Skydiving

[video]

[Click the title to see the pictures from the trip]

Rebecca went skydiving for her birthday and I had to do it too. If nothing else to see her splat against the ground.

We got there Saturday (yesterday) afternoon and signed up, filled out the forms and sat down to wait for our turn to suit up and jump out of a perfectly good plane.

Unfortunately, after several weather-holds, we had been there almost three hours and had to run to the airport to pick up my brother and his friends.

We signed up for the first drop of the day Sunday (today) morning at 07:45 and headed out.  Well back to my place, there were a few minutes remaining before we hopped in the car to the airport.

Late as usual - rather, the flight was 30 minutes early - we roll in and pick up the gang and head back to my place where everyone cleans up and get situated.

Now, I'd promised to take Rebecca dancing, so we all loaded up and headed to Downtown, to a club called The Church. Being an actual church converted to a club, it could be cool.

When we got in, the place was full of Portugese-speaking people. The music was South American and there were FOUR other white people in the joint, not counting present company. We thought it might've been a theme-night, but later found out that the club is indeed a South American "specialty" of sorts. Bummer. 

So when we finally leave and everyone gets to where they belong, I finally hit the sack. It's 03:30 in the morning, and only two and a half hours until I have to get up and cart everyone to the skydiving place North of Denver.

Tired, somewhat excited and with a scratchy throat, we get there, sign in and get our names on the first flight of the day.  I get in the jump suit, step into the harness and my instructor tightens the harness to uncomfortable snugness and we step up on the trailer after some minimal instructions.

1, When jumping out, hold hands on shoulder straps of the harness

2, Arch your back as much as you can, putting my heels up against the instructors butt and spread arms straight up/out

3, When he shouts "pull, pull, pull" - for God's sake, pull the rip-cord!

4, When landing, pull knees up, then straighten legs straight out in front - you land like going down a slip-n-slide

The plane slowly climbs up to 11000 feet and I back up to the instructor and he latches me into his harness for the tandem and we scoot up towards the door while other people jump before us, one at a time.

I haven't been nervous at all until about now.  I'm scooting up to the door and it's not as loud as I thought it would be. I'm bracing myself against the frame and lean out a bit and see the ground way down below me.  Now I think that I'm doing by far the dumbest thing that ever crossed my mind.

While I'm trying to figure out any way to abort this moronic mission, I briefly see the instructors hands reach past me, grab the door frame of the airplane and pull us out.

My first thought was "OMFG!" and then the rushing air past my ears became music and I was dropping.  Roughly 120mph for a little over 30 seconds and we covered several thousand feet! This was amazing, it wasn't a feeling of falling, it was more like sticking your head out the window of a speeding car or standing in front of a huge fan.  The views were spectacular with a high cloud ceiling and the mountains in front of me and Denver and the Eastern Plains behind me.

I managed to perform my movements as instructed, and reached back to pull the rip cord and the chute opened to a rough tug in my harness. Suddenly everything went quiet and the instructor pulled my goggles off and started having a normal conversation with me - that's how quiet it was.

I got to tug the reigns to each side to turn one way and then the other. After that, the instructor asked if I wanted to do a few spins to which I answered in the affirmative. A hard pull on the left and we pivoted out to the right and swung around at a high rate of speed. Three turns and then a hard pull on the right and we pivoted to the other side. 

It was about this time I was glad I hadn't had breakfast yet as it was a very unusual feeling.

As we approached the landing zone, I pull my legs up and with a hard pull down with both hands, the chute curves and we slow down to almost a brisk walking speed as I impact the ground and slide a few feet.

Less than a minute later, I've stepped out of my harness and wait for Rebecca to come down and make a slightly less than graceful landing.

We've successfully jumped out of a plane and managed to live to tell the tale.  I spent the next half-hour being pretty keyed up on adrenaline but still not sure if I want to do this again. Rebecca was keyed for two days and is still determined to get her USPA license!

On the way home, we swung by IHOP to let the Swedes sample some real American buttermilk pancakes, and then I went home for a nap.  What a day!

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