I went skydiving today - this has to be one of the most epic adventures I’ve ever had! It was on the Californian coast - at Monterey Bay -it was beautiful.

We had signed up for a dive last week - but the clouds played spoil sport. So this weekend, we got an opportunity to get through with this adventure.

The prep

We had a bit of introduction on skydiving and some basics. This included how the harness works, how parachutes are deployed and how to navigate a parachute. All of this took about 30 minutes - I wondered is this all I really need to know? Will these people be able to handle everything?

The first diver

The four tandem divers got into the aircraft. Another person - who seemed like an expert got by himself - no instructor / helper. His gear looked really cool.

He boarded the craft last - so he was scheduled to dive first.

We reached about 15000 feet high and the (ridiculously unsafe) door was opened. Air blasted into the passenger area - that was insane!

This solo diver got in position and just jumped out - efforless and no hesitation. I was sitting right next to this open door - so I followed his dive for a while.

He just fell - no sight of the parachute. Now it was my turn.

The jump

My instructor got me into position - squat near the door. I said, okay - sure, why not. While I was getting settled in my position, I felt a slight push from the instructor. And lo - I was outside the craft.

I turned my head around to see the aircraft. Its size - it shrunk rapidly. I was thrilled. My instructor did some manuevers in air - moving around by flicking his wrists. Turning by flicking both wrists. It all seemed to make sense. Not that only a few seconds have passed until now - and it felt like everything was in slow motion.

Slowly I got used it the situation and looked around - the view of Monterey Bay from the sky is amazing. It was a relatively clear sky that day - not many clouds in sight.

The parachute

After free falling for a minute, which felt like a really long time, we deployed the parachute. The tug from the parachute as it opens is massive. It jolts your entire body and you slow down very rapidly.

I was put in charge of manuevering the chute to the landing site! The turns a parachute takes are really tight - you can feel the parachute resisting every bit of motion you do. After a while, the instructor took over and landed us onto the ground.

This has to be one of the best experiences I’ve had till date!

The one complaint I have is - they did not let me take my GoPro along.

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlGKxreo9Vc

Markdown awesomeness Possible calamities of 2012