Arch thousand, two thousand, reach thousand, pull thousand, four thousand five thousand... I completed my first free fall skydive today! What a thrill! Now I'm certainly hooked. I'm working on my class A sky diving license and cannot wait for longer free fall! The goal is to be able to jump out of a plane at 10,000 feet and free fall for about 30 seconds. For the quick-fix adrenaline junkie, you can do a tandem jump from 10,000 feet with 30 seconds of free fall with about five minutes of preparation. Basically, your tandem master does everything; you're just there for a thrill of a life time! To be able to do this on your own takes a little more instruction and practice!
The Swakopmund Drop Zone, Ground Rush Adventures, is the largest in Africa and has a 100% safety record over almost two decades of operation. Swakopmund is located on the sand dune lined coast of Namibia. Jumping out of a plane over looking the sand dunes as they run into the ocean is truly a magnificent sight!
views from the air
A few months ago we were in Swakop, traveling with another couple and we stopped at the skydive club. The girls opted to do a tandem jump. I would have loved to do a tandem jump as well, but it's definitely not cheap entertainment, so I sadly declined. However, I spoke with a friend who works there and we could have worked out a deal if I did a photo shoot for them. Unfortunately, we were on a bit of a schedule. Perhaps another time.
Months later and still in Namibia, the opportunity came up to go back to Swakopmund. I had skydiving on the mind. Quickly I contacted my friend and worked out a deal. A couple of days later I was taking the static line course.
Ground training consists of a six hour course including theory, videos and a healthy dose of ground simulation - arch, look, handle, handle, right, left, arch - the malfunction procedure when you have to cut away and deploy your reserve. This is practiced over and over again until it becomes a reflex.
classroom training
familiarization with the plane
You must do a minimum of eight static line jumps before commencing free fall; most people do more. The static line is attached to the plane and deploys the main canopy as you are falling away from the aircraft. During the first couple of jumps you mainly concentrate on getting the exit right and ensuring a perfect arch position for stability and to minimize line entanglement; quite important!
first static line jump
During my jumps, I used various planes with slightly different exit procedures. The easiest and most fun were the planes with the wing struts. Once at altitude, the pilot pulls the throttle back and your jump master tells you to climb out of the plane. You shift your legs out of the door and place your left foot on the wheel (make sure the pilot has locked the brakes; usually they do - on one of my jumps the pilot had forgotten and as I stepped out onto the wheel the tire rotated. Luckily I was already holding on to the wing strut! Could have made for an interesting exit!) You grab the wing strut with first your left and then your right hand and do a final check with the jump master who gives the okay to let go. The first few times, this letting go doesn't exactly come naturally! Once you let go the most important thing is to arch and not look down at the ground!
static line jump with instructor Craig exiting at the same time
Once you've done a couple static line jumps you start doing dummy pulls. You actually pull a dummy ripcord while still using the static line. You must complete three perfect consecutive dummy pulls before your first free fall.
static line jump with dummy pull
Once you have completed the three perfect consecutive dummy pulls and feel confident, the shoot is packed without a static line. Now you are on your own! My ninth jump was my first free fall jump.
first free fall jump!
Check out a short video clip of my first free fall plane exit.
Flying through the air, what an amazing experience! Definitely something I want to continue doing. Get out there and skydive - go live life!