Page 65 - The Wish Stream Year of 2022 CREST

plummet to the ground – but safe in the knowl- edge that we were fully equipped and trained to do so safely.
The next morning was a frantic start to the day. We began by conducting the written test that we needed to pass in order to be cleared to sky- dive. Thankfully, we all passed with flying colours and were sent on our way to equip ourselves with gloves & goggles to make our high-speed descent more comfortable.
As we walked over, we were ambushed by an instructor who said two of us could fit onto a plane leaving imminently. OCdts Gurden & Gardner eagerly volunteered first and quickly ran off to kit up! Having done so, they jumped onboard the plane around 1000hrs and began their ascent towards jumping altitude. Initial feel- ings were excitement, suspense, and a sense of nervous anticipation! Once the correct altitude was reached, and the first skydivers jumped out of the door, all these feelings became secondary to intense concentration as we edged forward in the plane.
Gardner was up first. “Ready to skydive?” shouted the primary instructor? Having answered in the affirmative, he moved into the open doorway and knelt on the edge. The pro- cess for exiting the plane was almost mechanical and had been drilled in so well that there was no time to think about fear. “Check in”, “Check out”, “Prop”, “Up”, “Down”, “Away!” – and with that he was out the door, along with his two instruc- tors. Gurden then followed suit, with exactly the same procedure. The first jump went well, with Gardner ‘forgetting’ to pull his parachute toggle and needing an instructor to pull it for him (that’s what they’re there for anyway). Both stuck their landings well and dressed back to the hangar with humongous grins on their faces.
With the weather turning for the worse, there were no more jumps for the day – Shaw and Shipton would have to wait until Wednesday.
Wednesday would be the last day of skydiv- ing for us. The weather had turned against us; despite blue skies, the wind was up. Anything over 15mph meant that students couldn’t jump, and as the wind would constantly gust above that limit, we were kitting and de-kitting fre- quently anticipating the chance to jump. Finally, and right at the end of the day, Shaw and Ship- ton were able to jump.
Both executed perfect jumps, insofar as the aim of Level 1 is to get to the ground safely. Despite a few tumbles in the air from Shipton, and a strong wind gusting them away from the landing area, both returned smiling and exhilarated.
After an exciting week of training and rushes of pure adrenaline, we had all completed our first jump. However, today was to be our last of the expedition, due to the unfortunate absence of our instructor and unpredictable gusts of wind which meant that we could not get any more jumps in. Throughout the day we watched many skydivers from the display teams of the Royal Navy and the SBS doing some refresher train- ing, as we nervously waited for a break in the weather and the chance to have our turn again. Unfortunately, it was not to be, as the incoming weather report looked increasingly bad, and an end to the expedition was called. After a de-kit and goodbye chat from our instructors, who had been fantastic throughout with our training and welcoming us to the skydiving community, we began our journeys home. We had all fallen in love with skydiving and vowed to return in Senior Term to continue our AFF course. We had fallen from an aircraft at over 14,000ft, travelling over 120mph towards the ground and had tested our physical courage to do something completely unnatural, but thanks to our training and the fantastic instruction from Major Denning and his team, we had all completed our first solo sky- dive, with big smiles all round and a sense of achievement for a week well spent.
SANDHURST 63