I've missed this....

11 months. 11 months and 5 days since my last skydive. And pretty much the same amount of time since last being in the windtunnel either. As some of you may or may not know, skydiving is a VERY big part of my life and is a hobby that i deeply enjoy now. When I left Colorado last year at the end of August, I had the plan of getting back to Michigan and basically jumping my ass off at Tecumseh. At the end of last summer, I had achieved several objectives of mine. I had gone through water training (Water training is when we learn how to survive and get away from our rigs and canopies in case we land in water, either intentionally or unintentionally), I had received my B-License, which now lets me complete night jumps, hot air balloon jumps and water landings. (There are some Dropzone's which are right on the beach). So I was progressing nicely, or at least I thought. I had learned A TON of new shit from alot of my friends and done a bunch of new jumps and exits. I had racked up 3.5 hours in the wind tunnel and was now sit-flying. Basically, I was having the time of my life.

Well, upon getting back to school, money ran out. Time became non-existent as I entered my 5th and final year and the weather was (for the most part) shitty all the time and not jumpable conditions. I hung out with everyone at Tecumseh and missed jumping, but I knew it wasn't feasible. I was also trying to concentrate on securing a job, so that as taking alot of time as I was flying all fall semester to interviews.

Winter came (after about the middle of January) and left and the season opened up again. It's not been almost 7 months at this point since I've jumped. To make matters worse (in a sense) all my friends from Colorado keep emailing me awesome pictures from the Moab Boogie or other Boogies and parties that have been happening, or stuff from the tunnel. All I can do is look and be happy for them, but insanely jealous at the same time. Because I had no jumping and no windtunnel. It was ALWAYS cold and who knew when I would've been to jump again. Now in the skydiving world, depending on your license (there are 4 from A to D), if you let a certain amount of time pass without making a jump, you have to do what's called a "Recurrency Jump." Basically this means going out with an instructor and performing basic freefall and canopy maneuvers to make sure you can fly safely and not injure yourself or anyone else. For my license, the limit is 90 days and I knew I had passed that a long time ago, which sucks.

Well, at some point, a little bit after graduation, the weather became nice again and Tecumseh opened again. Pumped to finally be able to possibly jump, I go out and party with everyone and let them know that I'll be staying in Michigan for May and June to hang out before leaving. This didn't happen. After that party, I realized that by staying in Michigan, I would be spending money I didn't have and that I also had to worry about moving across country and trying to survive my first few weeks before my job started. So once again, I was unable to jump and moved back home to PA for awhile to say goodbye to all my friends and family.

Fast forward to this past weekend. A bunch (20 to be exact) of the interns from my job are going skydiving and I'm "sponsoring" them, so I get 10 free jumps out of the deal, which is nice. I then decide that this past weekend would be the weekend I would go and start again, as I was tired of being on the ground.....seriously. Now one thing that people in the skydiving world all know is that, the longer the time between jumps is, the more apprehension and doubt that builds. Basically, you start doubting your own skill (esp. if you're an early jumper). I was a little nervous, but couldn't figure out why. This is nothing new. One of my good friends and an amazing instructor and skydiver (Jimbo at Tecumseh) told me that, "The hardest jump you'll ever make is the first one after a long layoff." And he was exactly right.... After talking to all my friends who were doing tandems and waiting, I FINALLY got to go on the last load of the day. I was unable to use my free jumps towards my recurrency, so that sucked too.

I ask my friend Brady to do my recurrency and we go up in the plane after riding the trailer and after the gear check and i'm finally on the plane. But something was happening on the way up. As I watched the earth get further and further away and we ascended into the clouds, I couldn't help but smile. All the anxiety and apprehension had drained away. I look out of the door and was so happy to be back in the air and to be a skydiver. Brady could tell and he looked over and said "Welcome back to the air, bro."

The plane ride seemed to take forever and finally the yellow light went on and the door opened. There was a group in front of us going on a sunset tracking dive, so we were next after them. The green light went on, the first group went and Brady and I assumed our positions for the exit. I was in front of him on the outside of the plane holding the bar, I look back and he nods and I count off and let go.........
In that skydive, I fly down to him and dock and do the standard left 360 and right 360 and dock again. Then it was time to see if I still had it and have some fun. Brady went into a sit and I followed suit. After my legs went a little crazy, I rolled into my sit and was stable and stayed there. Holy shit!!! After a year, I can still do this!!!!
So excited I forgot to check my altitude and I see Brady pointing and I look and we're at 5.5 K, pretty much time to break off, so we break and I track away to the south.

Upon opening, the realization of why I do this and why I want to stay in this sport hit me. I had missed this so much and forgot what it felt like and how free you were. It is something I pride myself on being a part of, especially as one of the few black skydivers. From this point, I know I'm officially just beginning my journey as a skydiver. No more interruptions or having to wait for weather. No more having to miss out on boogies or cool shit because of money or school. It's gonna be awesome and its my goal to become an awesome Freeflyer*.

Anyways, I land and walk over to a trailer with another guy who jumped named JC. Brady says "Great skydive man!" and my friend Kartik asks me how it was, and I tell him, "Man I've missed this, but it feels good to be back."

Now that I have the windtunnel and here in CO they jump year round, I don't see myself becoming uncurrent anymore...in fact I'm gonna make sure. But i'm excited that I have a permanent place and I don't have to worry about leaving. Just another great realization that I'm on my own and this is my life now.

*Oh, if you like to see what sit-flying or freeflying is like, go here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=64suH8U9Ros&mode=related&search=