The FINANCIAL — The most common sports in Georgia for people wanting to improve their health are soccer, swimming, jogging, tennis or basketball. This article aims to provide you with ideas of other activities you can try to improve your fitness at the same time as enjoying yourself.
Airsoft – For those who are team players and aren’t scared of bruises
Remember those times as a child when you liked running around with your toy gun. With Airsoft you can go back to those times. Airsoft includes everything you may have dreamt of as a child including adventure, shooting, battlefields, bunkers, trenches, military tactics, assaults and sieges.
David Gelashvili, 23, is Head of a Sales Department, but on the weekends he straps on some ammunition, grabs his M14 and goes on a raid with his team mates.
“I’ve been playing Airsoft for a year already and I just can’t get enough of it. The risk of getting hurt is very low if you follow the rules of the game. It involves everything you could wish for like action, honour and team play. The only thing you need is to buy the ammunition,” David Gelashvili explains while getting ready for the commando raid.
He says that he knows girls that are actively engaged in Airsoft too. They are pretty dangerous snipers he adds.
Gelashvili has spent approximately USD 1,000 on ammunition in total. He has 2 rifles and a Glock.
“The equipment is not available in Georgia so you have to order it abroad, mainly from China. This doubles the price, but I can tell you it’s worth paying for,” David Gelashvili says.
In fact this risky sport is quite new in Georgia. Three years ago a club was created which today is organizing the weekly games. More and more people are going to this club. The number of game participants can sometimes reach 100 people. Some major teams have 50 or more players, and are able to send delegations to regional or national events.
Airsoft is a sport where participants eliminate opponents by hitting each other with spherical non-metallic pellets (BBs). The pellets are fired from a compressed-air gun powered by gas, compressed air, or electrically powered gearbox. Airsoft guns are legal in most countries. Airsoft guns are usually replicas of real firearms, except that they have a device for pushing out projectiles 6 mm or 8 mm in diameter. The majority of Airsoft guns fire spherical plastic pellets ranging from 0.12 to 0.88 grams in weight.
Game variants include capturing the flag, assault or siege, commando raid, evacuation and other battlefield simulations. The duration depends on the scenario and can last even a couple of days.
Airsoft participants organize meetings at dedicated Airsoft battlefields often adapted to provide walls, bunkers, buildings, towers, and other man-made ground enhancements to offer realism similar to real warfare environments. It applies an honour system whereby the players rely on each other’s honesty to admit to being hit, because unlike paintballs, Airsoft BBs do not leave noticeable marks on clothing.
The minimum safe level of gear required to participate in Airsoft games includes a pair of goggles to protect participant’s eyes. Traditional prescription glasses and sunglasses, or goggles not designed specifically for use with Airsoft are useless and can break in this case.
Below are the average prices for equipment that you’ll need for Airsoft:
Pistols
• Desert Eagle .50AE Hard Kick Chrome – USD 173
• M19 Combat Magnum 4 Inch – USD 119
• Glock 17 – USD 138
AEGs
• M16A1 (With Battery) – USD 258
• AK47 (With Battery) – USD 311
• UZI (With Battery) – USD 252
• AUG (With Battery) – USD 293
• M40A1 Military Sniper Rifle – USD 349
• AMP DSR-1 Gas Sniper Rifle – USD 768
Gear
• Navy SEAL Bullet Proof Vest Replica – USD 60
• M.O.D Tactical Body Armour – USD 72
• Helmet with Protective Lens – USD 55
• Mil-Force Helmets – USD 50
• 3-Day Assault Pack – USD 85
Yachting – A lifetime experience
Have you often dreamed of being the captain of a ship? Your dream is not as far from becoming a reality as you may think. You can either buy your own yacht or rent one. Due to the financial crisis yacht prices are sinking fast worldwide. Last year, it cost more to buy a used yacht than to build a new one. This year prices on medium size yachts range from USD 200,000 to USD 800,000. For some it’s a lot, for others it’s a way to sail away from everyday problems and have fun with friends smelling the nice breeze of the sea or ocean.
However before you buy or rent a yacht make sure someone you go with knows how to drive it. Unless you’re experienced, yachting can be a risky form of entertainment.
The main determinant of a yacht’s price is its length. Also a yachts price is dependent on the year, make, model, and type (sail, motor yacht, super yacht, power, high performance, etc). Sailboats are commonly cheaper than motor yachts, but this is not always true.
A yacht can also become a source of income. You can rent it out and earn big money from it. The best way to buy a yacht is to share the price among friends. In this way each of you won’t have to pay a lot.
The cheapest and most convenient place for Georgians to buy a yacht would be Turkey, as there are many vendors and the price ranges are diverse.
Everybody likes the idea of a glittery new boat. However the fact is that you might be better off buying second hand, as not all new ones are ideal and problem-free.
Before you start searching for a boat, write a list of what you have to have, then a list of what would be pleasant to have. Work out how much it would cost on average to fit other less basic essentials after acquisition. Think about what sort of cruising you will be doing. Do you need heating or how big a sail wardrobe should there be?
If you’re still in doubt, take your time – the boat will most likely still be there tomorrow.
Skydiving – Free as a bird
“An excellent tool for defeating a fear of heights”
Some guy once told me that skydiving changed his mindset. This one is for those who challenge life and just can’t get enough of adrenaline. A freefall with a parachute is a relaxed sensation of floating and support, with a slender pressure of air against your body.
“I’ve tried it several times in Turkey. This is a stunning experience that doesn’t cost you much. My friends and I paid USD 120 each. I was always scared of heights, but after skydiving that fear has disappeared. Plus it’s very good for the lungs, the air up there is totally different,” says George Tsiklauri, aged 26.
Freefalling is the closest to human flight. The difference between freefall and other skydiving types is that a jumper can move forward, backwards, up, down and around in the sky.
However, if you want to experience many of the same feelings of freefall without parachute jumping, you can visit a skydiving simulator or vertical wind tunnel.
In Tbilisi there are no such simulators yet, but you can travel to neighbouring Turkey or Ukraine for this purpose. If you go by car the whole trip will cost you maximum USD 600 including the jumping fee.
Safety in skydiving
In 2008 thousands of people of all ages and professions stepped into the world of parachuting. Many have since found it their favourite sport.
It’s a high-speed in-flight sport that exposes its participants to the real risk of injury and even death. But if you have the right equipment and follow the guidelines of an experienced instructor you’re on the safe side.
Analysis of skydiving accidents reveal that most are caused by jumpers who make mistakes of procedure. Contrary to popular credence, very few skydiving accidents are caused by random or unexpected equipment failure.
Those skydivers who are trained well and take a conservative approach to the sport are involved in hardly any accidents. Most parachute centres require that you sign a legally binding assumption-of-risk agreement.
How much can it cost?
Generally speaking, you can expect to pay anywhere from USD 90 to USD 140 for your first jump and USD 150 to USD 300 for a tandem jump. These prices include equipment, instructions and the trip to elevation.
A complete package of state-of-the-art equipment can cost about USD 4,000, but with that you can make thousands of jumps, provided you take reasonable care of it. You can also purchase used gear, which is 15-20% cheaper.
The gear includes: container, main parachute, reserved parachute, helmet (an open face one is recommended for newbies), AAD, RSL, goggles, gloves and a jumpsuit.
Written By Levan Lomtadze
Discussion about this post