Emergency!

Top: I survived! Below: Rudi watches as I struggle for my life under the parachute in the nice warm water.

Here are two pictures from the "live emergency water landing training" that I had to do as a step towards getting my USPA "B" Skydiving license. It sounds hairy, but all I had to do was put on an ancient skydiving harness and jump in a comfortably heated indoor pool at a local luxury hotel. Once I was in the water, Skydive New Mexico Instructor Rudi Krenz threw an old parachute on top of me and I had to swim out from under it and then take off the harness while I treaded water. As you can see in the picture of me swimming to safety, I survived the experience. Now I feel totally prepared to land my parachute in any heated indoor pool!

After the training session, Kat and Chloe and I had dinner with Rudi and traded flying stories. Rudi is 74 years old and has been skydiving since 1964, so he had a few interesting tales from the "good old days" of the sport to share with us. I sure hope that I'm still enjoying death sports at age 74!

I've had a few other sky adventures since my last post, the best of which was jumping from a hot air balloon during a recent trip to Skydive Arizona. I felt so free as I climbed on to the edge of the balloon basket that morning. I stood there for a few seconds, enjoying the view and drinking in the moment before I uttered the traditional "See ya!" and jumped. The zero airspeed launch was spectacular. I loved the sound of the wind as it went from silence to the 120 mph roar of terminal velocity.

I currently have 97 skydives in my logbook, and with any luck, I'll make my 100th jump at Skydive New Mexico this weekend.