I recently watched a motivational speech with Will Smith regarding skydiving. During his speech, Will Smith said “You realize that at the point of maximum danger, is the point of minimum fear. It’s bliss!” It’s a hard emotional experience to convey to someone who has never taken a leap out of a perfectly workable airplane.
On the plane ride up to 14,000ft and even before while I was on the ground, I really was not feeling motivated to jump. It was an inner battle with myself, trying to stay focused while having doubts in my head. I couldn’t shake the anxious feeling and the plane ride up was a grueling one. At one point I remember saying to myself “What if I just tell them I can’t jump this time and ride the plane back down?”. I caught myself, gave my head a shake and told myself if I back out, I’ll scare myself out of ever doing it again. I ran through everything logically from the plan for the skydive to the emergency procedures. I still for whatever reason could not shake the uneasy feeling.
The door slid open and jumpers were away. It was just my instructor Scott and I left to clear out. I got to the edge of the bench and my mind went blank. My fears dissolved, my brain lit up, it was skydive time. I approached the door, took a look down spotted the dropzone and looked to my left for the okay from Scott. I rocked forward, back and out the door I jumped. Watching the plane slowly fly away, I started to get the sensation I was going to fall onto my back. My legs squirmed looking for stability. I took a deep breath and trusted the Arch position. With each passing second, I could feel my body position stable out as I maintained the arch and proceeded with my Practice Pilot Chute Deploy while on the Hill. The hill is what you experience moments after exiting. Your body is jumping out at the same speed as the plane while the winds and gravity try to move your body. It’s an odd feeling, not scary, it’s like the wind is catching you and you feel like are going to flip backward but it passes after about 3-4 seconds.
Throughout the skydive, I’d be maintaining altitude awareness while I performed some maneuvers. First up was a backflip. It’s hard to practice this on the ground but I was so excited to try it out. I flipped backward and because of hand position continued for a second spin with me sort of doing a side flip, to exit out of the spin and regain stability. I knew it wasn’t perfect but time is precious so it was on to the front flip. I untucked my legs prematurely leading me to stop in a “Sit Fly” position. My body was telling me it wanted to go backward, no matter how much I tried to lean forward. If there is anything I’ve learned from Scuba Diving and Skydiving thus far, you will never win in a fight with mother nature. I let myself flip backward and reset my belly-to-earth position.
I was super excited and wanted to try it again to perfect it. I looked over to Scott, motioned a flip signal to which he waved “No way screw that, come here let’s have fun!”, I tracked towards Scott and we docked. It’s a funny experience being inches away, face to face with someone while falling 120+ mph through the sky. We both were smiling and at that moment I was so happy for throwing myself out of a perfectly working airplane.
On my landing approach, I undershot the target as the winds were changing on me and I misjudged the distance and speed my parachute would cover. The ground came up faster than what I thought as well. I flared and slid on my feet through the grass which was such a fun feeling. I lit up with a smile and couldn’t have been happier.
Thanks to Scott at Skydive Burnaby for walking me through it, calming me down when I’m voicing my anxieties and giving me the confidence to keep on jumping. It’s amazing to think of the knowledge and confidence that I’ve gained alongside the crazy amount I learned about myself in just a matter of 6 minutes. Truly a blissful experience.
Check me out on Instagram! @greenranger_diver.
Stay tuned. Next weekend I’ll be heading to Tobermory for some annual Shipwreck diving.
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Justin Steele
The Green Ranger