Skydiving: how to hang out in the sky

  The skydiving season trickled to a start this year.  Unlike other skydivers, I jump with some regularity through the winter, so for me it was a slow start to the season with sporadic jumping in March and April. Dropzones start Safety Days in May, which often marks the beginning of another season. Safety days…

Skydiving and getting lost in a farmer’s field

It was my birthday, my mom had agreed to try her first skydive, it was beautiful and warm out – I was pretty freaking pumped. My mom would be doing a tandem with the instructor who taught me to skydive. Coincidentally, he is also the instructor I desperately do not want to disappoint. At the…

Skydiving and getting lost in a cloud.

Living in Canada tends to limit our skydiving season with all but one dropzone closed for the winter. Although it’s not my regular DZ, I have done a few jumps there and was pretty excited they were jumping last weekend. I officially did my first February jump! As luck would have it, it also was…

Skydiving: maybe I am a skydiver now.

The sun glints brightly outside the hard metal plane. The light flicks to red, as a chorus of “door” is yelled out through the plane. I turn away from the excited tandem student beside me and push up the plane door.  I peek out and see the dropzone far below like a tiny piece of…

Skydiving: ground school and AFP (AFF outside Canada)

It finally happened! After seven months off I got back in the sky! To get my solo certificate and eventually my 'A' license, I had to complete ground school. Over six hours we learned everything from body position in freefall, to canopy control, to malfunctions and how to correct them. I was encouraged to come…

Skydiving: starting to learn something

The look as I tell people I went skydiving again is something to behold.  But why? Didn’t you just go? Why would you want to do that again? Most people can understand one jump, in a cross-it-off-your-bucket-list way, but doing it again seriously baffles people.  I think, although more extreme, it really is no different…