It was at Burning Man 2012 that I watched as the skydivers floated down onto the playa and told myself that I wanted to come back next year and do that. It was one of the coolest things I had ever seen.
And so a couple months later I started my A license at Perris Skydiving. I had a great experience. I spent most of my weekends driving out the the dropzone and just racking up solo jumps. The skydiving camp at Burning Man required at least a 100 solo jumps before admission to their camp, so I had some work to do.
I eventually got my A license and my 100+ jumps and ticket to the burn. The next step was taking the time off work. Unfortunately, I did not have enough vacation, so I had to tell a little fib about something or other and even then only able to take a few days off. I packed my car and headed up to the festival. Got a speeding ticket on the way there 🙁
I ended up jumping and skydiving onto the playa 3 times. The people at the camp were really laid back and friendly. It was exciting and nerve wracking, but when I first landed on the playa after jumping I had the biggest smile on my face. People came up and congratulated me and telling me how cool it was. I felt such a sense of accomplishment. I set out to achieve a goal and went through all the steps to fulfill it. Such a great feeling.
In the months afterward I jumped a little more, got to around 120 jumps total. After the festival I lost interest a little. Skydiving takes a huge commitment and I felt like focusing on other things. I also had a scary moment when I had to pull my reserve, and it took a while to come out which spooked me pretty good. I had set out what I wanted to do, and so I decided to leave the sport behind. It provided some of my best memories.
