An Ultimate Thrill Seeking Activity

As anyone who’s known me for enough time will tell you, I love skydiving.

I was first decided to go thanks to a Groupon deal presented to me during my first internship in California. It was only a $30 discount, but I saw it as an opportunity to cross something off my bucket list. It was a long ride down. At the time, I was staying in Santa Clara and we were driving to Hollister for the jump. It was a very nerve racking hour in the car while my heart pumped constantly knowing what I was about to do. Or at least, I thought I knew what I was about to do. We arrived and spent some in their little clubhouse at the airport, watched a safety and instructional video, signed a bunch of waivers, and were introduced to our instructors. My instructor looked at me, knowing it was my first time with quite a smirk on his face. He told me calmly that everything would be just fine, and I needed to remember 4 things during the jump.

• I needed to cross my arms in front of my chest and put my hands on my shoulders while leaning back into him as we were getting ready to exit the aircraft
• A tap on my shoulder early in the freefall meant that I should spread my arms and legs out into a star-like shape and enjoy the ride
• A second tap on my shoulder would indicate that he was about to pull the chute, and that it would very likely involve some pain and discomfort
• When approaching the ground, unless otherwise instructed to land standing up, I should raise my knees and feet as high up to my chest as I could and plan on a sliding landing on my butt

It seemed relatively simple, and my heart racing and now being all suited up in the gear, we went off towards the plane. The plane was not only very small, but my first thought once I saw the inside was “I am so glad I have a parachute in case this plane falls apart at altitude”. It certainly did not look to be in very good condition. Since then, I’ve learned that most planes you board for skydiving purposes will likely be small, and will likely be heavily used and while they may look like they are going to fall apart, they won’t. And if they do, you have a parachute, so everything is fine. I have a very distinct memory of the ride up. It felt like it took ages to get to altitude for the jump (which was 15,000 feet for us). I remember looking out the window of the plane, straight down at the ground, and thinking we must be approaching altitude because we were VERY HIGH up. I turned to the instructor and asked what our altitude was, and he looked at the altimeter on his wrist, chuckled, and said ‘7,000 feet’. That was the point where my heart jumped into my throat and it beginning to sink in that I was moments away from jumping out of a PERFECTLY GOOD AIRPLANE. And I was doing it at 15,000 feet no less.

We eventually made it to our jump height, and that’s when I began to realize a couple of things I always tell people who are going for the first time. When it comes to skydiving, the order in which you board the plane matters quite a bit, especially if you are doing it for the first time. First in the plane is also last out of the plane. This means you have to WATCH as the plane slowly empties itself because people are jumping out. If you think this is trivial and doesn’t matter, think again. I remember being second to last to jump out and having to watch a dozen or so people in front of me disappear from view out a small door at that altitude. It gets your heart racing and the adrenaline pumping. Nowadays, I enjoy seeing the look on new peoples faces when they start seeing the plane empty, so what I do is I make sure they are first in the plane, and I’m right behind them, so that I get to see their expressions as 10 or so other people jump out and they begin to freak out a little inside. The other thing I learned is that if you feel like you might bail once you get up to altitude, and want to make sure you actually jump once you get there, you need to board the plane as one of the last few people (thus being among the first few to jump) because in general, it is too dangerous and a serious hassle if someone other than the last person to jump bails. The plane is too small to shuffle around and allow you to take the plane ride back down to the ground level. Also, you get the benefit of not having to see many other people jump, which could potentially make your state a little worse.

So I approached the doorway, cross my arms in front of my chest and leaned back, hoping beyond all hopes that I was ready for what was about to come. The instructor began counting to get me ready, slightly leaning the both of us out and then back into the plane on every count. One. Two. And rather than three, or go, or anything else that I would’ve been expecting, he pushed. I’ve never been calmer in my entire life than I was for the first 5 seconds after we had left the plane. We were still tumbling, I couldn’t focus on anything, and I was so scared that I don’t think I’ll ever be that scared again. But nonetheless, I was calm. I had accepted the fact that we were essentially dead and there was no way to recover. My life flashed before my eyes, and it became clear that I had lived a good life. I had a good education (in the works), hand’t had serious life problems, had many good friends with whom I’d laughed and played sports and gone drinking. Overall, I had lived well. And then we stabilized.

That tap on my shoulder after stabilizing, which meant I should spread my arms and legs out and look down, completely shattered the illusion I had been living in for the previous 5 seconds. I was no longer in a state that death was inevitable, yet I was still probably 14,000 feet above the ground, falling. Not that it did any good, I screamed. We were falling so fast that I couldn’t hear myself scream. My vocal chords were working overtime, but there wasn’t any sound. I spent the next 55 seconds or so in a freefall. I could see around for miles. It was beautiful, and completely adrenaline filled at the same time. And yes, when he opened the chute, it did hurt.

Most instructors I’ve jumped with will let you control the parachute a bit once it’s been deployed and everything is all good. That was some good fun. We landed, and had a van waiting for us that took us back to the clubhouse. I enjoyed it so much that when I arrived and they mentioned a %50 discount for anyone who bought a ticket on the spot, it was a no brainer for me. I bought another ticket right away. And I did the same thing the next time I went too. I decided upon landing that this was the way I wanted to spend my leisure time and money, so I bought a log book for my jumps with the thought that I’d eventually be looking towards jumping solo. I have a total of 4 jumps in my log book right now, and another one planned for this Sunday. I was, and still am, hooked. And the log book is paying off. Everytime I jump, I show them my log book and usually the instructors will give me more leeway during the actual jump. I wore an altimeter the last time I jumped. I’m hoping I’ll get the opportunity to pull the parachute deploy cord on Sunday. On top of that, I just booked my solo jump training course for early September.

I won’t presume to say that Skydiving is for everyone. That would be both naive and irresponsible. You should very much be aware of the risks. While it is EXTREMELY UNLIKELY that anything happens, you are still jumping out of an airplane. The instructors and the jump zone always do everything in their power to make every jump 100% safe. Sometimes this means that extra restrictions you may not like are tacked on. Please realize that they want the jump to go well, and that is more important to them than your business. A problem during the jump could not only result in your death, but it will likely also result in the death of one of their instructors, a LOT of bad press for them, and probably an expensive, time consuming investigation. They want none of that. Listen to what they say, no matter what. Don’t complain and don’t question. These guys are the pros doing it several times a day, and they know what they are doing. That being said, everytime I go, my heart still beats really fast. I still get the massive adrenaline boost (and subsequent crash once I get home). If you are a thrill seeker, definitely look into skydiving, though be aware of 2 things. First, nothing else compares in adrenaline level to skydiving - it is FANTASTIC. Second, nothing else compares in adrenaline level to skydiving - it will ruin every other form of thrill you’ve ever had. Roller coasters are boring for me.

But that just means I skydive more.