So you think you'd like to skydive?
by Richard Simms
posted November 2, 2009
) Photo by Richard Simms Tiffany and Priscilla Simms watch other Tandem Skydivers float to Earth as they await their turn to take the plunge. Watch video of a jump below. |
I was a little bit taken aback... but not too much so. I think it is in her genes. Her Dad has always been a little bit of an adrenalin junky. Not the overly extreme sport-type, but in my college days I spent many, many days exploring deep dark caves, hanging from the end of ropes rappelling, and occasionally hanging by my fingernails on rock cliffs.
Like most college kids, I was immortal. I well remember a rappelling harness that, just as I touched the ground, burned in two from the whizzing rope as my friends and I competed to see who could make a 150-foot free fall drop the fastest. I remember venturing off into a cave alone, falling and extinguishing my carbide lamp, without a backup light. I remember more than one bout with serious hypothermia after crawling through underground streams, hoping to go where no man has gone before.
Like most, I survived more than one event that could have easily gone the other way, ending up as the lead story on the 6:00 news.
But when the idea of an honest-to-goodness skydive stared me in the face, I had to think about it.
Video included at bottom of article
Since Tiffany was only 13 years old however, I had an easy out.
''We’ll do it when you turn 16,” I told her.
As life is prone to do, especially in the world of teenagers, priorities changed and when Tiffany turned 16, my skydiving promise was easily forgotten by both of us. Or so I thought.
Flash forward to Father’s Day 2009. Tiffany is now 24 years old. My present for Father’s Day… a Tandem Skydive with Adventure Skydiving Centers (ASC) in Cedartown, Ga.
Uh Oh… she hadn’t forgotten.
The scene in the ASC center is one of organized chaos.
We made our first trip to Cedartown in September. We started South under blue skies, but the farther we went, the lower the clouds got. After several hours it became clear… no skydiving today.
Oct. 15… Tiffany agrees to make a weekend road trip with me. Quail hunting at Barnsley Gardens Resort, a visit to the Georgia Aquarium and culminating with The Skydive in Cedartown. Priscilla came to join us apparently deciding she couldn’t let her sister and her Dad go it alone.
The morning dawn clear and blue. It was apparent the weather would provide us with no excuses today.
Tiffany Simms "suits up" for her skydive. FYI, I had to encourage her to smile,
If you go visit ASC Skydiving, don’t be prepared for a tremendous amount of organization. These extreme sports-type are real keen on that kind of stuff. Do be prepared to fill out paperwork and watch a video that makes it very clear, ''You might die if you do this. And if you die, you can’t sue us.”
The legal eagles in the skydiving business try their best to scare you off, basically saying that you must agree that skydiving is risky business, and that in exchange for them providing the thrill of your life, you must accept responsibility for the danger. They don’t.
''Okay, where do I sign,” I asked, thinking ''I’m too old for this.”
Take playing cards or computers. There is a lot of ''waiting around” for your turn to skydive.
We all had signed up for videos. Video included at bottom of article
If I was going to do it, I wanted definitive proof, no matter what it cost, which was a lot. Basically you’re paying for another skydiver who goes along as your exclusive videographer.
Waiting I was calm. Suiting up in my harness I was calming. Doing my little ''introduction” video I was calm. Climbing on the plane and even up into the air I was calm.
Lead skydivers are constantly checking their altimeters. Today we were jumping from maximum tandem height of 14,500 feet. At 10,000 feet I was calm.
Suddenly someone’s altimeter displayed 12,000. Mike, my skydiving lifeline, began tightening up the harness which held us in tandem. With me seated in front, it was tight!
Suddenly I was no longer calm. From 12,000 feet I felt my heart rate climbing aright along with the altitude. My breath got short and labored. As tightly as we were strapped together, I knew Mike could feel every breath I took. There were many, and they were fast. I struggled to calm myself for fear Mike would laugh out loud.
We hit the magic number of 14,500 and the sliding door came open. A blast of cold air filled the cabin making my already labored breathing even more difficult.
Skydivers are sitting astraddle a bench. Mike and I were last on our bench. One by one each team slid forward, paused at the door briefly with the October Earth far, far below, and then disappeared in a flash.
Mike and I pushed forward. In the video I look calm. I wasn’t… but there was absolutely no desire to stop… no voices in my head saying ''don’t go.” Besides, Mike had already told that whenever people balked, he usually just shoved them out the door anyway.
Suddenly we tumbled out in a flip. I saw Earth then sky then plane then Earth again. We settled out flat and Mike tapped my shoulders, the pre-arranged signal I had been taught, indicating I should extend my arms and legs in the traditional ''freefall style.”
Some people tell you that you have no sensation of falling. That wasn’t true for me.
Your face makes some strange contortions when its whipped by a 120 mph wind.
While it true that the ground is so far away, there is no visible perception of falling. And my stomach did not turnover like it does on a roller coaster ride. But the incredible wind and rush of air made it very clear to me that I was indeed falling, very fast.
They say terminal velocity on a tandem dive is 120 miles per hour. I can tell you that when you’re mouth is open at 120 mph, you CANNOT breath in and out in typical fashion.
Another instructor (not Mike) told us, ''If you have trouble breathing, breath in your mouth then close it and breath out your nose.”
I remembered that just before I passed out and began to enjoy the ride.
It is a short ride. On a tandem dive from 14,500 feet, you will free fall for about one minute. All the while my exclusive videographer, who goes by ''V,” was whirling all around us like a bird catching high angles, low angles and even close-ups. All while keeping his helmet cameras aimed at me recording, and clicking away with a mouth-operated still camera. In retrospect, videographers earn their money.
I couldn’t se it in the air, but on camera you see Mike make a sharp cutting motion with both arms, indicating to V that’s he’s going for the ripcord. I had absolutely no idea it was coming until I noticed V was disappearing away in rush, and wondering why?
Then the chute opened wide, I jerked upward as my harness dug deeply into my crotch. Ouch! I suddenly had some idea what a catfish feels, in reverse, when I rudely yank him off the bottom of the river.
Prior to the jump I fully expected to feel an incredible sense of relief when the parachute opened, realizing I was not going to plummet into the dirt like bullet. I was shocked when I actually felt some disappointment when the chute opened. I was actually just starting to enjoy the freefall.
But then it was time for a relaxing ride to Earth. I could breath easily and admire the view. Mike pointed out the skyscrapers in downtown Atlanta and beyond we could actually see Stone Mountain, more than 60 miles away.
Since I was last out I got to look down and pick out Tiffany and Priscilla’s bright nylon chutes as they too circled lazily to Earth.
Things got stressful again when Mike started loosening my harness in preparation for our landing. But he worked fast and professionally. Once ready for landing he made a couple of lazy circles, and then a couple of pretty intense tight circles. I don’t know if he was setting up for the landing or just taking me for a ride.
He had told me early on that we would only land on our feet if conditions were absolutely perfect, meaning a stiff headwind. Otherwise we would land butt first, and he really wouldn’t know which until the last moment.
As we sped toward the ground he yelled, ''Feet up, feet up!” which meant we were headed for a butt landing.
At the last second he maneuvered the chute to pull us up so now we sped along parallel to the ground, settling in for a perfect, and VERY gentle, sliding stop on our rear-ends.
Mike deftly unsnapped my harness and stood up as I collapsed. He and V prepared to go do it all over again, as they do many times a day (they get paid by the jump).
Priscilla, Tiffany and I gathered to compare notes… and share what is bound to be a heavy-duty ''bonding experience” for years to come.
I am very glad to have ''been there, done that,” but would I recommend it?
No, skydiving is not something I would encourage, or discourage, anyone to do. I think it has got to be a little bit like religion…. everyone should follow their own heart.
WATCH THE VIDEO
Learn more at: www.skydivecenter.com
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