Lets go Skydiving!

Misaki - Doesn't he look like Bruce Lee?
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Today was the sixth day of Stampede and it was also Deco’s (company I work for) outing day. We’re going skydiving today then down to the Stampede grounds to run a muck. It was yet another early day getting up at 8am; Matt, Yestyn and I carpooled and drove down to Tim Hortons on McKnight Blvd to meet the rest of the guys from Deco by 8.30am. Shortly after grabbing some breakfast to fill the stomach we arranged groups to car pool and follow each other to Beiseker where the skydiving was to be done.

On ground basic training
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Upon arrival at Beiseker the weather was 26 degrees sunny, no wind and not even a single cloud in sight, it was skydiving weather. We gathered in one room and was handed our waiver forms to fill out and sign. Reading the waiver form was quite a shock as the whole thing was one death consent reading “We do not guarantee the parachute nor the reserve chute to open. You agree that you will not sue for any injuries or death resulting from your jump” But anyhow like any other extreme sport you kind of sign your life away and pray that you’re not that 0.00001 percent person that didn’t make it through and so I did.

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Once all the forms were in, we were ordered out to the grass area where we began some basic on ground training on how to position our arms and legs once we jumped from the plane. This was to prevent the release chute from curling and wrapping around your limbs and tearing it off. Funny but serious.

Following the stringent basic training, the first two jumpers immediately got suited up into overalls and harnesses then off they went into the plane. The plane took off and it circled the sky for 30 minutes to reach an altitude of 10000 feet for the jump to take place. From the ground we couldn’t see much apart from a doubtful speck which we presumed it was them, until the chute was released and unfolded revealing its colours confirming indeed it was them.

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When it was time for my jump, I paired up with Misaki, at this time the nerves were still quite calm. But the first question I posed myself was “Did I need to take a dump?” “No.” But I went to the toilet anyway to at least take a piss. You know how it is you don’t want to be caught up there and realize you should of took one. Just like you don’t want to be caught in the exam room and realize you need a piss.

Anyway following on, we picked a pair of overalls from the rack and put them on, then we got strapped into our harnesses by each of our assigned tandem jumpers, Sean and David. Lastly we picked a pair of goggles and a hat and we walked to the airplane like brave men knowing exactly the mission we were set out to accomplish. I kept on reciting in my head where my arms were meant to go, where my legs where meant to go as I didn’t want to come back with an uneven number of limbs. Before we got on the plane, we checked and tightened all the safety harnesses one more time. The plane was small it was just big enough to fit all 4 of us in plus the pilot. Misaki went in first as he was jumping after me. Misaki sat down on the floor of the airplane with his legs facing directly to the tail of the plane, Sean followed behind him positioning himself behind Misaki and with each leg on the side of Misaki in a V shape. I then hopped on the plane and shuffled myself parallel to Misaki and my tandem jumper David followed immediately after me.

Matt getting all nervous
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Ten minutes up and it smelt like filthy rotten eggs, someone had dropped their guts. I looked accusingly at Misaki and his dirty evil grin gave it away. I proclaimed “You farted didn’t you?” Sean taking the first blow of the smell as he sat behind Misaki, angled a circulation air tube(attached to the side wall of the plane) towards Misaki to disperse the smell. By this time we were pretty close to 10000 feet, the goggles and hat were put on then the side hatch door flung open, allowing a huge gush of air to rush into the plane like a hurricane was going to rip through the plane. David got up and knelt down on his knees, and then I shuffled on my arse backwards and acrobatically I got my left leg out of the plane I had to line up my foot on a platform outside of the plane like we practiced on the ground. With the wind rushing so hard I had difficulty lining up my leg on the platform. It felt like an eternity for me to do it. “I’m holding everyone back” I thought to myself. Then Dave screamed 3-2-1 and SHOOMP” I felt like I was sucked out of the plane like in the Hollywood movies. “Hands crossed over chest, back arched, legs kicking Dave up the arse” I positioned myself as trained to do so. Leaving the plane dove down completing a full 360 rotation facing the earth then blue sky then back facing the earth, fixed in this position (I was tapped on the shoulder to signal that I can now spread my arms freely) and we plunged down towards Earth at terminal velocity, the wind gushing past my face like riding a motorbike without a helmet on and tears leaking out of the corner of my eyes as the wind crept pass the unsealed gaps of my goggles. I finally had time to reflect what I had just done, still plunging towards the Earth I was blown away in awe. “This is awesome” I said to myself. But as I got comfortable free falling, Dave pulls the main chute, my arms and legs swing forward like I’ve just been punched in the guts, my body propels back up into the sky then calmly we drifted back down like a falling leaf, what a contrast. Then just as I thought this was the end of the show, David holding onto the parachutes steering handles(which are connected back up to the end of the left and right side of the chute by wired rope) pulls hard on the right side and we spiral down like a tornado with each spin faster but smaller in circumference than the last. My harness tightens around my crotch from all the G Forces caused by the spinning and I hold my breathe to endure the pain then Dave balances the chute out for a couple of seconds and then pulls hard on the left and again we spiral down without forgiveness. Following Dave’s fun, he handed me the steering handles and gave me a go. I had to pull with all my strength, pulling the left handle then the right completed S turns, then I tried spiraling and gliding and as Dave checked his altimeter to see if we were at 2000 feet, he grabbed the handles back and we prepared for landing. We glided back down as we got closer and closer to the ground, I put my legs up high as instructed and upon impact we skidded our arse cheeks along the ground and eventually coming to a complete stop. Well that’s skydiving marked off my list of things to do. I would highly recommend it if you ever were considering it. Loads of fun.

This is the first crew
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Afterwards we gathered up at Carl’s house(one of the partnering owners of DECO) and had a BBQ and some drinks before heading off to the Stampede grounds. This time we hung out at the Budweiser tent double fisting buds the whole time we were there.