When I did my Skydive course – AFF

The idea of starting skydiving had been maturing in my head since I did a tandem jump in 2012, but it was never really more than just an ideia. Until one day, in a harmless track, I saw some crazy dudes, jumping from a montais. What the hell those people are thinking? A base jump? What is wrong with them? Where the hell did they learn how to do that? And why the hell I’m not doing that yet?
I was fascinated, I remember thinking how boring it would be to go down by abseiling mountain while there was a way down so more cool, like waaaaaay more cool!

And as if it that sign was not enough, a little time after that, in Rio de Janeiro, me and some friends went to jump from Asa Delta, and the instructor who was with me, Manoel Navarro, was a skydiver who gave me the last little push that was missing. As soon as I returned from the trip I started to look for skydiving schools and I found the Skydive Boituva and already at the end of the following week I went to visit the school and after talking 5 minutes with the instructor Aninha I was already scheduling the first class for the following weekend.

Theoretical part

The first part is a theoretical class, it takes about 8 hours, where you will learn some concepts of the sport, the presentation of the parachute and its functionality, the possible breaches that may happen along the way and the actions to be taken in each of the situations presented.

We also learned the positions of the airplane, the basic navigation of the parachute and conditions of landing, and the training in case you need to trigger the reserve parachute. It was in this part of the class that I presented my best performance. After Aninha explained a million times how to proceed in case of a crash, she put a parachute simulator on me so I could simulate the disconnection and opening procedure. As we prepared, we began to talk, and the conversation goes on and conversation comes, when suddenly Aninha simply shouts PANE! And I wish all my agility I keep wiggling my hands all over the device without pulling anything, not knowing what to do I looked at all that stuff on me and looked at Aninha and to the equipment and to Aninha, and equipment and Aninha and just like this PANE simulation just caused a real pane in my brain . RIP Gaya.

Which caused laughter to everybody but for me, who suffer a reprimand from Aninha, she made me repeat the procedure so many times, she made me spend the night training until everything was automatic. So when the next day we did the hanging simulation, I did the whole procedure correctly, and I want to believe that it was the best simulation that it was ever seen in pane procedures. Thanks. You’re welcome.

AFF 1 – The first jump

Needless to say I was super plundered when I first jump. Watching this video, I realized that my hair represent my feelings so well.

While the plane was going up, I focus my thoughts only in what I was supposed to do during the jump. Check instructor outside, Check instructor inside, head out of the airplane, up, down, JUMP! Airplane, airplane, airplane (time of departure of the airplane in relative wind). Do 3 simulations, wait for the altimeter to give 6,000 feet and open the parachute.

I had to keep thinking about that because if I start to think about anything else I was going to be so plundered that I was going to do everything wrong! So Focus, and gather all the energies for keep thinking and rethinking the procedures! Until it was time to leave, and then as soon as I left I went into automatic mode , doing as I had imagined. In the video it looks fast and relatively acceptable. In my head it was like this: OOOOOH MY GOD! MY GOD! THERE IS SO MUCH WIND! OOH DAMMED I FORGOT HOW TO BREATHE! HOW THE HELL I SUPPOSE TO BREATHE WITH ALL THAT WIND! GOOOD, WHERE THE HELL IS THAT THING I HAVE TO PULL? DUUUUDE, IT WILL NEVER GOING TO BE 6 THOUSAND FEET! EVER. OOOOOOOOOOOO!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
6 THOUSAND! 6 THOUSAND!

OPEEEEEEEEEN! PLEEEEASE, PLEASE OPEN!!
F*** YEAAAAAAH!! IT’S OPENED!!!!!!!!

As soon as my parachute opened, I gave the parachute an expectant glance to see that fortunately there was no harm and then I began to scream like the mad person I am. All the desperation and desire that I had reached 6,000 soon became a laugh of happiness and the decision that I had loved every second of it. Then I felt that it was not finished yet because the voice of the instructor James came in my helmet asking me to do the parachute check and then passing me the coordinates for navigation and landing.
Landing, that part was the real scary stuff for me, but with all that Aninha made me decorated I was relatively confident, but as I was approaching the land, the only thing I thought was: there is no f***ing way that I’m going to appear in the video landing on my ass …

AFF 2: Simulation. Turn left 90º, turn right 90º, track for 4 seconds. Height. Opening.
Nothing interesting to tell here.

AFF 3: Simulation, instructors will stop holding you, stay stable.
Meaning, after they stop holding me I supposed to stay calm, but, for our surprise, that’s not what happened! When I realized that the two of them had let go I started to think I was spinning because I was looking at them, so far they had just stayed by my side, so if I’m looking at them, I’m spinning. So, I decided to make a turn to try to fix, but I did not know how to make a turn, as you can see in the video. It was an unhappy time. After that, I was focused on just not moving until the opening time.

AFF 4: At this jump, and the next’s one, it is just one instructor per jump and she/he will release you as soon as you exit the VR (relative wind). We have to do: turn 90º to the left, 90º to the right, track and opening. And detail, look at the altimeter among all actions.
But what I did was: turn 180º, turn 90º left, 90º right, check the altimeter what caused me another curve, make the track curving, look at the altimeter and turn still more to see Aninha telling me to open the parachute!

AFF 5: Turn 360º to the left (In the video, it looks like I’m doing right, but the truth is I was trying to see the altimeter, and that cause the turn! Buuuuut, of course, I told my instructor that I was looking for the curve! haha). Turn 360º to the right. Track. Opening.