iCrucified

It started over two years ago. We, Laurie and I, thought it’d be cool to do something special for Garrett’s 16^th birthday; something cool like skydiving. Well, for all its “coolness” we couldn’t get past the age restrictions that prevented Garrett from being allowed to jump, so…we waited. Fast forward two years.

Garrett turned 18 in January and we gave him a computer printed receipt for a skydiving adventure with me (dad). Unfortunately, the weather in Western, NY is not exactly ideal for January skydiving, so we waited. In the meantime, during our wait, I put on my “winter coat” (which consists mostly of colorful calories and carbs aka excess weight aka “fat”). When we approached a better season for jumping, I was in desperate need to drop a few pounds to slide in under the weight limit for jumping. I started some serious cardio workouts and tried to moderate my insatiable eating habits (have I ever mentioned how much I love food?). Ultimately, I reached the weight goal and we had our date set for the jump.

June 26, 2009 – Rochester Skydivers

We arrived at the jump site for our introduction and training brief. Both Garrett and I were repeatedly asked by our friends and family; “Are you nervous??? Are you scared???” Our repeated answer was “no.” To be honest though, I did have some reservations…but not regarding the act of jumping out of a plane. My fear was that I would do something to irritate the jumpmaster. I didn’t want to be “that guy” they invariably talk about in the break room. You know the guy; this is the dude they make fun of because he couldn’t get anything right… Anyway, I didn’t want to be that guy.

So we got our training and we were assigned first spot in the jump order. We got suited up and strapped up with all our harnesses, headgear, and goggles. We got crammed into the little single engine plane; yes, crammed in. Remember, I mentioned I had to lose some weight to jump? Well, just for the record, I’m no longer the aerodynamic, svelte, BMI (body mass index) poster boy I was back in my 20’s (who am I kidding…I never was, but I digress). Ok, we’re in the plane and we take off. It seemed like it took us 15 minutes to get up to the 10,000 foot jump level (ok…no more weight jokes). The door was popped open and my jump partner started patting my on the leg and arm to signal our “go time.” We wiggled and squirmed our way to the open door; man was it loud and noisy…this was the reason for the patting, pointing, and signaling since we couldn’t hear one another. I understood he wanted me to stick my leg out the window, so I started to make my move. I was surprised at the force of the wind that was blowing past us, I didn’t expect it to be as strong as it was and found it a little difficult to get my leg out on to the little diamond plate ledge over the wheel. Anyway, the instructor was slapping my leg pretty good now signaling that it was go time. I wasn’t quite able to get my body in position to get out the door, but realized there wasn’t much chance of explaining that, so I resigned myself to the fact that I was about to be tossed out the door and figured I’d just go with it. That’s exactly what happened. The next second I was in my textbook, picture perfect, skydiving arch and freefalling 120+mph toward the earth. It was about this time I realized that my eyes were closed and that I had about 25-30 more seconds of freefall and should open my eyes to see this great experience. It was a great feeling dropping like a rock from 10,000 ft. The noise of rushing wind was deafening, but the instructor gave me a thumbs up sign as we fell, hopefully indicating that I wasn’t going to be that guy I was worried about becoming.

Thirty-Five seconds seems pretty fast when you’re falling through the air, so the popping of the chute came as a surprise to me. All of the sudden you go from 120 mph to 8 mph and the noise of the wind turns to an eerily still silence as you float leisurely back to the terra firma. The instructor handed off the toggles to me and we negotiated some left and right turns. We got into position and I watched Garrett and his jump master tumbling through the air as their chute deployed. The rest of the 5 minute glide was exactly that…a glide, literally flying the chute around the LZ (that’s landing zone for you neophytes). The landing seemed to come much quicker than I was ready for, but we had talked over this approach thing in the introduction and instruction part of the morning. I think I could have done a standing landing, but I was in the seated position when he said “stand up.” It was a little too late for standing as I had already started sliding in on my butt. It was all good though, no tumbles or mishaps and we were safe on the ground.

Would I do it again? YES! I’d like to do the Advanced Free Fall course and get the opportunity to do it all myself. Maybe that will be something I save for…to be ready to go again with Joshua when he turns 18 in four more years; it’s Something to plan and look forward to. It was a great time and I recommend those who aren’t afraid of heights to give it a try. You won’t soon forget it, that’s a guarantee!

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