| 1 | 1 | | As our plane circled high above the Suffolk countryside, I had time to regret my |
| 2 | | chance remark, 'Oh, I've always wanted to try parachuting'. But there's a world of |
| 3 | | difference between armchair fascination and actually doing a thing and I had arrived for |
| 4 | | a weekend course at Ipswich Parachute Centre in the unlovely surroundings of Ipswich |
| 5 | | Airport with severe feelings of doubt. |
| 2 | 6 | | I was immensely relieved to hear from one of our lighthearted young instructors |
| 7 | | that all 40 of us on the course were expected to be frightened. He assured us that |
| 8 | | parachuting is one of the safest sports there is - it's just a question of doing it properly. |
| 9 | | And could we just sign these forms undertaking not to hold the centre responsible in the |
| 10 | | event of an accident? |
| 3 | 11 | | No time to be frightened: we were divided into three groups, and set to work. |
| 12 | | Lectures and practical sessions lasted all day, and covered everything from what the |
| 13 | | parachute looks like and how to put it on, to jumping, steering and landing. The one thing |
| 14 | | we weren't going to learn was how to pull the cord - parachutes would open |
| 15 | | automatically. |
| 4 | 16 | | The teaching, which relies heavily on repetitive drills, is deeply boring, but, as our |
| 17 | | instructor put it, you can't ask what to do next when you're 2000 feet up in the air. |
| 5 | 18 | | The afternoon session concentrated on steering the parachute, and learning how to |
| 19 | | land - probably the most important part of the course. We spent a lot of time jumping off |
| 20 | | a 4ft platform, feet and legs firmly together, and toppling into a sandpit (hence the |
| 21 | | recommended old clothes and flat shoes). As the last time I feil over regularly was in the |
| 22 | | school playground, I found all this rather painful. They say you don't have to be |
| 23 | | super-tough, just not vastly overweight or very unfit, but the emergency drill session - |
| 24 | | standing outside in the cold shouting, 'Look, pull, throw!' - was a welcome relief after the |
| 25 | | sandpit. |
| 6 | 26 | | We finished around 7 p.m. and I was dropped off at my Bed and Breakfast in |
| 27 | | Ipswich feeling dirty, frightened and lonely. If you don't live locally it would be more fun |
| 28 | | to go parachuting with a friend. As it was, I had the whole evening to myself to hope |
| 29 | | desperately that the following day 's weather would be too bad for us to jump. It was, and |
| 30 | | part of me felt dreadfully cheated. By midday, after yet more practice and a wonderfully |
| 31 | | encouraging pep talk, I felt quite optimistic about the whole thing. There is a 50/50 |
| 32 | | chance that bad weather will postpone your first jump but you can go back and do it any |
| 33 | | time up to a month later without repeating the course. |
| 7 | 34 | | In the three weeks before I could jump my optimism had worn off. In fact, I was so |
| 35 | | frightened that the day took on an air of unreality and I changed into overalls, boots and |
| 36 | | helmet, and put on the parachute almost automatically. When, at 4.15, we were told to get |
| 37 | | into the plane, it was only the prospect of looking a fool in front of everyone that stopped |
| 38 | | me from totally losing control of myself. |
| 8 | 39 | | Up in the air, you could smell the fear in our sweat, but I was almost enjoying |
| 40 | | myself by this time because I had decided that no one could make me jump if I didn't |
| 41 | | want to. Even as I sat in the open doorway, legs dangling into the air, I still didn't intend |
| 42 | | to do it. Then there was a hand on my shoulder, the instructor shouted 'Go!' and ... I went. |
| 43 | | I can't honestly say that I jumped - I was definitely 'encouraged' out of the plane. |
| 9 | 44 | | Afterwards, I experienced a curious anti-climax. I felt shaky, bruised and |
| 45 | | desperately tired - not in the least cheerful or excited. As I walked across the airfield, I |
| 46 | | wondered if I would ever do it again. And the answer was no, not in a million years. But I |
| 47 | | was pleased as Punch that I'd done it, and the story got better in the telling! |
| | | |
| | | from Good Housekeeping, May 1986 |
