what flies higher than the birds?

me!

Saturday morning and I'm out of the house by 5:15am. Beautiful sunshiny, hot day. Not too nervous, but don't worry I was a little bit nervous. Erin was nervous enough for both of us. ;)

Made it up to Pepperell, Mass. and felt a surge of nervousness on seeing the broad perfectly green mowed field and the Twin Otter parked on one edge. Getting hot in the sun and one BORING video later (which clearly delineated how we were signing all of our rights away and repeatedly reminded us that we could die), and we finally got to meet our instructor and suit up in really neat blue jumpsuits. I felt like a mechanic. Erin felt like a prisoner. Our group consisted of myself, Erin, a girl named Tumi from the singles ward, Bishop Hafen and his daughter Ashley. The bishop and his daughter are both certified so they jumped solo, and the rest of us were there for a tandem jump. Ashley was nice enough to carry my camera and take some pics on the plane and after (see below!) although she couldn't take any in the air (she wasn't near us and it's probably not the best idea to be messing around with a little camera that could fall or distract you or something. It was in a little inside pocket halfway down the front of her suit- you can't just unzip in the air and get it out).

I got nervous about when we got on the plane and more nervous on the ride up. My instructor, an ex-Navy Seal, securely attached himself to me so that we were like one person (kind of comforting actually). I saw them roll up the door at the rear of the plane, but I didn't see the bishop and his daughter jump out. I didn't really see Tumi and Erin go although I was aware that people were going and no longer there. I saw how Erin put her feet right on the edge of the door so I did the same thing when it was my turn. There's really no choice. The instructor is like part of you behind you and basically you are doing a belly-flop out of the plane, so whether you have made up your mind or not, he has chosen to go and since he is behind you, there is no choice but to be pushed out.

You don't get a falling sensation in skydiving because you are already moving as fast as the plane is flying. I did however, feel the air moving so fast that I knew I was going incredibly fast... just me (and my instructor who is basically part of me)... going SO fast. You have to spread out your arms and kick your feet back, which made me feel very vulnerable since your torso is just completely exposed. Naturally, a person wants to huddle up and protect their vitals when physical harm seems imminent. So, since I'm not a thrill-seeker, I had to will myself to stay spread out while I hurtled toward the earth.

Before I knew it, my instructor released out parachute. I was supposed to do it, and as we jerked from a freefall to a canopy fall, I realized he'd pulled it and I had seen but not comprehended the signal (which he'd shown me beforehand) to pull the cord. It's absolute sensory overload. Maybe if I did it again I could have enough wits to pull the cord. "Under canopy", as they call it, was more peaceful; my instructor could talk to me, and since I don't wear contacts, he let me remove my goggles. Suddenly the world looked so crisp and amazing. I felt a little nervous and I think it was just my fear of heights kicking in. We were so high and just dangling. I am fine on airplanes; I guess they just feel sturdier or something- looking out from an enclosed box isn't scary, but being high up in the open air is (high unprotected edges make me nervous too...)? Interesting phenomenon... It was incredible though. I tried not to be distracted by how much it hurt where my whole body's weight was pulling on my leg harnesses. My instructor let me hold the parachute handle things and told me where to pull so I got to steer us for awhile (if I didn't pull hard enough he pulled too, but we can say I got to steer). Sometimes he'd pull one side really hard and we'd do a big spiral which made my tummy fly a little because of the change in speed. It was amazing to see New England from up there. It's a very wooded region, a little river going through and just a small town. Pretty soon we were about to land-- we did the bum scoot landing: you just lift your feet high and slide in on your rear end. It's easy and painless. When I lifted my feet up, I wondered what my instructor thought of my mismatched socks. ;P

And that was it! I have successfully skydived! Enjoy the pics. :)

Bishop Hafen, Erin, me, Tumi

The Twin Otter

Erin and her instructor, Rich, who has done over 4000 jumps

me and my instructor, Dave, ex- Navy Seal

about halfway up!

in the airplane, getting psyched...

our enthusiastic photagrapher

you can pretend one of those is me

keep pretending one of those is me...

safe slide landing!


I'm official!