kjp

This morning I went for my first skydive - a fantastic experience. So here goes:

Got up early (5:10 am or so). Had some food, left at 5:35am ish, and picked up 2 people. There were 6 of us in total. After meeting everyone at the meeting point (where else do you meet? :) at 6.15 am, we drove out to Willowbank / Mutdapilly - south westish of Ipswitch. We jumped with the Brisbane Skydiving Centre. It's pretty pricy (although that's the sport), but definitely worth it for at least 1 jump in a lifetime.

After getting there at about 7am, we filled in a whole lot of forms to say that, yes we know that it is dangerous, and that we may die, and that we won't sue you, and here's the money. Then there was a bit of waiting around. There were three plane trips for the six of us - I was on the last trip up. So I watched everyone go up and down. Got suited up in a jump suit thingy and harness. Then there were some safety things and practices - what to do when getting out of the plane, when landing etc. Then onto the plane. It was fairly small - it took two people along with their "hanger's on" (tandem skydiving instructor) up on each trip. We did a tandem jump - it ends up cheaper than doing a solo skydive course - which takes 9 or so jumps to do and a fair bit more money (ie: only for the serious).

It took a while to get up to the drop altitude. There were some good views of the surrounding hills / mountains. On the ground it looked to be a fine, clear, sunny day. But up there (11 000 feet - ???) it was reasonably hazy & a bit cloudy. First up the other guy left the plane. Then we (the instructor strapped to my back and me) shuffled over to the exit side of the plane. I put my legs dangling out the door, with my arms across my chest, sitting on the edge of the opening. It was very windy and fairly noisy up there. Very windy. The instructor then said (although it was drowned by the wind): 1, 2, 3, go. And then we were out of the plane. Head back and pelvis forward until we were clear. At that stage I didn't know which way was up. An amazing feeling of not being able to do anything except fall.

Then we stabilised and were free falling for about 45 seconds (???). Arms and legs spread falling down. Initially I was pretty darn anxious / scared / tense, but got over it and enjoyed it. There was so much wind in my face. It was amazing. Awesome experience. The ground was far away but rushing towards me. And there was heaps and heaps of adrenaline going through my body. Especially right at the start when I had no idea of what to expect / what it would feel like.

Then the ripcord was pulled, parachute let out, and was pushed upwards. The wind just seemed to stop - and we were floating gently down. Instead of having my body facing the ground, I became more upright. This was good because it was gentler, and bad because it was gentler - my heart slowed down a bit at this stage. Also got to have a look around the place - seeing the other jumper below, all of the surrounding countryside. Did another practice landing in the air - putting my knees together, legs out in front of me, hands under my knees. Then we did some cork-screws in the air. Initially these made me a bit queasy in my stomach, but then became fun. The ground got bigger and bigger, I could then see the first jumper landing safetly. Then we glided down, put my legs up as practiced and landed on my bum and his legs - as expected. Soon enough we were stationary, detached; and I had my goggles off, jumpsuit off, and saying "that was awesome" to everyone. Then got a certificate and tshirt to say that I've done it.

Coming back home we stopped at a shopping mall for some food - my stomach was still upside down, so just had a drink. Dropped off the 2 others, and then got home at around midday. It was over so quickly - but I won't be forgetting the experience anytime soon. What a morning!

I'm feeling tired. Funny that. So nothing is on the agenda for tonight. Except sleep. And anything that doesn't require too much energy...

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Also:
I'm unsure of the numbers - they are just from my memory. I'll confirm them sometime or rather.
There might be some before and after photos coming... "Inflight" video was a significant amount of extra $. So maybe just some pictures from the ground.