eugenefl
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I celebrated my 33rd birthday in July by treating myself to a tandem skydive. As luck would have it, Groupon had a $200 jump for only $130! I have incredibly mixed feelings about the experience. Sometimes I look at the pictures and video and think "Wow - that was awesome", but at the same time I question my judgment on going in the first place. Now that the jump is done I think the reality of "if something had gone terribly wrong" dawned on me. Needless to say, it felt incredibly humbling to be falling towards Earth from 12,000ft. The latter part of the safety thoughts is very biased - I had my cousin with me and his brother-in-law join me on the jump. My cousin's brother-in-law landed hard subsequently breaking an ankle and fracturing his wrist. His tandem instructor who was tethered to him at landing broke his leg, sprained an ankle, and re-dislocated a shoulder. Both got rides in an ambulance to the local hospital. Evidently, on the ride down under the chute the "instructor" told my cousin's brother-in-law that he had dislocated the shoulder 2 weeks prior and that he might need some help pulling the cords at landing. Well, it didn't go so well. I guess at <30ft before landing the shoulder popped and only one side of the canopy got pulled on. They hit the ground hard and landed on one side. Mind you, I was still floating down with my tandem instructor and was too far in the air to know who got hurt, but I could see down below and saw people crowded around a downed jumper. I just thought the worst.
Because of the Florida rainy summer, we waited out a jump earlier in the day ~12noon. About the time the clouds cleared 2 groups jumped before us, and we got delayed again. It seemed like a quick break came up in the weather and we were rushed into our harnesses and onto the plane - no training or safety briefing...nothing. Right at this point I was questioning the sanity of these people and started asking all sorts of questions on the ride up with no real good answers other than to maintain a basic position during descent. Needless to say, we all went out the side of the plane. I enjoyed the initial bailout and free-fall - the view was incredible - but once we were under chute I started to feel a bit queasy. The leg and shoulder harnesses were FAR too tight and I noticed that I was losing circulation to my hands and legs. I nearly blacked out and with the assistance of the tandem instructor I was able to reposition in the harness just enough to feel OK. At landing I was disoriented heavily, felt nauseous, and wobbled around. Mind you, I am an avid fan of thrill rides at most any theme park with no ill physiological effects. More importantly, I was awaiting the worst for my cousin's brother-in-law.
Again, it was a mixed feeling on the experience. I am glad I did it, but don't expect to ever do it again. (Thankfully I paid to have a videographer shoot still and motion photos during my jump.) I wish they would have walked us through a safety briefing of some kind with instruction on improbable scenarios and what to do in particular situations just so that my mind was set at ease. It was completely unscripted and felt incredibly rushed. To have a member of our group get seriously injured ruined the experience for me.
Anyhow, I hope my experience doesn't dissuade anyone from trying it for themselves. I think it's a worthy life experience that anyone should at least do once. Sometimes I smile about the jump, other times I get that pit in my stomach knowing someone I knew was badly hurt.
Attached are some pics. Your thoughts and comments on the injury part and my overall experience are welcomed. Given that we signed away all of our rights, I am curious if there is still some negligence on behalf of the tandem partner with the shoulder.
Take care all!
Because of the Florida rainy summer, we waited out a jump earlier in the day ~12noon. About the time the clouds cleared 2 groups jumped before us, and we got delayed again. It seemed like a quick break came up in the weather and we were rushed into our harnesses and onto the plane - no training or safety briefing...nothing. Right at this point I was questioning the sanity of these people and started asking all sorts of questions on the ride up with no real good answers other than to maintain a basic position during descent. Needless to say, we all went out the side of the plane. I enjoyed the initial bailout and free-fall - the view was incredible - but once we were under chute I started to feel a bit queasy. The leg and shoulder harnesses were FAR too tight and I noticed that I was losing circulation to my hands and legs. I nearly blacked out and with the assistance of the tandem instructor I was able to reposition in the harness just enough to feel OK. At landing I was disoriented heavily, felt nauseous, and wobbled around. Mind you, I am an avid fan of thrill rides at most any theme park with no ill physiological effects. More importantly, I was awaiting the worst for my cousin's brother-in-law.
Again, it was a mixed feeling on the experience. I am glad I did it, but don't expect to ever do it again. (Thankfully I paid to have a videographer shoot still and motion photos during my jump.) I wish they would have walked us through a safety briefing of some kind with instruction on improbable scenarios and what to do in particular situations just so that my mind was set at ease. It was completely unscripted and felt incredibly rushed. To have a member of our group get seriously injured ruined the experience for me.
Anyhow, I hope my experience doesn't dissuade anyone from trying it for themselves. I think it's a worthy life experience that anyone should at least do once. Sometimes I smile about the jump, other times I get that pit in my stomach knowing someone I knew was badly hurt.
Attached are some pics. Your thoughts and comments on the injury part and my overall experience are welcomed. Given that we signed away all of our rights, I am curious if there is still some negligence on behalf of the tandem partner with the shoulder.
Take care all!