Holy Shit (part 2 of 2) Skydiving

So I don’t know if a I ever told many of you about my first attempt to go skydiving. One Sunday afternoon this summer, right before the last of the guys moved off to go to work, a group of about 7 of us went down to San Marcos to go jump out of a plane. We got there, paid for it, signed all the forms, Greg paid a fat tax, etc. only to wait 4 ½ hours to let the storm clouds pass through, which never happened. Needless to say, we never got to take the plunge. We all drove back to Austin broken hearted and defeated. Well, as much as I would have enjoyed to camaraderie that that trip would have entailed, I cant help but say that I am glad I was forced to wait. As beautiful as Switzerland was from the train and from walking around town, seeing it from 11,000 feet was pretty BAD A as well. We got up Tuesday morning to go have a little breakfast at the hostel. The “Scenic Air’ crew then came to pick us up and take us to the drop zone. We get to the hangar and it is a pretty simple set up, just a hangar and a plane and some gear.






Now remember, everyday in Paris I am either telling people how to ride our bikes or teaching them how to ride a Segway, in much more detail than probably is necessary because as I have found, the general public is unbelievably retarded. Both take at least 10 minutes and sometimes up to 40 for the Segways. We even make you wear helmets for them. Some of these people should be required to wear helmets at all times. I seriously want to just tell them, “No, keep that on. Forever. It’s my gift to you.”
So far in Switzerland, between the two most extreme things I have ever done, the instructions were very brief and for Skydiving there were virtually no directions and no helmets, just lean your head back and feet behind you, that’s it. So Hans, my guide is getting me all geared up and I have a personal cameraman shooting the whole process. Graham, Ben, and I are all looking around at each other in sheer disbelief that this is about to happen. So we start to board the plane and Ben and his guide get in first, then Graham and his guide and the three cameramen and then finally me and Hans. So there are nine grown men shoved in the back of a plane not much bigger than what seemed like a bathtub. Its about a 15 minute ride to 11,000 feet and they flew us over the lakes and valleys and stuff. I don’t know that many words can describe the mix of feelings that were brewing inside me. AMAZED at the epic view from the sky and about to SHIT MY PANTS because I was going to jump out into it.


We were all jokin around with each other inside the plane on the way up to keep the mood light. Everything was going great until that moment when it hit me. Like I said, we were all packed in the back of this like a family of 9 packed in a VW bug trying to cross the border. Well, since I was the last one in, that means I was leaning up against the door. The same door that Hans would slide open when it was time to bail out. So all of the sudden the whole left side of my body is hanging out the side of a plane and its game time. Check out my faceI don’t remember all of this because I think I temporarily blacked out, but according to Ben and Graham my face went stone cold.




















I literally had to slide my feet around and hang them over the ledge and dangle them in the air. Lean my head back and just wait….When we made the push, the first 4-5 seconds took your breath away. At that point you could regroup and really realize what was all going on. Never can you freefall and not worry about when you are going to hit or if it was going to hurt. It was a completely different feeling than jumping from a bridge or canyoning or even bungee jumping. After about a 45-50 second freefall, Hans pulled the chute and we started to cruise for what was about a 5 minute fall from there. Completely unbelievable.

CHECK BACK HERE FOR FULL VIDEO SOON!


I don’t know when I will be able to do this again or where, but I am fairly positive it wasn’t my last time. Sorry mom. Overall the weekend was very intense. Going back to Paris to ride bikes and Segways seemed way lame now. But its all relative I suppose.