My Skydiving adventure in Hollister, CA

To view the world from a parachute had remained an unfulfilled and now almost forgotten wish, too unlikely and somewhat bizarre to ever come true!

Not until I was introduced to Laetitia in Jan'05. She is a petite but high spirited and enthusiastic French woman from Lyon, who besides being a smart engineer is a very passionate skydiver. For her the first experience of a freefall (via a tandem jump), led her to enrolling in AFF (Accelerated Free Fall) program offered by a skydiving company in Hollister, CA. After successfully completing this program she is now a certified skydiver with 100+ jumps under her belt.

After several missed opportunities, I finally synchronized with Laetitia, her friend Silva and her roommate Nitin. The reality of the upcoming jump started to sink in and also the panic began to settle in. Jumping out of 15000 feet sounded crazy and absurd. Two days before the jump, I called up Laetitia and almost backed out saying I am too scared and I don't think I can do it. She then made me talk to a few of her friends and they all yapped about skydiving being a wonderful adventure. Laetitia finally told me "trust me everything is going to be fine and you'll really enjoy the experience but the decision to jump is up to you."

I decided to atleast go to the jump area, and we all drove to Hollister (south of Gilroy) on a bright Sunday in the last week of September. Hollister has a small municipal airport that serves as a base for the skydiving company's operations. After reaching there I did some paperwork and signed some legal documents that basically meant that if something happened, I'll be responsible. I paid for freefall from 15000 feet + videography + photography of my jump.

Now I watched some safety videos and read the Parachutist magazine to get a feel of this sport. I glanced at some photographs and the slogan caught my attention "CAPTURE THE MOMENT". Looking back, I can now say that the experience of skydiving is all about it.

Laetitia showed us around and then she put on her jump suit and quickly went for her first jump from 18000 feet along with Silva. I learnt from her that this jump requires skydivers to wear oxygen masks at altitudes over 15000 feet and it has 1.5 minutes of freefall. Nitin and I chatted with other skydivers and roamed around the place, clicking pictures. After about 45 minutes Laetitia and Silva were back and now it was our turn to skydive. We were now assigned our tandem masters (the expert to whom you would be literally "tied"). My tandem master was Kevin, a man who earns his living being a tandem master and jump instructor. He's been doing it for 15 years and loves this job. He explained me some rules and gave me some mock practice . Now I wore my jumpsuit and proceeded towards the airport. There I met a man named Friday, who was my videographer. At the airport Kevin once gave the instructions and I wore the cords around my shoulders, back and thighs. These cords would be used to "tie" me with Kevin. Since we were Laetitia's guests, she decided to skydive with us to boost our morale and entered our jumps in her jump log-book for her memory.

We all boarded the small Beechcraft plane, and now I was tied to Kevin. The plane took off and my pulse started to race. I told Kevin that I can't do this jump. He told me that I will be the first person out of the 4000 people who have jumped with him to bail out. The fact that I could trust my life with this guy comforted me. As I saw the plane sore higher I felt completely out of mind and told him that I've made up my mind to not dive. Kevin said I'll be fine but if I don't want to jump, it's upto me. But he anyways went head and double checked my cords and asked me to wear the goggles. I was still not sure if I wanted to go ahead with the jump. I looked at Laetitia who gave me a thumbs up signal and said "See you on ground". She again reiterated that I'll be fine. I simply shivered.

Now we were almost at 15000 feet. The plane door opened and out went Laetitia. Then the other skydivers followed. I was sweating with fear. Kevin pushed me to the door. I screamed and said, "No, I can't do it". Before I could say anything I experienced a strong wind. I knew Kevin and I had jumped. I let out a huge scream and then a few seconds later, I saw Friday taking my video. I looked down and felt the air around and Kevin patted my back. The view was was breathtaking and my fears began to subside. Now. I had nowhere elase to go but down, so I decided to to enjoy as I was totally into it. I began to relax and smile. (My video shows this funny change of expression on my face in a matter of few seconds)

And what an experience the freefall was. We were falling down at a speed of 120mph. To me it didn't feel as if we were falling at all with such high speed. It was almost a zero-gravity like feeling. I could feel the cool breeze hitting my face and I felt the thinness of air. Kevin pointed me to Monterey, Santacruz at a distance. Friday was still taking the video. I now spread my arms out like a bird and felt like one too. The objects on earth were getting bigger and bigger and the air was turning warmer. I looked around and saw expensive homes with swimming pools in the backyard, the cattle barn where we would land and highway at a distance.

The word looked beautiful and flawless from the top and with the decreasing altitude the flaws were more and more obvious. So true with people too. The more closer you get to someone, the more you notice the flaws. And these flaws and irregularity is what makes the earth and people so unique and beautiful.

Now I felt pressure at my back. I realised that the parachute was snapped open by Kevin. He showed me the altimeter. It read 4000 feet. I saw Friday and he opened his parachute and dropped a lot faster than us. After a few seconds I saw him on ground. After the speed and thrill of freefall it was now time to relax and enjoy the views. It was a beautiful day and I looked around and marvelled. Kevin and I now got a chance to have some mid-air conversations. He mentioned the homes I see below are $2 mn dollar and above and still have no privacy in backyards from parachutists :). Kevin now instructed me on landing position ans slowly we were getting more closer to ground. After 15 seconds we landed. I was out of breath, and glad to be alive!!! Laetitia and Friday welcomed me. They were all smiling and said "See, we told you that you would do it". I couldn't believe I had jumped from 15000 feet. What an experience it was...beyond description. We took the final round of pictures and video.

I then saw Nitin land. He was thrilled to an extent that he was jumping. Finally we went to the small pick-up van and sat at the back. I could not believe the last 15 minutes. I put my head on my lap and to take the experience in.

I never thought my wish would be fulfilled in this manner. It was just magical.

We came back to the office and Nitin and I spent the rest of the day with skydivers and later went to watch a landing. Laetitia and Silva went for 3 more jumps. At the end of the day we watched videos of the acrobatics these skydivers perform in air while freefalling.

As we drove back, I looked back and thanked for not succumbing to my fears and missing this opportunity of a lifetime to "CAPTURE THE MOMENT".