Scatter
12-05-2005, 12:45 AM
Have you ever made THE list? THE list is a list of all the things you want to do before you die. Well, on the top of my list was skydiving. I have wanted to skydive since I learned that such a thing existed, and when the opportunity presented itself, I couldn't say no.
During my first year of University I met a lot of different people, including a guy named Ash who was in my intro Lit. class. After a few classes we discovered that we both wanted to go skydiving, so we made a pact, and we both decided to take the plunge. So one autumn weekend we took the 2 hour drive to our "local" skydiving academy, and signed up.
The morning consisted of signing waiver after waiver. The afternoon consisted of a 5 hour training course, which we were told would prepare us for anything. We paid our fees, we suited up, and were totally prepared to jump. Unfortunately all the psyching up we did was a waste, as the cloud ceiling was too low that day, and we couldn't do our jump. We were both given a voucher for a free jump at a later date, with a year expiration on it.
Over the winter Ash dropped out of school, and we lost contact with each other. Now I had to skydive by myself, as no one else I knew had any interest in jumping out of a plane. The jump voucher sat on my bookshelf for nearly a year before finally decided to do it. The winter snow melted, and summer was firmly in place. I packed up my car with my two best buddies to serve as witnesses to my jump, and we drove the two hours to the skydiving academy.
We arrived in the morning; I handed over my voucher, and was told I was going to jump around 1pm. I received a 1 hour recap training lesson, then sat around and watched other skydivers load up in the little single engine plane, three jumpers at a time. We watched as the plane circled up in the air, and watched the same people jump out of that small plane. As soon as they left the plane POOF their chute opened, each and every time.
I decided to do a solo jump. Sure, I wouldn't get any free fall, but being a bigger guy I thought that a tandem jump might be too difficult. Plus my goal list said skydiving, not skydiving strapped to another dude!! Little did I know that I would be freefalling, for nearly 1500 feet.
My name was called, and I forced myself into an ugly purple jumpsuit which was too tight in too many places. I put on my bucket of a helmet, and then my skydiving goggles. I was given a parachute, I was strapped into it, and then I was walked through what would happen.
"Look", the impatient skydiving employee said, "You have a chest strap and a back strap, do they feel tight enough."
"Yeah."
"On your chest strap is a one way radio, so you can receive instructions from the ground. Do what the guy on the radio says, cool?"
"Yeah, cool." I was starting to get nervous.
"Ok, so your the biggest guy in your jump group, so you're in the plane last, and out of the plane first. Once you’re up there, you have to jump, so if you have cold feet let me know now."
I just nodded, and then I was stared at for about 10 seconds in silence. I guess I passed this guy's private readiness test, as he smacked my helmet and laughed.
"Good, get ready for the ride of your life big guy."
I got on the plane, decked out in my purple jump suit, my giant helmet, and my goggles. The plane took off, my nerves started kicking in, my glasses were fogging up under my goggles, and my feet were falling asleep. I repositioned my legs while looking out the window, hoping to help with the blood flow. Looking at the square blocks of farmland below, I marveled at how small everything was getting.
We reached 3000 feet, and the instructor slid open the small door to the plane. The force of the wind was INSANE!! Now, if this was a simple get up and jump out situation, you would just need to build up the courage and do it. No problem!! But with this jump I had to hang off and dangle from the wings support bar to clear myself from the plane. Of course the plane is speeding along at a pretty good clip, and it's 3000 feet in the air. I can only relate it to climbing out of a car window and holding on to the roof while driving 140 Km/hour, not that I have any experience doing this, but it's the first thing to come to mind.
I pushed one leg out of the door and it was blown against the side of the plane by the gusting wind. I seriously had to use all my strength to bring my leg to the step on the plane. My hands clung to the support pole that ran from the wing of the plane to the body of the plane. I used my arms to pull myself from the plane, and now both feet were tentatively on the step. I had to reach out to where the support pole joined with the wing, and hold on with all my might to clear myself from the plane.
I hung there for what felt like ages, being tossed around by the wind like a rag doll. Barely able to hang on any longer I looked over to my instructionor. He gave me a thumbs up, and finally yelled GO!!! So, I let go.
I let go and all I could see was the plane getting smaller, at an incredibly speed. I clearly remember screaming "HOOOOOOOOOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!" as I tumbled through the skies, seeing green then blue then green then blue.
During my first year of University I met a lot of different people, including a guy named Ash who was in my intro Lit. class. After a few classes we discovered that we both wanted to go skydiving, so we made a pact, and we both decided to take the plunge. So one autumn weekend we took the 2 hour drive to our "local" skydiving academy, and signed up.
The morning consisted of signing waiver after waiver. The afternoon consisted of a 5 hour training course, which we were told would prepare us for anything. We paid our fees, we suited up, and were totally prepared to jump. Unfortunately all the psyching up we did was a waste, as the cloud ceiling was too low that day, and we couldn't do our jump. We were both given a voucher for a free jump at a later date, with a year expiration on it.
Over the winter Ash dropped out of school, and we lost contact with each other. Now I had to skydive by myself, as no one else I knew had any interest in jumping out of a plane. The jump voucher sat on my bookshelf for nearly a year before finally decided to do it. The winter snow melted, and summer was firmly in place. I packed up my car with my two best buddies to serve as witnesses to my jump, and we drove the two hours to the skydiving academy.
We arrived in the morning; I handed over my voucher, and was told I was going to jump around 1pm. I received a 1 hour recap training lesson, then sat around and watched other skydivers load up in the little single engine plane, three jumpers at a time. We watched as the plane circled up in the air, and watched the same people jump out of that small plane. As soon as they left the plane POOF their chute opened, each and every time.
I decided to do a solo jump. Sure, I wouldn't get any free fall, but being a bigger guy I thought that a tandem jump might be too difficult. Plus my goal list said skydiving, not skydiving strapped to another dude!! Little did I know that I would be freefalling, for nearly 1500 feet.
My name was called, and I forced myself into an ugly purple jumpsuit which was too tight in too many places. I put on my bucket of a helmet, and then my skydiving goggles. I was given a parachute, I was strapped into it, and then I was walked through what would happen.
"Look", the impatient skydiving employee said, "You have a chest strap and a back strap, do they feel tight enough."
"Yeah."
"On your chest strap is a one way radio, so you can receive instructions from the ground. Do what the guy on the radio says, cool?"
"Yeah, cool." I was starting to get nervous.
"Ok, so your the biggest guy in your jump group, so you're in the plane last, and out of the plane first. Once you’re up there, you have to jump, so if you have cold feet let me know now."
I just nodded, and then I was stared at for about 10 seconds in silence. I guess I passed this guy's private readiness test, as he smacked my helmet and laughed.
"Good, get ready for the ride of your life big guy."
I got on the plane, decked out in my purple jump suit, my giant helmet, and my goggles. The plane took off, my nerves started kicking in, my glasses were fogging up under my goggles, and my feet were falling asleep. I repositioned my legs while looking out the window, hoping to help with the blood flow. Looking at the square blocks of farmland below, I marveled at how small everything was getting.
We reached 3000 feet, and the instructor slid open the small door to the plane. The force of the wind was INSANE!! Now, if this was a simple get up and jump out situation, you would just need to build up the courage and do it. No problem!! But with this jump I had to hang off and dangle from the wings support bar to clear myself from the plane. Of course the plane is speeding along at a pretty good clip, and it's 3000 feet in the air. I can only relate it to climbing out of a car window and holding on to the roof while driving 140 Km/hour, not that I have any experience doing this, but it's the first thing to come to mind.
I pushed one leg out of the door and it was blown against the side of the plane by the gusting wind. I seriously had to use all my strength to bring my leg to the step on the plane. My hands clung to the support pole that ran from the wing of the plane to the body of the plane. I used my arms to pull myself from the plane, and now both feet were tentatively on the step. I had to reach out to where the support pole joined with the wing, and hold on with all my might to clear myself from the plane.
I hung there for what felt like ages, being tossed around by the wind like a rag doll. Barely able to hang on any longer I looked over to my instructionor. He gave me a thumbs up, and finally yelled GO!!! So, I let go.
I let go and all I could see was the plane getting smaller, at an incredibly speed. I clearly remember screaming "HOOOOOOOOOLY SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!" as I tumbled through the skies, seeing green then blue then green then blue.