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Published: June 21st 2009
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Since some people still don't know about this adventure back in May of this year....
I woke up on a saturday morning, rolled over to look out the window and saw clear blue skies. The forecast had been for showers & a thunderstorm. What was I going to do to enjoy this little break in the crappy weather? Check out the beach? ... I felt it wasn't enough, still not alot of people around I thought. I wanted to do something special, something just for me ... that's it, it's the first weekend of skydiving and I've been wanting this for awhile. Head over to the drop zone to see if they're flying ... they can take me right away :P
I gear up and since I am going tandem and it is my 1st time, it's just a short course. My instructor is Serge, I've seen his landings when he is solo and they are so cool! The flight is in a teeny little plane with lots of duct tape on the inside. The only seat is the one for the pilot. I'm sitting on the floor shoulder against the seat and the other up to the door. The pilot faces forward and we 4 are facing backwards. My legs are wrapped around the guy in front of me ... yup, it's cozy. I can look out the door and see more and more of the city, then the countryside & the ocean. The little bit of clouds is about halfway up. It's a nice scenic flight.
The door opens. At 10,000 feet, it's 20+ degrees celsius on the ground, -2 up here. I'm looking down at the earth, so far away ... oh oh. I am now attached to my instructor. We need to lean out of the plane to check that we are directly over the drop zone. I try to hold onto the frame of the door while we lean out, but we can't see far enough ... ok leaning all the way out, nervous now! We go up to 10,800 and the 2 other guys jump, we're now up. **Insert your favorite swear word here**
I have to plant my left foot on a little metal plate extending out from the plane a few feet past the door, nothing to hold ... in the wind ... with nothing but a nice view all around and BELOW ... I do and lean over my left knee ... my instructor is of course following my lead. Ready? (he's beside me and I am no longer thinking, just following his instructions), Set (we rock back towards the plane) and Go! ... we jump (more like lean past your knee).
We're looking up at the plane, freefalling with our back to earth. I knew this part would happen and we flip back. I've arched and have my head tilted back so I can breathe, so when he gives me the signal I realize I've remembered to do this ... wheehaa! The fear is gone now 😊 and we're freefalling and I signal back that I am ok. We're dropping at 123 miles an hour so the air is screaming in my ears. On his signal, I reach out. Later, I started to pull my arms in and realized we started to flip when I did ... I think I'll keep them out.
We go below the clouds and at 4250 feet we open up the parachute. At this point you can talk. It's taken only 45 seconds to go that far. It now feels like we are floating and it's quiet & peaceful. I can see the golf course, the people in canoes and on the trails in the park. My instructor gives us an 'easy' turn, ok yeah let's not go for a crazy one ... I wasn't queasy with the freefall but the gentle turns might just do it :P I get to steer us with the parachute.
Before I know it, the ground is coming up to meet us. We find a dry spot to land (it is spring in the maritimes). I'm the 1st tandem jump of the year. High 5 and hugs, I'll be back!!
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