A Singular Moment

This story was submitted by Daniel to enter to win an L&B ARES II digital altimeter through my Gear Giveaway #3. Submissions accepted until March 31st, 2025.

That singular moment when you first experience freefall in solo mode -- it was so completely different from a tandem or having instructors holding onto you in any way. I was actually worried I wouldn't like skydiving since my initial tandem jumps felt like being stuck with my face in front of a giant fan blowing my lips off for 60 seconds.

But when the instructors completely let go of you, even as early as your Cat C, to free fall on your own -- that was glorious:

Imagine you have the greatest view standing on the mountain overlooking a whole landscape stretching into the horizon. But now you're actually a part of that beautiful view, instead of being an observer. That's what it felt like, an otherworldly feeling of falling above the world.

And it only gets better once you've earned your license and you can jump with friends, zooming around each other in the sky and free falling into the horizon line.

Of course, there's much more to skydiving than only the freefall -- a lot of fun under canopy, and many learnings with executing a safe landing. I'm eternally grateful to Noah and all my AFF instructors for helping me with that -- let's just say I had several bad landings on the airplane tarmac and over the occasional fence, but they stuck with me through it and helped me stick all my subsequent landings safely and soundly.

So, having read this, maybe it's your turn to skydive? :D

~Daniel