Its the 100th jump, and its wayyyyyy too cold to do it naked. As i dont yet have my FS1 certification, im limited to how many people, and who, i can jump with, so decide that a few of us will wear morphsuits for the jump 🙂 however, this was soon cut short due to saftey concerns about visibility whilst wearing the suit. Next, I ask exactly how many people i can jump with as i dont yet have my FS1, and as its my 100th would like to jump with a few if possible. The answer i received was ‘As long as everyone else has their FS1 and you have a plan, youll be OK’

I went off to find someone to build me ‘a plan’, and, after a quick chat, and repeating what i was told about who i could jump with, the man with the plan said ‘lets fill this fookin plane’ 😀

There is 11 of us jumping, ill be in a group of 4 right in the door, ill be on the outside and ‘giving the key’ so everyone else knows when to leave, then the rest of the gang will jump as soon as we clear the door, and all meet up on the way down, sounds simple, right?

We go through the exit a few times in the mock door on the ground, the 4 of us will exit linked together, and everyone else will come to us and then link in between us. Us 4 leaving together is called ‘the base’ and we are the solid block that everyone else builds onto, and the most important thing im told is ‘DONT LET GO!’

Apart from 2 tandems, the plane is full, and everyone on it on on my 100th jump 🙂 yay, we go through the exit plan on the way up, and again, ‘DONT LET GO!’, then at 13,000 feet, the red light comes on, the door opens, shortly followed by the green light. My heart is pounding, i feel like a student again lol 😀

2 of us climb out of the door, turn around and take grips on 2 inside the door, i look at the other 3 and nod, they nod back, using my leg as a key, and screaming ‘READY!! SET!! GO!!!’ and we are out of the door.

We quickly get stable, i look up and something bangs my head, and causes the visor on my helmet to pop open, this winds in my eyes, and i cant see a thing. I remember ‘whatever happens, dont let go!!’ so, i close my eyes, and hold on tight. I move my head to get the wind out of my eyes a bit, and there are bodies everywhere, i see somebody zooming along beneath us, 3 people above us, and people are starting to link into us as well. Someone new is now holding my right hand, and people are still trying to link on. Im continously moving my head to try and keep the wind out of my eyes, and to see my altimeter, still at 8000 feet, somebody takes my left hand, then suddenly, they are under me, and everything goes sideways, and the next thing i know, im upside down. The whole ‘thing’ we built has fallen apart and we are approaching 6000 feet where there was a band of cloud on the way up. I get myself stable, and rotate, as my altimeter bleeps at 5500 feet, i turn away from everybody, slam my visor shut, and track, hard, and, im blind!!! My visor has caught moisture from the cloud and condensed it on the inside, i cannot see a thing. I stop my track, pop open my visor as my alti now starts its more panicked bleeping at 4000 feet. A quick look around me to ensure there is nobody around, and wave off and throw my pilot chute.

As usual my canopy opens half collapsed, so i hang on the rear risers and jump up and down to pop it open, before a nice uneventfull canopy ride back to earth, landing on the smaller southern PLA, to be met with high fives all round 🙂

Seeing some of the different videos in the packing area, different peoples perspective of the jump, shows how much hardly any of it went exactly to plan, but, everyone was safe, and everyone had fun, and, i didnt let go 🙂