Sky Dive Galway

“Oh MY GOD ANNIE! CAN YOU BELIEVE WE’RE ABOUT TO THROW OURSELVES OUT OF A PLANE?” my excited friend, local florist Dave Clancy, shouted into my ear. I could not believe it, not one bit. Not even when we were climbing into a plane so small that it looked like a toy.  Last week, after three attempts, I finally found myself at Galway Airport, wearing an all in one jump suit, about to climb into a tiny plane.

Six of us were squashed into the plane as we made our out ascent. When we were almost level with the clouds, “Are we there yet?” I asked my expert Dean. I was straddling him and tightly strapped to his torso. We had only just met too. Three of us were doing the tandem Skydive that day and each of us had an expert strapped to our back. 

“No. This is 2,000 ft. We’re jumping at 10,000ft”. “How are you feeling Annie?” “TERRIFIED” I replied. “Good. That’s what we like.” This wasn’t the place for sarcasm and it didn’t end there. “It’s not the jump that you have to worry about. It’s the hard landing you’re going to get when the parachute doesn’t open”.  I gulped and looked out of the window certain that even prisoners on death row don’t get this kind of torture.

“OH ANNIE! LOOK DOWN! LOOK HOW HIGH WE ARE!” Dave  shouted from the back. “OH ANNIE! I’M GETTING NERVOUS NOW!”  Beside him, the third skydiver in our group, Dave’s handsome young Polish boyfriend Slawek was starting to look anxious too. “MY HANDS ARE GETTING SWEATY! LOOK!” It was all getting too tense.

I sat, looking out of the window, dreading the fall. Dave tapped me on the shoulder for the hundredth time in half an hour. “OH GOD ANNIE. ARE YOU SCARED NOW?” Scared? That was an understatement. I was doing it cold turkey too. No hip flask, no sedation, no Rescue Remedy. Nothing. Just me and the skydive from 10,000 ft. We were so far above the clouds that it may as well have been outer space.

Dave was whipping us into a frenzy, “OH ANNIEEE!” he screamed from the back of the plane, waving his hands in the air. Dean’s patience was wearing thin. “Oi! This is serious. You are about to jump out of a plane. Calm down”, "Oh you're a barrel of laughs" Dave responded. The alpha male parachutists were not exactly the most jovial bunch. But our lives were literally in their hands. Let’s face it; if Graham Norton was a skydive expert nobody would every want to leave the plane. It would be too much fun. Dave was now hysterical, Slawek was even sweatier and Dean was in a sulk. He shoved ear-plugs into each ear.

At that moment I made up my mind that I would not jump. There was no way. We were too high and it was too dangerous. To add to it all, my daughter was on the ground filming it all. If it all went wrong, she’d have the whole thing recorded and I’d be the main story on Sky News. With my mind made up, I looked out of the window and decided that when we reached 10,000 ft., I’d politely let the others jump out first and then ask Dean to instruct the pilot to take me back to the airport.

Slawek, Dave and I sat silenced by terror. There was no thrill seeking adrenaline rushing through my veins, just the sense that we were all about to die. We climbed another 8,000 feet in the toy plane, its engine sounding just a little louder than a hairdryer. I waited patiently for an announcement from the pilot telling us that we were at 10,000 ft. But of course that only happens on Ryanair and Aer Lingus. Planes where you actually take off - and land.

Without any warning, a freezing cold blast of air and the whole side of our plane disappeared. “AGGHH! I’M SCARED!” was the last thing that Slawek said before he was sucked out the plane.  I turned to tell Dean that I wasn’t going to jump. I didn’t get the chance. “Annie, put your head on my shoulder and look up?” ”Whaaaaaaaaaaat?” Just as I was about to tell him that I had no intention of jumping, with one almighty pelvic thrust, he had me out of the plane.

I don’t remember much about the fall. We were so high and travelling at 200 mph. All I remember was concentrating on breathing. I opened one eye briefly and looked around. It was like a Google Earth image. I clamped my eyes shut again. After thirty seconds Dean released the parachute. “Well? What did you think?” for him the thrilling bit was over. I looked down from 8000ft over Galway. “I’ll tell you in a weeks time” I replied.

The float down should have been easy but we were off course.

To get us back to the airport, Dean had to send the parachute into a series of turns. “We’ve got to pick up enough speed to get us back to base” he said, sending us whirling and spinning 5000ft up over Galway. It was like being on a ride at the funfair. “Keep your eye on the horizon and you won’t be sick” Dean told me.

“OH MY GOD! THAT WAS AMAZING” Dave landed after me, feet firmly on the ground but as high as a kite. “THAT WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE” Slawek, was buzzing. “DID YOU LOOK UP AND SEE THE PARACHUTE ON YOUR WAY DOWN? WASN’T IT BEAUTIFUL?” I didn’t because for the entire decent I was focusing on not puking over Galway.

A big thank you goes to everyone who supported our jump. We raised €3,000 for Animal Heaven Animal Rescue in Kerry. Dave and Slawek have caught the bug and are considering a career as Sky Dive instructors. As for me, I have crossed it off the Bucket List. If I’m asked to support a charity again, I’ll do a sponsored silence. Now that will be an impossible challenge.