DZ Krutitcy 2025: Skydiving in Russia & The Friendship Lessons I Learned
Here’s a breakdown of the things my “friend” C did that made me angry during our road trip
Driving and Manifesting
Every day, I drove C and the others to the dropzone. C would wake up late, causing me to miss the first load. When I travel alone, I’m always at the dropzone early, especially in countries with an earlier sunrise than Singapore.
When we were almost at the dropzone, she would always manifest for her jump before me because I was driving. This meant I was usually one load behind her. Even though I started the trip with two more jumps than her to get my C license, she ended up getting hers before me.
Despite my compromises, I don’t think she cares about my feelings. It would have been a simple but nice gesture for her to manifest after I had parked the car.
Canopy Size and Jumps
My main canopy is a 190, while hers is a 130.
The packers packed her rig faster than mine because the three female packers there seemed to only pack small rigs, and there was only one male packer for the bigger rigs like mine.
Naturally, she got to jump on more loads. Even though we were both rushing to get our C licenses, she would say things like, “The packer likes me,” or “I already got nine jumps today, why are you so slow?” I didn’t appreciate these comments.
Formation Jumping
Her AFF “friend” needed to do a three-way formation jump to clear his B license requirements, but she didn’t bother to jump with him despite several requests.
He also made the same request for me to jump with him, which I agreed to. While chatting with him, I made a joke: “After you get your B license and jump with C, just track away and pull since she’s not interested in jumping with you.”
She didn’t like the way I talked to her “friend,” yet she would often talk to me that way whenever she had the opportunity.
Directions and Driving
One day, while driving back home, I didn’t use map navigation because of poor or nonexistent data roaming. I was tired and just wanted to get back quickly, so I took a route I remembered.
She said, “Why are you taking this longer route? If you don’t know, why don’t you turn on the navigation or ask me for directions?” all while she was busy playing mobile games and watching dramas in the back.
She treated me like her free personal driver. I agreed to drive, but I don’t recall agreeing that she could be a passenger for the entire trip without ever offering to drive.
Attention from Others
Female skydivers are rare, so she received a lot of attention from other male jumpers. Naturally, they would offer to jump with her and invite her to dinner.
When I wasn’t interested in joining, she would complain about my absence, even though it was clear they were inviting her, not me; they only asked me because I was the driver. She didn’t seem to understand how to “read between the lines.” When I did join the dinner, it was obvious they were only interested in her, so my reluctance was proven correct.
Communication
She told me that if I was unhappy, I should tell her, just as she was constantly expressing her own unhappiness. However, when I did express my unhappiness, she didn’t take it well. So much for clear communication.
My 200th Jump
For her 199th jump, she practiced with two other people (let’s call one of them A), and A had a D-license.
The plan was for A to pull her main canopy for her. Both of us were on the same load for our 200th jump. A asked if I wanted to join their three-way formation, making it a four-way, and I happily agreed. However, she said she didn’t want me on that jump because I might “screw it up due to our different fall rates,” even though my fall rate was about the same as A’s based on an earlier jump.
So I ended up jumping solo for my 200th jump. This is when I decided I would not go on another skydiving trip with her. It was clear that since most of my jumps on this trip were solo, she had no interest in jumping with me.
Trip Planning
She invited me on this trip, and I told her that I wanted to open a Russian bank account and that I didn’t want to sleep in a car or a tent.
She didn’t make any plans to accommodate my requests, despite my reminders. I understand she’s someone who “goes with the flow,” but her travel style just doesn’t suit me.
The Wind Tunnel Trip
She decided to go to a wind tunnel that was a four- to five-hour drive (over 280 km) from the dropzone.
She slept for almost the entire trip while I was struggling to stay awake. She didn’t help much. We drove from the wind tunnel back to the dropzone and then back again, spending 14 hours in the same car. I didn’t learn anything more about her since she was either sleeping or playing with her phone.
She mentioned that I should be glad one of her friends couldn’t join the trip because if she had, I wouldn’t have gotten as much wind tunnel time, as I was just a backup.
Closing
I considered this trip a way to train my driving skills, and I didn’t ask her to chip in for the car rental. She did, however, pay for one of the fuel fill-ups. On her last day, she decided to take a taxi back to the airport, which was a relief since I was also tired of being her driver.
In my view, she is a selfish individual who only cares about herself. Her happiness is her first priority, and my feelings don’t matter. It’s clear to me that she is not a friend, by my definition. I can’t stand someone who only puts themselves first in a group setting.