First Time

[robr 0]

This is my first post here. I wanted to wait before posting until I had actually gone out of an airplane of my own free will.
Ok, so maybe it wasn't a real jump. But I jumped a tandem today and I'm hoping to start AFF either this week or sometime very soon. Man, what a rush. Anyways, to set the story:
I had heard last year that it might be possible to jump under 18 with parental permission, so I e-mailed the not-so-local DZ CPI to see if I could jump last summer. They said no, which caused me to wait until now. And lemme tell you, that wait was hell. So I've been waiting for this spring since then, especially waiting for this week, since it's spring break for me. I e-mailed CPI again a couple weeks ago to ask what a good plan of action was, and they suggested that I do a tandem first, just to make sure I'm not a complete anti-skydiver. So I got one scheduled for today. Skip ahead to last night. Woke up twice in the middle of the night thinking about it, then managed to almost oversleep this morning (stupid alarm clock). Looked out my window and there were clouds in the air and raindrops on my window. As nervous as I was, that was such a disappointing sight, until I got to walking out to my car to drive up (ugh, hour and a half drive) it turned out to be nice and sunny and warm and beautiful.
I finally got up there, and my car stalls as I park -- not a good sign. There are already three people there who are going to do tandems; they actually came yesterday but couldn't go (too windy, I think). Their first jumps too. They went first, and let me say again, waiting is hell. They all went and came one by one, with a bit of a wait in between, so I had plenty of time to talk to them and get thinking about it. I filled out all the waivers (I swear, every other word on the waiver was 'death' or 'die' or something morbid like that), signed away my soul, and paid up. Gets to be about one-ish, I think, and I've been sitting there for a couple hours, watching people jump, refusing to eat for fear of throwing up, and waiting. At that point, Jim walks over and gets me in a harness and starts pointing out stuff to me. He tells me all the stuff I should make sure to do up there, and what he'll do if I don't. We go through exiting the plane, and how I can avoid him whacking me on the head ;-). After that, quick bladder break, and then we board the Cessna. FOr some reason, I thought it would be bigger, but with four people jumping (me and Jim, then Frankie and Tony (Tom? sorry, can't remember) went up too), it was pretty cramped. Looking out the windows, Jim pointed out UConn, Hartford, Long Island sound, and all the local sights to me. Up about 9,000 feet I started thinking "Why am I doing this? What's the point? Can I still duck out?" and getting all nervous and tunnel-visiony and stuff. Jim just told me to breath and relax. Amazingly enough, I did. As we got up to 10,500 and first Tony (Tom?) then Frankie went out the door, all I could think was "Please Lord, don't let me screw up or puke or anything." I couldn't believe afterwards; I wasn't so concerned about the fact that I was jumping out of an airplane, just that I didn't want to completely mess it up. Got my feet out on the step, which was a lot easier than I thought, crouched down as much as I could and then away we went. Wow. Wow wow wow wow. Wow! Whoo. Wow. Simply amazing. Very awesome. So much fun. And that wasn't even a for-real-on-my-own jump. And in case you missed it, let me just say Wow. Freefall is just amazing and awesome and wondrous and I can't even describe how I felt. I had my feet tucked back, and Jim spun us around a couple of times, checked the altimeter, damn already down to 7900. Looked all around me, looked down at the drop zone, felt the wind on my face, on my hands, on my legs, would have shouted for joy but my mouth was too dry. Checked the altimeter again, drop on 6000, and Frankie came over and linked up with Jim for a second. After that, Jim pulled my head back and opened up the chute. It was so quiet without the wind going by so fast and he let me steer the chute for a bit. It's so awesome to be just floating up there. At the time, I didn't even really feel him strapped on behind me. Oh, let me just say again Wow. We circled around, and he showed me how to steer, how to be upwind, and all that, and then he took control to land us. Sitting there coming in, the last couple hundred feet just melted away and then we were on the ground. Holy crap that was awesome. It seemed like we were up there forever, but on the ground, it seemed to go by so quickly. I wanted to do it again, and still do. I hope I didn't look like too much of an idiot wannabe, and I hope I can get certified soon. Unfortunately, time and money (and parents who think my priorities are messed up) means I will have to wait a bit before I can start AFF.
I have to say, that skydiving is addictive. I can't wait to actually jump on my own and feel the wind going by my face again.
Thanks Jim for taking me down, Scott, Nancy, and Nick for going first, and everyone at CPI.
Still full of adrenalin,
Rob

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Welcome to life !!
When you participate in sporting events, its not whether you win or loose, its how drunk you get.

[bbarnhouse 0]

what do you mean not a "real jump"? You jumped out of the airplane didn't you?
Congarats! and welcome!
It only takes a little pixie dust......

[PhillyKev 0]

Congrats, man. Wish I would have had the balls to do it as soon as I turned 18. Wanted to, but couldn't get anyone to go with me. Waited 10 more years until a bunch of us from work went, and immediately thought I should have done it way before. Needless to say I didn't need anyone else to go with me after that. Don't worry about looking like a wannabe. I felt the same way at first, but you'll find a lot of cool people in this sport who seek out low timers so they can re-experience the newness of jumping. I'm still under a hundred jumps, but I love watching the tandems come in from their first jump and asking them how they liked it.
Oh yeah..and...
"I didn't even really feel him strapped on behind me. "
Might wanna check who had the 'chute and who was strapped to who :-)
cielos azules y cerveza fría
-Kevin

[QuickDraw 0]

Quote

I hope I can get certified soon

Hehe.. them straight jackets make finding the handles really tough .
Welcome aboard m8.
..Billions of people living out their lives..Oblivious..

[SkydiveMonkey 0]

Quote

them straight jackets make finding the handles really tough

Tell me about it !! Lucky I was jumping a rig with a CyPReS !!
When you participate in sporting events, its not whether you win or loose, its how drunk you get.

[pilotdave 0]

congrats on your first jump. I'll probably be jumping a bit at CPI this summer since it's the closest DZ to where I'll be living. I'll be working at Sikorsky this summer actually, so maybe I can arrange some blackhawk jumps. yeah right. Dave
http://www.skydivingmovies.com

[TheMarshMan1 0]

Congrats on your first jump, and best of luck on AFF!!! Oh, and another thing....

Quote

(and parents who think my priorities are messed up)

...don't worry too much about that, my parents still grumble about it, but they got over it! "If I could be like that, I would give anything, just to live one day, in those shoes..."

[jumppilot01 0]

>>>(and parents who think my priorities are messed up)<<<
Man do I hear that. I'm in college now and still rely on my parents for a significant amount of my 'fun money', but when I discovered skydiving, well, lets just say I know why college students graduate into debt.
My mom and I were having a conversation, and when she confronted me about my skydiving spending she told me, "Adam, I want to make sure you know its just a sport...You do know this, right?"
JUST a sport?
Congrats and welcome!
-Adam

[DENGOPHER 0]

welcome to the game dude!!! get ready for the best time of life !!!! now you get to start living!!!! enjoy !!!
just jump!!!!
gopher

[FallinWoman 1]

Great post!!!
I did a tandem first, too...and it IS a real skydive....but there is something cool about doing it all yourself.
Welcome to the sky. I look forward to hearing about your next jump!
Anne

[wndrer73 0]

Rob,
As someone who recently went through the same experiences as you, let me also join everyone by saying Congratulations and welcome to the incredible, awesome, amazing world of skydiving!!!! My first tandem was in January, 2nd tandem in February, 1st AFF in February, and 2nd AFF in March. I failed that class and am not able to jump for at least a few more weeks for reasons I wont get into right now, but I can't wait to feel that rush again!
I could relate to everything you said about your jump ... I had exactly the same feelings and I'm sure almost everyone does.... Jumping out of the plane is the easy part -- the hard part is the ride up to altitude!! ;-)
So anyway, as someone said to me once, "Welcome to the sky!"
"Welcome to the sky!" -- My video/photographer, after my second tandem jump

[gale 0]

Congradulations! I love to hear from other newbies. I just did jump #11, it's taken for ever because of the weather but it's getting better. I'm a university student (like someone said they were) and know that sometimes people can't understand why I spend money on this "sport" but I have to say that I've never felt this way about anything before. I know the instant addiction you've felt. It only gets better.
Gale
Life's not worth living if you can't feel alive

[skybytch 273]

Congrats and welcome!

Quote

and parents who think my priorities are messed up

Of course they do. That's what parents are for!
pull & flare,
lisa