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S K Y D I V I N G Text by Sid Samea. 16 Oct - 18 Oct 1998 As you are all probably aware, last weekend was the first training weekend of the year. To put it lightly, it was a complete success. On a blustery Friday evening 11 trusting individuals gathered at the Union for the two hour minibus drive to the North Devon village of Dolton. After nearly 3 hours of driving, countless dodgy gear changes and some dubious navigation from our Captain, they arrived at their destination. Time for a quick meal, a few swift drinks accompanied by nervous discussions about the weekend ahead, and bed. Saturday dawned bright and windy, and the 11 brave souls began their exhaustive(!) training. After, yelling the safety count at each other for god-knows how many times, taking countless tea/coffee breaks, learning all the drills, and having a lot of fun, it was time for the exam. No worries! Time to go to the pub. Due to nerves, excitement, and the prospect of good jumping weather the next day, a fairly major drinking session ensued. As a result Helen became obsessed with convincing everybody that her T-shirt was black, while all of us wound her up by saying it was blue, yet she still refused to take it off for a thorough scientific investigation! Pipper and Claire were chatted up by one of the instructors, but he was given the put down, because they were far more interested in playing with the toys of one of the children while discussing imaginary friends! (Ask them about it, I just tell it how it is). The blokes just played pool, while laughing at myself and Joel make a complete tit of ourselves throughout the evening. Bring on Sunday. We could not have asked for better weather the following morning. There was barely a cloud in the sky, and a light breeze was all that kept the windsock busy. At around 9.30 the aeroplane arrived. It was an 8 place Islander borrowed off the army for the day. It is a great jump aircraft, and due to its capacity all the trainees were able to jump by 11.00! Everybody did extremely well, landing close to the target cross, and some with perfect stand-up landings, except Claire. She clearly so enjoyed her time at Eaglescott Skydiving Centre, that she decided to land a good 3 miles away from the drop zone. At least she didn't hurt herself, which is a good thing, but it was probably due to her landing in an extremely large cow-pat! Needless to say, no-one wanted to pack her parachute for fear of being covered in cow shit! Time for some experienced skydiving, before the plane went to another local dropzone for a couple of hours. After their first jump the trainees, now parachutists, could do nothing but smile continuously. The only cure for this: another jump. They all signed up for a second lob, and waited patiently for the plane to return. During the interim period some clouds had come over the drop zone, but thankfully they were high enough (just!), to not impose on the student jumping. All but one jumped again, while the plane avoided the lowest parts of the clouds! Now you would think that Claire had learned from her previous errors in canopy control. Unfortunately, this was not the case. She decided to land off the drop zone again. This time a change was needed, so she decided to land in a field full of sheep, and their crap! She says she is still keen to do more jumps, which I hope she does. That brought an end to the day, everybody was debriefed, handed their first jump certificate, took part in a photo shoot, and packed up the minibus for the drive back to Bristol. Congratulations are in order for:
Well done! |