NBPaintballer
Well-Known Member
This is a short memoir that I wrote for my English class back in high school that I just recently found. Wrote it mad stoned so enjoy if your into reading
It was the summer of my 15th year living when I completed a lifelong goal, something that I did not think I would do until I was a retired adult.
My paintball team and I were competing in the 3rd event of the Central Canada CX4 series in Gananoque during the time. In between games, two members on my team, Ryan and Paul, were discussing their plans to go skydiving later that day and how excited they were for it. Instantly, I commented that I would be interesting. Ryan then called the Gananoque drop zone, but much to my dismay, the minimum age to skydive was 18 years old.
Aw man, I really wish I could go, I commented, trying to sounds courageous, while in my head I was actually relieved that I couldnt go. Seconds after I finished that sentence, my teammate, Will, nonchalantly told me I could use his ID and extended his arm to pass it to me. Paul and Ryan were stoked, and got really excited for me. Ryan called the drop zone back to inform them that another person was interested, and was going to come along. I suddenly got an extremely nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was excited because it was something that I had thought I wanted to do for a long time, and now suddenly, in just a few hours, I would be jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.
After our games for the day ended, we started our drive back to the hotel. I spent about twenty minutes going over my friend Wills ID making sure that I had all the information memorized. Most kids would use a fake ID to buy alcohol, but I was using one to skydive, I thought that was pretty humorous.
When we finally got to the drop zone, we got out of the car and headed to the main office. I handed the employee my ID after he asked for it, and time felt like it stopped as I waited to see if he would buy it or not. Well of course, he did, or else I wouldnt be writing this memoir. The skydiving instructors gave Ryan, Paul and I some pretty basic instructions of what was going to happen, and that we will have to jump tandem with a licensed employee. He also explained to us that you get a certificate after every jump you if you complete them correctly, and you progressively learn more, and after four youre eligible to obtain your solo license.
We waited around for the pilot to get back, and we were called to enter the plane (It was a Cessna Sky hawk.)
With six people on board the small plane, it was close to being overweight, and as it was taking off it shook like Michael J. Fox. As we gained altitude, all the fields below us slowly blurred into one solid shade of green. While in conversation with the pilot, we mentioned that we were here for the paintball tournament. One of the instructors asked him to take us over the paintball field so we could take a good look at it from the sky; this image is still in my mind today.
As we reached 9,000 feet the airplane began to level out, and I got that feeling of nervousness again because I was just seconds away from jumping. The instructor opened the Plexiglas door, which spanned pretty much the entire length of the fuselage, and he told me to sit on the edge and to rest my feet on the legs of the aircraft. It was extremely difficult to force them to do that, and when I finally got there it felt almost unreal sitting on the edge watching my feet with a 9000 foot backdrop.
The sky diving instructor who I was attached to asked me what kind of flip I wanted to do when exiting the plane. I was quick to reply none, and that I was already quite nervous. Well, I guess it didnt matter what I said because we double front flipped out of the airplane anyway.
The first thing I noticed as we were falling was how loud the noise of the wind going by really was. Another one of my thoughts was that if the guy Im strapped to isnt scared, then I have no reason to be. At that moment I was no longer nervous at all, the only thing I was focused on was how awesome this was. If I would have decided not to today (which I was contemplating) I would not have had this amazing memory.
We only freefell for about a minute before he pulled the chute and we came to an abrupt stop. Hanging in the air, everything seemed so silent suddenly. I was able to see all of the farms and their borders from so high up.
We drifted down towards the earth slowly, and I learned that parachutes are actually much more maneuverable then you would tend to think. As we were coming close to the ground I pictured the landing being rough like youd see in movies, but we simply touched the ground as if we just jumped off a curb.
I had made up my mind; I want to do this again! I received my first certificate of the four, but unfortunately it had Wills name on it. Well, in three years I can begin legitimetly obtaining my solo license, so I guess I can only wait.
It was the summer of my 15th year living when I completed a lifelong goal, something that I did not think I would do until I was a retired adult.
My paintball team and I were competing in the 3rd event of the Central Canada CX4 series in Gananoque during the time. In between games, two members on my team, Ryan and Paul, were discussing their plans to go skydiving later that day and how excited they were for it. Instantly, I commented that I would be interesting. Ryan then called the Gananoque drop zone, but much to my dismay, the minimum age to skydive was 18 years old.
Aw man, I really wish I could go, I commented, trying to sounds courageous, while in my head I was actually relieved that I couldnt go. Seconds after I finished that sentence, my teammate, Will, nonchalantly told me I could use his ID and extended his arm to pass it to me. Paul and Ryan were stoked, and got really excited for me. Ryan called the drop zone back to inform them that another person was interested, and was going to come along. I suddenly got an extremely nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was excited because it was something that I had thought I wanted to do for a long time, and now suddenly, in just a few hours, I would be jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.
After our games for the day ended, we started our drive back to the hotel. I spent about twenty minutes going over my friend Wills ID making sure that I had all the information memorized. Most kids would use a fake ID to buy alcohol, but I was using one to skydive, I thought that was pretty humorous.
When we finally got to the drop zone, we got out of the car and headed to the main office. I handed the employee my ID after he asked for it, and time felt like it stopped as I waited to see if he would buy it or not. Well of course, he did, or else I wouldnt be writing this memoir. The skydiving instructors gave Ryan, Paul and I some pretty basic instructions of what was going to happen, and that we will have to jump tandem with a licensed employee. He also explained to us that you get a certificate after every jump you if you complete them correctly, and you progressively learn more, and after four youre eligible to obtain your solo license.
We waited around for the pilot to get back, and we were called to enter the plane (It was a Cessna Sky hawk.)
With six people on board the small plane, it was close to being overweight, and as it was taking off it shook like Michael J. Fox. As we gained altitude, all the fields below us slowly blurred into one solid shade of green. While in conversation with the pilot, we mentioned that we were here for the paintball tournament. One of the instructors asked him to take us over the paintball field so we could take a good look at it from the sky; this image is still in my mind today.
As we reached 9,000 feet the airplane began to level out, and I got that feeling of nervousness again because I was just seconds away from jumping. The instructor opened the Plexiglas door, which spanned pretty much the entire length of the fuselage, and he told me to sit on the edge and to rest my feet on the legs of the aircraft. It was extremely difficult to force them to do that, and when I finally got there it felt almost unreal sitting on the edge watching my feet with a 9000 foot backdrop.
The sky diving instructor who I was attached to asked me what kind of flip I wanted to do when exiting the plane. I was quick to reply none, and that I was already quite nervous. Well, I guess it didnt matter what I said because we double front flipped out of the airplane anyway.
The first thing I noticed as we were falling was how loud the noise of the wind going by really was. Another one of my thoughts was that if the guy Im strapped to isnt scared, then I have no reason to be. At that moment I was no longer nervous at all, the only thing I was focused on was how awesome this was. If I would have decided not to today (which I was contemplating) I would not have had this amazing memory.
We only freefell for about a minute before he pulled the chute and we came to an abrupt stop. Hanging in the air, everything seemed so silent suddenly. I was able to see all of the farms and their borders from so high up.
We drifted down towards the earth slowly, and I learned that parachutes are actually much more maneuverable then you would tend to think. As we were coming close to the ground I pictured the landing being rough like youd see in movies, but we simply touched the ground as if we just jumped off a curb.
I had made up my mind; I want to do this again! I received my first certificate of the four, but unfortunately it had Wills name on it. Well, in three years I can begin legitimetly obtaining my solo license, so I guess I can only wait.