Tandem Sky Dive

The plane climbed to 14,000 feet....on the way up four people jumped out at 9,000 feet. We cruised through the clouds, which was really neat in such a small plane. When we finally leveled off, the door opened and the first tandem group wriggled to the edge of the door, hung out, then pitched forward and out of the plane. Then it was my turn, with my tandem pro strapped securely to my back we inched down to the door using our heels and bums. He maneuvered me out the door and I hung there, suspended in space attached in four places to the man with the parachute on his back. I pulled my legs up under the plane and crossed my arms as I had been instructed to. We rocked forward once, twice, then fell forward out of the plane....

I honestly don't recall the first few seconds. When he tapped both my shoulders, signaling that I could un-cross my arms and assume the classic sky dive position, reality came back and I realized that I was falling towards the earth in excess of 120miles per hour. It was the most interesting and amazing feeling I've ever experienced as I fell. Hard to describe really, but you know that feeling when you put your hand out of the car window and hold the palm up and feel the rush of the air against your palm? Well it was like that over my whole body, with no real sound except for a bit of a whoosh in the ears. The instructor pointed to the barn where we had taken off from and I moved my hands in that direction....and we moved in that direction! It was like I was Superman and I was flying back down to the barn. The ground was looming up, the air was pressing against me, my eyes were watering and I couldn't help but grin as the full extent of the fall overwhelmed my every sense.

I was enjoying it so much that I forgot that the chute had to be opened, so when the instructor tapped my shoulders again signaling that he was deploying it I didn't realize why until the last second when I heard the chute open. I managed to cross my arms in front of me at the last second and only got a minor jolt from it. Still left a couple nice bruises on my shoulders though. Teach me to enjoy it so much! heh heh. It was lucky, I reckon, that I had the other person to pull the parachute as I wouldn't have remembered to do it myself!!

Anyway, that was last Sat at 9:00a.m. and the thought of it is still bringing a silly grin to my face every time I recall it. Wonderful, magical, scary as hell, and well worth the fear! only sixty seconds of free fall, but corny as it sounds a memory for life....