LEARNING SOLO SKYDIVING

“Learning solo skydiving – a student’s perspective”, By Jaimie Hartle, August 2014. 

I did a tandem skydive in New Zealand when I was 16, and thought to myself ‘I want to learn how to do this’ but as a sixteen year-old anything that costs over $2000 seems like a lifetime away. I did a Perth tandem skydive again at Skydive Jurien Bay in 2013, when I was 21, and found out shortly after they did solo skydiving and ran the AFF (accelerated free-fall) course to learn to skydive. It was my boyfriend who found it and said he was going to learn to skydive solo, and it was the push I needed to save the money and finally do it.

I started my AFF course with Skydive Jurien Bay in April 2014 with my boyfriend and remember that I had never been so nervous for anything in my life! There were early mornings, lots of new information, lots of talk about winds, and only a few ‘omg can I do this’ moments.

I always wondered how I was going to physically throw myself out of a plane by myself, thinking I wouldn’t ever be able to do it but when the time came I had that much knowledge drilled into my brain that a boost of confidence I didn’t even know I had came out and excitement took over. The staff at Skydive Jurien Bay made the experience simply amazing; I never felt rushed, never felt uncomfortable, and every stage that I did of my AFF course I felt confident and happy to do. I knew they wouldn’t take me any further, or let go of me during freefall, if it was going to be dangerous.

We couldn’t have been luckier with weather; with blue skies all week both my boyfriend and myself smashed through the AFF course in five days, finishing with brains full of all things skydiving, and lower backs looking toned as ever from all the arching. I never played sport, or really had a full-time hobby (apart from shopping :P) and thought this would be a great thing to keep me occupied. It definitely has succeeded in keeping me occupied… while I am at work… while I am at uni… my head is in the sky and I am dreaming about when I can go again next.

Since completing my AFF Camp in April I have been back to Skydive Jurien Bay every 2-3 weeks, managed make it to the epic J Bay Boogie (an event for experienced skydivers) where my facebook friend list tripled and my news feed turned into all things skydiving, I learnt how to pack my own parachute, got my ‘A’ license, finished my b-rels (the next part of training after AFF) and am now seven jumps away from the big 5 – 0 (50 jumps)! Safe to say I have achieved a lot in the past few months.

I didn’t really know what to expect from the whole learning to skydive experience, thinking it would just be a new fun hobby, but it has completely changed my life. Its not just the thrill of skydiving that keeps me coming back but the people and the lifestyle as well. The skydiving community is small and you meet so many amazing people, it makes it that much harder to leave and come back to work. Every jump you do is completely different, and there’s always something new to learn and always someone willing to teach you, that’s the beautiful thing about skydiving (amazing views and feeling of adrenaline aside).

Click here to watch a video of our Office Manager, Sarah, learning solo skydiving.