September 8 2016. I performed my first tandem skydive at Pennridge Skydiving in Philadelphia during my maiden visit to the United States.
Couple weeks before my holidays I suggested my friend and host, Deepak, that skydiving would be a good idea as neither of us had experienced it and both had been trying since a year. I had almost planned it last year with a group of friends but had to stay back at the last moment because their group was full. Deepak had some discount coupons bought off Groupon a year ago which were still unused because the last time they traveled all the way, the activity was canceled due to poor weather. So it felt like now or never.
Fast forward to today. Our appointment was at 1 PM and we had to drive about 88 miles for that. We were doing fine as we left home but with each passing mile our anxiety snowballed. About 10 miles away from destination we had stopped talking. One of us would occasionally hint at our heebie-jeebies but then the both of us would share a light moment or something nonsensical and laugh it off while knowing perfectly well that our throats were going dry because all the water formed beads of sweat on our foreheads.
When we reached the place we were told by the guy at the desk that we "are so late I cannot guarantee that we can have you dive today" (sic). We were easily about 40 minutes into 1 PM so he was not exaggerating about us being late. Anyway he handed us forms to fill and there begun the (in)famous paperwork. For the record, it's so exhaustive that they would continue to be in business no matter how many mishaps take place. There wasn't enough time to read everything. Nor did we want to do that because it would have given us clear idea on what we were agreeing to which was definitely not what we wanted at that juncture. Again, even if something felt unfair we didn't have the option to not agree to a certain bullet. At a certain point we may have wished for a soft version of the paperwork so we could go Next... Next... Next... Finish. Though we tried our best to keep up with the time by ignoring the details and acknowledging all clauses with our initials yet the line "I AGREE THAT THIS ACTIVITY CAN CAUSE SERIOUS INJURIES OR EVEN DEATH" was so bold (pun intended) that it appeared to rise up from the plane of the paper and float up straight towards our eyes all the while saying "only fools would agree to something like this".
Nevertheless, we got all the paperwork done just in time to escape the wrath of the guy in charge of administration. We were then made to watch a safety video showing some bearded fellow who apparently invented tandem diving. Meanwhile groups of people who had left for diving had started coming back with all high voices of "woohoo" reverberating in the air. We realized we both had to pee because of the restlessness. Unfortunately the place only had port-a-potties lined up outside. The sight of poop floating in aqueous waste was just the thing that we wanted to see. Worked wonders for our nausea.
Our wait time was plummeting as if it was diving without a chute. We emptied our pockets and stuffed everything inside a locker. We chose the 'professional video shooting' add-on that would give a third person perspective of our dive. At that time we just wanted to get it over with so although we were spending an awful lot of money yet that was the least of our concerns. Our photographers and tandems had gone up with the penultimate group. When we saw the photographers hitting the ground at tremendous speed we wondered if that was how we would touchdown. But then moments later the tandem divers swooped down in a relaxed fashion piggybacking upon divers like us who appeared jubilant after their dive.
OK so it was our turn next. It was getting increasingly difficult to be able to say "ok I have decided not to dive because I'm too nervous". At that time it was hard to decide what needed more balls - to go ahead and dive from 10000 feet or to embarrass ourselves by deciding not to dive and of course losing all that money for nothing. Our coupons were rainchecked so coming down all the way to the airport, redeeming a raincheck offer, completing all formalities and then backing out seemed like a huge deal of embarrassment that would have been difficult to live with. So, turning a deaf ear to our pounding hearts we said to ourselves there was no looking back.
When the divers came back they were informed by the guy that we were the last ones waiting with the professional video add-on which meant that it needed the four divers to go up once again. The photographers walked up to us and took the add-on form while breaking the ice. They were soon joined in by our tandem divers. Mine was called Matt, a long haired blonde, who sounded really friendly. I think being friendly is a must for them because most of the divers are first-timers who would have reached extreme adrenaline levels by the time they are introduced to their tandems. So it's important that they try to keep the divers' spirit up as much as they can. Needless to say nobody likes to dive with a relatively rookie tandem despite their unbroken record. So experience is key. Matt said he has been in the business for close to a decade with couple thousand dives up his sleeve. Such a statistic ought to give a first-timer some confidence and assurance. Deepak's diver had over ten thousand dives as I came to know later. He was his 10328th. Our guys presently started fastening the harnesses onto us while giving brief instructions on diving body language.
The engine of the small Cessna plane made a loud whirring noise as it prepped to take us into the clouds. The shooters started recording our interviews as part of their standard video template. We tried our best to smile at the cameras. I felt another urge to pee but I knew that was my adrenaline fooling me. Fight or flight after all. We were captured on camera as we walked the distance to the plane. It was an odd mix of excitement, supreme anxiety and trust on our tandems' experiences.
The plane started taxing towards the runway and soon it took off. We were made to sit on a bench with our backs facing our tandems as they began fastening our harnesses with theirs and examining the interlocking. Meanwhile the shooters interviewed us a little more asking us to share feelings. Our anxiety was directly proportional to the reading on the altimeter. Half way up they kept capturing our reaction. However I tried I couldn't be anything better than a 'half-empty' kind of guy. In the next 2-3 minutes we will have jumped off the plane.
What seemed like a microsecond later Matt said that the time had arrived. I realized that I was diving first and the look on Deepak's face was an exact replica of mine. I think it was a tad worse for him because he had to see me diving first. I tried to pity him but I had run out of pity by then. I rehearsed my body language one last time as we slid towards the door. The wind was cold, the wind was fierce. A light signal at the door flashed green indicating that it was the opportune moment.
Before I realized I was floating in air. Oh my God! My free fall had started and all I could feel was as if I was floating amidst the clouds. My cheek muscles seemed to disengage my body. I tried a high voiced "wooooo" but even that sounded too feeble to my ears. I had no idea which way my pal had gone. For all I knew he might have had floated into space. My brain wasn't exactly the logical kind it normally tries to be. Our chute opened up seconds later and we were sucked up several hundred feet because of the buoyancy. I think that's how it works. I cried out as much as I could in a jubilant manner because now I knew I survived. I cried out again. And again. And again. I started blabbering. "Omg this is so beautiful... This is so amazing... Everything looks so tiny from up here...". Poor Matt!
Matt performed some heroics by spinning the chute rapidly. I felt a little nauseous but I kept enjoying. A little later he informed me that we were "about a mile" away from Earth. It was hard imagining distance vertically. He then let me use the two toggles of the parachute. Pulling one down helps maneuver the chute in that direction. Pulling both down together acts like a brake and slows down the chute. This is especially useful when landing. I felt more nauseous gliding through the air by pulling down one of the toggles as opposed to descending vertically but it was worth doing it myself. I was about a thousand feet above when I saw my friend landing safely. I waved at him from the distance and it was fun to know that I had stayed longer than him. As the ground approached closer and closer it felt like I was descending pretty rapidly enough to cause a jerky landing but then about fifty feet away he firmly pulled down the toggles and I bent my knee and lifted my legs forward as we swooshed down to make the perfect textbook landing!
So there I was - went to the clouds by plane and came floating back - in one piece without any casualties. I couldn't be any more thrilled. My photographer came running with his camera as Matt disentangled our harnesses and I got up to stand. He asked me emphatically "how was that, my man?" and I shouted out an equally emphatic "amazing!". This was such contrast to about half hour ago when, at that same spot, I had felt my insides shivering with anxiety. And so this moment was worth living, every second of it. I saw my friend at a distance shedding off his harness in all smiles. I ran up to him and hugged him to celebrate what seemed too good to be true an hour ago. It was the perfect skydive!
As we collected our stuff from the locker our diver friends suggested that we take something sweet to cool off as apparently our bodies had released enough adrenaline equivalent to several days of secretion. And they also pointed out that diving with an empty stomach is a mistake most first-timers do; it induces more nausea. We checked our phones and laughed. We had left text messages earlier for our close friends informing them about our dive and giving them emergency contact numbers in case something happened. We had received hilarious replies from them. One of them said "Yeah sure... Good job trying to sabotage your wedding plans but don't worry we got your back!". Suddenly it seemed like we were unnecessarily worried and nothing was ever going to happen. But then, being scared is part of the fun - this is what makes skydiving an extreme sport.
I thanked the divers once again for a fine job and merrily wondered if I should go for the 13500-feet dive the next time. To which one of them said "hey you were almost there, we actually took you up to 12000 feet. You had a full minute of free fall!"
Here's the link to my video: https://youtu.be/mQTe2VnQIWw
