Safe to say not everything in life is guaranteed. Skydiving is one of them. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but when the chance came around, I started getting cold feet. To say I was a little nervous about jumping out of a plane would be the biggest understatement of the year. The truth is I was freaking out like no tomorrow for the entire week leading up to my jump day. I was even hoping it’d get canceled due to the rain – which calmed me down thinking of that possibility. However, when the day finally arrived, skydiving was still given the green light. Alas, I got into the car on that cloudy morning and made the hour and a half drive to Skydive Burnaby – to much of my reluctance. I really wanted to jump but just the possibility of something going wrong made my stomach churn and gave me massive panic attacks.

 

When we arrived at the skydiving facilities, the clouds were stopping everyone from going up. At this point, I was thinking – that’s great, I don’t have to jump after all! We waited there for a good four hours before it cleared and then everyone started putting on their jumpsuits to prepare for liftoff. The next thing I knew, I started paying the hefty fee of $500 to go 14000 feet up in the air. I had already signed all the waivers earlier in the day warning us of the dangers of skydiving. Not going to lie but those waivers didn’t help in making me feel any better about what I was about to do. I just remember seeing the words you could be “killed as a result” and wondered why in the world I wanted to go skydiving so badly my whole life?

 

I’m no adrenaline junkie but jumping out of a plane has always been at the top of my bucket list. Although I was freaking out for an entire week with the thought that I could possibly die from this – no joke – I felt surprisingly calm come the day of. It might’ve been because I didn’t believe it was going to happen or that I just shut that part of me off for the time being for my own sanity. I’m not too sure why but before I knew it, everything was set in stone and I was going to jump from 14000 feet that day. No backing out now. I paid about $500 for the entire experience, which included photos of my day at Skydive Burnaby and a video of the jump. Without it, it would’ve worked out to about $350. However, since this was a once in a lifetime experience, I definitely needed to document it properly.

 

After we paid our fees, we put on our jumpsuits and met with our tandem instructors. We’d been given a short training session earlier that day, which basically taught us how to arch our backs when jumping and to hold onto our parachute straps when first disembarking. Easy enough. My instructor, Sam was super chill about the whole thing – mostly because he’d done about 9000 jumps in his life to know the risks and dangers of skydiving already. I wouldn’t exactly say he convinced me to not be scared but he was so relaxed about it that it calmed me down a bit. To him, it was just another jump and before I knew it, they started walking us over to the plane. It was go time.

 

At this point, I had a camera following me around every step of the way. The camerawoman would ask me questions here and there about how I was feeling and even though I was nervous, I had to smile and say how excited I was. Fake it till you make it! Although I was pretty much forcing a smile for the cameras, in many ways it really helped to calm me down. It distracted me from the fact that I was flying 14000 feet into the air on a one-way ticket – any distraction was a good one. I actually expected to be a lot more freaked out at this point but I was just enjoying the killer views on the ride up. Sam was pointing out major landmarks as I entered into a calmer mind space. I’d already accepted the possibility of death at this point. To me, if I was meant to die that day, then no point in fighting it. 

 

Oh, and I should mention I was the first one to jump out of the plane because I’d chosen the video option. Time to show everyone how it’s done, Sam said. A few minutes until jump time, he tightened all our attached straps and put on my glasses. This was when I started to feel a lot more secure. You should note that tandem skydiving is actually quite easy as you don’t have to do much – the instructor does everything for you. After everything got tightened and we were that much closer, that’s when I realized that I was in safe hands. I really just had to take his lead and be part of the jump. Then in an instant, the plane doors opened with the camerawoman getting out first. All I remember is seeing her in front of me and I was staring right into the camera, giving one last smile. Then I believe Sam yelled out ready, set and go and we had jumped!

 

Of course, I had my eyes closed when I jumped just like I always do on all rollercoasters. That’s another thing – I actually hate drops on rollercoasters so I was dreading that feeling while skydiving. However, after a week’s worth of watching skydiving videos and then experiencing it myself, what everyone said was true. You only feel that stomach drop feeling you get on a roller coaster right after you jump. It lasts for about three seconds until the canopy deploys to stabilize your position in the air. Pictured above is my hilarious reaction when first jumping. I had no idea I’d even reacted – everything at that point was kind of a blur. It all happened so fast – good thing I had the cameras to capture it all. The first few seconds was definitely a crazy feeling – dropping at lightning speed – but before I knew it, the canopy opened and the worst part was already over.

 

As soon as our bodies leveled out, I opened my eyes to be welcomed by the strong wind pressure pushing against us. Because of the intense wind, you actually feel like you’re floating instead of falling. It was really hard to breathe during the free fall because of this, lasting about a minute. However, I’d say the most uncomfortable part had to be the overwhelming pressure in my ears. That was really painful for me. All the while this was happening, the camerawoman was right in front of me catching every moment. She’d jumped at the same time as us to film the whole process. Pictured in the above photo, I was actually more uncomfortable than scared, while still trying to mount a smile on my face. I also look like I have my eyes closed but really, I was just squinting hard because of the wind. I remember trying not to show my discomfort on camera while enjoying the free fall. Sam pretty much stole the show with his camera-ready expression the whole time.

 

When the parachute finally opened, I was happy to be able to chill and relax. People said there might be some discomfort when it opens because of the strong g-force but I didn’t feel any of that. It felt like I was being pulled up for a moment but that’s just because of the abrupt stop of acceleration. The parachute deployed without a hitch and I was relieved to finally be able to enjoy my time 5000 feet up in the air. I could see everything for miles and miles on a beautiful clear day in Wainfleet, Ontario. Having flown up overtop beautiful Lake Ontario, I could see the nearby stretches of beaches that I didn’t even know existed. That was definitely my favourite part of my skydiving experience – being able to slowly descend back down onto earth after surviving one the craziest moments of my life. It felt unreal to know I’d just overcome one of my worst fears. Yay me!

 

You’d think that being attached to another person while in the air would be extremely uncomfortable but it wasn’t at all. It felt perfectly comfortable the entire time. I only felt a bit dizzy when Sam instructed me to pull the levers down to steer our parachute towards the landing point. We’d pull it all the way down to go either right or left and at times we’d spin around, which was my least favourite part. If there’s anything I hate more than a drop on a roller coaster, it’s spinning. We spun around two times but within five minutes, we’d made it back to where we started. There were also “catchers” waiting at the landing to assist in our landing. I had both levers pulled down the whole way and my legs lifted up to ensure a safe landing. We made a perfect landing and with one last smiley photo for the cameras, my skydiving experience had been successfully completed.

 

Skydiving has been the one major bucket list thing that’s always been on my mind. To me, it felt like a now or never kind of situation when I was approached to go this time around. Yes, I was scared shitless but the one thing I always ask myself when I’m unsure is, “Can I spend the rest of my life never having done this?” If the answer is no, then I go for it. I definitely wanted to know what skydiving felt like at least once in my life. And to be honest, it wasn’t scary at all. If anything, I didn’t feel much fear when I was so high up because I was more focused on not messing up the jump. I was more disappointed that it didn’t give me that adrenaline rush I was expecting. Roller coasters are definitely much scarier IMO.

Would I do it again? Possibly – if it’s somewhere really scenic like Hawaii but I feel like once is enough for me. All in all, I was really proud of myself for going through with it after my one week of freakouts. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience that I’ll never forget. I also love telling people how I’ve officially jumped out of a plane now. Pretty badass territory (: And with that, I’ll leave you with this:

“Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the ability to act in the presence of fear.”

– Bruce Lee

 

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Skydive Burnaby

11631 Burnaby Road
Wainfleet, ON L0S 1V0

www.skydiveburnaby.com