On September 23rd, I skydived for JDRF. It was AWESOME.
My instructor was a really nice guy who put me at ease straight away. I was the only one doing a tandem jump in the flight I went in - all the others were qualified skydivers doing their own thing, including one girl in a pair of hot pants and knee high socks!!! Obviously I didn't get to see what she was doing but she was very happy when I saw her when I landed!
It took a few minutes for the plane to get to the right height - 13500ft!! The qualified people jumped first, including one guy in a squirrel suit which apparently allows you to 'fly'!
The instructor said we could exit the plane in 1 of 2 ways: head first or feet first. I opted for head first. This involved us being strapped together VERY closely (he did warn me it would be the closest I'd ever get to a man with my clothes on, and he wasn't kidding!!), shuffling along the bench in the plane and me kneeling on the floor - at which point he stood up, so I was hanging in the air off him - then he walked towards the door of the plane and literally hung me out the side of the plane face first. At that point I was thinking 'wow/what the hell am I doing?!' 13500ft high up in the air and looking at the ground...
He then jumped out the plane and we began to freefall. The first second or two we spun around, upside down/round in circles and my instinct was to shut my eyes - but I opened them again very quickly as I realised it was silly to miss the view! We stabilised and began to freefall downwards - the instructor had asked me before if I wanted to do some spinning around and I'd said yes, so at that point he started spinning us round and round in circles. It was AWESOME but I had to ask him to stop after a while as I began to feel a bit funny! The noise was incredible, SO loud, the air rushing past my ears. At 6000ft/1 mile from the ground he opened the parachute and we jolted from being on our fronts to being straight upright.
We were above the clouds and he asked if I wanted to do some spinning. He gave me the cords to help him control the parachute, and we spent a few mins spinning left and right. He glided us through the clouds and the thing I'll remember the most is seeing our silhouette on a cloud - but the best thing was, there was a rainbow on the cloud. So we glided through the rainbow and swooped around a bit more before heading to the field to land. His experience really shone through at that point as he landed us directly in front of my parents and grandparents who were waiting at the field!!
I can totally understand why people do it as a hobby, I've never seen anything like it, whizzing through the clouds and then making our way slowly down to the ground! The views were incredible (I had to laugh when he pointed out the local prison...) and I would love the opportunity to do it again...I think I know what I might be asking for for Christmas!!!
I took my pump off and left it in my handbag (with my mum). In total it was probably off for about 30 mins. The instructor reminded me to take it off by asking what it was as I was about to put my skydiving suit on! I had shot up to 14 before the jump...I had predicted I would go high but I was too scared to put a temp basal on. I took a 1u correction and was 11.9 when I got back into the car straight after.
For 2 days after the jump I had tinnitus in my right ear which was unpleasant to say the least.
Anyway...it was amaaaaazing, I would love to do it again (...and probably will, don't tell my mum..!) but the best bit is - including the money my nan has collected - I've raised over £1400 for JDRF!
My instructor was a really nice guy who put me at ease straight away. I was the only one doing a tandem jump in the flight I went in - all the others were qualified skydivers doing their own thing, including one girl in a pair of hot pants and knee high socks!!! Obviously I didn't get to see what she was doing but she was very happy when I saw her when I landed!
The instructor said we could exit the plane in 1 of 2 ways: head first or feet first. I opted for head first. This involved us being strapped together VERY closely (he did warn me it would be the closest I'd ever get to a man with my clothes on, and he wasn't kidding!!), shuffling along the bench in the plane and me kneeling on the floor - at which point he stood up, so I was hanging in the air off him - then he walked towards the door of the plane and literally hung me out the side of the plane face first. At that point I was thinking 'wow/what the hell am I doing?!' 13500ft high up in the air and looking at the ground...
I can totally understand why people do it as a hobby, I've never seen anything like it, whizzing through the clouds and then making our way slowly down to the ground! The views were incredible (I had to laugh when he pointed out the local prison...) and I would love the opportunity to do it again...I think I know what I might be asking for for Christmas!!!
I took my pump off and left it in my handbag (with my mum). In total it was probably off for about 30 mins. The instructor reminded me to take it off by asking what it was as I was about to put my skydiving suit on! I had shot up to 14 before the jump...I had predicted I would go high but I was too scared to put a temp basal on. I took a 1u correction and was 11.9 when I got back into the car straight after.For 2 days after the jump I had tinnitus in my right ear which was unpleasant to say the least.
Anyway...it was amaaaaazing, I would love to do it again (...and probably will, don't tell my mum..!) but the best bit is - including the money my nan has collected - I've raised over £1400 for JDRF!
2 comments:
Well done Shiv! Does look like great fun. Never tried it myself. Closest thing I've done would be hang gliding, but that's hardly the same :-P Fantastic amount raised for JDRF too!
Amazing! I've never even thought about how loud it would be. I guess it isn't like the scene from point break then! :) So impressed hun, not only with the amount you raised but that you were able to embrace it so and really enjoy it. I would have been terrified. Well done Shiv!! xxx
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