Then I was falling...
FREEEEE FAAAALLLLLLING!
Through the blue clear skies!
How did I come about this crazy insane adventure? Well, that is courtesy of Jake Bower.
I met Jake back when I was working at Fricker's. He became my friend after I left. He's a little nuts, but I like him. He's one of BG's finest in blue, and lets me come tour the fire station with Gavin on occasion. He jumped last year with his cousin and they were going to do it again. He generously offered me a ticket. His brother came to jump too!
How did I feel leading up to the day? Scared out of my mind. Unsure if I would do it or not. Excited. Intense. Stressed out. I think I made myself sick. I simply can't explain it.
Would I do it again? Absolutely!!
The Experience: Today I did one of the scariest things I have ever done, jumped out of a plane at 14,000ft over Tecumseh, MI.
Tecumseh Skydive, the company I did the jump with, were brilliant too - nice facilities, good equipment and friendly people, all of which gave me confidence to trust them with my life!
I've always thought skydiving would be cool, but never thought I would
actually do it. You watch a video first
while you sign the forms. I sat there and said, "There's no way in hell
I'm doing this." I had nothing but pure panic and the urge to make a run
for it. Then I said to myself, "Do I really want to pass up this
experience? Is it worth it? If I don't do this, will I have regrets
later?" I signed the forms and was quickly harnessed. The instructor
showed me how to fall out of the plane properly,
different signals, how to fly through the air and how to land without
hurting myself. It helps that I had a very amusing instructor who was
joking around with me the entire time and helping me to relax. When I say relax, I really mean he thought it would be fun to make jokes that would scare me. As in, I asked him how long he had been jumping, he says "They brought me in Wednesday. But no worries, I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night and I'm great!" " He has made nearly 6000 jumps in ten years. I suppose he's earned his sense of humor.
I was still petrified
getting into the plane but was fine as we were flying.
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| While sitting, your harness feels looser and my instructor had a field day scaring me with that one. |
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| He also added that he wouldn't do this for a living if he thought it was dangerous. |
Then my
instructor started strapping himself to me preparing me for the tandem
jump. I thought, "Okay well, I'm already up and the only way I'm going
back down is to jump." We were the first to jump out behind the camera guy. It's difficult to scoot up the plane while you're
very tightly strapped to the front of someone, but
we made it to the door. It's surreal to look out of the plane and see
the amazing skyline. It's one thing to look out of an airplane window
when in midair, it's another to look out an
open airplane
door when
you're midair.
I was strapped to the front of Adam (the guy pulling the
parachute for me and in charge of making sure I don't die), who edged
forwards to the door. He stood on the edge of the plane, meaning I was
dangling practically outside in the 'banana position' as they call it with my head
and legs back.
So I’m at the door, looking 2.6 miles down and trying to
figure out where the landing spot is. I can feel the cold air rushing
at me at an incredible speed. The sound of the air and the airplane
engines is drowning everything else out. At this height, the landing
field is the size of a postage stamp and I have absolutely no idea where
it is.
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| the fear is real |
I am scared out of my mind. I am not sure I want to do this any more.
My mind is racing and going .. “Oh crap!! There is no way that… AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!”.
Suddenly I am no longer on the plane and am dropping downwards at 130
miles per hour!! My evil instructor jumped off before I had time to get
scared properly.
So there I am, flying straight down. And guess what? Gravity does work.
The force on your body is incredible!
But the fear was completely gone.
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| They pull this little chute open that slows you down to the speed of one person, rather than two. It's still fast. |
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| These instructors are super animated with the camera guys. |
After about 45 seconds Adam pulled the parachute and we slowed down enough that we could talk. It was an incredible sight. There isn't a way to describe it. He filled me on a secret that if I hold my nose and blow, the pressure in my ears would go away. He's a genius. It was also quite chilled out at this point after the intense free fall, although I was still hanging off the front of a him at about 5,000 or so feet, so I didn't notice it. As we got closer to the ground, he gave me control of the cords and helped me pull them to spin us round from left to right, which again puts a lot of g-force on your body, but by this point it was awesome fun.
The funny thing is, the jump wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
The scariest part of the skydive was the few seconds before I actually
jumped (fell) out of the plane.
The anticipation of the jump is worse than the
jump itself.
Once you jump off, there is nothing more to really worry about. Its
like the mind goes “Ah well. There is nothing we can do any more. So
might as well enjoy the ride”.
The period of free fall during the skydive is the best part. All your
natural instincts still telling you to stay alert since it is hardwired
into your head. But your brain stops all silly chatter and starts
watching and enjoying what is happening. It is the most peaceful you can
ever be while still feeling an adrenaline rush. Scared, excited, and
calm, all at the same time. You honestly don't feel the sensation of "falling."
It's incredible to see everything below getting bigger and
more clear. Everything looks so small from that far up and it feels like
you're just looking at a map instead of the actual ground. The
parachute was steered to the landing spot and I landed with no problem.
It's a little intimidating to see the ground coming at you though.
Afterthoughts: I felt invincible, exhilarated, and
foolish for being so petrified in the first place.
I will never look at Google Maps quite the same.
Cedar Point...is a kiddie park :)
But I'm still not riding that new swinging thing. Now that is crazy.
