.
36:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I didn't think it was even possible.
36:31
[SPEAKER_02]: If you don't believe in miracles, folks, this was a miracle moment.
36:35
[SPEAKER_02]: They both came down under one parachute, and people would say it's not even possible, but it happened, and it blew my mind.
36:41
[SPEAKER_02]: But this guy saved this other guy's life.
36:43
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, strange.
36:44
[SPEAKER_05]: Things have happened for sure.
36:45
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a crazy world out there.
36:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Pete, tell us a funny story.
36:49
[SPEAKER_02]: We talked about some scary times, but tell us a funny story about
36:53
[SPEAKER_05]: Okay, well, this is a little off-color, so bear with me, but when you're in a plane and you're climbing, there's less pressure as you go up.
37:03
[SPEAKER_05]: So less air pressure, just like when you're on the ocean and you go down, you get more pressure on your body, and then as you come up, there's less pressure, same thing when you're going up to the atmosphere, because there's less air.
37:13
[SPEAKER_05]: So one of the things that happens is the slow-bearing, but people tend to pass gas
37:20
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, sometimes on an airplane, that's a little unpleasant.
37:23
[SPEAKER_05]: One of my buddies on our team was known for being particularly powerful.
37:28
[SPEAKER_05]: And so what's a way, we're in the twin honor, we're at the back of the plane.
37:31
[SPEAKER_05]: The door is open, and we're at like 7,000 feet, and passes gas.
37:37
[SPEAKER_05]: And it's so bad, the pilot who is 30 feet in front of us, and we have the doors open, the wind's blowing through.
37:42
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, it's not, you know, like a closed system here, the pilot, you took the plane down 500 feet and then told everybody on the plane, listen, if anybody does that again, whoever that was, and then the plane, nobody gets to jump.
37:53
[SPEAKER_05]: So, so we told our buddy, hey, you gotta stop that, it was just a little bit wrong.
37:58
[SPEAKER_05]: and the poor pilot the rest of you guys get to bail out but what he's stuck well he is but you know there's a lot of wind plunge to the plane that's why it was hard for us to believe he was affected because he's got a window that's open and we have the back door that's open so there's there's air rushing through the plane so he's okay once we get out I think.
38:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow well what the listeners may have also picked up on in the
38:20
[SPEAKER_02]: intro is that you've been an entrepreneur all these years.
38:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So how is that helped or harmed, you know, a career as an entrepreneur, how does that help your sports?
38:30
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, I'll say a couple of things.
38:32
[SPEAKER_05]: I think starting a business on your own is a bit of a risk.
38:35
[SPEAKER_05]: So it matches my personality that I would do that just like I would leap from plain.
38:41
[SPEAKER_05]: So it makes some sense.
38:42
[SPEAKER_05]: But being entrepreneurs have been great because it has allowed me more flexibility to pursue my hobbies and my interests.
38:49
[SPEAKER_05]: I love sailing, you mentioned that.
38:50
[SPEAKER_05]: I love skydiving.
38:51
[SPEAKER_05]: And so it's really nice to have more flexibility in terms of time.
38:55
[SPEAKER_05]: I don't have anyone I have to ask to get off work.
38:58
[SPEAKER_05]: I just have to decide if I can do it You know, my business will be in good shape or not.
39:02
[SPEAKER_05]: So I think being an entrepreneur's entrepreneur has been great And because it's allowed me so much flexibility and it's a it's a decision like skydiving that I wouldn't I wouldn't change for sure
39:12
[SPEAKER_02]: So I know everyone wants to know.
39:14
[SPEAKER_02]: What's your line of work?
39:15
[SPEAKER_05]: Very question.
39:16
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm going to couple of companies all software and consulting in the energy space which until six months ago, so it was a great business to be.
39:24
[SPEAKER_05]: But I run the software company that we have and I've got about 15 employees that work for me in that business and then one of my business partners runs a consulting firm.
39:34
[SPEAKER_05]: And another business partner runs another consultant firm and so between the three of us we have about the 80 employees and subcontractors who work for us and had industry.
39:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Wow, that's pretty cool.
39:44
[SPEAKER_02]: So a lot of people want to make that happen.
39:46
[SPEAKER_02]: It sounds exciting that you did it.
39:48
[SPEAKER_05]: It's fun, you know, it's like it's just like skydiving or anything else you do.
39:51
[SPEAKER_05]: it's work.
39:52
[SPEAKER_05]: You have to decide, I'm going to do something, I'm going to work hard at it, and you have to be okay with failure.
39:57
[SPEAKER_05]: Taking a risk means you could fail.
39:59
[SPEAKER_05]: So, sometimes you have to go start again or try something else and you've got to just be okay with that.
40:03
[SPEAKER_05]: But taking those opportunities, whether it's leaving from a plan or starting a business, those are things that I'm happy that I've done and have never regretted.
40:11
[SPEAKER_05]: Even when things haven't gone as well, I've still been grateful for the experiences.
40:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Among entrepreneurial circles, I think it's pretty common.
40:18
[SPEAKER_02]: People talk about how many times you might have to fail before you succeed.
40:22
[SPEAKER_02]: people who have not tried the entrepreneurial path.
40:25
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll say it that way.
40:26
[SPEAKER_02]: They see someone who succeeded and they say, wow, you just, wow, lucky you were, man, you just went out and did that and bang, you're making this money, you've got the lifestyle you wanted, blah, blah, blah, blah.
40:37
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think it's pretty common for the entrepreneur to say, yeah, you don't know the eight times that I fell on my face before this one worked.
40:44
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, the years of hard, hard work.
40:46
[SPEAKER_02]: And it was that part of your experience or you, one of the luckier ones.
40:51
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, I think I've been, I think I've been very blessed to Ray Lucky.
40:54
[SPEAKER_05]: There's no question about that.
40:56
[SPEAKER_05]: But it doesn't mean I haven't failed a number of times and suffered setbacks.
41:01
[SPEAKER_05]: Right now, the price oil has greatly affected our business to big setback for us and work through it.
41:07
[SPEAKER_05]: So while it seems fun to run a business a lot of times right now,
41:12
[SPEAKER_05]: It's less fun in the market and you know you're trying to figure out how not to fail.
41:17
[SPEAKER_05]: That's the key So yeah, you're right.
41:19
[SPEAKER_05]: There's a lot of work that goes into it just like any sport You know I watch people do other ventures sports that I like one is kite surfing and I went and tried kite surfing What I learned about kite surfing is if you want to do that you have to work hard because it's not easy And I think that's really the case for any any adventure sport to be good at it.
41:35
[SPEAKER_05]: It requires a lot of work It just happens to be fun when you're doing it
41:39
[SPEAKER_02]: I couldn't agree more.
41:40
[SPEAKER_02]: It seems that we learn more from our mistakes often than we do from our easy successes.
41:45
[SPEAKER_02]: It's those times that we fail and learn that we, you know, we may be gained the most ground.
41:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So I just don't believe that failure is failure anymore.
41:52
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, it's all progress toward the price.
41:54
[SPEAKER_05]: That's right.
41:55
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a learning experience, I think.
41:57
[SPEAKER_05]: I try to do that every day with things happening in my business or my personal life or whatever I try to learn from it and say okay well how do I do this better next time whether it's a skydive that I didn't do as well or you know so a business decision that I made that came back to bite me right well Pete hell back to skydiving
42:13
[SPEAKER_02]: How does skydiving benefit society or individuals as a whole?
42:17
[SPEAKER_02]: What has it done for you in your life?
42:19
[SPEAKER_05]: You know, I touched on this earlier that there's such a camaraderie to it.
42:23
[SPEAKER_05]: And what I'll say is like any person in the world I've had ups and downs in my life.
42:28
[SPEAKER_05]: Things where things haven't been as good.
42:30
[SPEAKER_05]: What I've loved about skydiving is that it's like a brotherhood.
42:33
[SPEAKER_05]: It's a group of people, men and women that you, you know, meet at this drop.
42:37
[SPEAKER_05]: I mean, you're all drawn by the same thing.
42:39
[SPEAKER_05]: and people are not perfect, right?
42:42
[SPEAKER_05]: Certainly not a drop zones or any other place, but you made a group of people that I feel like are generally, you know, a lot of good folks.
42:48
[SPEAKER_05]: And I have made some of the best friends of my entire life through skydiving.
42:52
[SPEAKER_05]: One of my business partners actually met skydiving and he became a key factor in my business success over the last few years.
42:59
[SPEAKER_05]: And I just feel like it's been so rewarding, the friendships I've made and the sense of community that I have from that sport,
43:07
[SPEAKER_05]: I'm just very grateful for how it brings people together from diverse backgrounds.
43:13
[SPEAKER_05]: And you'll walk away from this sport realizing you've made some of the best friends you're life.
43:17
[SPEAKER_05]: And I think Scott owns a little bit unique in that because of how it brings people together to make these jumps on a plane, so different than sailing, which I love equally.
43:25
[SPEAKER_05]: But where I'm still sailing my own boat, it's the people I took out to go skydiving.
43:29
[SPEAKER_05]: you're meeting with a group of people you may not know and it sort of forces you to interact and that's how you build that friend and family base that you have and it's been deeply deeply rewarding for me.
43:40
[SPEAKER_02]: That's great.
43:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Do you think that skydiving is for everyone?
43:44
[SPEAKER_02]: You think everyone should give it a try?
43:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Or do you think that it takes a certain personality type?
43:48
[SPEAKER_02]: It's going to benefit some people more than others.
43:50
[SPEAKER_05]: What would say that I think it's for everyone, definitely?
43:53
[SPEAKER_05]: I do think there's some risk to it and people who are interested should think about it.
43:57
[SPEAKER_05]: It's not a roller coaster ride.
43:59
[SPEAKER_05]: Even on a tandem jump, you are taking your life into your hands when you jump from a point.
44:07
[SPEAKER_05]: there's some people who are just inherently afraid of heights and I don't think they should do it if they're terrified don't do it.
44:13
[SPEAKER_05]: But that said I think it's a great sport for a lot of people to try and we see that a lot of the jobs and a lot of people come out and make a tandem and maybe that's all they're going to do but I will say well open your mind to new experiences and I think that's fantastic and then there's that small, small group of
44:29
[SPEAKER_05]: But those of us that are really nuts who just love it and have to keep doing it.
44:32
[SPEAKER_05]: And you won't know if you're one of those folks to try it.
44:35
[SPEAKER_05]: I've met so many people who said, I was going to make one tank of junk because it was on my bucket list.
44:39
[SPEAKER_05]: And then after I did it, I couldn't stop by been doing it for 10 years and I have 5,000 jumps or whatever it is.
44:44
[SPEAKER_05]: And I just think, I think it's a great sport to try.
44:47
[SPEAKER_05]: If the idea sounds great, go do it.
44:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, that's cool.
44:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, folks, this has been another adventure sports podcast interview with Pete Waldrup.
44:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I die very extraordinary and Pete, thank you very much for your time.
45:00
[SPEAKER_02]: We sure appreciate it.
45:01
[SPEAKER_05]: Well, thanks for having me and appreciate it being here today.
45:04
[SPEAKER_05]: Good time.
45:04
[SPEAKER_05]: Yeah, take care.
45:05
[SPEAKER_02]: You too.
45:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey guys, would you like to help us make the Adventure Sports podcast successful?
45:14
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45:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Subscribe, rate review.
45:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks.