On Sunday, August 28, 2005, I decided to fulfill one of my life-long dreams... to jump out of a perfectly good airplane and experience 60 seconds of free-fall at terminal velocity. It was undoubtedly one of the most overwhelming experiences of my entire life. Nothing can prepare you for the thrill of skydiving, and nobody can tell you what it's really like to experience skydiving... you simply have to do it for yourself to understand just how amazing the experience really is. I can honestly say that I had the time of my life doing this, and I wanted to share the experience with you.

The Sky-Dive Hollister Jump Crew originally prepared these videos... I've just modified them for your viewing pleasure. At 5:10pm, the plane takes off from the Hollister Municipal Airport and proceeds to climb to 15,000 feet, ascending through the warm August air, headed south. At 5:30pm the plane reaches the drop-zone, 10 miles South of the Hollister Municipal Airport, and I back out of the fuselage into a 145 MPH head wind with my jumpmasters. The next five minutes, are truly an experience I'll never forget.

For your first solo-jump, you are required to jump with two jumpmasters, who stay by your side the entire time and require you to perform several "awareness" procedures during free-fall. Admittedly, I was glad they were there, but it would have been nice to be completely free. Unfortunately, in these videos, you do not get to experience the peace and serenity of being under the canopy after 128 MPH winds! Perched above the mountain tops and flying underneath your canopy and viewing the beautiful California country-side makes you feel really fortunate to be alive!

If you look carefully, you can see the Monterey Peninsula, the Pacific Ocean under a shroud of clouds, and the entire Gilroy/Hollister valley directly below. What's particularly interesting during the jump is how quickly the landscape features below get bigger and bigger in the frame. ;-)
-Z