My First Skydive!!
This is the story of how I came to make my first skydive. Since joining that crazy group of people who think nothing compares to hurling yourself out of a "perfectly good airplane", I've been surfing the web looking for skydiving info. Of all the sites out there that I've found, the most interesting to me were other people's first hand accounts of their dives. I wish there were more of them. So I decided to tell about mine in case there were others out there trying to decide if skydiving was something they were interested in.
So here goes....
I've always dreamed about jumping out of a plane. I've never been wild about heights and in the past few years I've been nervous about flying. I used to love flying... but after a few bumpy flights while on vacation without my kids...where I got thinking about them growing up as orphans... I got a little panicky about flying. So combine my fear of heights with flying and I NEVER thought I'd ever actually find the nerve to jump out. But it was still the number 1 thing to do, on my list of things to do before I died. I just had always figured I'd wait until I was really old, or had been diagnosed with a terminal illness and then do it... as what would it really matter then! LOL
But anyway, I met some online friends who actually had gone skydiving and they would talk about it and it made me really think about actually doing it. I'd lay in bed at night and picture an open plane door and try to imagine jumping out it. I'd get sweaty palms just thinking about it!! I wasn't sure it was something I could really do. But, I REALLY wanted to!! I figured if I could do that, I could do ANYTHING!
Well, a group of us online friends were getting together in Minnesota at the end of July (1999). This would be the fifth time I went to a chat reunion. We always had a blast! I got thinking about actually trying a skydive while I was there. On my way out there as the plane was circling over Minneapolis I realized I hadn't been nervous at all on this flight! I started looking down at the ground and imagining jumping out. I felt I could. I started thinking...... hmmmmmm.... The wheels were spinning. The first thing I did at the airport when I landed was to find a telephone directory and look for skydiving centers (or Drop Zones... now that I know the lingo...lol). I found out there were 2 nearby!! (Well if you call an hour nearby...)
The first thing I did when I checked into the hotel was to call them. The first one sounded nice but wanted $25 to reserve my spot. I wasn't sure I wanted to commit yet. I called the second one. They seemed really nice and were very professional sounding. They also excitedly told me that that weekend they had a special plane, a CASA, there. That meant you could go up higher than normal... to 14,000 ft. and you got extra freefall time!! Meanwhile I'm thinking... SHIT!!! That's the LAST thing I want... to go up HIGHER and freefall LONGER!!!!!!!! ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!! They wanted a $50 deposit but did tell me I could just come by and check it out if I wanted to.
When my friends arrived (none of them skydivers) they all enthusiastically encouraged me to go for it! They were very supportive and even offered to drive me out there. I called my family and mentioned the possibility of skydiving to them and they had no problem with it. I was worried I'd be considered a "bad" mom for taking such a risk while I had young children (8, 11 and 13). But they all said,"Go for it!!", so I figured what the heck! Let's go skydiving!! My friends and I decided on the second place because I just liked them better... and it was near one of my friend's hometown. I was REALLY nervous, and kept telling them... I'm not really sure I'm gonna do this. I just want to look. They said that was no problem and it would be a fun road trip anyway.
So Friday afternoon we piled into 2 cars and headed out there. Oh... in the meantime my best friend, Kay, found out I was talking about a tandem jump and said if they allowed her to jump (she has some medical problems with her heart) then she would jump with me!! That made me feel so much better... but I was still a WRECK! We stopped at a little convenience store on the way and everyone else bought snacks but there was no way I could eat a thing. My stomach was about up in my throat to begin with and one of my biggest fears about skydiving was embarrassing myself by either pissing my pants or puking on the skydive down! So I figured if my stomach was empty there would be nothing to throw up ... and if I didn't drink anything I'd have no piss to pee!
When we got there my heart was pounding away a mile a minute! Somehow I managed to get out of the car and my legs took me inside. There we met Megan (the girl I talked to on the phone) and Rose (the owner, along with her husband, of the DZ). We explained why we were there. They were WONDERFUL!! They talked to us for a while about tandem jumping and their statistics and some recent people they had taken. They told Kay she could jump if she signed the medical form stating she had no problems. We went outside and watched some divers come down. It looked awesome. We decided we were gonna DO IT!!
Then the bad news. The winds had picked up and a storm front was moving in. They said there be no more jumps that day. We talked with our friends and they said they'd drive us back out tomorrow if they'd let us go then. We went to the manifest office (all these new words!). They thought they were all booked up the next day since it was Saturday and they had the casa there. BUT lo and behold!! there had been 2 cancellations at 4:00!! We were on!!
Now to get thru another whole day and not chicken out. I tried to put it out of my mind as best as I could. I called my family that night and told them my plans and to make sure they were still OK with the idea. They were! My husband and all 3 kids gave me the thumbs up! My husband was not worried at all... in fact he told me, "Why take a tandem jump? Why not do it solo??" Ya right!! LOL
The next day we killed some time at the Mall of America before we headed back out to Hutchinson to the dropzone. On the drive there I was even more nervous than the day before! This time I wasn't going just to look around.... this time I was going to JUMP!! Again everyone got some candy and chips but I had had nothing since breakfast and didn't plan on eating a thing until afterwards. I tried to keep my mind blank and not think about what I was going to do. I had a LOT of butterflies anyway!
We were warmly welcomed back upon arrival and I felt right at home. Megan took our money while Rose set up a video for us to watch. Silly me... I thought it was going to talk about the dive and what to expect. NOPE!! It was a lawyer going over ALL the risks associated with skydiving including serious injury and DEATH!! (How reassuring...lol). Then he went on to say how tandem skydiving was an experimental form of skydiving and we would be part of a study. Then we found out this video was quite old... and tandem was STILL considered experimental! And then he went on to say how we couldn't sue anyone involved for anything that might happen. And neither could anyone in our family if we were to be killed. Hmmmm all this is making me feel much calmer about deciding to do this!! LOL After the video Rose brought out all these papers we had to read and sign EACH paragraph. The papers just went over everything the lawyer had just said. We started signing away. Then we got to the paragraph on medical health. We were suppose to have no medical problems and not be on any medication. Well I have high blood pressure and take meds for it so I looked at Kay and asked her what to do. She pointed to her paper where she had written in NONE and looked back up at me and said, "LIE!!" Well I figured if she could lie about her serious problems I could lie about my little one. So I signed away. (NOTE: I do NOT recommend doing this! It is very important that your tandem master or jump master know of ANY potential health problems. If you have any question about any medical condition you have, I suggest calling the DZ first and asking them about it. They may want a note from your doctor saying it is OK and if you know ahead of time you can bring it with you. I would have asked my doctor if I wasn't in another state on vacation at the time. I have sinced discussed it with my doctor and have her blessings to skydive.)
Then we had a little time to wait while the current group got ready to go up. A guy went over a few real brief instructions with us but other than that I spent most of the time pacing back and forth and trying to keep breathing calmly. It was incredible watching the other skydivers come down and I couldn't believe that pretty soon that was going to be me!! Just then Rose called me over and introduced me to a guy she called Worthless. I thought he was going to be my tandem master and I was a little concerned having one with that name!! But then I found out he was going to video my jump. His real name was Bryan Worth and he was just awesome. He could tell I was extremely nervous and he knew all the right things to say.
I then met my tandem master, Shawn. He looked young enough to almost be my son. I was thinking how much experience can he have? But he was really nice and very calm and Worthless told me how Shawn had a lot of experience and was very safety conscious and was even some kind of safety inspector or something. This combined with Shawn's easy manner made me relax a little. Then we started suiting up. Worthless was videotaping it and even got a shot of my lucky "bitch" socks! Part of me was really excited, but part just kept saying... I can't believe I'm really going to be stupid enough to jump out of a plane!! And when that part surfaced I'd feel like I was going to be sick! I asked about that and Worthless thought Shawn might want to get me a bag just in case but Shawn just brushed it aside and didn't seem worried so that made me feel better.
Before I knew it it was time to head for the plane! Kay looked calm as a cucumber. I couldn't believe she was just deciding to do this at the last minute and didn't seem worried at all! Her husband, Martin, looked almost as nervous as me though!! LOL I thought, oh god, Martin will kill me if anything happens to Kay! I was thinking maybe I shouldn't be letting her go with me.... but then I thought... I NEEDED her... knowing she was going to be on that plane with me made all the difference!
Everyone started to head for the plane and a last minute attack of anxiety hit me. I thought I can't possibly do this!! Then I thought... of course you are going to jump, damn it!! BE BRAVE!! So I headed out and got on the plane. I knew once I got on it I was committed to jumping. Rose had told us only one person had ever come back down and I was NOT going to be that second person she told people about!! NO FUCKING WAY!!
The plane was really cool. It had no seats so we just sat on the floor, all facing out, in between each others legs. (Since it was a casa we didn't have to climb out on any wing struts or jump out sideways out of a little door, we just had to walk right out the back!)It was kind of squishy in there but for some reason that made me feel better. I didn't feel alone. And because I couldn't really see out... except out the back door which was left open, I didn't get nervous about the plane ride at all. I kept looking around at all the people in the plane and thinking.. All these people are NUTS!! They are going to jump out of this plane waaaaaaaaaay up high in the sky!!
Worthless continued to talk to me a bit, reassuring me I was going to love it.... telling me I probably wouldn't feel scared at all during the freefall, just peaceful and happy... and that it wouldn't feel like I was really high and like I was falling, but rather like I was looking at a picture. Everyone started getting all excited about how high we were after looking at their altimeters... I guess we were going even higher than planned!! Just what I needed!!
Next thing I knew it was time to get strapped together. Shawn explained each step he was doing and told me when he was putting the pins in each buckle... not that I knew what the pins even were...LOL He assured me we were securely attached at 4 places. Then he briefly went over the position I should be in as we jumped. And he told me we would be doing a backflip as we exited because it was one of the easiest ways to quickly get in the right position for free falling. By then the first people were diving out. I saw Kay go without even seeming to hesitate. I started to get real panicky and wanted to call the whole thing off so badly!! But I didn't know how. Next thing I knew everyone was out but us and we were headed to the door. I was afraid to look but I had to. Man we were up high!! But it did kind of look like just a picture. Shawn just kept walking forward and since I was connected in front of him, so did I! Like a real wuss, I quietly whimpered, "I'm scared! I'm scared!" Then we were stepping out and I just automatically concentrated on crossing my arms across my chest, putting my head back, hips down and feet up as if I was trying to kick Shawn in the butt... as he had told me to. If I was going, I wanted to make sure I did everything right so nothing would go wrong!
Then Shawn tapped me on the shoulder which was my cue to uncross my arms and put them out. I felt like I was flying!! IT WAS AWESOME!! I was out of the plane... and still alive... my heart hadn't stopped and I was still breathing and I wasn't afraid at all any more!! What an incredible feeling!! The air was rushing past me and I was floating...miles above the earth!! I never felt so ALIVE!!! I was so psyched!! I was doing it!! I WAS REALLY DOING IT!! I HAD JUST JUMPED OUT OF A "PERFECTLY GOOD PLANE" as they say...lol And it felt great!! I enjoyed looking all around. Minnesota is quite different than Massachusetts! So flat!! So much farmland! Before I knew it Worthless was waving goodbye and Shawn was tapping me on the shoulder which was my signal to cross my arms again and be ready for the chute to open. I got scared again for a minute as I didn't know what to expect. I didn't even think about the possibility of the chute not working. No problem. It opened just fine. All of a sudden everything was so quiet. We were just gently floating down.
Then he had me reach up and grab onto the toggles... little handholds you use to steer the canopy. That made me a little nervous. Hmmmm ...think I used the word nervous enough in this story?? LOL I kept thinking any sudden movement would make us go crashing down but Shawn assured me we were quite stable. Then he had me pull down hard on one side to make it turn and we went into this little spiral and I screamed!! LOL God, I am such a wimp!! Then we did it going the other way. And then he brought it to a complete stop. That scared me too! Then he had me try bringing up my legs and hanging onto my jumpsuit above my knees to practise the position he wanted me in for our landing. As soon as I felt us touch ground I was to put my legs down and stand. That seemed easy enough. After that we just calmly drifted down doing occasional small turns. I was feeling more relaxed... and still so pumped that I had actually jumped!
The ground started getting closer. I could see the airport right below us. It almost looked for a minute that we were going to land on the roof but we sailed right over it and came around and landed just where we were suppose to. It was as soft and gentle as could be. I was SO pumped!! I have never felt so excited in my whole life!! There was Worthless asking me what I thought... and all I could croak out was Awesome!! Words just couldn't express the high I was feeling!! Then I saw Kay!! I started to jump up and down and was reminded I was still connected to Shawn!! LOL After I got free I went and kissed Kay while Worthless was interviewing us and taking a few pictures. Then I was just jumping for joy!! I had really done it!! I jumped all across the grass!! I was smiling SO big!! All I could think was that it was almost as emotional and moving as childbirth... but without any pain!! LOL I couldn't wait to go again!! I truly LOVED it. I would always look at things a little differently now. I had faced my biggest fear (well besides something like losing a child) and conquered it... and loved every second of it!
Please sign my book and let me know you were here and what you thought! Thanks!!
