Mama Diaries

Sunday, August 2, 2015

The Big Jump

I did it. I jumped out of a plane! And I'm still alive.

This past Saturday was the day I decided to cross one more thing off of my bucket list:  Sky diving.
It was one crazy experience, but I'm glad I did it. So, let me tell you what it's like, because pictures and videos only tell half the story.



The plane itself is no big deal. You get in a harness and board the thing. There are two benches that go along the length of the plane (at least on the plane I was on). You straddle the bench, and face the back of the plane, next to your instructor and photographer. Then the plane takes off. It's very loud! At 1500 feet, they open the doors of the plane to get "air conditioning," because it gets really stuffy. Before they do that, the instructor hooks you to himself.  At 14,000 feet, it's jump time. You scoot down the bench, squat down, and walk to the edge of the open door. Then you wait. The jump master says, "Ready?"

You say, "Ready!"

Then it's one, two, and you're out the door!

Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you how cold it was up there. Freezing! And did I mention how loud it was? It gets even louder when the wind rushes past you!

I wasn't nervous at all, stooping by the doorway. It seemed like a pretty normal thing to jump out of a plane. But when you go out. Whoa! It takes a second for your brain to figure out what just happened. But it's only a second. Once you figure out that you have to arch your back, look up, and kick your legs up, you're fine. That's when you orient yourself as to which way is up.

My first comment would be how much air is blowing against your face and body. Cold air! You can't look down, because all that cold air rushing up will make it impossible to breathe. You must look up, which isn't a problem when you have a photographer pointing a video camera in your face.  Did I mention how fast you're going? Over 100 miles an hour!  At that point, you don't even have time to think about how nice the view is. You're just wondering what the heck you just did! 

When you're stabilized, you can do tricks. My instructor wanted to know if I got dizzy easily. I didn't think so, so we agreed to test that theory - by spinning in circles. I linked hands with the photographer, and went around a couple of times. Then he let go, and I went around and around and around, all while going down at a hundred miles an hour.

Yeah. Fun!

But then came the part I didn't like. Parachute deployment. I would have been quite happy to free fall all the way down. (Until maybe I splatted on the ground.)  When the parachute is deployed, it's a major jolt to your body. You are yanked from a horizontal position, to a vertical position, and rocketed upward. That's when my harness hurt. Maybe for guys this isn't so bad, but for a woman? Ouch!

After the parachute deploys, it gets quiet, and things slow down. You can talk to your instructor, which is exactly what I did. Except, I was feeling quite nauseated. I'm not sure if it was the spinning, or the falling, the harness, the tight goggles, or the fact that I was very hungry and thirsty (I had waited four hours to do the jump.), or a combination of all of it, but I thought for sure I was going to vomit when I was 2000 feet above the ground.

I wish I had been a little more comfortable at that point, because the view was really beautiful. My instructor asked if I wanted to steer the parachute. I would've if I wasn't feeling like I was going to completely lose my insides. I wanted to get on solid ground, and get that darn harness off of me! (The instructor did loosen it, but it was still uncomfortable.)

The landing was easy. Usually, you have to stick your legs in front of you, and you land on your bottom. We came in slow enough, that I was able to land on my feet.  

When I landed, I was praying I wouldn't throw up. I looked like I was about to in the video, but thankfully, it all stayed inside.



Would I do it again? Yes. It was an awesome (I know - I said "awesome" way too many times in the video. Just deal with it.) experience, and I'm glad I did it. If I do it again, I hope I feel a little better so I can enjoy it even more.



If you'd like to watch an unedited version of the video, here it is

49 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Congratulations, you did it! More than I could ever do.
    Blogger buddy Michael did a jump with some friends and one of them did throw up after landing. So maybe that feeling isn't uncommon.
    Well done, Sherry!

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    1. I wonder how many people actually throw up after the jump. I am so glad I didn't!

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks! One more thing crossed off my bucket list!

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  4. Congrats on not going splat or throwing up haha The harness would probably kill my back if it hurts that much.

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    1. It's not bad when you're walking around, or when you're horizontal in the air, but hanging from the parachute, wasn't fun. It wasn't a back problem - it was a chest problem.

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  5. Your idea of fun and my idea of fun are quite different. I'm glad you survived, and had fun! I can admit I'm not brave enough to strap myself to another human being and hurdle out of a plane at 100 mph.

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  6. Thanks for sharing your experience. Really vivid. I want to do it myself, but I doubt that my doctor will allow me to do it. LOL.

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    1. You have to be in good health, and you sign a lot of waivers that say you can be killed.

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  7. In Bhutan I have seen only armies parachuting during some special events.

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    1. Probably in your country, civilians jumping out of planes is unheard of.

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  8. Wow! I don't know if I'd ever want to do a sky jump but what you've described sounds really exciting and not that frightening. Congratulations on the successful jump, Sherry!

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  9. Wow. Glad you had a great time. I don't know if I could have managed, but that's why you went up and I didn't.

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    1. It was on my bucket list, and I'm glad I did it!

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  10. Hi, Sherry! I am in awe of you. There aren't very many people who would attempt skydiving. You set a goal, challenged yourself and succeeded. Empowered, you are ready to do it again with a new goal of mastery. Congratulations!

    Sherry, I have been seeing your face around the blog circuit for at least four years. It means a great deal to me that you have chosen to follow SDMM. I look forward to getting to know you and becoming friends. Enjoy the week ahead, dear Sherry!

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    1. Thanks, Shady! I've seen you around, too. I should've followed you sooner. You always have such thoughtful comments. Enjoy your week as well!

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  11. I'm so glad you made it to the ground safely! I don't think I could ever do that. I get nauseated in planes anyways, but I think that's mainly from the nerves. I'm fairly claustrophobic and don't like feeling out of control in any way, so I think watching the video is enough for me!

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    1. If you get nauseated in planes, then sky diving definitely is not for you.

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  12. Way to go, Sherry. That's is awesome. I've always thought sky diving had to be an ultimate thrill. You proved it is. Happy Belated Birthday too!

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    1. Thank you! It's definitely quite an experience!

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  13. Congrats on making the jump. I'll watch from the ground.

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  14. Wow and congratulations... I just don't think I could do it but absolute kudos to you Sherry... it looked amazing xox ♡

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    1. It was amazing. Definitely a memorable experience!

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  15. Congrats! This is on my list, but I do get motion sickness soon, so I'll have to prepare. I can't even imagine how cold it is.

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    1. If you get motion sickness, definitely do not do the spin!

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  16. I am so in awe. That's not something I could ever do, but I totally admire anyone who can! My husband did it in his younger years and said it was one of the most exciting things he's ever done.

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    1. Your husband is right. It's an amazing experience.

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  17. Congratulations, I'm so excited for you!!! I'm glad you got to do some spins,that sounds like fun! Throughout the post I was comparing your experience to mine and there were a lot of similarities, but some interesting differences too.

    My jumping buddy Mitchell did vomit once we got on the ground. The cameras had stopped rolling by that point, but you can see how queasy he is.

    Also, we faced towards the ground. We were warned it would be a bit harder to breathe, but as long as we concentrated, it would be fine.

    The parachute deploying was horrible for me too. The jolt gave me a split-second of panic that something had gone wrong and that I was about to plummet to my death :P

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    1. I think I'll do an extra post on Wednesday to link to this.

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    2. I'm glad I had seen your video of the parachute deployment. In my mind, I was expecting the jolt, but to experience it was a whole different thing.

      That would be cool to do a post on Wednesday and link to this. Thanks!

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  18. I've been wanting to skydive. Parts of it seem real scary while the rest sounds exhilarating. Maybe one day I'll have the nerve to do it. This post gave me a strong idea of what it'll be like.

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    1. Yes. If you do it, I hope you don't get queasy like I did. I have a pretty strong stomach, but I had to use all my SCUBA diving tricks on how to handle sea sickness to avoid vomiting.

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  19. Wow! That is fantastic! One day I'd like to try that.

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  20. Rather you than me. (I'm terrified of heights. ;-)

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    1. It's definitely not something for people who are afraid of heights!

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  21. Congratulations Sherry on your wonderful (yet for me would be frightening)air jump. I bet your family are so proud of you.
    Yvonne.

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  22. Good for you. That's something I would not be able to do! I hope your next experience is even better. Maybe it will be more comfortable when you can do the jumps on your own.
    Play off the Page

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    1. I'd try another tandem jump, just to see if it feels a little better. At least I'd know what to expect.

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  23. I can feel your exhilaration and excitement while reading. I do remember not knowing where the sky and earth was as we spun around during the first part of the 45 seconds free fall. Really awesome you did it. Clap clap clap :)

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    1. I'm glad I did it, too! Very cool that you did it!

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