nr has got his drivers license..the roads are not safe nemore!
nr has got his fishing license..the wates are not safe nemore!
and wat the fuck..nr is skydivin now..even the skies are not a safe place..nemore!!!
this 4th of july, i decided to conquer the skies of WA. There were 10 of us and we found this spot called Shelton in WA, around 80 miles from Seattle. the drive was a pretty one and it was really intresting and pretty bloody! we had to start @8:00 am and i had a very late Tuesday nite [3:00am] and so i slept all the way...i was dreaming of a sci-fi thriller where saviour of the war torn world was -urs truly!
We reached the airfield at around 1030 hrs on Wed morning and the weather was awesome. not much clouds and the temperature was in the 80's. Mind you, 80 F is indeed a 'hot' day in seattle. While we were jut getting to the airfield we could see a lot of colorful canopies in the sky...those were fellow adventure enthusiasts ;) tryin out their luck in the skis..it was a beautiful sight...gt me all the more thrilled...we went in and ate a few dough nuts. then we got a couple of forms to fill and sign on. all of them said the same thing...dont pont fingers at us if u die!! that was pretty encouraging...once all the formalities were done, we were taken to this hanger where these guys had their stuff...and stuff included their gear, costumes, helmets, shots etc. there were several instructors too and a few of them were hot. Hot n wild chicks...wow..lets not deviate from the topic now! we were given instructions and we also discussed the signals n codes that we would be using inthe sky. we all opted for video n stills and so there would be another guy who would be jumping along with us to take the video n stills. So i met my tandem master n photographer, Erin n Jaret. The tandem master is the guy with whom you wre sorta tied up for the jump. Simply put, he is the one who knows what he is doing! So we all suit up and get a rehersal of our codes and were waiting for our ride up there..
In the meanwhile, i feel it is worth mentioning about this hot reported lady who was also there in the hanger with us. She was covering some story for a local news channel and we were not that news..hehe..well i did have an oppurtunity to shake hands with her n chat up a little...thats when i kinda had a shocki story ..there was this guy who was also skydiving that same day. About that guy- he looke like around 55-60 years old. He lost both his legs (knee below) to the second world war. Now he has a metal stud instead of his legs and he walks n runs with them. the story does not end here..he was into skydiving for a long time and almost 10 years ago, he was diving with his buddies making formations n all and suddenly his metal leg got entangled in one of his buddies shoots and disaster struck. in the accident, his buddy died and he stayed alive just because his metallic legs just broke off his knee. Today was the frst time he was diving since that incident. Man..speak about strong will n determination!
Our ride comes down n it is a twin engine 22 seater where we all buckle in. It takes off n we arre all like yeah..been there done that types...showing no fear on our otherwise handsome faces...the plane was pretty smalland so all of us cud get a view of the ground below and it was getting smaller n smaller as we kept climbing..i kinda felt a little squeaky inside..c'mon man...i am about to throw myself off of a plane...who intheir right senses wud do a thing like that..well there is a pretty huge population inthe world who make a living out of that...intresting job profile i thought...so finally we reach the altitude of 15000 ft and the gates are open. one after the other, we throw ourselves to the hands of mother earth. my chance comes and i shud say...the view from up there is so breathtaking and awesome that it just grips u and squeezes out all thoughts of fear n doubt. u get to c the horizon ot the spherical surface of the globe and that day was so beautiful weatherwise that it was indeed a sight of a lifetime...again i did think that i wud pass out and that i wud/cud pee in my pants but that thought just skipped my mind after that moment!
So finally we take a plunge and that is indeed an adrenaline
moment. i mean like you are just falling down and theres nothign you can do about it but enjoy. the photographer guy too wa sright in front of me and that makes it feel as if we r just standing still in air...we formed all sorts of poses in the air ...did turns, flips twists...maan..i swear for one minute there, i had an undescribable time of my life. we cud see the very beautiful landscape of Seattle in the background as well. even if u look down, u actually dont feel the fear. its all awe that grips u. u r falling down at around 130- 140 mph. imagine...wow...after that one minute the shoot is opened for obvious reasons. it is at that time that u feel the speed. u suddenly take a blow as if u hit a speedbreaker but ur photographer guy still does not open hi shoot (he doe sit a little later!) and so u see him plumetting to earth with the same speed u had so far. THAT IS FAST..damn...once we confirmed that we are good with the shoot, Erin let me steer the shoo tas well..i did admit that it was a bad idea but i kinda got the trick. it was fun.we did a few turns n curls up there too. all this time i was howling n screaming at the top of my voice...all the excitement was getting on to me man..the landing was also perfect..we just slide into the grass below...i cudnt help saying it but "Welcome to Earth!"
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