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Free Falling
By Kimberlee Leonard
Skydiving is an activity that piques the curiosity of most people. Invariably, to tell someone you went skydiving, regardless of whether they themselves will ever try it, you get one question, "what was it like?"
When you get past the assumptions that this is a high risk sport meant for the fearless, take a breath to understand that those who jump aren't asking for a death wish, they are seeking to embrace all that life has to offer. These guys at Skydive San Diego are the best, being the only civilian contractor to train all four military branches in skydiving skills. Safety is first with Santa Ana winds grounding everyone. Which is about as big of a bummer as the birthday cake of a 6-year old ending up on the ground before he can dig into it.
The risks? Okay, let's talk about what scares the heck out of people. There could be a malfunction in aircraft, parachute equipment or operator error. A person can break their leg landing in a gopher hole or get caught in a wind that takes them off course and into an unsafe landing zone. Yes people can die, but technology and safety standards have increased the popularity of the sport while decreasing accidents and deaths. There are approximately 25 deaths per year, half of the number 25 years ago and rarely students. Most who die in the sport today are those who push the extremes of high performance parachutes a bit too far.
So what's it like? Well if you really must know, it's truly indescribably. I was surprised at the extreme mental clarity I had through the few seconds of freefall, awareness of the earth, the wind, the cameraman and the man whom my life depended on, my instructor Josh. To understand the experience, you need to understand it from the start.
For tandem jumps, a jump where you are harnessed in with an instructor, there is little training you need to do. If you want to go solo, Blake and the instructors at Skydive San Diego will not let you up unless they know you have the physical and mental capacity to do it. My training involved with learning that my happy position was, squat-walking to the door with my head on my right shoulder while holding my harness. We reviewed how we would exit the craft and what the most important job I had was, keeping my feet to my butt! Knowing I could remember at least that, my confidence rose as I was escorted to the waiting area to watch a few loads land.
While I was entering the plane, I was surprisingly calm and comfortable. The angle of the plane ascension wasn't something I thought about ahead of time and really was my only point of stress. But when you approach the edge, you realize how amazingly difficult it is to "fall" out of an airplane. The wind creates a wall around the plane that literally had Josh rocking me over the edge without us getting sucked out. The best way to describe leaving the plane is tumbling when you know you're falling but it all seems in slow motion. Terror? No.
The clarity of seeing the earth, remembering "feet to butt" and smiling for David, the cameraman was incredible. When you finally clear each other and pull the chute, be prepared for a jolt, but it's not as drastic as I imagined. But that isn't the end of the ride with gliding and weightlessness. It's a rush unlike any other.
The next question, "will I ever do it again?" You bet! Maybe even a solo jump!
Contact Skydive San Diego on the web at:
www.skydivesandiego.com or call
(619) 216-8416.
Tell them Kimberlee sent you!