dduelin
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We jumped at Skydive Palatka, FL which is about 60 miles from home. After my wife got through a heart valve replacement with serious complications about two years ago this was a bucket list thing for her. I'm glad I had the experience and it was quite a rush.Awesome!!! Where did you go to do it?
I quit jumping about 2 years ago after 17 years and almost 4000 jumps. I was an instructor/videographer/photographer.
You look like you hated. JK, bet you didn't regret that big first step.
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That's a cool story Chuck and I hope you have that jump with the boys. I will probably jump one more time as my brother really was the instigator of the idea and set everything up then tore up his knee and had to watch from the ground.I love it. That awesome Dave. I only have a little over 600 skydives. Skydiving can be just as, if not more addictive, than the hobby of riding motorcycles. Do you think you guys will try it again? I would say this, if your worried about liking it too much, stop now. LOL. it will take you away from your riding time.
True story. Myself and a few friends used to throw our parachutes on our backs (like a backpack) and jump on our CBRs for a quick ride to the DZ. The DZ was in Reaford NC and I was stationed at Fort Bragg. All it took was three guys to get a Cessna 182 off the ground so we had that covered. We would do a quick climb (not so quick) to 10,000 feet, jump out, repack the parachute, and ride back to work. All in the matter of our 1.5 lunch break and by the way, we were still in our fatigues.
Morale to that story, I was still able to combine riding and jumping but I had to look for ways. LOL
Great that your wife got to scratch something off the bucket list and such a great choice. I want to skydive with my two boys when they are old enough. About 8 more years.
I was pretty nervous about it for a week or so prior, this was the worst. The day of I was relaxed and kind of surprised the nervousness had gone away. During the training and getting the harness on I took my ques from my instructor who was professional and easy going. We were there to have fun and it felt OK. There was a photographer/video jumper paired off with each of us and mine was a joker when interacting with me as he explained what we were going to do for 60 seconds at 120 mph. I have my private pilot's license so the noisy bumpy ride up did not alarm me. My wife thought "OMG that's a tiny plane" but compared to a Cessna 150 or 172 the 208 was a big plane to me. We had 3 tandems, 3 photographers, 2 solo jumpers and the pilot. My son and wife went on the first lift and my daughter and my son-in-law went on the next. Having a large family group allowed us to relieve our nervousness by joking around. I did not get scared going up but surely my senses were sharpened by adrenaline.One more question if you don't mind. Was the jump as scary as you imagined? Most people are pretty scared until about 5 seconds after the exit. I'm always curious about what people think afterwards.
I love hearing first time jump stories. I appreciate your sharing.
I just wanted to comment that when I was growing up I wanted to be a pilot. I did achieve that dream but when I did get my Commercial license we had just ended our involvement in Viet Nam and there were hundreds or thousands of highly trained and experienced military pilots riffed out of the service looking for work. A kid with 350 hours found it hard to fly for a living and my log book was stowed away for years. I simply couldn't afford to fly for pleasure. Fast forward past my mid to late twenties I found myself at a little country airport that hosted a soaring club. I took a ride up in a glider and it was the kind of flying I had dreamed of as a boy. The hours I logged in gliders was way more fun than that before. Anyone can bore a hole through the air burning gas but to find and core a thermal that takes you up for thousands of feet with no engine was a real thrill. Eventually I got married and even the "cheap" money I was spending on soaring went toward building a family but those hours soaring were the best ever in an airplane. Of course I would not trade my family for any time in a glider but take that glider ride!Snipped.......Anyway, it was a fantastic experience, the wife did not get to collect on the insurance policy, I ticked another item off my bucket list, and decided I loved the quiet flying so I added a glider flight to the list.
>T
I took a ride up in a glider and it was the kind of flying I had dreamed of as a boy. The hours I logged in gliders was way more fun than that before. Anyone can bore a hole through the air burning gas but to find and core a thermal that takes you up for thousands of feet with no engine was a real thrill. Eventually I got married and even the "cheap" money I was spending on soaring went toward building a family but those hours soaring were the best ever in an airplane. Of course I would not trade my family for any time in a glider but take that glider ride!