Moments D433: My turn - Up Close & Personal

I spent the entire day on the CSC drop zone today. I watched the wingsuit crew come and go as they made their competition jumps. I took a zillion photos of the skies filled with the canopies of parachutes. I took a few more of the wingsuit crew while they were on the ground. Some shortly after landing, other photos of them as they re-packed their chutes. What an incredible amount of activity to take in. Top it off with the fact that it was a beautiful day, sunny, though windy and not too hot. I have some amazing photos.

But, the very biggest part of my day was my first ever tandem jump. After going up in one of the planes that the wingsuit crew jumped from as an observer (yes I came down with the plane!), I had an idea of what it would look like. Interestingly, I wasn't freaked out at all to see people jump from the plane as an observer. (Some of the crew thought I might be.)   I was ready to check this off my bucket list!

My tandem jump was scheduled near the end of the day, not quite sunset, but very darn close. What an incredible moment it was as I was sitting in the loading area with my AWESOME tandem instructor Woody. He kept me talking on the ride up to 14,000 feet; a smart tactic for those that may find themselves overly nervous. I was nervous (any new experience brings nerves), but I wasn't worried about it. I knew that I was in the best hands that I could be in.

Stepping off the plane, a lot surreal. Sixty seconds of freefall – uber-surreal. The wind hitting you at ~130 miles per hour means that it’s loud and it’s powerful. I was thankful for the goggles as even with them I had tears running from my eyes. But it wasn't enough to stop me from looking around. Watching the plane “fall” away from me, smiling and giving the camera man a thumbs up, finding EQ in the air for a kiss-pass (apparently quite common in the sport!), and of course looking for the ground.  In freefall I couldn't (or didn't) see the curvature of the earth, but in this photo during my jump, you can really see it!

Before I knew it, my 60s of freefall was over and the chute was opened.  We were quickly snapped into a much slower fall under the canopy. Woody gave me the reins and I was navigating the chute above us. It was incredible to be floating to the earth as I was. Woody even had us do a few spins around as we floated down. So much fun. It wasn't until we approached the ground again that I had any sense of the speed we were arriving at. Of course, after watching the process all day, I knew that the landing was pretty quick and when done well, you basically were set upon your feet gently. Woody (and I?) landed it perfectly on our feet. An amazing experience that was followed by many greetings of congratulations, hugs, high fives, and laughter from the entire crew I met yesterday. Again, very surreal to have them share such energy with me, the newbie.

A huge thank you to EQ and his teammates for making it such an incredibly special moment for me. The memory of falling away from the plane (those 3-4 seconds I could see it) is a memory will be with me forever.  

Moments stepping outside the box (or in this case the plane).

Moments realizing you really can do anything you set your mind to.

Time to revisit my list!