Skydiving

It is finished. But first let's chat about how it began. A few months ago I put a random comment on my blog about the summer and wanting to bungee jump or something....which turned into skydiving, which happened this past Saturday. My friend Melanie and I conquered this amazing sport, on a beautiful day here in Abbotsford at the skydiving center, with my family there to watch.

It began by us arriving and filling in the necessary forms 'in case of injury' and signing about 10 times (no exaggeration), before we were directed to go suit up. Ah, yes the suits. Melanie was pretty in pink and baby blue, and I was 'interesting' in orange and black. I never thought I would go back to tapered pants and tapered sleeves, but hey, when you skydive its the thing to wear! We had a 10 minute prep time, before we were given 'helmets' (ha!) and goggles and harnesses. Then we were the in the first batch to go up.

Here is a lovely picture of us before we got in the plane.

We sat like sardines (literally), in the plane on the floor! Our instructors sat behind us while we sat in front of them so we had our backs leaning against their chests.....for strap up purposes. There was no room to move seeing as there were 11 of us in a plane (without seats) that would normally hold maybe 4 (with seats).

Flying up between 12-13,000 feet (so sayeth Mel's instructor), it was all still surreal until they opened that dang door! Sitting just beside and to the rear of the door which opened beside me (about 3 inches from my leg), there was a moment of sheer terror as I watched the first tandem pair summersault out of the plane. Summersault! Mel was next, and she yelled an "I Love You!" before she grabbed her harness and I replied with a shakey, "I will see you on the ground." Probably more to reassure myself then her. :)

The next thing I knew I was being asked to slide forward, and like we were shown on the ground, to stick my legs out of the plane onto the 6 inch wide stair. So since I am already sitting on the floor of the plane, all I have to do is swing my legs out....ha yeah right! My right leg was almost blown off my body when I stuck it out that door. Anyway, I crossed my ankles on the step, grabbed my harness in an X across my chest and tilted my head back. I didn't get a warning or nothing, my tandem instructor simply threw his body out the plane and I went with him. (All this time I swear it didn't feel like he was even attached to me, I thought I was going to die) I had my eyes closed for the first couple of seconds, but when I actually opened them it was amazing!! Then.....woops......there was a sense of deja vu.....my instructor had already tapped my arms and I was supposed to have them open in the free fall position! Yikes...I got on that pretty quick. Falling falling falling.....it was the best part and it went way too fast! Such a sweet feeling that I couldn't describe if I tried to.

All of a sudden I went from horizontal free fall to vertical parachuter....with barely any jerks or pulls. Alright I thought, I can handle this. I finally managed to pull the little point and shoot camera out of my suit, took a few pictures...when......the spinning began. Oh my goodness. He kept asking if I was alright... well I was still conscious and trying my best to savour the moment and the view, but I was getting pretty sick. I found out after, that Mel was as well. Spinning up and down and around and swinging and falling all at the same time. I can handle roller coasters but I couldn't handle that.

I was the 3rd jumper out of the plane (out of 5 tandem) and I was the last to land.....and believe me, was I ever ready to get my feet on the ground so I could get rid of that nauseated feeling. He told me to 'stand' and we did a pretty gentle landing right on the circle of gravel where we were supposed to. I was unhooked within a second...no joke, he was so efficient I questioned whether I was attached at all! Here is a fun picture of my landing.



Mel and I stumbled our way to the hanger and removed our harnesses and suits and picked up our certificates to show that we had skydived. I couldn't even wait until she had gotten hers because I thought I was going to lose my breakfast. The world was still spinning. We both lay on the grass for 45 minutes watching other parachuters until I was well enough to drive home. Dropping off our cameras to get them developed I ......yeah, had a date with the West Oaks washroom and felt worlds better after.

We ended our adventure with naps at home....because we were both so wiped from nausea. We have since recovered and deemed the adventure fully worth it. We would do it again.....only we would take some Gravol before we go. :)