SKYDIVING

Introduction
Joe
Darcy
Kristy
Gwen
Beth

Kristy's Story

(Flailing About at 14,500 Feet)

Amazingly, I never experienced any nervous moments on the day of skydiving. My theory went as follows: Thousands of people do this every year and land safely. Plus, I'm going to be attached to an experienced diver. So what is there to be scared about? Even as we bumped our way down the gravel path to the hanger. Even when we saw the dilapidated, old trailers where we would train, I still stuck to my theory, this has to be safe, they haven't had any accidents...yet.

Joe and Darcy jumped first, and since they seemed to survive just fine, I climbed on board the plane with very little trepidation. At this point, other than the video, I hadn't received any instructions, so as we bumped and dipped our way up to 14,500 feet, I began to wonder if Chuck, my instructor (and Joe's instructor), was going to give me further directions.

At 8,000 feet I swiveled my head and tried to eavesdrop on a conversation that the other jumper had with her instructor. She doesn't want to spin? "Hmm, I don't want to spin, should I tell Chuck that?" I thought to myself.

At 10,000 feet, I began to wonder; "Hmm, we're getting close, maybe I should ASK for instructions?"

At 12,000 feet, Chuck yells "ok, scootch to the door."

"The clear door," I think, "the one that looks extremely flimsy, while I'm not hooked into anything?"

I hesitate, but scoot towards the door.

"Closer," bellows Chuck.

At 14,000 feet, it's time to jump.

"Hook, me up. Hook me up!" I scream in my head.

"Sit up straighter,"Chuck screams over the engine, "Straighter!"

"Crap, now I'm losing my balance," I think, "and that door is not too sturdy."

At 14,500 feet, finally strapped to Chuck, I yell, "when do I stop tucking?"

"I'll let you know," yells Chuck.

He'll let me know? How?

"Well, I don't want to spin," I scream as the plane levels off.

"You don't want to spin," Chuck asks incredulously, "ok".

So we scootch closer to the door. Closer, closer, we lean forward and we're out. Tumbling end over end, I can't take my eyes off of the ground. Unfortunately, Chuck was not big on insulating his students and my hands were ungloved. The pain was excruciating. The only clear thought in my head during the freefall was, "This only lasts a minute and then the pain will be over." That was one long minute.

Meanwhile, my flimsy goggles kept sliding up my head and at the rate we were falling I could kiss my contacts goodbye. Next problem, I had agreed to pull the cord. Only I was afraid to move my arm down, because I didn't want us to spin and then I couldn't find the cord.

Well, I figured that Chuck would figure this out for himself and eventually Mr. 'I've jumped over 7,000 times', pulled the cord.

No more screaming was necessary at this point, because once the chute opens it is the most peaceful, quiet, calm you can imagine.

Chuck starts to twirl us through the sky and asks me how my stomach is.

"Fine" I say. "That's an odd question I think, "I wonder why he's asking me that."

Then it hit me, my stomach rolled over and I thought for sure that I was going throw up all over the great, blue sky. Somehow I made it down without disgracing myself.

As we approached the ground, Chuck began to discuss the landing. Because of the weather, we were supposed to do the fast-walk landing. This is where you take a few quick steps when you land to slow yourself down and come to a stop. I'm still not sure what happened, but we landed, took a few quick steps and landed in an ignoble heap on the ground.

Skydiving experience over. No throwing up, all my limbs intact and just one scratch on my leg from the landing. Beth and Gwen, who have yet to go, come running over and I tried desperately to swallow the nauseous feeling. I mustered up a smile and said, "Great, good." That was about all I could manage, because I was still reliving my breakfast.

Would I do it again? No. Would I recommend this? Yes. Take gloves and get good goggles. There's nothing like a little adventure to add the Tabasco to your Bloody Mary life!