Yep, just done a free-fall tandem sky dive!

My last mail said that the weather wasn't good and those people who'd booked a sky dive where out of luck. Well, I was one of them. I picked up a leaflet for the company NZONE in Christchurch last week and booked it through the motel yesterday. It was supposed to be at 10:30 this morning but as I said, it was cancelled due to the weather. I re-booked for 1:30pm. At 1pm I went into the office and they said they'd be going ahead but would re-confirm at 1:30pm as the weather was changeable.

The company have a web site: www.nzone.biz if you want to have a look. There are a few companies here that do jumps but I liked the fact that NZONE's brochure quoted the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear from the Dune books by Frank Herbert:

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

Also the brochure looked really cool!

I was in the first group of three. There was me, Katie who is originally from England but now lives in Sydney and Andy from Portsmouth. We drive out to the drop zone in a van and put our stuff in the lockers. Then straight through to meet our jump masters and get suited up: jump suit, harness, hat, goggles and gloves. My jump master is called CJ. I had a video and still photos done so I also met my Camera man, Mike. Mike explained what he needed me to do - which was basically not to look down or he'd only be able to video the top of my hat. There's going to be plenty of time to look down and around once the parachute opens.

CJ quickly runs us through what will happen and what we have to do. Basically we're strapped onto the front of the jump master at hips and shoulders and are more or less sitting in his lap on the flight up. When it's time to jump we just put our legs out under (not on) the step, arch our backs, push our heads back against the jump master's shoulder and hook our thumbs on the harness in front of us and keep our elbows in. We aren't going to be able to hear anything during the free fall so when he thumps our shoulders we put our arms up and out in the classic sky dive position. We need to keep the arched position and our legs as far back as possible; if we need to move our legs back he'll thump our thighs. And that is it - into the little aircraft.

We're all crammed in. Three jumpers and their jump masters and three camera people. Two of us are having vidoes and stills and Katie is just having the stills done. The aircraft takes off and shoots up really steeply. As we get higher I put the hat and goggles and gloves on. Then CJ tells me to grab the hand rail above and lift myself up and sit on his lap so that he can strap us together. He shows me the altimeter on his wrist as we get higher - we're going to jump from 12,000 feet which gives about 45 seconds of free-fall. I wanted to do the 15,000 feet jump but the weather wasn't suitable.

Andy is the first one out. As soon as they are out my camera man moves out and then CJ says "We're going!". We shuffle forward towards the door and I put my legs out and try and put them under the step. Then all of a sudden we're falling. I've never, ever, been so scared in all of my life. Right up to that point I'd just been excited but that first second as we left the aircraft was absolutely terrifying. The acceleration seems intense and I can tell that I'm falling at a huge speed. It's not the height. At this point my head is back as I'm trying to arch my back like I've been told to do, so all I can see are white clouds. It's just this amazing feeling as I realise that I've just fallen out of an aircraft from 12,000 feet and that I'm actually doing it. And I'm still falling. Then the thump on my shoulders and I put my arms out. Then Mike is in front of me with the video camera. I'm trying to smile but the wind is pushing at my face so I've no idea what my face is actually doing. Mike comes in close, then to one side, then up and then down. I'm starting to relax and it's a brilliant feeling being in free-fall. The noise of the wind rushing past is deafening. Then Mike's gone. I feel a upwards tug and suddenly I'm upright and the noise has stopped.

The parachute has opened. Was that really 45 seconds? It seemed to go so fast. CJ is talking to me, asking if I enjoyed it. I most certainly did and I say so using some rather colourful phrases. He tells me to look down and I can't believe how high we are. The landscape looks like a model. Mountains around us look absolutely brilliant. Then we spin to the left and the landscpae reels below us. Then to the right and the ground seems to swing up the other way. CJ is holding the straps from the parachute out in front of us. He says "Put your left hand through this loop. Good. Now your right hand through the other loop. Good. Now pull down with your left hand." I can't believe he's letting me steer! Of course he's still got control with loops above but even so I didn't expect to be doing this.

CJ tells me to look over in the distance and I can see Katie's parachute opening. "Watch the camera woman" CJ says, and I can see her hurtling down, still free-falling. It looks like something from a James Bond film. For a moment I worry that something's wrong but then her chute opens. The camera people have to get down before us so that they can take pictures of the landings.

We do what seem like spirals and the lanscape just whirls around and around. Then it's time to let go of the loops. CJ expains how we're going to land. My job is just to keep my legs up in front of us as high as possible when he says "feet up". He un-hooks the the hip connections on the harness so that it's more comfortable. We practice the landing position. The ground is coming closer and I can see the drop zone and people standing outside the building looking up. CJ says that if he says "stand up" then put my feet down but otherwise just keep them up and we will land sitting down.

The ground is rushing towards us and we're coming in. "Feet up" and then we're down. We do a sit down landing. Amazingly gentle and soft, but then I'm sitting on CJ so I'm cushioned. There's no thump or anything. One moment we're above the ground, the next we're sitting down on the grass. People rush over to grab the canopy and Mike takes some more shots and then shakes my hand. I'm standing up and CJ shakes my hand. As we walk back to the building he asks what my favourite part of it was. I tell him it was the last few seconds before the chute opened becuase I was actually starting to enjoy it at that point. I thank him and tell him it was the most amazing thing I've ever done. He says he's glad I enjoyed it and that he'd enjoyed it as well - it was a good jump. We shake hands again and I go off to get out of the gear.

Andy and Katie are there. We are all so excited. I kiss Katie and shake Andy's hand then we all look at each other; "Group Hug!" says Andy and we hug each other and practically jump up and down with excitement. We can't stop talking about it.

When we've got our stuff out of the lockers we stand outside and watch the next group do their jump. All three of us turn white and almost in unison say "Oh, my, God. How high is that?" We're stunned by how high the aircraft is as these tiny little dots jump out of the side. We all agree that if we'd seen that first we wouldn't have been smiling so much on the way up. Back into the van about twenty minutes later and then back to the office in town. Everyone in the van agrees that it was fantastic and we're so pleased to have done it.

So, there we are. That's what I did today! I pick up the photos and video tomorrow. I've seen a bit of the video already at the drop zone and it's really cool.

Not sure what's next. I've dived on the Barrier Reef, climbed Sydney Harbour Bridge and now I've done a tandem free-fall. Fantastic.

Ian.