Skydiving adventures: To tandem or not to tandem....

Ok, where do I begin? Like the vast majority of people I know, I have always subscribed to the theory that if the pilot is landing in the plane, I see no good reason why I shouldn't too. Despite knowing that my partner had been passionate about skydiving, I was never tempted to give it a try.

That started to change about 3 years ago. I was fascinated why any healthy intelligent individual would voluntarily throw themselves out of a moving aircraft about 2 miles above the ground. After lots of discussions and some gentle investigation, I considered doing a tandem jump. I went for the obligatory medical and was given the option of being signed off either just for tandems, or for solo-jumping. The medical form lasted for 3 years, cost the same either way and hey, you just never know, right? So I opted for the solo jump version. And then stuck it in a drawer for a couple of years......

Fast forward to July this year and somehow I ended up at a drop zone waiting to do a tandem jump (our second attempt - the first was cancelled due to bad weather). Absolutely petrified. There were multiple shocks in store:

1. A Caravan plane is tiny! It only has one engine and looks like something I should be flying with a remote control, not sitting in and actually leaving the ground!
2. Two miles is a very long way up. Aforementioned aeroplane looks smaller than an ant at that height and the skydivers are practically invisible until they deploy their parachutes.
3. I will have no control over the process whatsoever. I am to be securely attached to an instructor who will tip us both out of the aircraft at the appropriate moment and I am supposed to smile for the camera at this point. Am I insane???
and so on and so forth....

By the time we were kitted out and ready to walk to the plane, I was pretty much convinced I had lost my mind. Even though my partner was also doing a tandem (ironically, his first) so he could be in the plane with me, I was not at all convinced that I could actually go through with it, though I was still prepared to give it a go. So it was something of a relief that high winds meant our lift was stood down and after further gusts, jumping was suspended for the rest of the day.  We went and rebooked for the following weekend and decided to go for a morning slot instead of an afternoon slot to increase our chances of actually going up.

Over the course of that week, I assuaged much of my initial apprehension by asking dozens of questions and surfing the web for more information. It seems skydiving is a pretty safe sport for the most part - as with any activity, it is generally the people who push the extreme edge who get hurt or killed, though obviously accidents can and do happen. Statistically, I am far more likely to have something horrendous happen to me on the motorway in a car crash than from following the strict safety procedures on a tandem skydive.

So back we went the following Sunday (04 Aug 2013 for the record, lol) and this time I was very chilled about the whole thing. Our briefing was very different this time - I was very glad I'd had the briefing the previous week, which was full of humour and answered lots of questions and definitely didn't talk about death and dying and pain. Unlike this time! The instructor must have mentioned death at least 6 times, and when explaining that we were not to grab at our tandem instructors' hands, pointed out that he would head-butt, bite, kick, or cause whatever pain was necessary in order to get his hands back again in order to control the canopy. Not exactly confidence-inspiring!!

All that notwithstanding, I was very relaxed as we boarded the plane. I had opted for a video and photographs (I needed proof, as there's no way I'm doing this again!) and the TIs and cameraman had arranged things so that both of us could be in the video and some of the photos which meant Rich would go out first and me second. I was very curious how things would look at different heights when I actually knew what the height was, so my instructor Guy showed me his altimeter as we climbed, and I managed to keep myself oriented so I knew roughly where the landing zone was. I was so relaxed I dozed off for a few minutes whilst waiting to get to final altitude, much to the consternation of Rich and his instructor who thought I might be freaking out.
When it came to it, there was a nervous moment when the door was opened, the cameraman climbed out onto the outside of the plane, then Rich and Chris shuffled to the door and pop! they were gone. Uh oh, me next! I had absolute trust in Guy so was still very calm as we wriggled to the door. I tucked my feet up as I had been instructed, smiled at Andy for the camera (oops, forgot to put my head back on Guy's shoulder, lol), a quick thumbs up, then suddenly the world turned upside down. More than once. Where the hell am I, what is happening, it's so COLD! And NOISY! Yes, it had been mentioned but seriously??? Why would anyone do this for fun??? And my ear hurts! Oh, what's that? - it's Andy, bobbing about in front of me. How did he get there? Smile for the camera, thumbs up, what do I do with my hands now?

Look at the view - I can see for miles. Where am I? Where are we going? I have no sense of which direction is which and can't see the landing zone or even the airfield, despite looking for landmarks on the way up in the plane.

Guy deploys the parachute and with a big jolt, we are suddenly under canopy. So peaceful, so quiet, we can talk now :-) I am still fascinated by the view and can't stop looking around. We do some turns and spirals which feels like a roller-coaster and my stomach lurches but it's great fun. This is more like it! This is the fun bit :-) And now I can see the landing zone, though it seems to be approaching very fast. Surely we're not going to land at this speed?? Umm, legs up, feet flat, ready... and bump, we're down, sliding quite impressively to a halt. Rich is already there with Chris, as is Andy - and I am somewhat bemused by the whole experience. Where is the euphoria? Or conversely, the gut-churning terror? I've never heard of anyone being ambivalent about skydiving before. Isn't this supposed to be one of those "Marmite-moments" - you know, you either love it or you hate it, but no-one is ever just ok about it. I was quite enthusiastic but not really that fussed about doing it again. Cue one confused boyfriend, one confused instructor and one confused photographer, lol.

Click here --> Tandem video