Howdy all. Don't really know where to start with this post, maybe a little about how I ended up here. Always been a little bit of an adventurer I guess you could say; travelling and experiencing new things has always been a huge part of my life. Before I knew it I had developed a taste for the more "extreme" activities, typical sports never really cut it for me. So naturally racing became a huge part of my life. First snow was my medium (snowcross and downhill skiing), then more recently pavement and two wheels (not much snow in Arizona lol). Motorcycles were a big factor in my life over the last few years and the first half of 2015 was spent racing on tracks across the southwest.
Alright, that brings us to now. Very recently I've been in a position where I am finally going out and experiencing things that I always said I would, but never really did. I have been an avid follower and fan of the world wingsuit league and other various base jumping activities for a few years so obviously skydiving was on my list. So I decided on a whim to go do my first jump which was this prior weekend. I never thought I would find something that would appeal to me nearly as much as road racing....but I was so, so wrong.
My first jump was (from the sounds of it) very much similar to others experiences. In fact I have never done a single thing in my life that has been such a new experience in every way as much as this. From the freefall to the chute ride to the physical elements of it all, shocking is almost the word I would use to describe it. I had no fear of making the jump, definitely a little anxious on the ride up, but not afraid of the experience. However the idea of what the jump would be like in my head was completely different than the actual experience itself. I figured with a history in high speed sports that subject your body to extreme conditions and high stress that I would be fairly used to anything this experience could offer.....once again I was wrong. I think what caught me most off guard was how physically demanding the jump was. I spent what felt like the first half of my jump just learning how to breathe. Then as soon as I was used to that I got to enjoy a few seconds of freefall before my next surprise, deploying the chute. Once deployed the pressure difference caught up and the ringing ears and pain from the pressure on my ears caught me off guard. Now my tandem coach had already told me he was a fan of parachuting over freefall and asked if I wanted to get downt the fun way, I of course obliged and he threw us into a corkscrew(is there an actual term for the maneuver?). The sheer pressure from the g's and quick acceleration really shocked me, only thing going through my head was how much it shocked me that it was this physically demanding. We switched directions a few times and finally landed on the ground, so we had managed to be the last ones out of the otter and the first ones on the ground...but all I could do was laugh. Between my physical training (very invested in the gym) and motorcycle racing how could something as simple as falling through the air be this physically demanding yet equally rewarding?! It took me the rest of the day to actually work out whether or not I actually enjoyed the experience, but after waking up the next morning and getting a grin from just thinking about the view from the airplane door I knew this sport was going to pull me in.
So I did the most logical thing and signed up for my first time jumpers course out in Eloy and will make my first AFF jump next month. I've even decided to put the racing on hold until I have my A license. Since my jump I've also looked into all the different applications a sport like this has and it truly is mind blowing. I really cannot wait to be part of such an amazing sport and community!
