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So I am still alive! I survived my first AFF (Accelerated FreeFall) jump. I had always toyed with the idea of skydiving, but I was never one that a) would go out of his way to find people to go with and/or to go on my own b)Due to my weight I wasnt able to do a “solo” jump and well tandem was out of the question as well. I supposed that I couldnt really do much about the second reason, I’ve always been a fucking fatass and I never did see it necessary to drop my weight; as for the first reason uhmm well I am a lazy sack of shit and thats that.
I’d like to take the time to thank one of the most amazing people I’ve ever had to pleasure to meet and interact with in my entire life, Christie. Had it not being for her I wouldnt have jumped today. I’d like to thank you for your support and for all the wonderful things that you do for me, for all the things that you make me want to do, and for all the things that you have made me rethink/reanalyze, and for all the “self-improvement” that I’d like to accomplish because of you (well not really, the self-improvement is for me, but it was triggered by your presence 🙂 te quiero linda). I honestly cannot thank you enough, I cant put into words just how grateful I am. Christie, I get it now.
I had the pleasure of performing my first jump at the safest place in the east coast to do either an AFF and/or a tandem jump http://www.skydivewestpoint.com I had the pleasure of meeting, being trained and filmed by the owner of this drop zone Mr Jim Crouch. I had two instructors with me and they were also increcibly nice and cool Mr John Wade and Mr Kris Bagwell, without their help the jump wouldnt have been as great as it was.
Who wants to go skydiving? I believe I am gonna go sometime before I go to Peru in July.
I am only afraid of one thing, getting addicted to this, because I cannot afford to fucking jump frequently with the job I currently have.
THE TRAINING:
As I mentioned previously, I had the pleasure of being trained by MR Jim Crouch, owner of westpointskydive and also happens to be the Director of Safety and Training for the US Parachute association. The training goes for about 4 to 5 hours, sometimes a little longer depending on the size of the class and the ability of the students to grasp all of the information that is fed to you during class. Despite the fact that the class concentrates heavily in safety, and makig you understand that the goal is a safe landing with a perferctly working canopy, the class is not boring at all; in fact Jim has a rather funny sense of humor and he is so laid back that it almost feels as if the class was taught by an old friend. Jim will also make jokes during class and either you get them or you dont. The jokes tend to make alot more sense after the jump in case you didnt get them when you first heard them.
THE ASCEND:
I was lucky enough to have been jumping out of a very nice plane, I cant remember the model/name, but it has a door in the back/ramp in the back and this is where you will dive off into nothingness. The climb is nice and smooth. The planes at westpoint climb up to about 14000 feet and at this point is when you make your exit.
THE JUMP:
After going through all the safety checks for your gear and for your freefall technique, the moment you’ve been waiting for arrives. 14000 feet up in the air and you are standing in the back of a perfectly working airplane, and you do what any sensible person would do JUMP BECAUSE THERE WAS A DOOR OPEN!!! heheh old skydive joke :). While standing right by the doof you must perform what is called a “hotel check”, basically you look to your right and make eye contact with instructor and wait for his nod to signal that everything is coolio, then you look over to your left, make eye contact with instructor and wait for his signal. Once the hotel check has been performed, then you perform the dive. Basically you must jump out of the plane as if you are diving into a pool, however the second you get out of the plane you must arch your back (think of a fat man with a big belly) throw your arms back as well as your leg to e in the perfect position to freefall. My jump had no complications whatsoever, I did my safety checks way early in the free fall, almost immediately after getting out of the plane because a) I did not want to have to worry about that stuff later and a much lower altitude b) I wanted to concentrate on the freefall and reading the altimeter. I dont think I took my eyes off the altimeter for more than a couple of seconds the entire time. Mr John Wade assisted me with hand signals throughout the entire free fall, I think the sequence went as follows ARCH/STRAIGHTEN LEGS/ARCH/STRAIGHTEN LEGS/ARCH until we reached bout 6000 feet, then I locked my eyes in my altimeter and at 5500 I pulled the pilot for the parachute and begin the slow descend towards earth. While the descend gives an unreal and spectacular view of the world around around, it also made me sad because the closer I got to the ground the more I wanted this to not end. The Free fall was the shit!!! there is nothing like falling towards the earth doing more than 120 miles an hour. Christie tells me that I was unusually aware of everything that was going on around me for my first time jumping. I’d like to think that I just wanted to get out of this alive so that I wouldnt have to miss my long awaited 4 week vacation to Peru later on this year.
I cant say that I wasnt nervous about jumping. The minute I signed off the waiver of release for the dropzone, I was fully aware of the risks involved; but I was more excited than anything. I had so much adrenaline pumping through my veins that once I was in the freefall I concentrated in obeying the hand signals from the instructors and reading my altimeter for altitude awareness. I have been scared alot more for other things, things that do not have death as possible outcome, and now in retrospect I think of those situations and I cannot help but say that I was just being dramatic..gay gay gay <<