Drew describes his skydiving experience

This past week I skydived with a few of my co-educators and it was one of the cooler experiences I have had. After a forty minute Uber ride we arrived at the skydive center. The building was a large old hangar made of sheet metals, big enough to fit one small plane. We went inside to hear that there was a small backup of jumpers because one of the pilots had just popped an eardrum. After this great news we signed the indemnity forms saying that the jump company wasn’t liable for anything if something went wrong. Sorry Mom. They asked us who was going first and I ended up in the first group of three as the third jumper.

Next we met the professional jumpers we would be attached to when jumping. I would be attached to a large blond man Jason. They put on our harnesses and soon we were off to the runway to get into the plane. The plane was tiny with one propeller on the nose.  We shoved the six of us inside (the three of us had to sit in between the legs of or on the laps of the diver we would be tandem with; Jason and I got close). I had this illusion prior to getting to the plane that there would be a normal looking airplane door on this plane. It would just open and we would jump. Not the case. Instead there was an iffy at best, likely makeshift, clear plastic door that slid down.

Soon we were in the air and, surprisingly, none of us were that nervous. The mixture of the professional jumpers maneuvering around our bodies to tickle each other’s feet and the beautiful views of the ocean and Table Mountain lent itself to a shockingly comfortable ride for the cramped quarters. Then they started attaching their harnesses to ours. Then the one of them slid the door open. Then he wiggled himself and Meg so their legs were outside the plane. And then they were gone. And then I was being shuffled towards the door. My legs started to hang over the edge and then we were gone.

Having bungee jumped earlier this trip, I expected this to be far scarier. It wasn’t. I couldn’t process how high it was so it wasn’t scary at all. The first few seconds of freefall were awesome, a complete thrill but without the heart pounding. After around 30 seconds Jason released the parachute. The rest of the ride down was great with beautiful views (the tricks you can do with the parachute are oodles of fun as well). I wasn’t expecting the parachute harness to dig into my legs, making my legs feel as if their muscles were getting pulled out of place.

We landed easily with a quick, strong pull down on the parachute’s straps and then we were down. The three of us who jumped then sat in a state of euphoria while we waited for our six friends to jump and join us.

Maria, Drew, Paige, Caroline, Derek, Amelia, Mariko, Alex L, and Megan preparing to jump