Well, we did it. Arrived at the drop zone at 7:30 to low ceilings, which is not unusual for this part of the world at this time of the year. We filled out the most elaborate waiver in the history of the world, and watched a video, then waited. Around 10 AM, the overcast started breaking and the staff announced that our jump would be in 30 minutes. Our instructors come by, introduce themselves, and start gearing us up, and giving us the gouge on what to expect and what to do. There is a runway at the drop zone, but if the airplane is anywhere close to full, they bus us over to Cornelius Moore Field (4A4) and take off from there. I'd been expecting a Twin Otter, but today they were using a Caravan. We pile out of the bus, our instructors escort to the door, and we climb in. Inside, there are two long narrow carpeted boxes running front to back, that we straddle facing backwards. For us tandem students, that makes a lot of sense, it's easier to get connected to your instructor that way.
The door closes, we head out to the runway, and off we go. It's just a little bit bumpy, and I start questioning what I'm doing there. I can tend towards motion sickness, and the bus ride over had triggered it a little. The air smooths out, and they open the jump door to cool us off, I feel better. The cloud deck gets a little thicker, they close the door, I start questioning my motivation again. We get to altitude, and I very carefully watch my daughter's instructor make all the connections between her harness and his. My instructor finishes connecting my harness to his rig, and I must confess I've never been so glad to be tightly connected to another guy in my entire life.
We get to 14K AGL, and the door opens again. First out the door is a couple with a videographer, who I assume are doing some relative work. It's my daughter's turn next. She goes to the door with no hesitation and out they go.Next goes two more solo jumpers, and then it's my turn. I scooch down the carpeted box and we finagle our way to the door. I have to stay crouched down, and get to the door with the balls of my feet on the edge of the doorframe. I'm trying to stay neutral with my head up and am waiting for my instructor to take us out the door, which he does just a couple of seconds after we get into position. We're out! The step outside of the airplane is a little disorienting, and the acceleration send my stomach into my throat for a couple of seconds, but he gets up stabilized quickly and gives me the signal to get my hands into the arched position.
Now I'm plummeting earthward at 100+ MPH and I feel great. I was anticipating that the wind would beat me up, but I have no sensation of that. It almost is peaceful, with a great view of the sky. I check the altimeter on my left wrist every few seconds, and just as I was told, it unwinds pretty quickly. 12,000, 10,000, 9,000.. all too soon we get to 7,000 AGL. My instructor holds my left wrist in front of me, I reach back with my right hand and find the main 'chute release, which looks and feels much like a golf ball. The altimeter needle gets to 6,000, and I give it a pull. Nothing happens, so I give it a stronger pull. I can feel the release pins pop out and hear the main 'chute starting to open, which it does surprisingly softly. We're under canopy, the view's great, the air's cool, and the harness is comfortable. My instructor gives me a set of toggles, and some instructions. I can see my daughter and her instructor quite a bit below us, approaching the broken cloud deck. Since I tend towards motion sickness, we don't do anything too extreme on the way down. He maneuvers us around the cloud deck to where we go through the very edge of one of them. Mmm, tasty cloud. We come in for a nice slider landing.
I didn't get a photo package so you're going to have to settle for a picture out of my daughter's.
How does it compare to hang gliding? It's entirely different. Skydiving is a little on the bipolar side, first you climb into an airplane, then you jump out into a 120 MPH slipstream, then you have a canopy ride, and then you land. Hang gliding, you do a launch, then you fly around looking for lift, and then you set up an approach and land. Which one do I prefer? If I had the time to hang glide, I still would be doing that. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to take up skydiving.
Would I do it again? They have a deal there that on the day you make your first jump, you can buy a second tandem for $99, and I took them up on the offer. I don't have plans to use it, but that gives me an
idea...