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Anyone with vertigo should probably click else
where…
Most people would say they were involved in a sport of some kind,
but the danger levels of their activities can vary greatly.
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| Catherine Shield |
Tennis players biggest worry would probably be
tennis elbow, rugby players would have a little more to worry about,
what with getting stamped on and that, but near the top of the pile
just below bear baiting is the ever growing group known as sky divers
and there weariness of the word 'splatt!'.
Catherine Shield is a 20 year old student at Nottingham
Trent University studying sports science and is a whisker away from
achieving her sky diving instructor's certificate. Her first jump
was in May 2001.
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Why sky diving? Life just not do it for you
anymore?
I just want to get the most out of life, and sky diving always
gives me such a rush.
But how did you get in to it? you don't
just wake up one day and go: 'Hmm I fancy jumping out of the sky'?
You know when you have activities week at school? Well, one of the
options at our school was to go skydiving, for the charity MIND.
I was the last person in the world anyone thought would do it so
if figured I'd prove them wrong.
So when it comes down to it, in a way… you choose to jump
out of a plane for a dare?
No one dared me, I just wanted to try something different but it
was nice to surprise people at the same time.
So what happened the first time?
I went on a tandem jump, that's where you jump strapped to an instructor.
I had a short debrief where they tell you what's going to happen
when you're up in the plane and during the jump, I suppose really
they are trying to reassure you. As he was talking I was nodding
away as if I wasn't phased but I was petrified. It was my first
time in a plane as well. As we were going up I was thinking how
am I gonna get out of this. If I could have turned back I would
have.
What about the jump?
My stomach was literally about to come out of my mouth. The instructor
said he'd do a three second countdown, but he jumped on two…
I didn't' even have a chance to scream…
(Interrupting) before your life flashed before your eyes…
You could say that, it was amazing, my heart never beat so fast.
It was so quiet, the ground doesn't seem to even get closer, I just
felt totally weightless and suddenly all that fear turned into a
massive buzz, I felt so good.
Until you realise you're hurtling towards the ground at hundreds
of miles an hour…
Never even realised that, I was oblivious to anything until the
jerk back when the instructor pulled the parachute cord. Then we
just floated, the landing was really smooth, we glided down and
kind of hit the ground running.
How did you feel?
Exhilarated. Never had a feeling like that before, it was amazing.
Better than sex?
It's scientifically proven you get more of a rush - your heart beats
faster and you release more endorphins than during sex.
And since you fall for at least four minutes, I guess it lasts
longer too…
For you maybe, but thinking about it, they're not really two
comparable activities, so let's just stick to talking about skydiving.
Okay, so how did you get to be an instructor?
Nearly an instructor. Just through experience. I've been on loads
of jumps, several tandems, then quite a few on my own and now I'm
going to progress to joining a formations team.
Is it expensive all these jumps? I've seen ads saying they're
a £150 a pop… I mean drop.
It was expensive at first but when I'm qualified it'll only cost
a fraction of that.
How much has it cost you up 'til now?
About £3000, but I'm gonna buy my own rig (parachute etc)
in the summer, and that'll cost about £4000 new.
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| Catherine Shield
- Before and after a dive |
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I had to cut the interview short as I couldn't
comprehend how someone could jump out of the sky for fun and then
pay through the nose for it.
The strangest thing was that Catherine didn't strike me as manically
inclined or as someone with a death wish, so perhaps sky diving
wasn't as dangerous and fool hardy as I'd originally thought.
To be honest, her claiming it was better than sex really got me
thinking...
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