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Published: August 5th 2007
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Skydiving in Israel
How patriotic, right? Today, I joined my Uncle Robert in the ranks of "participating in extreme sports that may or may not send my mother to an early grave." I went skydiving. And...I LOVED it.
Now, I have to start this out by saying that skydiving has never really been on my list of "101 things to do before I die." My general theory has always been "Why would I ever voluntarily jump out of a perfectly good airplane?" It seemed to be tempting fate...laughing in the face of whatever physics god keeps planes in the air, with me safely in them. However, when the opportunity presented itself...well, I have never been one to say no to an extreme sport (except bungee jumping. I put my foot down on that one).
My father's friend from 1st grade, and his later-roommate, called me this week and asked me if I was adventurous. Of course I replied in the affirmative. He told me that his daughter, Mai, wanted to go skydiving, and invited me to go along. So, this morning (Saturday), bright and early, Eran picked me up and off we went to Hof HaBonim, a small town on the coast a little
The fitting
I really felt like there should be some candles and roses involved in this part of the whole procedure. south of Haifa.
When we first got there, we had to sign all of these scary forms that basically meant I was signing my life away. However, due to my fine legal education, I happen to know that those indemnity clauses are often easy to poke holes through in court, so in case of something untoward happening, I'd probably be fine in terms of recovery. It was at this point that Eran revealed to me that he himself was not going to jump out of the airplane...just Mai and me. Fine, Eran. Be chicken.
So after signing the forms, we watched a video...and let me tell you. This whole concept of tandem jumping? Your dive master gets to touch you in places that I usually don't let a man touch until he's at least bought me dinner. The harness loops all over you (which I guess is a good thing), and then once you get in the airplane, you have to sit between his legs, leaning against his chest, and then basically sit on his lap in the door of the plane, with your head resting over his shoulder, etc. etc...it looks a lot worse than it actually
Waiting
I waddled in my harness. Mai and I confer about this phenomenon. is. However, if I were the girlfriend of one of these dive masters, I'd tell him he better only jump out of the airplane with ugly girls.
Now here's the interesting part. The airplane that they take you up in....it completely defeated my logic about "perfectly good airplanes." This airplane, when I was faced with the choice between jumping out and landing on my feet, or staying in and landing in that airplane...the parachute was the infinitely better choice. I was very skeptical of the aeronautical capabilities of that particular airplane. But once we were up in the air, I realized...I was the first one to jump! The dive master told me that that was probably the better thing, so you didn't get too scared. And honestly, I was scared on the way up...but once you're sitting in the doorway of the plane looking down, you don't have much of a choice to be scared anymore, because there you go, out the door!
The first few seconds are a little scary. It's then that you actually feel like you're falling. But after a few seconds you reach terminal velocity, and it really feels like you're floating (with a
The Airplane
I was not confident in this airplane's capabilities. lot of wind involved). The weather on the ground was ridiculously hot and sticky, but at 12,000 feet...it's beautiful! The view was amazing...you could see the Mediterannean stretching out, the whole coastline, and huge tracts of farmland. We did a freefall for about 50 seconds, and then the dive master pulled the parachute.
Pulling the parachute was definitely the most uncomfortable part of the whole experience. Imagine the biggest wedgie you've ever had. The harness sort of pulls your legs in an awkwardly splayed position, and you're dangling down between your dive master's legs, kind of. However, after a few seconds, the dive master gave me the controls of the parachute, so I got to steer us around. At around 2000 feet, you really start to feel the heat and humidity again, but wow, what a view! The landing was super smooth too...I made extra sure to keep my legs up, since I have a friend who broke his leg during a skydiving landing once.
I couldn't stop grinning once I got on the ground. It was really an amazing experience...and I have the DVD, so as soon as I figure out how to burn it, you better
Landing
Eran caught me just as I was coming down. bet there will be video!
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jenny
non-member comment
all i can say is WOW!!! definitely deserving of three exclaimation points on this. you are my hero. i am in awe. i don't think i would have the nerve to do this, but perhaps when we go to israell (together) you can talk me into it, using your fine arguing skills you have cultivated over the past 1.... well 21 years :) love you! can't wait to see you.