Benjamin Westlake

Blog 019

Skydiving
United Kingdom
2016, May 14th



Today I had my very first sky dive!
Skydiving is something I have always wanted to do! and when I was given the opportunity I jumped straight at it! (Excuse the pun).
In the van travelling down as the time gets on I can feel myself getting more and more nervous, I love the feeling of adrenaline but this is something different.
Pulling up and meeting with everyone I really dont know how I feel.
Signed my life away and all ready to go!

Outside the hangar is a big board with your name on it and the time of your jump... Trust it to be me who is last on this list.
I think I was waiting around for a good hour or two but it was now time for me to get ready and in the harness. There was just one jump in front of me now, they were all students doing their final jump until they were qualified.
Seeing them come in one by one, this final lad you can see something has gone wrong... The instructors on the ground are looking worried and start shouting at him to lift his legs up...
I dont think that he could hear them, barely missing the cars in the car park he then crash lands feet first into the toilet block, everyone goes running towards him..
At this moment I am thinking great, that could be me in a minute.
We are then told it is our turn to go.
Heading over to the aircraft you can hear sirens in the distance.

I am first in as I am last to jump, one of the other people jumping look extremely nervous, im not feeling that bad.
And we are off, in a tiny little plane, gradually climbing higher and higher.

At 10,500 feet, I am nudged towards the open door.
Standing at the edge of the door and looking out at the vast openness below, I have no other option but to trust who I am strapped to.
There was nothing just the wind on my face and the noise of the air.
I looked out upon that beautiful earth and was surprised to feel complete peace within myself.
In that moment, I owned the world.
I could feel the cool air on my face with the speed of more than 200 mph as if it was welcoming me. However I only remembered the instruction cross arms, knees bend and forgot head back.

All of a sudden I am blind, the wind hit my eyes and my goggles are filled with water. All I can see is a blur.
60 seconds later, the parachute is pulled and I found myself peacefully floating towards the drop zone. He asked me if I wanted some spins on the parachute, I said hell yeah!
He grabbed my hands and put them in the controls, very easy just pull one arm down and you go that way.
The parachute ride down took around 7 minutes and the landing was incredibly soft.
Wow, this experience was nothing like I had imagined. It was one of the best moments of my life which I couldn’t express in words!

Check out Sky Dive London on the link below:
www.skydivelondon.co.uk




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