Rem’s Birthday Surprise? SKYDIVING!

I surprised Rem with the gift of a tandem skydive for his birthday today, something he’s been wanting to do for years. I surprised myself by jumping too.  I went first.

My instructor, Cliff from NorCal Skydiving in Cloverdale, California, is the one with blue hair.  He’s wearing a GoPro camera.  Thanks, Cliff, for the ride and the photos.

Rem loves surprises and only learned about 10 minutes before we got to our destination what his present was.  I made reservations earlier in the week, which means I’ve had more time to be anxious about it.

Once we arrived at the airport, Rem was delighted when I told him I would be taking a tandem skydive too.

The small plane is noisy and we fit inside like sardines.  The pilot is on the lower right, my instructor’s feet show on the lower left, Rem and I in the middle and his instructor, Tyler, is in the back.  Tyler also had a GoPro camera so thanks to Tyler for some of the photos.

This is before my harness is attached to Cliff’s harness.

Now we’re attached and John, the pilot, has just reached across us to open the door.  Yikes!  After some awkward maneuvering of limbs both Cliff and I manage to get our legs out and our feet on the little platform outside the plane.  It is even noisier, cold and really scary with the wind buffeting us.

It really wasn’t a matter of jumping but just hanging on to the straps of the harness.  I closed my eyes.  John tilted the plane and we simply fall into the sky.  I said a bad word.

Good thing Cliff was taking pictures because I could NOT get my eyes open.  It could have been that the goggles slipped.  But at this point we were free-falling at 120 mph.  So maybe it was just fear.

Meanwhile, Rem was starting his dive.

Back with us, Cliff pulls the chord and the parachute slows our fall.  I’m able to open my eyes and even take off the goggles.

This relieved thumbs-up is just one minute after the picture at the top of the post.

Cliff points out Rem and Tyler, the speck in the distance.  Tyler (with Rem’s approval) does some crazy, swooping turns.

I’m quite happy that Cliff just guided us gently down.  The hotdogging gets Rem down faster and they land first.  Tyler was able to get pictures of Cliff and I coming in.

It was truly awesome and…I’m really glad to be back on the ground.  I’m proud of myself for doing it.

Happy Birthday, Sweetie! I love you at all altitudes.

Thanks for stopping by.