Skydiving

Two days ago, I took the ultimate plunge: I dove 9,000 feet out of a plane towards the rolling countryside below. It was totally exhilarating, and by far one of the coolest things I've ever done. Now for the full story:

I went with one of my good friends from RPI, Michelle, her coworker Dijana, and three of Dijana's friends, Chester, Dave, and Tom. We initially tried to go three weeks ago, but got rained out. No matter, it gave us a chance to get to know each other, get to know the jumpers we'd be strapped to (tandemly), and this weekend was gorgeous and totally worth the wait.

The plane takes up 4 jumpers (2 duos) at a time, and it's cramped. The ride up was about 10-15 minutes (I had very little sense of time) and the view was stunning. We were out in rural Jersey, over an hour away from the city, and the airport was surrounded by lakes, little towns, rolling fields, and tiny buildings (from my perspective at least....ha!). Paul (my diver/instructor/jumper dude) and I were in the front of the plane, which meant we went first. When we got up to 9,000 feet, he explained to me how to turn around (without knocking the door handle!) so that my harness could be secured to his (I'd put the harness on before boarding). Once we were tethered, he gave me a rundown of what was going to happen: he'd open the door (it pivots out from the top) and put his right foot out on the ledge (this ledge was probably 8 by 18 inches). I'd then put my right foot out, then my left (he was behind me, we both faced the same way) and then he'd get fully out and we'd....go. He instructed me to push my hips as far forward as I could and my feet far back once we were falling. He'd do....whatever he does, then tap my shoulders. At that point I was free to let go of my harness and put my arms out. Once we reached a certain altitude (I don't know what) he'd pull the chute.

I thought I'd be nervous or scared or SOMETHING putting my foot out on that ledge but I just kinda....wasn't. I was more surprised by how windy it was (seriously, I had a hard time keeping my foot down) and just totally excited to go. Once I was totally out, I held onto the pole that went between the plane's body and the overhead wing because I couldn't see anything to grab while Paul got out. I held on there for what was probably only 5 seconds (or less?) but felt a bit longer...I had no idea when we'd go. And then suddenly I just felt myself drift backwards, and suddenly we'd righted ourselves to face directly downwards . I felt a tap on my shoulders and put my arms out and just screamed and let it all out. It wasn't even a scared scream, just a pure adrenaline rush. I never got that pit in my stomach that I'd been expecting, no Tower-of-Terror-syndrome. I was actually really surprised by how calm I was. But once we were in the air, I had no control and just kinda had no choice but to roll with whatever happened next. A few times Paul pulled his feet (and mine, we were linked) in or out and we'd spin in circles (facing the ground still) which was fun.

Some people say that during skydiving that the ground looks like it's rushing towards you. Maybe it would have to me if we'd been closer, but we were so high up that I was more just taking in the rush of everything and looking around at the horizon. At one point I noticed how dry my mouth was- it'd been wide open the whole time and we reached 120 mph.

After what was probably 15 seconds (but felt longer) the chute was pulled and we slowed dramatically. Paul adjusted the harness so it wasn't tugging awkwardly so much (don't worry Madre, I was still VERY strapped in, but regained circulation in my boobs), instructing me to stand on his feet and stand up tall (sounds impossible but was actually very easy) and then when I'd settled back into the harness, we just floated. He turned us around and curved around a bit as we soared over the tarmac, tiny houses, tiny steeples, and bodies of water. He pointed out all of the lakes by name and I told him that he has the best job- he gets to do this every day, 15 times a day. What a life!

I realized that the perfect soundtrack to my 7ish minutes of gliding was 1:13 into Pink Floyd's "Speak to Me-Breathe" (here)...so that gives you an idea of how serene it was. I was just amazed by how beautiful the view was and how calm and floaty the ride was. Actually, immediately after the freefall, I thought to myself "wow, it is SO quiet up here!". Then I realized I had to pop my ears, did so, and heard the wind rushing past and the parachute rippling. I've been listening to Pink Floyd a lot over the past 2 days- it's helping me remember what it felt like to be soaring through the air like that. We gradually got lower and lower, and Paul instructed me that when we landed, his feet would hit the ground and I should keep my legs as high up and my feet forward as I could to avoid getting hurt. He steered us over the hangars and around the area where our friends were and then we drifted down to the ground, my jeans only slightly muddier. He unhooked me, I started screaming with joy exclaiming how amazing it was, and he gave me a huge double high five and we hugged. I then leaped and bounded back to Tom, who'd been photographing, and waited for Michelle to land shortly after me. Here's us: alive, happy, and totally pumped.

Once we got back to the shed/office/wait area and people asked how it was, I just kept saying how amazing it was, and that I'd love to do it every day. Not feasible, of course, but getting licensed is something I'd like to look into someday.

After everyone'd jumped (Tom took an extra slot, paid for another round, and jumped twice that day!) we found a cute little Italian place on the water in Clinton, NJ. Paul tagged along, and told us all sorts of stories over dinner. He said we were by far the most fun group he'd ever had come in for jumps :) Even though most of us didn't know each other before this endeavor, we got to be really pretty close by the end of it all. After dinner we wandered over to catch the tail end of a local music festival and the 13-person troupe on stage was killer. We were just in time to catch introductions (and solos) and then their closing rendition of "Hey Jude."

Although we hit major traffic on the way home (I got back to Queens at 2 and Tom, our poor driver, still had to get home to Long Island), it was a fabulous day. If anyone's considering skydiving, I highly recommend it, and would be glad to go with you!