Did I tell you about my Skydiving in Dubai?
As usual, it was Kannan who broached the subject.
” ram, are you interested skydiving?”, he asked me one afternoon
Of course I was. Who is not interested in skydive? The tension, the nerves, and sheer thought of diving from 13000 feet above is exhilarating.
I told him I was interested.
” why don't you book a slot for Skydiving in Dubai marina? Slots are available from last week of November”, Kannan informed me
From my office on the 33rd floor of Du Tower, I used to regularly see people skydiving in Dubai. I wanted to do skydiving ever since.
But wanting to do skydiving is one thing, but booking a slot and committing to skydiving is another. Anybody can do the former, but the latter needed
Courage, which I did not have at that time.
This is a problem of seeding a thought in your mind. It refuses to go away until you take a decision or an action.
The next few days I went through a flurry of thoughts and emotions. On the one hand there was this opportunity. I was in Dubai, and this sport was available. For all I knew, if I miss this, I may not get this opportunity soon. We were already end of November and I was leaving Dubai on the 7th of December. This meant that I had a small opportunity window. I was already 54 it's old and I would be much older, and probably more scared the next time such opportunity was available.
In addition, my birthday was on December 1, and skydiving could be great gift that I gave myself.
But I was afraid to commit.
I tried to analyse my fears. What was afraid of?, I wondered. Was it the fear of heights? Was it the fear of jumping from a great height? Was I afraid that something untoward will happen?
None of the above was correct. Skydiving, especially tandem diving was a safe sport. There was no cause for fear.
I also thought about James Murray of Impractical Jokers, who, despite being terrified of skydiving, had to do it as a punishment. I also remembered that George H W Bush the ex president of USA, had done skydiving at the age of 92. Also there was this lady, who did Skydiving at Dubai Marina age of 103 years!!
If they can do it, I can easily do, I tried to convince myself.
It was a difficult task. Suddenly we were on first of December, my birthday, and slot not booked for skydiving.
The tension was unbearable. If it was not now, probably I will never be able to do it. But I was afraid of committing.
December 1 came and went and I had not committed.
December 2 came and went and I had not committed. December 3 came and went, not committed.
Finally, on 4th of December, I booked for skydiving at Dubai desert campus on the 5th of December, which was a Tuesday. The cost was 1700 AED.
I had a troubled sleep on the night of 4th of December. Having committed I was a little stressed out about going through with the Sky dive. Now there was no going back.
To reach the desert venue of Dubai skydive, you have to take a bus going to Fuqua and get down at Margam Interchange. From there you have to walk about a kilometre to reach the skydive venue. The bus to Fuqua are few and far between. Since I was given it time of 12 noon I wanted to reach the venue as soon as possible. So I took a bus leaving from Bur Dubai at 7:40 AM and reaching Margam Interchange 9 a.m. This would give me enough time to calm my nerves and settle down. I also felt that if I reach early I could finish the dive early return to my room. We were already on the 5th and since I was leaving Dubai on the 7th, I had a lot of work to complete.
I reached the venue at 9:30 AM. When I reached there, I was told that due to heavy winds the dive will be delayed. Needless to say that added to the tension.
Finally, my name appeared on the notice board. I was going to do tandem dive with Pablo, an instructor with more than 16 years skydiving experience. Pablo had a lean and taut body, with a confident voice to match.
While tying my harness, Pablo gave me clear instructions.
"We will be diving from a height of 13000 feet. I will be tethered to you. At the time of jumping, you should take a banana position with your head and feet tilted with body arching backward. Total diving time will be 6 minutes of which the first minute will be a free fall. During this time you should be holding the harness very tightly. After a minute I will open the parachute and tap you on your shoulder. Once I tap you, you can free your hands and move them around. At that time you will also be able to control the parachute and move around. About a minute before we land I will again tap you and you have to hold your hardness tightly again. At the time of landing you should be in sitting position with your feet stretched straight in front of you”, Pablo could not have been more clearer.
To be more clear, Pablo illustrated the banana position as well as the landing position..
I was harnessed and was ready to go.
Before you start the skydive there is a video shoot.
"How you feeling?", the videographer asked.
"Feeling a bit nervous", I replied.
"That is normal", he tried to calm me, " any message for your friends and family?"
I looked at the camera and said, " I am feeling excited, I wish you could have joined me here."
And with that we were ready to board the plane.
The plane was small twin engine propeller aircraft with the capacity to hold about 20 people. As we walked towards the plane the photographer took a couple of snaps. I gave a broad smile reflecting confidence and breeziness. I gave a smart thumbs up and boarded the aircraft.
I could not help but notice that Pablo was enjoying every moment of it.
The plane started. This was it. This was the moment I have been dreading for the last one week. Now there was no turning back, I was going to HAVE to jump.
It looked to me that everyone in the flight were enjoying and smiling except me. Even I was smiling, but mine was a fake smile covering my nerves.
Photographer was sitting opposite. He was taking videos all the while.
"Nervous?", he queried.
"Not much", I replied, "Pablo is going to be with me. I trust him."
"Please take care of Pablo", said the Photographer.
As usual, it was Kannan who broached the subject.
” ram, are you interested skydiving?”, he asked me one afternoon
Of course I was. Who is not interested in skydive? The tension, the nerves, and sheer thought of diving from 13000 feet above is exhilarating.
I told him I was interested.
” why don't you book a slot for Skydiving in Dubai marina? Slots are available from last week of November”, Kannan informed me
From my office on the 33rd floor of Du Tower, I used to regularly see people skydiving in Dubai. I wanted to do skydiving ever since.
But wanting to do skydiving is one thing, but booking a slot and committing to skydiving is another. Anybody can do the former, but the latter needed
Courage, which I did not have at that time.
This is a problem of seeding a thought in your mind. It refuses to go away until you take a decision or an action.
The next few days I went through a flurry of thoughts and emotions. On the one hand there was this opportunity. I was in Dubai, and this sport was available. For all I knew, if I miss this, I may not get this opportunity soon. We were already end of November and I was leaving Dubai on the 7th of December. This meant that I had a small opportunity window. I was already 54 it's old and I would be much older, and probably more scared the next time such opportunity was available.
In addition, my birthday was on December 1, and skydiving could be great gift that I gave myself.
But I was afraid to commit.
I tried to analyse my fears. What was afraid of?, I wondered. Was it the fear of heights? Was it the fear of jumping from a great height? Was I afraid that something untoward will happen?
None of the above was correct. Skydiving, especially tandem diving was a safe sport. There was no cause for fear.
I also thought about James Murray of Impractical Jokers, who, despite being terrified of skydiving, had to do it as a punishment. I also remembered that George H W Bush the ex president of USA, had done skydiving at the age of 92. Also there was this lady, who did Skydiving at Dubai Marina age of 103 years!!
If they can do it, I can easily do, I tried to convince myself.
It was a difficult task. Suddenly we were on first of December, my birthday, and slot not booked for skydiving.
The tension was unbearable. If it was not now, probably I will never be able to do it. But I was afraid of committing.
December 1 came and went and I had not committed.
December 2 came and went and I had not committed. December 3 came and went, not committed.
Finally, on 4th of December, I booked for skydiving at Dubai desert campus on the 5th of December, which was a Tuesday. The cost was 1700 AED.
I had a troubled sleep on the night of 4th of December. Having committed I was a little stressed out about going through with the Sky dive. Now there was no going back.
To reach the desert venue of Dubai skydive, you have to take a bus going to Fuqua and get down at Margam Interchange. From there you have to walk about a kilometre to reach the skydive venue. The bus to Fuqua are few and far between. Since I was given it time of 12 noon I wanted to reach the venue as soon as possible. So I took a bus leaving from Bur Dubai at 7:40 AM and reaching Margam Interchange 9 a.m. This would give me enough time to calm my nerves and settle down. I also felt that if I reach early I could finish the dive early return to my room. We were already on the 5th and since I was leaving Dubai on the 7th, I had a lot of work to complete.
I reached the venue at 9:30 AM. When I reached there, I was told that due to heavy winds the dive will be delayed. Needless to say that added to the tension.
Finally, my name appeared on the notice board. I was going to do tandem dive with Pablo, an instructor with more than 16 years skydiving experience. Pablo had a lean and taut body, with a confident voice to match.
While tying my harness, Pablo gave me clear instructions.
"We will be diving from a height of 13000 feet. I will be tethered to you. At the time of jumping, you should take a banana position with your head and feet tilted with body arching backward. Total diving time will be 6 minutes of which the first minute will be a free fall. During this time you should be holding the harness very tightly. After a minute I will open the parachute and tap you on your shoulder. Once I tap you, you can free your hands and move them around. At that time you will also be able to control the parachute and move around. About a minute before we land I will again tap you and you have to hold your hardness tightly again. At the time of landing you should be in sitting position with your feet stretched straight in front of you”, Pablo could not have been more clearer.
To be more clear, Pablo illustrated the banana position as well as the landing position..
I was harnessed and was ready to go.
Before you start the skydive there is a video shoot.
"How you feeling?", the videographer asked.
"Feeling a bit nervous", I replied.
"That is normal", he tried to calm me, " any message for your friends and family?"
I looked at the camera and said, " I am feeling excited, I wish you could have joined me here."
And with that we were ready to board the plane.
The plane was small twin engine propeller aircraft with the capacity to hold about 20 people. As we walked towards the plane the photographer took a couple of snaps. I gave a broad smile reflecting confidence and breeziness. I gave a smart thumbs up and boarded the aircraft.
I could not help but notice that Pablo was enjoying every moment of it.
The plane started. This was it. This was the moment I have been dreading for the last one week. Now there was no turning back, I was going to HAVE to jump.
It looked to me that everyone in the flight were enjoying and smiling except me. Even I was smiling, but mine was a fake smile covering my nerves.
Photographer was sitting opposite. He was taking videos all the while.
"Nervous?", he queried.
"Not much", I replied, "Pablo is going to be with me. I trust him."
"Please take care of Pablo", said the Photographer.
What the....? !!!
While we were talking, Pablo was busy attaching his harness to mine.
I looked out. We were high about the ground. Down below I could see cars small as matchboxes. We should be about 10000 feet above ground, I guessed.
Almost as if he read my mind, Pablo said, " right now we are about 4000 feet above the ground. We will be touching 13000 feet in a minute"
What? Only 4000 feet? We are almost in the ionosphere..
Things were moving relentlessly and out of my control. I could only sit and feel nervous.
Before I could think we were at 13000 feet. The doors of the aircraft had opened and ahead of me one team just jumped out.
This was the moment of reckoning. Till now I had a faint hope that I could opt out. Now it was not possible. I had burnt my bridges. Only way I could reach the ground was by jumping and hoping that everything will be fine.
With Pablo pushing me, we reached the door, I closed my eyes...
... and we jumped.
What first hit me was the cold wind. Even though I was wearing goggles to prevent wind from hitting my eyes, the wind hit my face so hard that my cheeks started dancing around. Pablo did not face any problem because he was wearing a helmet.
I opened my eyes. The photographer is right in front of me taking my photos. I knew that I was not making a pretty picture, but what the heck? I was 12000 feet above the ground and was falling rapidly. This is not the time to think about my looks.
As Pablo had instructed, I was holding onto my harness like for dear life
After what seemed like an eternity of free fall, Pablo tapped my shoulder.
"You can free your hand now and enjoy", he said, “parachute is open”
I was no longer in a free fall. With the parachute opening, my fall had become must more gradual and controlled.
Photographer was still there, floating with me and clicking pictures. I gave him a thumbs up.
He took a few more snaps and before I knew, he was on a free fall.
Now he was here right in front of me and now he was a kilometre below me and falling fast!!!
I was feeling a bit dizzy. Pablo tried to calm me down. He asked me to control the parachute.
"Parachute has two handles. If you press the right side down you will move to the right and if you press the left side down you will move to the left. This is how you navigate a parachute to land in the correct spot", Pablo told me.
I tried it. The movement was making me more dizzy.
"Pablo, you take charge of the parachute", I told him, " let us land quickly"
He took charge and within a minute we had landed on the landing area.
Videographer was waiting there.
"How was it?", he asked me
"It was good. I felt a bit dizzy. Pablo was awesome", I replied.
I slowly walked back to the skydive building. I was feeling dizzy and wobbly. I went and lied down on a sofa to settle myself.
I must have lied down for about 30 minutes. Got up, collected my CD and was on my way.
While walking back to the bus stop I saw that the aircraft was starting with the next batch of divers. I kept looking as the aircraft was going up and up.
Finally when it was as small as a dot, I saw the first diver diving out of the aircraft.
Seeing that I just dived from that height was even more scarier than the actual dive itself.
Looking back see that there were three stages of fear. First stage was before commitment, it was more I fear of uncertainty and fear of change. Second stage was just before and during the execution. Here it was more of anticipation and nervousness. Third stage after the dive, more due to relief and later when the staggering magnitude of what I had done sunk in.
But what the heck? What if I was afraid?
I had just completed my first skydive, a perfect birthday gift to myself...
No one can take that away from me.
While we were talking, Pablo was busy attaching his harness to mine.
I looked out. We were high about the ground. Down below I could see cars small as matchboxes. We should be about 10000 feet above ground, I guessed.
Almost as if he read my mind, Pablo said, " right now we are about 4000 feet above the ground. We will be touching 13000 feet in a minute"
What? Only 4000 feet? We are almost in the ionosphere..
Things were moving relentlessly and out of my control. I could only sit and feel nervous.
Before I could think we were at 13000 feet. The doors of the aircraft had opened and ahead of me one team just jumped out.
This was the moment of reckoning. Till now I had a faint hope that I could opt out. Now it was not possible. I had burnt my bridges. Only way I could reach the ground was by jumping and hoping that everything will be fine.
With Pablo pushing me, we reached the door, I closed my eyes...
... and we jumped.
What first hit me was the cold wind. Even though I was wearing goggles to prevent wind from hitting my eyes, the wind hit my face so hard that my cheeks started dancing around. Pablo did not face any problem because he was wearing a helmet.
I opened my eyes. The photographer is right in front of me taking my photos. I knew that I was not making a pretty picture, but what the heck? I was 12000 feet above the ground and was falling rapidly. This is not the time to think about my looks.
As Pablo had instructed, I was holding onto my harness like for dear life
After what seemed like an eternity of free fall, Pablo tapped my shoulder.
"You can free your hand now and enjoy", he said, “parachute is open”
I was no longer in a free fall. With the parachute opening, my fall had become must more gradual and controlled.
Photographer was still there, floating with me and clicking pictures. I gave him a thumbs up.
He took a few more snaps and before I knew, he was on a free fall.
Now he was here right in front of me and now he was a kilometre below me and falling fast!!!
I was feeling a bit dizzy. Pablo tried to calm me down. He asked me to control the parachute.
"Parachute has two handles. If you press the right side down you will move to the right and if you press the left side down you will move to the left. This is how you navigate a parachute to land in the correct spot", Pablo told me.
I tried it. The movement was making me more dizzy.
"Pablo, you take charge of the parachute", I told him, " let us land quickly"
He took charge and within a minute we had landed on the landing area.
Videographer was waiting there.
"How was it?", he asked me
"It was good. I felt a bit dizzy. Pablo was awesome", I replied.
I slowly walked back to the skydive building. I was feeling dizzy and wobbly. I went and lied down on a sofa to settle myself.
I must have lied down for about 30 minutes. Got up, collected my CD and was on my way.
While walking back to the bus stop I saw that the aircraft was starting with the next batch of divers. I kept looking as the aircraft was going up and up.
Finally when it was as small as a dot, I saw the first diver diving out of the aircraft.
Seeing that I just dived from that height was even more scarier than the actual dive itself.
Looking back see that there were three stages of fear. First stage was before commitment, it was more I fear of uncertainty and fear of change. Second stage was just before and during the execution. Here it was more of anticipation and nervousness. Third stage after the dive, more due to relief and later when the staggering magnitude of what I had done sunk in.
But what the heck? What if I was afraid?
I had just completed my first skydive, a perfect birthday gift to myself...
No one can take that away from me.
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