There I am, sat on the edge of a plane, 15000 feet in the air strapped uncomfortably close to a stranger I had met 5 minutes beforehand. I was trusting this man with my life as I was embarking on the extreme sport of skydiving!
I had wanted to do a charity dive for a while, for the Meningitis Trust, as I had suffered with the disease when I was a baby and had luckily made a full recovery. Whilst others had lost their, sight, hearing, limbs, and lives. So, along with sponsorships, charity boxes and a big 'Make Do & Spend' clothes sale and raffle evening 9mostly organised by my wonderful mother.) We managed to raise £900 with £400 going to the Meningitis Trust and the rest split between four local charities close to our hearts.
Due to typical English weather my first attempt was cancelled, which made my second try even more nerve-racking. Luckily by this time round, mum had decided to join me in the adventure.
The morning was spent relaxing in the sun, as the sports jumpers went first, which gave us time to calm our nerves. Then our names were called on the tannoy and my stomach fluttered. We were shown into the main room, where we put on a very hot jumpsuits and even tighter harness. I was then introduced to my 'Tandem Master', Andy, who made lots of jokes about not knowing what he is doing, which weirdly relaxed me a lot. So, the time had come to step onto the plane, so I did it with a slow sense of caution, but being ushered along by the jolly Andy.
As the plane flew higher and higher, I looked out the window at the tiny speck of a building that we had just excited. The next part. all happened in the space of 30 seconds, with the instructor shuffling me to the open exit of the plane, kneeling in front of it and then jumping out of it. As we jumped we flipped in the, which is a strange sensation, but teamed with the ferocious noise and the intense air rush, making it extremely hard to breathe. Then after a few seconds of this speedy freefall, the parachute was pulled, making for an altogether different experience of silent tranquillity. As we floated to the ground, we managed to manoeuvre a few spins. He, then confidently handed me the controls for a brief period, which was a brave move for him and made me feel quite involved and a little proud.
Then the landing was executed with ease, as we slid along on our behinds, and we were safe on the ground once more. Totally speechless.
