Skydiving

Last week when Prof Groom found out I had been skydiving this summer, he asked me to put the video online. So here it is!



My dad and I had been talking about skydiving for several years, and he finally pulled through and set up an appointment in late May. We woke up early (we had to drive about an hour and a half) and looked outside to see tons of low cloud cover. Calling the company, they said not to bother, we would have to set up another appointment. So we did, and two weeks later, I woke up to a beautiful, clear, blue sky and the realization that I would really be going skydiving in just a few hours.

I decided I wanted to go sky diving because I am terrified of heights. The kind of terrified where I have a heard time breathing and start to panic and/or pass out. And, it was irritating the shit out of me. So, I wanted to get over that and I figured sky diving was the best way to do so!

When we got to the pick up point, I was out near blackstone, va, way in the country. There was a little house next to a big garage and an air plane landing/take off strip. We walked inside, met the guy I was skydiving with (ain't no way I'm going by myself my first time!) and started to get training. And by started, I mean, I started and stopped within five minutes. He had three things to tell me - what to do when he opened the door, where to place my head (leaning against his shoulder), and to wrap my feet up behind him once we jumped. That was it. No tutorial, no practicing, no videos, just a five minute conversation. DAMN.

Anyway, once he started filming, I began to notice how weird he was. Granted, he has done over 3600 successful jumps and does it professionally - into NASCAR races, into baseball games, parades, etc. He knew what he was doing, but he also was just overly energetic and loved playing around with the camera - hence the weird pirate eye in the middle of filming. Don't ask. -headdesk-

To be honest, I didn't really care much that he was weird, I was more concerned with the state of that airplane and the fact that we were currently flying into the air just to jump out of it. WHAT??! When he opened that door, I had only curse word thoughts that I don't think Prof Groom would appreciate here. =] Mainly, I was just glad I was strapped to him, because I don't think I could have jumped out on my own. But once we did, it was amazing. The craziest feeling in the world; just pure adrenaline and speed. Some people have asked me if it felt like a rollercoaster, and I have to say it felt nothing like that at all. After about 40 seconds of freefall, he pulled the shoot and then spent the next 4 or 5 minutes just floating down to the ground. That part may have been ever cooler - you didn't feel like you were falling at all. The breeze was minimal and it just seemed like you were floating in the air, not moving.

Luckily, the landing was super smooth and easy. Just plopped down onto the ground! It was definitely an amazing experience, and I would love to do it again, but I am very sad to say it did nothing to cure my fear of heights. Failure. haha.