So as a few of you may remember i was enquiring about going skydiving a month or two back and would just like you to know i completed my first jump at the weekend!
Well, what can i say, WOW! it was absolutely amazing! Simply the best thing i have done to date for sure! The amount of different emotions i felt in that one day was immense and for those of you who are interested..heres abit of feedback from my weekend away.
Firstly, i have decided to do the RAPS course instead of the AFF due to money constraints and not being sure if i would definitely want to get qualified or not. AFF is basically an intense course spread over several days to get you qualified in a short period of time. RAPS is similar to AFF except you can "Pay as you go" and spread the learning AND cost over a longer period which is good if you dont have £1500 to spare like me
. On the RAPS course i will start to jump alone from 4k feet using a static line and work my way up as i progress in the course.
i travelled down to the dropzone in england from Edinburgh on the friday with 16 people from a local Uni skydiving club many of who were first timers like me
. On the saturday we began our 6-7 hour intense training course because we had to learn alot in a short time as we were jumping out alone. During the training we learnt all the basics you would expect. This included things such as putting on the kit and getting suited up to learning terminology of the kit for use throughout the training and jumping. We then went onto learn how to arch your back to ensure you exit the aircraft in the correct position. This is something we had to do many many times as they stressed the importance of body position as its very easy to stick an arm out which could change your direction! Once this was drilled into us we then learnt how to exit the aircraft correctly with our head tilted back to help our arch position upon exit and chute deployment. After a break or two the nerves started to kick in for alot of people including myself when we started talking about the nuisances and malfunctions which can happen and what to do if an event takes place. This included things such as damaged canopies, tangled cables, issues with the canopy slider not being deployed correctly and so on. Of course after talking about this you realise how dangerous this sport actually is!!! Which made me nervous but very excited!
. After we then started to talk about what to do in the event of a main chute malfunction and the need to use your reserve chute! This of course, scared the sh*t out of all of us! Basically we were shown a standard procedure which taught us how to cut away the main chute using a red cut off handle to release the main chute and then release the reserve chute. Again, for obvious reasons, this was drilled into us until everyone had it absolutely nailed.
By this time, it was late afternoon around 4-5pm (i think) and we were told we could make our first jump...this is when the adrenaline really started to kick in for me. We went to the place with the gear and suited up. The usual safety checks were made by a pro to ensure we were kitted up correctly. At this time i must mention never have i had a dude touch my crotch..never mind the 3 seperate guys who were checking my straps etc to ensure they were safe who happened to be touching/prodding it whilst checking my straps and stuff hahaha! I made an exception and decided i would rather live and let them do what they needed to maximise the survival rate
...so i bit my tongue and carried on.
The plane came onto the runway and we made our way to get in it. I cant remember the model but it sat 8 people and is the fastest type of plane to ascend in Europe apparently..so nevertheless we were up in the sky in no time! I must say, i was VERY nervous waiting for the plane, getting my way in and getting up to altitude. It felt like seconds when we reached 4k feet. The instructor then opened the door and it all set in!! I was fourth in line with the two big guys out first on our first fly by. On the second turn it was number 3 and number 4 (me) to go. The guy infront made me even more nervous as he basically panicked and got ALOT of things wrong which made me more nervous!!! Even when he jumped he didn’t do it correctly and i could see the instructor shake his head and say “for f*ck sake!” haha. Anyway it came to me, i made my way to the door and got into position. This basically was my legs pointed away from my body behind me, sitting on my left arse cheek with my right one hanging over, my hand on the floor with my thumb over the edge and my head tilted up to help my arch position. Then i heard the word GO! Then next thing i knew i flung myself out of a plane flying 90mph at 4k feet using my left arm to push me away from the craft and into my arch position. I was only freefalling for 3 seconds but the adrenaline rush was immense! I felt a rush of emotion running from my brain to my toes and the next thing i knew my chute had deployed. One thing to mention is we were told a count to do on exit – one thousand, two thou, 3 thou, 1 thou, 2 thou, 3 thous..then to check canopy. Lets put it this way, that went straight out of the window haha. Anyway, i checked my canopy and realised my lines had twisted an tangled. After initially sh*tting myself i remained composed, remembered the training to kick myself out of a tangle and i was AOK
.
When my canopy had deployed the emotions were amazing, words cannot describe unless you have done this yourself and you will know what i mean. The view whilst descending was amazing overlooking the sea, forestry and mountainous terrain! When the canopy first deployed my orientation was all over the place but yousoon adjust. Whilst descending we had radio communication to help us with landing if required. I began the descent and made my way to the massive field with the orange X. Due to the wind direction we were told to come in a particular way to the field and against the wind to slow you down. No sooner did i know it and i landed safely in the correct field and avoided the barbed wire fence i was heading for!! Haha.
The self satisfaction was amazing! I really felt on top of the world! The adrenaline kicked through me for hours on end and we went out to party in a local town on the night where we drank many many beers and shots and had a great time. With many of us being singletons it was an amazing way to spend valentines day
This simply was one of the best weekends of my life and i will never forget it. The people, the buzz, the experience..everything was perfect! As you can hopefully tell i enjoyed it so much that im heading back down next weekend to hopefully complete a good few jumps.
Only drawback was on the Sunday it started to rain just as i was getting kitted up, so i couldn’t do anymore jumps . I get on with the folk well as ive found many skydivers are so laid back and just nice and outgoing! Also skydiving women are immense too
Good times. They invited my to go to perris valley in Cali as someone had dropped out. This was so tempting for me but i couldn’t get 3 weeks off work as i don’t have enough holidays and its abit too soon to save up too..maybe next year though
One thing i should mention is i am scared of heights for all those interested! it also didnt feel like a rollercoaster effect experiance.
For others interested too, i have booked my flights to Thailand for 3 weeks in the summer and i cannot wait!...2010 is going to be a good year
Sorry for the long post but i thought some may find it interesting!
