Ten thousand feet and counting

Turns out I didn't have to send the film off after all. Walgreens was able to develop it and put it on a CD for me, with both high-res (for printing) and low-res (for emailing and posting) of each picture. This is all real folks. No trick photography. The really disappointing thing was they didn't get any shots after the parachute opened. There was only one of the landing, but all it shows is our legs. In my opinion the photographer screwed up by saving only one exposure for the landing.

Oh, and I'm not screaming. I had my mouth open wide to be able to breathe in the 120-mph wind. The city down below in Playa del Carmen, QROO, Mexico

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(airportkid @ Jan 22 2007, 04:31 PM) [snapback]379234[/snapback]</div>

Not forced, but I did have to be pushed. I cannot jump into the water from a one-meter diving board. I told the instructor that I'd be unable to actually make the jump and I wanted him to just push me when the time came.

This was something I just simply had to do. Once. I won't do it again, unless there is an extreme incentive. Like for example if Juliette Lewis offered to go to bed with me on the condition that I made another jump.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wildkow @ Jan 22 2007, 05:32 PM) [snapback]379244[/snapback]</div>

If you'd had a good look at the airplane, and listened to the pilot talking to the two skydivers (instructor and photographer), you might have been, like me, more inclined to jump than to remain in the plane. I think the pilot was about 16 years old.

Funny thing is, though, that until 2 or 3 weeks ago, I always said I'd never sky dive. Then I saw on the internet that they offered tandem sky diving, and I just realized that I'd never forgive myself if I left Mexico without trying it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nerfer @ Jan 22 2007, 08:00 PM) [snapback]379321[/snapback]</div>

I'm happy with the quality of the pictures. The photographer opened his parachute after the instructor opened ours. He should have been able to get a shot of ours opening. But even without that, since he landed first by several minutes, he had plenty of opportunity to get several shots of our approach and landing. But he had only one exposure left. Whether he intended to only get one shot from the ground, or mis-counted in the air and took too many, I do not know. But he had one exposure left, and he completely blew that. He was on the beach, and the last picture shows our legs as we approach for the touch-down. He should have saved 3 or 4 exposures, and gotten the full approach and landing.

Oh, well. The main thing is I survived. And it only took about 48 hours for the motion sickness to subside. After I sailed on the Lord Nelson for a week I was motion-sick for 2 or 3 months. I really thought I had done myself permanent damage.

I would (quite literally) give my eye teeth (whichever ones those are) for a cure for motion sickness.

 

Some people get accustomed to motion after a while. Many people will be sick the first day on board a ship, and then get used to it. But other people never do: Lord Nelson (after whom the ship I sailed on was named) got sick every time he sailed, and Darwin was seasick the entire voyage of the Beagle. Not only did I not get used to it with time, but after I sailed on the Lord Nelson I was sick for 2 or 3 months, and feared I had done myself permanent damage.

I soloed a small plane (Piper Tripacer, belonging to my step-father) when I was 16 or 17. I never got a private pilot's license, because he ended up selling the plane. But I went up with him while he did some fairly mild air tricks. Lazy-8s, stuff like that. The tripacer was not an aerobatic plane. But I always got sick when he did that stuff. I never got used to it.

The odd thing is that nobody knows why a disconnect between your eyes and your ears should make your stomach go screwy.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mystery Squid @ Jan 24 2007, 07:38 AM) [snapback]380039[/snapback]</div>

Thank you, Squid. I'm still not sure whether it was brave or stupid. But that particular outfit has been operating for a long time, and claims to have a stellar safety record. The instructor was clearly an expert, as he set us down right in the middle of the beach, exactly opposite to where the van was parked. And beach sand is about the safest place to land.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Jan 24 2007, 07:44 AM) [snapback]380043[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the link Evan. It looks awfully technical, but I'm going to print it out to read more at leasure, and I'll show it to my doctor.

However, at a first glance, they seem to be talking about vertigo, which is not what I have. It's true that I sometimes get dizzy for a moment when I stand up from a squat, most often right after jogging, but I've been told that is due to slightly lowered blood pressure. My problem is motion-sickness. And I've read that after a severe, extended bout of motion sickness, it is common for the symptoms to last beyond the motion, and sometimes far beyond.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Proco @ Jan 24 2007, 08:30 AM) [snapback]380076[/snapback]</div>

There is no falling sensation. This is because you reach terminal velocity within a couple of seconds, and after that there is no further acceleration. Just wind. About a 120 mph wind. I imagine it's a lot like standing in a hurricane, except that a hurricane would blow you sideways. Since you are falling belly to Earth, the wind is blowing you upwards against the force of gravity.

So all you feel is a tremendous wind, so strong that it is hard to breathe. Which is why my mouth is open. I noticed in the pictures that the instructor has his mouth closed, so obviously you learn to breathe through your nose. But of course I could not see the instructor.

One cool thing is that the climate in Mexico is so warm that, as you see in the pics, you can jump in shorts and t-shirt. I think other places are generally so cold that you have to be fully clothed. I was not the least bit cold, even falling 120 mph.

There are vertical wind tunnels where you can experience free-fall without actually moving. This one charges $70 for 3 minutes, and $35 for a second 3 minutes, or $175 for a book of 5 flights for one person. However, in real skydiving you can move horizontally. With this you are limited to the 12-foot diameter of the tunnel.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Michgal007 @ Mar 19 2007, 12:34 PM) [snapback]408503[/snapback]</div>

You ought to try it once. It's amazing. It's really scary, but relatively safe with an experienced tandem jumper as long as you're not close to other jumpers. Accidents occur mostly from collisions between jumpers, and from daredevil manuvers.

I highly doubt I'll ever do it again. But I'm really glad I did it. Once.

I usually get a bit sick any time I fly. I use Bonine. One for jets and two for prop planes. If I'm expecting it to be bad I'll use Scopolamine, but the side effects (dizziness and a sore throat) leave it suitable only for extreme cases.