Completed September 27, 1998 @ Beiseker, AB
I went skydiving at the Skydive Ranch in Beiseker, Alberta. A whole bunch of CUC students went in several vehicles one Sunday, looking for some intense excitement!
I was the fourth to jump from my load. Seth, Jonathan, Brandon, and some stranger were in the plane with the jumpmaster, the pilot, and me. I got rather nauseous in the plane so I was glad to jump out of the thing!
Actually a funny thing while jumping out of the plane… After Mike (my jumpmaster) checked my chute and said all was well, I crawled out of the door and clambered out onto the strut of the plane and held on (basically flying like superman) awaiting instructions, Mike gave the go ahead and I yelled “Hi Mom” to the camera on the right then looked at Mike for the thumbs up, got it then as instructed I looked up at the bottom of the wing and looked for the ‘dot’ that I was told would be there. As soon as I see the dot I am to yell dot and let go of the strut, but there was no dot on the wing. I must have spent a while looking for the dot before I finally gave up and yelled dot anyway and let go.
The jump itself was terrific. I totally forgot to count before checking my chute, I was understandably frantic. Loads of fun maneuvering the chute to where I was supposed to land. My landing was OK, the chute caught air after I landed on my feet and pulled me over before I could bunch it up. I couldn’t afford the video so… no live shots for y’all. I highly recommend doing it once, easily addicting though, so be careful.
The six-hour training and the one jump (from 3500 feet) cost $64.20CDN including GST (it was so cheap because we were a large group). Our instructor was Mike Soboren.
The Skydive Ranch has closed since the jump however, something about safety issues. It’s under new management and called Alberta Skydivers.