I Should Have Considered The Ride Back!

What a great day today was! More on the highlight of skydiving in a minute. First, we stayed at the condo last night and this morning I rode my bike around New Smyrna. I started on the beach for about 6 miles. It was perfect. The ride back, not so much. I turned around on the beach and was riding into the wind on the sand. It was like riding uphill in the sand. So I got off the beach and rode the 5+ miles back on the road into the wind. A good work out but not what I had in mind!

Time To Live Like You’re Dyin

As you all know, I jumped out of a plane today at Skydive DeLand!! I wasn’t at all nervous until we were in the plane. It was exciting and fun. It was great to see everyone who came out. I am blessed to have such a great group of friends and family. If you haven’t been skydiving, it’s something to consider.

Kim and Barbara and I were called and we went into the classroom to meet our tandem partners and get dressed. We traded off different color jumpsuits until we found the perfect ones. We loaded into the plane, with no seats and sat with our tandem partner in the order we would jump. I was going to be first. Yikes.

Maybe This Wasn’t Such A Good Idea

There were three guys from Qatar in front of me who were there to practice skydiving stunts. My tandem partner, Bob, told me that we would jump at 14K feet. At 6K feet, the three guys in front of me opened the door. That’s when I got nervous. When they jumped it was like an action movie and they jumped and flew away from the plane quickly. I was downright scared. Your brain tries to figure out how you can get out of the situation you’ve deliberately put yourself into. The door closed again and off we went to 14K feet.

The Importance Of Being A Rule Follower

When it was time for us to go Bob hooked himself to me and the door opened. The instructions were to bend my knees, hold onto the harness, and relax. Bob is a tall guy and I felt like I was in a Baby Bjorn carrier on him. You can see in the video, my feet were not on the ground. Bob basically carried me from the edge of the plane out. Then he jumped. Wow. Truly an adrenaline rush. This. Is. Skydiving!

It was loud and hard to move your arms. Similar to when you put your hand out of the car window on the highway, times 100. We did some spins and could see the ocean. It was really great. Then the parachute opened. I loved that part. It was so quiet and calm. I could have had the chute pulled right when we jumped and floated to the ground like that.

No Accidents!

Barbara jumped after me and Kim was last. When we were floating to the ground I asked Bob if I could see my friends. He said “look up”, which I did. At that instant I think it was Barb’s chute was pulled and there was a guy who flew away from her. I freaked a little an said “WHY ARE THEY SEPARATED”. Bob laughed a little and said that was her cameraman and it was ok. That scared me to death. No accidents on this trip, please. We landed safely and peacefully.

After the jump

It was cool to see so many people waiting for us. I waited by the drop zone for Barbara and Kim. Once we all landed we chatted out there together. It was really great. The three of us had just jumped out of a plane!  Great to compare notes out there on each of our skydiving experiences. We arrived back on the deck to our families and friends. I feel so loved and blessed.

Friends and family at the drop zone