Sky Diving: Sky Diving - Santa Cruz

It was a lazy Saturday morning after Good Friday. Vivek called me and said 'How about we go for Sky Diving today?'. He wanted me to have 'Sky Diving' experience as a birthday gift 2 years ago, but it did not materialize at that time. He had now checked out an outfit in Santa Cruz and made reservations for evening 5:30 PM sky dive. He was going to be in Israel next week and so wanted to do it this week. It was a bright sunny day but very windy and so quite chilly. The temperature was in upper 40's to lower 50's. We drove to Watsonville south of Santa Cruz. The outfit was operated from a 10' x 20' mobile shed and on the surface looked cheap and not very safe.

The plane used for the Sky Diving was a 4 seater Cessna 182A with 3 seats removed. I found out later that it was built in 1958! http://www.aircraftone.com/aircraft.asp?tn=N4793D It has 230 hp engine (less horse power than my Volvo). Afterwards I found out that it sells in used market from $40k to $50K depending on its condition.

The rates for the jump were $200/- for a 10,000’ jump and $230/- for a 14,000’ jump. For 30$ extra it seemed worth going for the higher elevation.

Bobby is the guy who checks all the parachutes and packs it neatly for the next dive. While he can dive solo, he has not yet got certification for a tandem dive. His job is critical as he checks the parachutes after each dive and carefully folds it for deployment the next time.

Natalie is his girl friend and is the cashier and shuttle van operator to pick up the divers from the Santa Cruz beach. Natalie has never done a jump and wants Bobby to get certified and wants to jump with him for the first time. Volker is an instructor. Jester is another instructor, a little older and true to his name crazier. He always walks bare feet. Even though the temperature was only in the upper 40's he was wearing shorts and no jackets and no shoes. He prefers jumping bare feet!

A very young Chinese looking couple was before us for the 5 PM jump. Ours was at 5:30 but they were running late. It takes easily 45 minutes for each jump. At around 5:45 Natalie brought back the dive instructors and the couple back. The girl was very sick after the dive and was rushing to the terminal for vomiting. Not an encouraging sign before a first jump.

Besides the pilot, with seats removed, the plane can hold only 4 people. So only 2 pairs can do tandem jumping in one trip. So we had to decide by toss as to who should go in the first trip for jump. It turned out that Vivek and I will be in the first trip and Kausee in the second trip. It was time for Vivek and I to put on the harness.

Volker is shooting a video. Each instructor has a video camara attached to his wrist and there is not a separate photographer!

The instructions were very brief. (Stay in a banana position - see below - during the free fall! – Look at the camera when I tap you on your hand!)

We had no idea what to expect.

Fortunately Bill who is another instructor and not part of this company had come to while away his time. He explained the jump position and how you need to put your feet away from the landing gear for jump.

He also showed how to open the door and how the door stays open because of the air pressure.

We climbed into the plane.

Two instructors and two students have to really squeeze themselves into the plane. In a way it was good. Felt cozy.

The plane was ready for take off!

When we got on the plane our harnesses were never hooked on to the instructor's who is behind you adjusting his strap. Vivek was closer to the door and was thinking what if the rickety door opens before the instructor attaches himself to his strap!

The plane picks up speed and claims altitude. We go through the clouds and were thinking we are probably going to dive through the clouds.

Bill had told earlier that when you crash through the moisture bearing clouds, the rain drops will hit you like a stone. Volker assured us that we will be moving to the edge of the cloud and we will dive into the ocean. Going through the cloud seemed like a safer thing to me.

We finally reached 14000'. Vivek unhooked the door and by the force of the wind the door stayed up horizontally. There was a mighty gush of wind blowing on your face. Vivek dangles his feet outside. We shake hands and do a high-5.

Vivek is almost ready! See ya in the beach!

Jester pushed Vivek and both disappeared.

They are now hurtling down to the ocean below.

It was now my turn - I edged towards the door and had to turn 180 deg to face the back of the plane and put my feet outside. Volker pushes me out of the plane and I was on a free fall hurtling down in a horizontal position looking at the ocean and beach approaching me.

The free fall is in a horizontal position looking at the rushing ground and lasts about 45-50 seconds and you reach a top speed of 120 mph. It was exhilarating but a sensory overload and too freaking cold. (should have done this in hot August!) It was hard to breathe with the force of the wind. At about 5000', Volker released the parachute and suddenly everything seemed calm and I felt a sense of relief as the 120 mph descent slowed down to probably a 10-15 mile descent and you could take in breathtaking views of Santa Cruz beach, the ocean and the evening sun.

Here you can see Vivek on the left and I on the right when the parachutes were deployed.

Vivek enjoying the free fall.

Because of the wind, the parachute was spinning crazily for some time. Volker showed how to control the parachute but I was not in a mood to learn anything! We were over the ocean but both the instructors expertly maneuvered the parachute to the beach. Just 5 seconds before landing, I thought I was going to crash into the trees.

But Volker made a deft 180 turn of the parachute and we landed gently on the beach.

Although Vivek jumped out of the plane first, he landed later.

The parachutes were rolled up haphazardly and we climbed about 150’ to the road where Natalie had parked her car. We rushed back (It takes 15 minutes to drive back to the airport) and it was the last jump for the day. Kausee gets ready.