Sunday August 28th. My 50th birthday gift from Nancy was finally happening. The 4th (and my final) attempt to go tandem skydiving for the first time. The first 3 attempts had be thwarted by poor weather. The owner of Premier Skydiving told me they had 40 jumps scheduled for Sunday August 21st, only 13 actually happened because of unsettled weather. In any case, Sunday 28th was picture perfect. 75 deg, light winds. Some fair weather clouds at 6000 ft.

Nancy and I arrived at Freemont Municipal Airport at 4 pm as arranged. My daughter Jessica and her husband Paul a few minutes later to witness the jump. Paul said he wanted my Jag so he was there to drive it home if something happened..... The Premier place is in an old hangar at the Freemont Airport. Inside were 2 small planes in various states of disassembly. And racks of jump suits, helmets, harnesses, parachutes and more. This was a laid back place. Good, I think ? Maybe.

We signed a rather comprehensive waiver of liability. So comprehensive I lost interest in reading after a few paragraphs. Like I really cared what it said anyhow. After a few minutes our tandem instructor came in the room and gave us a rather rudimentary safety class, basically told us what we needed to do and what not to do. Easy enough. We walked out to the plane and he showed us how we'd be jumping out. I think this was 'the chance' to back out if your nerves were getting the best of you. No chance, I'd waited all summer, we were going. Next step was to get into the gear, jump suits, very significant harnesses (they make 6 point race harnesses look like play belts) and get up there. Since Nancy had also purchased a video of the whole thing my tandem instructor came out with the camera and started with the 'how are you feeling, are you nervous?' questions. I was feeling great, no I really was not nervous at all. It was obvious they had done this before. Nancy was looking a little unsettled, but also looking forward to the thrill.

The plane returned (it was taking loads of divers up all day) for us about 5pm and we loaded up. It was a Cessna 182 with only the pilots seat left in the interior. We all sat on dense foam that covered the bare floor, me in the very back facing forward, the other 3 facing back. With the side door shut we taxied and took of, headed for 10,000 ft. It was a beautiful view on the way up, the ride taking about 15 minutes. We could see all the way south to Saugatuck, and many miles out into Lake Michigan. It always amazes me how many little lakes there are in West Michigan. We passed through the fair weather clouds at 6000 ft and kept climbing, the air pleasantly cooler as we went up. At 10,000 ft the pilot and the tandem instructors shared some secret signal, then one of them reached over and opened the plane's side door. Instant temp drop, instant wind noise, instant adrenaline rush, Nancy's eyes now bigger than I've ever seen them before. My instructor asked me what I thought - I replied that "I still think this is a good idea, ask me the same question when we get down," and smile. Really. It's on the video.

Nancy and her instructor Darrell are first out of the plane, they tell you exactly what to do:

Left foot out ( onto the one foot square platform just on top of the wheel )
Right foot out
Cross your arms in front of you
Head back
READY
SET
ARCH (meaning JUMP, and arch your back to the correct shape for manned 'flight')

Nancy disappears from view and it's our turn, and the adrenaline is really up now:

Scoot towards the door (since the 2 of your are hooked together in 4 places and the harnesses are TIGHT you move awkwardly together)
Left foot out
Right foot out
Cross your arms in front (not the wind noise is intense under the Cessna wing)
Bill yells in my ear
READY
SET
ARCH

And we roll forward off the platform and do one roll in the air and I can see the plane shrinking fast. Very fast. Wow. The buffeting is intense. Soon we are free falling correctly, face first and enjoying the view and the sensations, accelerating up to terminal velocity with our drag chute out. Cheeks flapping like a dog with it's head out a car window. Cold air rushing by. Trying to take it all in for the 30 - 40 seconds it takes for us to get down to 6000 ft where we are to open our main parachute canopy. At 6000 ft the instructor taps my right hand - the signal to pull the rip chord - but I don't feel him and don't pull the chord.......so he pulls it for me and IMMEDIATELY the canopy opens and we go from 120 mph to 20 mph in half a second. WHOA ! Kinda like riding through a car wreck ! The harness was instantly so tight I had trouble moving my legs. My instructor was groaning in pain behind me. NOT GOOD I thought. Obviously not what he was expecting. Not knowing any better I was thinking the harness was way too tight but hey, I'd be on the ground one way or another in a few minutes so no big deal!

After 30 seconds or so the instructor started talking again and showed my how to steer the rectangular canopy. I could see Nancy below us flying around also. How cool. So this was at about 5000 feet, and we were descending slowly and enjoying the view. I got to 'fly' the canopy for a couple of minutes then Bill took over to land us. We watched Nancy and her instructor land right in the center of the target - a 15 foot circle of pea gravel - and once they cleared off we landed there also. Amazing.

Now safely on the ground, my instructor tells me that "I've done over 1000 tandem jumps and yours just now was the most violent I've ever experienced." Not sure how I feel about that and what else he didn't tell me? I have bruises on my chest, shoulders and legs from the harnesses. I'm still taking Aleve but they feel much better today. Just like going through a car crash. Yikes! In the impact of releasing the main chute, the video camera was knocked out of focus, so the usable video ends with the main chute opening. But the video up till that point is brilliant. The music I picked for the video: Eric Clapton, Knocking on Heaven's Door, and Kenny Loggins, Danger Zone from Top Gun. Hehehe.

Was it worth the wait? Absolutely, 100%

Would I do it again? Not sure. I'll tell you once the bruises are gone.

It's been a year of firsts. Scuba Diving. Sky Diving. What's next? The year's not over yet.