January 26th, 2009
Thanks mother nature! I owe you big time. I’ll try and inspire some people to convert to vegetarianism for you.
Today I started with my level 7 and it was a wild way to start my day considering I was about 1 second away from having to cut away my main and pull my reserve. We’ll get to that in just a second.
Level seven exercises involve flying faster and slower. This is done by changing your body position making you more or less aerodynamic.
I jumped out with my instructor quick behind. A practice pull and an altimeter reading later and I was ready to start playing follow the leader. She goes, I go up, back to neutral and read the altimeter. She changes her body position and starts falling at a faster rate of speed. I play catch up. This is repeated a few times and then it’s time to turn 180 degrees, track, and pull!
A few things about pulling your chute. When you pull your parachute open, you allow three to six seconds for the chute to open. If it’s not right, you cut your main, and pull your reserve parachute. If it is right after three to six seconds, you then look for three things; Does it have shape? (a rectangle shape). Does it have spin? (if you’re spinning, that’s a bad sign and you have to cut away) and is it floating? (you obviously have to be floating which will slow your terminal velocity enough for you to land safely). If you don’t have shape, if your spinning, and if you’re not floating, you have to do your emergency procedure (cut away).
The scariest thing to happen to me, before this jump,with my main canopy has been wind, which was freaky at first until I got used to it, and a high slider. (this is the piece that separates all four main sections, or risers as they are called, of the chute open. It starts up but slides down) When you have a high slider, you can flare (put the breaks on your parachute) and it will usually slide down.
SO! Back to the jump… pull time! I pull, and wait the typical three to six seconds. After I waited the typical three to six seconds, I realized I didn’t have shape, I didn’t have float and I was spinning. Precious seconds passing while precious altitude was fleeting. Six seconds, seven seconds, eight seconds. Still spinning, no float and well, the shape is almost there. I have a high slider which is effecting the shape. My right side was open and flying but the left side looked as though it had collapsed in on its self. (this is what was causing me to spin. I knew that if I could untwist my lines, I could flare, get my slider down, get the shape, get the float and stop the spin.)
A quick check to my altimeter and I was still about 1000 feet above my ctitical altitude (this is the altitude that you decide whether or not you have a safe canopy to fly to the ground with. If you don’t, you HAVE to cut away and fly your reserve) I figured I would try working with this bad chute out for another 500 feet and if I couldn’t make it work, I would still have time to do my emergency procedures.
3500 feet I figure out which direction the twists were going
3400 feet… I grab on to my left side front and rear risers with my left hand and do the same with my right side.
3300 feet… I check my altimeter before pulling as hard as I can in the opposite directions
3200 feet… I kick my legs are hard as I can in the opposite directions of the twists
3100 feet… the twists start coming undone! SWEET!
3000 feet… check my altimeter and realize that I’m now at three thousand feet and I’m not all the way out of this mess. I missed my target
2900 feet… I flare and the slider comes down
2800 feet… right turn good, left turn good,
2700 feet… find the drop zone and start flying towards it.
0 feet… change my undies!
So I came in about 300 feet lower than my target. The fact of the matter was that I set the goal higher than I needed, worked as hard as I could, and missed it by a bit. Because I set my goal so high though, I was still technically able to miss it by a bit. Had I not worked to better a bad situation, I would have had to cut away and probably ruined a $3000+ parachute. I also wouldn’t have had a great experience and a really cool skydiving story to blog about!
I was also able to do my level eight today. This involves diving out of the plane (like you’re sliding head first down a slide) gaining control, practice pull, check altimeter and then, drum role please… you barrel roll! That’s right, you get out of control, to get back into control! Check your altimeter and now it’s time to play cat and mouse. If your instructor flies up, you fly up. If your instructor does a 360 degree turn, you do! You get the idea. 6500 feet, you turn 180 degree, track (fly forward) for five seconds, waive off, and pull. No exciting canopy mix ups here, just smooth (but cold) flying and one of my most accurate landings yet.
I am now able to jump solo! no instructors, just me!!!
Thanks again Mother Nature for a wonderful day of flying. Oh, and don’t let me forget;
If you’re not into peta, that’s cool. Google vegetarianism or better yet, going vegan and I’m sure you’ll find all you need to change your health, change your Karma, change the environment, and change the lives of hundreds of innocent animals.
January 25th, 2009
RAIN RAIN GO AWAY, COME AGAIN SOME OTHER DAY (preferably after Feb 23rd please, thanks)
I am really wanting to get back into a plane so I can jump out. I’m flying back to Toronto for a conference Wed. morning and time is running out! I’m going to REALLY hope for nice weather for Monday and Tuesday. TIME IS RUNNING OUT. This is just a test of my commitment I know, and I know I’m going to pass it, but the stress is not fun.
I went to Runyon again today and took on the stairs. It was a different workout at Runyon from what I’m used to and it felt great.
I went to the wind tunnel after Runyon and worked some more at the tunnel. My legs are a bit of a problem in my back flying. Not as much as they were a problem in the beginning of my belly flying, but still a problem. My main problem is my head. Both physical and mental head. Firstly, once I get comfortable flying, and I’m level and stable, I start to look for my instructor, and by tilting my head down to look for direction, I start flying out of control. Again, small action, big reaction. I crashed into the glass HARD a few times. I also put a lot of strain on my shoulders which wasn’t pleasant.
Don’t think about Santa Clause. See, you probably just started thinking about Santa Clause! That’s the same problem I face when my instructors say, “you’re thinking about it way too much, stop thinking”. Now I’m thinking more about it! It’s really hard to shut my mind off and just experience the wind and feel it. It’s not going to stop. Especially when I’m jumping out of the plane. I just have to let it go and keep looking up.
Looking up here means looking at where I’ve come from. I can’t look where I’m going, I can only feel where I’m going. I have to trust my movements. With a mind as active as mine, sometimes that’s hard. I would always get in trouble from my instructors asking too much about stuff that’s beyond me. I have to start experiencing things NOW. It’s not that I can’t look to the future, and be curious about it and ask questions. I have to understand that there are times for that, and times to focus on what I’m doing. “Are we jumping first? Or is the camera going to go out and we’ll catch up?” “Don’t worry about what they are doing, worry about what you’re doing.” How often are we really in the moment? Even when we think we are?
Man I want to get back in the plane so I can focus. Come on Mother Nature! I’ve experienced your rain, I’d like to experience your sunny, cloudless, windless skies again. They make me closer to you than the rain does. I like being close to you.
January 24th, 2009
ANOTHER rainy day has left me starting to get nervous looking at my training schedule. I wanted to have about 200 jumps under my belt before the 13th and so far I have 8. FREAKING 8! I’m leaving California to speak at a conference for three days and time is running out. I’m not going to reach my goal in terms of numbers of jumps so now is when I have to really make my training count. I appreciate that when it comes down to it, it’s about the quality of my training and my mental readiness as opposed to a number I generated before I was actually jumping out of planes. Regardless, I want to be jumping.
Runyon was great today. Yes it was raining but by the time it started clearing up, I wouldn’t have been able to jump. Runyon was full of beautiful women, setting suns, beautiful views and celebrity sightings.
I came home and pushed some weights around and started working some more on my handcuffs. I started working on a new way of picking my way out of them and it seems to be alright. It’s certainly easier to get my left hand free but not my right. The problem is that my pilot chute pulls out of the right side. I also noticed that sometimes in order for the cuffs to pup off, I had to make them tighter which means more discomfort. Ironic isn’t it how things usually have to get worse before they get better.
January 23rd, 2009
Today brought with it some more rain. Unfortunately this is yet another day with no training. I decided to take a full day off to see about rejuvenating my body and mind. This stunt is not only about the physical limitations of the body, but also the mental limitations.
Some of the physical limitations are physical exhaustion, constant ear popping, tired legs, tired shoulders, sore lower back, sore upper back, headaches, fatigue, dizziness and joint pain.
Some of the psychological thoughts include death, love, relationships, career choices, happiness, fulfillment, and freedom. Thinking that it is very possible to die, several times per day can take it’s toll both in a positive and negative way. We all know that death is an inevitable part of life and can really happen anytime, any place to anyone. So if this is a given for all of us, why waste what precious unknown time we have here? When it comes down to it, the things that make us weak, end up making us stronger and in my opinion, nothing makes you want to live, like thinking your about to die.
I can’t say that I’m thinking about much when I’m skydiving other than skydiving. I’ll even sometimes forget to do certain maneuvers in the sky because I’m so focused. It’s pretty much survival mode until the chute is open and you’re flying a safe chute. Even when the chute is open, you’re still making sure your canopy is flying right, you’re looking at your landing and your constantly checking for other people and your altitude.
Skydiving may seem like an unnecessary and unreasonable risk to some, but I now feel that through proper schooling, coaching and training (and yes, there is a difference between all of them) skydiving is relatively safe. The extremely systematic approach of worst case scenarios and what to do in the event of _____ makes me feel well prepared. Obviously well prepared enough to jump several times per day. Jumping out of an airplane, that is perfectly safe, isn’t natural. But when you think about it, how much of what we do is? Cars aren’t natural, Boats aren’t natural, but years of engineering, experience and teaching have made things safer. In that respect, skydiving is the same. Accidents do happen. Does this mean we shouldn’t go on living? No, it gives us more reason to live. If we have these things at our disposal, why not take advantage of them.
Death is the most exciting thing that life gives us.
We shouldn’t need movies, music, stories to validate an inspire us to live. I believe people need to start valuing their lives enough to just go out and do, whatever it is they want.
January 22nd, 2009
So today I found out that my stunt in impossible. With the way the wind current will go around my arms in the hand cuffed position and the fact that I couldn’t use them to stabilize my body, we are going to have to call an end to the training and to the stunt. Ha, don’t worry I’m only kidding! In fact, during the wind tunnel training session today I found out which positions are going to be flyable. I certainly have my work cut out for me but I think with enough training, I’ll be able to nail this.
One major problem though is that we are experiencing lots of rain here. Now I know it’s unfair for me to complain about the weather as Toronto isn’t having a fun time, but it’s really starting to effect my training schedule. This is the second day in a row I haven’t been able to jump out of a plane. If this weather doesn’t clear up soon, I don’t know what I’m going to do.
Thank goodness for the wind tunnel. I’ve been working on my back flying and it’s coming along. They are increasing the wind speeds so that when I’m comfortable I can float a little bit higher. I’m still working on my positioning but I can feel that it’s coming along. After the session, my instructor at the tunnel, Drew, was showing me the positions necessary for flying with my hands cuffed to my waist. He said that I would be able to stay stable, the problem is that I’ll be flying REALLY fast. That’s all well and good but with skydiving, the ground is the limit so you can only fly for a certain amount of time before you have to pull your chute.
Aside from spending lots of time in the tunnel today, I did Runyon again and it was empty. The rain seems to keep people away! Not me though! If this rain keeps up I’ll keep my training in the tunnel going. I just want to get back in a plane though and get my A license. That is all for today!
January 21st, 2009
Today I woke up and as soon as I looked outside, I knew jumping was going to be unlikely. It was cloudy and looked like it was about to rain. Before making the hour and a half trek down to the drop zone, I figured I’d call to make sure they were still diving today. “The clouds are too low and it’s been raining on and off, we haven’t taken a single load up yet so you might want to stay home today.”
That good advice turned into another great trip to Runyon Canyon. That is an inspiring place to get in shape. It’s beautiful, offers a killer view of the city and ocean, and is a wonderful workout. It makes me wonder where my Toronto version of Runyon Canyon is going to be this summer. There are lots of unexplored parks, pathways and areas that are perfect for daily inspiration, exercise and getting closer to nature. If I don’t find them, I’ll make them!
My travels in North America have offered me insight into the health levels of people all over. I find Californians to be healthy people. I think it goes beyond the great food and inspiring surroundings. I believe one of the reasons these people are so in shape is that they seem to make physical exercise a social part of their lives. Runyon Canyon for instance is a very social mish mash of people. Punk rockers, business people, families, LOTS of hotties and even celebrities seem to come and meet at the Canyon for exercise. What a great way to get in shape! It’s fun, it’s beautiful and seems that the physical benefits are secondary to strengthening relationships. Make exercise fun and you’re more likely to do it! Runyon Canyon is fun and it’s easy to see why when we call our friends to go, they are down to go up!
Following Runyon today, we made our way over to the wind tunnel. After my experiences with actual skydiving recently, I decided to give back flying a try. (It’s exactly what it sounds like it might be… flying on your back!). I figure this is likely going to be the position I’ll be in when in my cuffs so might as well get comfortable there. I got a video of this and if it’s not copy protected like my level six, I’ll post it.
Flying on your back is tough, but started to come after only 7 minutes in the tunnel. The turns were quick and again, small movements make a big difference. I crashed into the walls a few times but it was fun. You have less depth perception I found, as you can’t see the ground. This makes it difficult to gage the speed of your movements. As I found from trial and error, and from watching my instructor finish laughing and then report, “slow it down… SOFT movements” my quick movements would quickly send me out of control.
After two-minute sessions, my shoulders were really starting to get sore. They are essentially holding up and stabilizing the upper part of your body. Also, since your legs are bent at a 90-degree angle (as if you were sitting in a chair that was flipped on it’s back) your legs don’t offer much surface area.
Again, it all comes back to the thought of small movements making a big difference. Lets look at that analogy and compare it to this stunt and making it happen.
Think of the concept, and tell people… little movement
Start asking for help… little movement
Even when the help didn’t come through, I’d make plans to work harder and finance the stunt myself… little movement
Raise money and awareness through T-shirt sales… little movement
Book the ticket… little movement
Now I’m in California! All of those little movements had a HUGE impact on my big dream.
The thing with skydiving too, is that sure, you’re falling, but you have 360 degrees in which to turn. You can fly forward, backward, side-to-side and you can go in circles. You learn from your movements and with some practice, you get your heading, and fly to it. You may hit some pockets, speed up and slow down at some points, get off course a bit, but if you’re flying in the right direction, it was all of those little movements that got you there. It may only be a little movement, but it’s movement. GET MOVING
January 20th, 2009
Oh baby oh baby! Level six was BANANAS. Lets go back and I’ll walk you through my day.
As I’m driving to the drop zone, I notice that I need to hit a gas bar and fill up. As I’m trying to figure out what zip code to punch in on the pump to make my Canadian credit card work, I was approached by a sincere, polite and nice homeless person looking for any spare change I had. I told him to wait until I was done filling up at which point I would likely have some change. I went inside, bought us some snacks and drinks and finished fueling up the car. I came back outside, gave him the snacks and drinks and a few bucks and figured that would help Karma for the day, knowing my level six was going to be coming up. It most certainly did help my Karma!
The drop zone was packed with tandem jumpers which takes up the instructors. I knew I had at least an hour before my next jump so I figured I’d go and open a bank account so that it would be easier to spend cash in the States. When they asked me for my driver’s license, I noticed that my wallet was gone. It was on the counter at the gas station and when I went back to get the homeless man some snacks and drinks, the clerk had finished with it, and assumed I had taken it back. Unfortunately, someone else swiped it. Not only was my credit card, health card and debit card gone, but my drivers license also. I called MasterCard right away. “I lost my wallet! Could you please turn off my card?” “Sure thing Mr. Hammell, what was your last purchase?” “I have the receipt right here, at 10:07 I spent 37.26 on gas at…” “You haven’t used it since then?” “Nope.” “So that wasn’t you spending it at 11:04, 11:12, 12:36 and 1:10?” “Nope” “Alright, lets shut that off right away cause they just bought something again. Not only was my wallet gone, I’m wasting all of my long distance minutes finding out I’m being ripped off! Screw it! I’m gonna jump out of an airplane instead of worrying about something I can’t change.
Level five: My best dive yet. No notes on keeping my legs straight, landing a bit off the mark but still safe which is what counts, and it felt wonderful. What makes this different is mostly the start of the jump. You hang out of the airplane before you jump and spot the airport. You’re already on the outside of the plane so you might as well jump from there! AMAZING!
Level six: Hahahaha, ohhhhhh level six. You start out the same was as level five by spotting the airport from the plane at 12 500 feet. Are you good to jump from there? NO! Now it’s time to grab onto your ankles so that you’re in a ball. Your coach now pushes you out of the airplane so that you flip a bunch. On level six they want to see that you can go from an unstable position (flipping over and over and over) to a safe position. Once your coach catches up and flies in front, you have to do some maneuvers and then get into a Delta position for 10 seconds. They want you flying at a single heading. Delta is the fastest flying position. Also, like level five, now you’re pulling at 4500 feet instead of 5000 feet.
I get dizzy really easily and was REALLY worried about this step. Also, with the problems I’ve been having keeping my legs right, and my miss pulling the pilot chute open and the mental made this one of the more nerving experience. There were a few things that made it easier though.
Firstly, getting your license as quickly as I am, forces you to get on the ground, gather your thoughts, do the next class, practice the jump on the ground, gear up and go. They don’t offer you much time to really think about it because they have to fill the planes. Obviously you can opt out if you want, but when you have a date in mind that you have to be ready for, training is accelerated. By not over thinking this, it made it easier.
Also, my experienced teachers kept walking me through the physics of this jump. Basically as soon as you get into your proper arch, your surface area will get you back flying level. If you are upside down, pull an arm in and force your body over, and arch again. The science was there.
All of my coaches that I’ve been working with were really excited for me too. “This is the most fun step! You’ll get to the ground and want to do it again.” I thought that this was probably just something they tell newbies so that they don’t freak right out and bail last minute. One of those insider secrets where they know it sucks but they just say it’s good so that you’ll get through it. Like when people with tattoos say it doesn’t hurt. Are you kidding me? Tattooing is usually BRUTAL! I’ve been guilty of telling people though that it’s not that bad because if everyone was 100% honest, less people would get tattooed. Anyway, back to the dive.
Going up in the plane, I looked over the other 20 people in the plane and realized that they have all been through this step and survived. Had this step not been worth getting through, my coach on this jump would not have over 15 000 jumps under his belt. The plane would be empty! That’s obviously not the case though. As the door opened and I watched the other divers flipping out of the plane I realized there was something to it. This made the mental nerves calm down. There is almost always someone that has been there and done that, so learn from them.
I know as a hypnotist that repetition helps a lot. Hearing over and over and over again that “this is the most fun you’re going to have while skydiving” I figured I HAD to give it a shot. Was I really going to go through all of my mistakes just to give up now? Was I going to invest my entire life savings and travel to the other side of the continent to pack it in? HELL no! The camera was rolling, we had to do this!
I knew that hooking that guy at the gas station up with some food, drink and money would help my Karma. This was one of the best days of my life! And for the record, all of those people were right, I can’t wait to flip out of a plane again!
PEACE!
Jumps Today: 2
Total Jumps: 8
for more pictures, go here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60528&l=7cbfb&id=510755546
AHHHHHHH!
Nice View!
January 19th, 2009
The bad start to the day of training at the drop zone today was quickly changed with three successful jumps. I found out that trying to sort out your banking issues on Martin Luther King day just doesn’t happen. My supportive family came through yet again! After I got the package of skydiving paid for, I was on my way to repeat my unsuccessful attempt at level number two. The package I signed up for allowed me to film and get pictures of three dives. I decided I would film this dive so that I could see what my legs were doing wrong.
The jump was good enough to get a pass, but still not perfect. My legs still needed work. You can see the pictures of the jump at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60339&l=5dc24&id=510755546
The jump for level three involved three 90 degree turns. After much practice in the wind tunnel, this was challenging yet not impossible. This was the first time though that one of my two instructors let go to fly in front of me to direct my turns.
Level four involves only one instructor and that instructor letting go. I’m not going to lie, the feeling of missing my pilot chute handle was an incident that I think will always stay in the back of my mind. Knowing that there would be no instructor on my side, just in case, was a little nerving. This I think is where there theory of, ‘if you have to make it work, you will’ comes into play in this escape. Just as I’m sure if I were flying a bad chute, and spinning out of control, I would be able to cut away and pull my reserve. I would because I would have to.
Maintaining a level heading for 15 seconds was an amazing feeling. I was free falling by myself for the first time. This is the first step in gaining more responsibility for my own flying. It’s a liberating feeling. I’m now landing by myself (no radio communication with my instructors). I’m now having to check my parachute for all of the safety requirments. (there is a LOT to a parachute!) and I now have to fly, by myself, without the aid of instructors at my side.
The hard pulls aside (your parachute opening in a violent way causing your body to really swing around) is wearing on my thighs. I’m developing some brusing but I’m sure it is just going to take some getting used to. It’s not a comfortable feeling but I can assure you, the thoughts of making it steps closer to end goal are enough to fight the pain. This isn’t killing me, it’s making me stronger.
Strong enough infact that when I got home, after a full day of skydiving (and let me point out, it’s physically and mentally exhausting) I was still able to go for an hour plus walk through the Hollywood hills.
It’s after midnight though and I have to be up early for another full day of passing more levels! sweet dreams!
Jumps today: 3
Total # of Jumps: 6
Free falling, getting into formation
January 18th, 2009
Our economy’s financial crunch has left my credit limits at a very low place. So low in fact, that I couldn’t dive today. instead I did an extra long and new treck at Runyon Canyon. Today I was able to discover all of the trails that I’ve seen people on, but never knew how to get to them. I saw some amazing new views and some spectacular houses.
One of the new trails, called the “the goon” was REALLY steep and made my legs very tired! It was well worth it though!
I spent six minutes in the tunnel today JUST working on correcting my legs. THAT’s it. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow.
Once I got home from the tunnel, I pushed around some weights and finished off my day of training. Early rise tomorrow!
January 17th, 2009
Today was hands down, the crazy day of training so far. I imagine that when I look back at this whole experience, this is going to be one of the craziest days of the entire adventure. Here’s how it went:
5:15 am I woke up, showered and made breakfast. I started trying to wake Brian up at 5:45. He was responsive and so I thought he was up. My room is in the basement and I didn’t know he was still sleeping. We were supposed to leave the house at 6:15 to make it there for 7 30 am which would have meant we were driving quick to begin with I went upstairs at 6:15 to tell Brian it was time to go, and realized he was still sleeping. A few more pounds on the door, and a responsive reply led me to believe we were going to be on our way in a few short minutes. Not the case. I tried waking him up again at 6:30 and then again at 6:45. He finally rolled out of bed and we were on the road by about 7am. Considering we were really supposed to be there for 7:15 and we were an hour and a half away, this was an impossible, stressful task to say the lease. This was also though, my first time driving with Brian.
Brian drives an amazing car. I was REALLY woken up by experiencing this amazing car driving at times, to it’s limits, sometimes 130 mph! I’d say we averaged about 115 to 120.
“This is how fast we’ll be freefalling later!” as the traffic wized by.
“Would this get a license suspension if you got caught doing this?” I wondered out loud, “no I could sweet talk my way out of that no problem, this on the other hand would likely do the trick though.” Said as we left the solid lines of the carpool lane to inside pass the slower (but not slow by any means) traffic. Our 90 min trip this morning took just over 45 mins. I was there, a bit late, but ready to start my level one training class.
As I was filling pages and pages of documents for the drop zone, a new mantra became evident; “I Scott Hammell, waive my right to sue… ANYONE” “I Scott Hammell, waive my right to sue… ANYONE” pages and pages and pages of this stuff. My honest mouth, and me however almost cancelled the plans for the day when I wouldn’t initial the part that said that I have NOT experienced dislocating shoulders. Anyone who has followed my career will know that my shoulders are not in good shape. Years of escaping from straight jackets have left my shoulders unable to ride bicycles for long periods of time, rock climb, sleep properly, and most importantly, cuddle.
“Now that you have disclosed this information to us, we are not going to let you jump or go in the wind tunnel without a doctors note.” Is what I’m told by a top dude at the drop zone. Boy am I lucky to have the most competent, smart, resourceful and persistent manager on the face of the earth. My brother (and manager) I’m sure, put hundreds of dollars of phone charges on his phone as he tirelessly worked to materialize a doctor’s note on a Saturday morning. And people think I’m magic. Chris really saved my ass today and allowed for me to continue on with the training.
As I was in the level one class, I was basically learning every possible bad scenario when it comes to skydiving. “Here is what to do if you’re about to land in power lines. If you find your rear toggles are tangled, and you begin to spin uncontrollably, if you can reach your cut away cord, here is how you do it. It’s your only chance for survival. Just try not to panic. Oh! And if your reserve is messed up, you’re pretty much screwed. But that hardly ever happens.” I was assaulted with different altitudes to remember of where to pull, what to do where, where I can and can’t cross the runway, everything. There is a LOT to remember when you’re skydiving.
My experience thus far in the wind tunnel has been time and money well spent. I was comfortable and confident going in there today for a practice round before we started actually jumping out of the plane. I was under the impression by the way, that we’d be flying a tandem (strapped to an experienced instructor) before we started jumping out of the plane and pulling our own mains open. NOPE! After our written test, I was on my way!
Considering the first time skydiving for me was tandem, and I could barely breathe because I was so scared, going up in the plane was one of the most nerve wracking experiences of my life. We had gone over the jump, and possibilities of what can and might go wrong several times. I was as ready as I could probably be.
The plane (holding about 20 other divers) starts unloading and now, this was becoming real! My coaches and I make our way to the edge of the plane. My reserve side instructor climbs out the side of the plane and is hanging on. I get in position; check and then step out into my first real skydive. Flying really wasn’t that bad! In fact, I was surprised at how calm and relaxed I actually was. I guess that’s what happens with a solid day of hardcore training. 5 500 feet comes up, I waive off my coaches, and pull. ‘Is this what it’s supposed to look like? How long did it take for my chute to open? Are my lines tangled? Oh that’s what the toggles look like! Is this how I steer? I guess so! Alright I’m good! Into the drop zone I fly. Apparently my landing was kind of rough but I really don’t remember because I was experiencing such a rush at the time.
“Quick! Gather up your shit, we can probably get you your level two before the day is done!!!” Brian yells across the landing strip, eager to keep training moving as quickly as possible. I run into the office, sign up for it, and run to the class to learn what’s next.
“For level two, you’ll be learning how to fly forward, faster and straighter”. No problem I thought as I had already been turning in full circles etc. in the wind tunnel. I’m not getting cocky at this point, just realizing that this is potentially doable. (Getting my skydiver’s license, I still don’t know if this stunt is going to go down). A fifteen minute class, including a quick video, and I was back in my gear, and ready to go.
The ascent this time was a lot calmer for me as I really got into a meditative state, centered on my breathing. Again, not cocky, just more confident as to what to expect. Door opens up, people load out and now it’s my turn. Check with my coaches and I’m ready to go. This time however, was not as smooth as the last.
I have been having some problems with my legs thus far in the wind tunnel. Forgetting the advice that when your legs are out of control, tap them together. This makes your legs a conscious part of your body and typically, you will naturally correct them. Flying 120 mph + and remembering all of the communication, altimeter readings, and checks makes it easy to forget to tap your flailing feet together. That was problem number one.
I’ve come to realize that skydiving, especially in the early stages, is all about communication. Communicating while falling at terminal velocity is hard to do. Factor in the safety; all of the checks you have to do at LEAST every five seconds and learning the right form so that you gain muscle memory makes it even harder. One of the exercises in your level one and level two, is while you’re flying, to reach back and put your hand on your pilot chute handle (aka the rip cord) to show your instructor that you know where it is. This was easy and natural the first dive, but the second dive, for some reason I couldn’t find it right away on the second and third attempt. My instructor, seeing that I’m not finding it right away, tried grabbing my hand to show me where it was. This mad me panic and that is NOT good when you’re freefalling. You NEVER want to panic.
I was able to ease the panic feeling by flying back in my arch formation. After getting the go ahead from the instructor (again… constant communication) I changed my body shape which changed my aerodynamics which made me rocket forward. I unknowingly dropped my arms to far down to the side creating what’s called a Delta position. This is the fasted position you can skydive in and not the position I was supposed to be in. I was already falling fast, but this made a NOTICABLE difference. My instructors were surprised at first and had to play catch up. One of them is a gold medal skydiver so this was not a difficult task, just a surprising one. Now I’m back in formation and I’m nearing 5 500 feet. Time to pull. Now comes next obstacle, I once again, can’t find my handle to pull my pilot chute open.
If there is one thing I’ve learned from doing major stunts, it’s that there is always a massive failure of epic, uncomfortable proportions in the practice run. This leaves a very real thought that ‘hey, jackass, pay attention, be focused or this will happen in the real thing’. Escape to cloud nine had it with the bungee jumping boots nearly slipping off, and now Down and Out has is with the helpless, and I mean terrifyingly helpless feeling, of not being able to find the pilot chute handle. What was only a few seconds (and at least 1000 feet!) felt like an eternity. With no deployment in site, my coach had to come in and pull my chute open for me.
Another major theme, aside from little movements having a BIG impact (today for me that was my arms being about 6 inches lower then they should have been causing me to fall EXTRA fast) and the theme of communication being key (also today demonstrated by making an out of control situation controllable) a third major theme came into play. This third theme is undoubtedly, going to be the key to survival for me. Especially with this stunt. It is also, unfortunately, the most unnatural and seems to go against all instinct. The ability to remain calm… relax… and breathe… when in a terrible situation will no doubt, need to be learned, and learned fast in order to insure safety. My philosophy is after all paid to breathe! You’re thinking this might come naturally but in a new situation, man it’s tough.
A debriefing after my perfect landing revealed that my instructor was trying to guide my hand to the pilot chute handle. He was not panicking because he’s had to do it 1000 times before. For me, a newbie, not being able to find it right away, caused panic, and having another, and I should point out helping hand, on mine, only caused me to panic more. Isn’t it funny how sometimes, even though we know we are being helped, we still fight it? I know next time that I need to just take an extra deep breathe, relax, and learn from people that are experienced and comfortable with the situation.
After my parachute was pulled open for me, (thank god for coaches!) and I did my checks and made sure this parachute was probably flyable and not going to kill me, I was really able to enjoy the canopy flight back down to the earth. This was the last flight of the night and as I was circling to the ground, I had the most spectacular view of southern California. It was an inspiring feeling being literally the only one in the sky at that moment. I was the only student in the last planeload, which made me the slowest flyer. With everyone on the ground, I was the only one left in the sky.
Yes, I’m afraid of heights, but beauty on a scale that big is a not only an equalizer of fear, it surpasses it immensely. Now I found myself working out ways of dealing with beauty instead of dealing with fear. Words of wisdom for dealing with this situation (dealing with beauty) were given to me, ironically, by perhaps the most beautiful person on the planet. She told me that when you take in something like this, and it’s SO beautiful you feel like you’re about to explode, you have to slow right down, and absorb it using one sense at a time. These handy words of wisdom now had a second place for practice aside from dealing, sense by sense, with her breathtaking beauty.
I heard my parachute canopy fluttering quietly in the wind. The planes were far enough away that it was just me floating. And when I’d turn with my back to the wind, peaceful silence.
I smelled crisp, clean air. Thankfully far enough away from LA to avoid the smog!
I tasted adrenaline and serenity all at the same time.
I saw a completely unobstructed 360-degree (at my control) view of the city and earth below. I saw a golden sun setting through snow peaked mountains.
I felt my steering toggles, which literally made me one with the wind. Feeling every bump and every current and most importantly, feeling safe, focused, and a sense of accomplishment for putting into action the process of achieving my big dream. I also felt my harness which has the tendency to ride up… that feeling wasn’t so great.
Jumps Today: 2
Total # of Jumps: 3
