Ever since Mark did his Tandem and AFF1, he’s talked on a very regular basis about how much he enjoyed both, but in particular, he loved being “under the canopy”. The most common word he’s used to describe it is “serene”. So, when we got into indoor skydiving with iFly on a regular basis over the last few years, building from belly-flying skills and onto back-flying (don’t ask about bloody transitions!), and met Amy, a super-enthusiastic instructor/Energizer Bunny, I should have known what was coming. Yup…not long before Amy was making some not-so-subtle encouragements for us to really Skydive…
The thing is, Mark’s done a tandem/AFF1, our friends Rob and Hannah who we go to iFly with have also both done a tandem – so they were all up for it. My only experience has been in the tunnel and so I really wasn’t keen on committing to AFF training with no basis of whether it was really for me. Whilst I consider myself someone who’s willing to give most things a go and enjoy a sense of adventure (I’ve been a keen Scuba-Diver for nearly 20 years and Skiier for about 15), I’d always had a mental note of “no thanks” to two things: Bungee Jumping and Skydiving. The other thing is that I’m stubborn, I like to push myself and I’m a perfectionist. I’m often not good at the learning/struggling phase of developing a new skill but know that when I stick at it, get better and better, I get so much enjoyment in the end – Skiing a key example of this. I’m pretty sure swearing alone has got me down various black runs in my time. So, my stubborn streak didn’t want to just say no to AFF. Amy kindly offered to do a tandem with me to help me with deciding…
So, that’s how I found myself on 24th April this year, strapped to Amy, falling out of a plane over Salisbury – 15,000ft no less! I was of course nervous beforehand but felt I was on top of the nerves and could be excited enough for the tandem. Amy, being a petite instructor, and me also being fairly slim, meant we were the last pair to exit the plane. I thought beforehand I’d be most scared of the freefall, but although I did have that initial OMG/WTF hit (I think I even closed my eyes at first), the bit that took my breath away was the cold. Now, I’m something of a cold-blooded lizard at the best of times, but bloody hell, jumping out of the plane was like plunging my face into a bucket of ice-water and keeping it there! I later found out Amy was trying to signal various things to me during freefall but I had no clue and was just trying to process what was happening. Falling through a big old cloud and feeling blind was also nuts. The next bit that I wasn’t prepared for was feeling nauseous during the canopy bit – since we were last we had to circle around the holding area for a bit of time until we were last to land. Again, Amy was amazing, explaining under canopy things like canopy checks, steering etc and our landing was nice and easy. The feeling of nausea stayed for quite a while after though – several hours in fact.
Did my tandem help? Honestly, it was hard to say! I wasn’t as scared as I thought but was worried about how queasy I felt under canopy – “serene” eh, Mark?! But, it was England, in April on a gusty day (earlier jumps that day had been pushed back). How much of that feeling was due to the weather or adrenaline or what? Luckily just a few days later, someone posted on the Beginners Skydiving Forum on Facebook: “A question around motion sickness. With my AFF closer to becoming reality I completed some tunnel time and a tandem. Whilst under canopy my instructor made some turns and this made me feel the effects of what I think was motion sickness. Is it something that will continue to happen when I’m by myself? Is this a common thing to happen?” This was so reassuring – not just me then! The group is really supportive and friendly, so I was able to get a lot of good advice. Clearly it’s not uncommon, I learnt be sure to turn your head in the direction you want to go before turning, that it’s less of an issue when you’re the one in control/making the turns as well as have a good breakfast (blood sugar drops and you get that hit of adrenaline). All this advice and reassurance helped so much. So what about the cold? Well, we’re training in Portugal at the end of June so the weather should be a whole lot better than April in England! So here I am, signed up for AFF. Shit.