Vacation: All I ever wanted
Finally, I've recovered enough to recap my vacation to Houston.
My God! The fun at Skydive Spaceland! It's my favorite of all the dropzones I've visited so far. They have great planes, friendly skydivers and a fun atmosphere. Boyfriend and I spent most of the week there, and I don't think there was a minute I was unhappy.
Spaceland is the home of Team Anomaly, one of the best skydiving teams in the world. They are experts in the same discipline of skydiving that I do. It's called freeflying, and it's a relatively young aspect of the sport. You've all probably seen skydivers who fly on their bellies and make formations in the sky. Well, freeflying is the opposite of that. It's flying on every axis of your body -- straight up and down in the air (think standing), perched like you're on a chair (think sitting), and upside down with your head pointed to the earth (think lawn dart).
It's really hard. People who fly on their bellies have a lot of stability, because they're presenting a lot of surface area to the wind. But in freeflying, you're only presenting your head and shoulders or feet. If you're not precise or if you don't maintain your balance, you'll flip through the air like crazy. It's also pretty dangerous, because freeflyers reach higher speeds than other skydivers -- about 150 to 220 mph rather than 120-140 mph.
I made some jumps with Anomaly, which was amazing. I felt like a baby trying to keep up with marathon runners. These guys are part goose or something. They make this crazy, unnatural, vertical flying look easy.
One particular jump really stands out in my mind, because it's probably the most cool-ass skydive I've ever made. There were four of us -- Boyfriend, Trent from Anomaly, this great skydiver Will and me. We messed up the exit right out the door, so I just hung out. But then everybody started flocking around me. I was sit flying, which again looks like I'm sitting in a chair. Will and Trent both approached while they were upside-down on their heads. Trent held on to one of my hands on one side of me, while Will grabbed my other hand. Then the two of them joined together and held hands.
So there I was -- it looked like I was playing ring-around-the-rosy with two upside-down dudes. It's the most awesome thing I've seen in the sky and I was actually a part of it.
Boyfriend was in the background, filming the entire thing. I could see him doing a little dance in the air, because he was so excited. It was perfect and wonderful in every way.
All of us clamored to see the video once we landed. But you see, the night before, a bunch of skydivers had been doing stupid human tricks, flipping around and doing dumb things on a trampoline. And in filming that, my boyfriend had zoomed his camera waaaay in ...
So the camera was set too close for the skydive. All you can see is our feet.
BUT THEY'RE COOL-ASS FEET.
My God! The fun at Skydive Spaceland! It's my favorite of all the dropzones I've visited so far. They have great planes, friendly skydivers and a fun atmosphere. Boyfriend and I spent most of the week there, and I don't think there was a minute I was unhappy.
Spaceland is the home of Team Anomaly, one of the best skydiving teams in the world. They are experts in the same discipline of skydiving that I do. It's called freeflying, and it's a relatively young aspect of the sport. You've all probably seen skydivers who fly on their bellies and make formations in the sky. Well, freeflying is the opposite of that. It's flying on every axis of your body -- straight up and down in the air (think standing), perched like you're on a chair (think sitting), and upside down with your head pointed to the earth (think lawn dart).
It's really hard. People who fly on their bellies have a lot of stability, because they're presenting a lot of surface area to the wind. But in freeflying, you're only presenting your head and shoulders or feet. If you're not precise or if you don't maintain your balance, you'll flip through the air like crazy. It's also pretty dangerous, because freeflyers reach higher speeds than other skydivers -- about 150 to 220 mph rather than 120-140 mph.
I made some jumps with Anomaly, which was amazing. I felt like a baby trying to keep up with marathon runners. These guys are part goose or something. They make this crazy, unnatural, vertical flying look easy.
One particular jump really stands out in my mind, because it's probably the most cool-ass skydive I've ever made. There were four of us -- Boyfriend, Trent from Anomaly, this great skydiver Will and me. We messed up the exit right out the door, so I just hung out. But then everybody started flocking around me. I was sit flying, which again looks like I'm sitting in a chair. Will and Trent both approached while they were upside-down on their heads. Trent held on to one of my hands on one side of me, while Will grabbed my other hand. Then the two of them joined together and held hands.
So there I was -- it looked like I was playing ring-around-the-rosy with two upside-down dudes. It's the most awesome thing I've seen in the sky and I was actually a part of it.
Boyfriend was in the background, filming the entire thing. I could see him doing a little dance in the air, because he was so excited. It was perfect and wonderful in every way.
All of us clamored to see the video once we landed. But you see, the night before, a bunch of skydivers had been doing stupid human tricks, flipping around and doing dumb things on a trampoline. And in filming that, my boyfriend had zoomed his camera waaaay in ...
So the camera was set too close for the skydive. All you can see is our feet.
BUT THEY'RE COOL-ASS FEET.
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Wednesday, April 27, 2005 at 8:15 AM.
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