A present for the man who has everything

The problem with buying for somebody who has everything is not that they own everything. It is that anything purchasable they would have bought themselves if they wanted it. What is left are the things people do not buy for themselves, and money is rarely the reason. What is missing is an excuse.

A skydive is often one of those things. People talk about it for years, always in the future tense, and then something more important needs paying for, or there is nobody to go with. A voucher turns that “one day” into a code valid for 12 months from purchase, and leaves the day of the jump to him.

How to tell if he wants it

Before you buy, tell apart someone who wants to jump from someone who is merely said to. The signs are usually clear enough:

• He has brought it up himself, and more than once.
• He has asked someone who has jumped what it is really like.
• He watches skydiving videos to the end instead of scrolling past.
• It has sat on his list of “one day” things for years.

The opposite sign is just as clear. When someone says “never in my life” calmly, and the same way every time, that is an answer, not an invitation to talk them round. If you are not sure, ask about the idea without mentioning a present: would he jump if he had the chance? “Yes, but I'm scared” is a good answer. “No” is a good answer too, because it leaves you 1,150 zł for something else.

Surprise or conversation

A voucher takes a surprise well, because it decides nothing on his behalf. You are buying a jump, not a date, so you do not need to know his diary or the forecast. He picks the day himself, on the booking page, any time within 12 months of purchase.

What should not be a surprise is the jump day itself. Booking a date for someone and driving them to the airfield unannounced only works in the retelling: conditions are judged on the day, and the declaration that there is no medical reason not to jump is signed on site by the person jumping. Surprise him with the present and leave the date to him.

The voucher can reach him in one of three ways:

• On paper. The PDF comes to you as soon as the payment is confirmed, and you print it at whatever size suits the envelope or the frame.
• From you. You can simply pass the same file on, by e-mail or in a messaging app.
• From us, on a day you choose. At checkout you give his e-mail address and a delivery date up to 11 months ahead, and the voucher arrives that morning, provided the order has been paid by then. The subject line gives away at once who it is from and what is inside.

The weight limit: say it plainly

The standard limit is 100 kg. It follows from the approvals for the tandem equipment: instructor, passenger and rig hang under one canopy, and the manufacturer sets a maximum weight for the whole assembly. So it is nobody's judgement of anyone, just arithmetic, and above the limit a jump can sometimes be arranged individually. In that case, write to us before buying.

You do not have to guess the number. The weight field at checkout is optional; leave it empty and we will ask about weight when the date is arranged. When you hand the voucher over, one sentence covers it: the limit is 100 kg. He checks the rest himself before booking a day. If you know he is close to the limit, write to us before buying rather than after, because the proportion of height to weight matters too: it decides how the harness fits.

Age and health

There is no upper age limit. Health decides, not the date of birth: before jumping everyone signs a declaration that there is no medical reason not to, and anyone with a heart condition or high blood pressure, serious back, shoulder or joint problems, or a recent operation talks to a doctor first. The full list is in the guide to requirements.

With a present for a father, or for a retirement, that conversation is worth having before you buy, because a doctor settles it and a form does not. There is no lower age limit either; under 18, written consent from a legal guardian is required.

Fear is not a barrier

Fear before a first jump is normal, and it rules nobody out. Fear of heights is often a separate matter, because at 4,000 metres there is no edge to set it off: from up there the ground looks like a map rather than a drop beneath your feet. The guide to fear of skydiving goes through it.

A voucher should not be a dare, though, or a test of nerve. Nobody is pushed out of an aircraft, and any doubts are best raised with the instructor on the ground, before take-off. If he changes his mind before the day, the code can go to someone else, because the voucher is made out to the bearer.

Which variant to choose

The jump is identical in every variant; what differs is what is left of it on film. Nothing is carried in the hands on a tandem, so he cannot take his own camera or phone. The filming is done either by the instructor with a hand-held camera or by a camera flyer, a separate skydiver who exits with them. The footage is handed over after landing.

It helps to ask who the film is for. Someone who likes going back to things and showing them round will value the footage more than someone who never looks at their holiday photos. The film is also for whoever stayed on the ground: from below you can hardly see the exit or the freefall, and on the footage you see both.

If he is thinking about more than one jump, the AFF course can be the better present, because it ends with him jumping solo. The differences are set out in tandem or AFF.

What he gets

A PDF voucher with the code, the expiry date, the name of the variant and his name if you give it. Bought as a gift, it can also carry who it is from and one line of dedication. There is no price on it, and none in the e-mail we send to the recipient either.

Four styles, three sizes

The specimens above are drawn by the same generator that makes the vouchers sent after purchase. In the voucher studio you can see yours live before you buy: the occasion, a birthday or Christmas for example, sets the line above the jump, the colour and a small drawing. On the voucher page the PDF can later be downloaded again with the code, in any of the four styles and three sizes.

The day, seen from the ground

If you go with him, you book nothing and pay nothing. Anyone coming along can be on the dropzone and watch the take-offs and landings. The exact address arrives with the date confirmation, because on a given day jumping may run from a different airfield.

Allow several hours on site, since the order of the lifts is set by the weather and how busy the day is, and the jump itself is only a small part of that. From the ground you follow the aircraft first, then the canopy. The freefall is easy to miss from that far below, but an open canopy is plain to see for several minutes, and the landing is the part the ground sees best.

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