The last year or so, I feel as though I've been stuck in a time warp chamber. Things that I swear happened a week ago are already 3 weeks in the past. This happens at the end of winter, through most of Spring for me. I think it has something to do with that mad desire that all people who live in the Northwest have for the rain to stop and the sun to make it's warming appearence. I get antsy in Spring because I can see all the things I want to do as soon as conditions get warmer... hiking, skydiving, that whole general joy of being outside. Spring is currently flying by, and I felt like I wanted to talk about how a few things in my springtime have been going...
This February, my skydive license enabled me to do something super awesome: Jump out of a Hughes 500 helicopter. Something that I love about this sport is that it's always surprising me. I've barely scratched the surface of the amazing things it has to offer, but jumping out of a helicopter was an incredible sensation. Obviously, when you jump out of a plane that's traveling at a forward speed of 80 knots, there's going to be considerable wind blowing all around you, pulling you out of the plane... Helicopters are completely different. For one, the whole flight, you're sitting right in the door, feet dangling and blowing in the wind. You can hang your head out of the opening like a dog riding shotgun with the windows rolled down.
Once you get to altitude(we were only going up to 5,000 feet, because that's all you really need to feel what a helicopter offers), you're just hovering there. theres no wind, no forward movement... just hanging in the air. you have time to climb out, arrange yourself on the skids, and countdown to jump... and then the fun really begins...
Once you give the count and exit, the feeling was like nothing that I've felt jumping out of a plane. It's about as close to base jumping as you can get. There's not a lot of jumping even involved... you literally just let go. I decided to just fall backwards and let my body naturally do a backflip, but even that wasn't an ordinary backflip. Since you start completely still in the air, when you start to fall, you have no forward speed. It's something skydivers call "mushy air". Since it takes about 7 seconds for you to really pick up any speed in freefall, the first couple hundred feet are pretty darn silent. and since theres not a lot of wind for you to maneuver through, all movements happen slowly and gracefully. It feels very etherial.
After that first 5-7 seconds, it turns into just another skydive(if there even is such a thing as a 'normal skydive'), which is why you don't need to go higher than five thousand feet. There are so many awesome things about this experience, that's it's hard to put into words, especially when there are other things I wanted to talk about in this post. I ended up doing 3 total helicopter jumps this day, and I plan to do many more in the future. Next round, I'll post a more detailed entry, but I wanted to touch on it briefly here seeing as it was my first experience.
There are many things the Northwest is known for: Nirvana, Seattle, the beautiful scenery, Starbucks, but also the rain. Spring in Washington triggers a 4 month phase of dreary, rainy, windy weather that stays just cold enough to not allow you to be comfortable outside without significant layers of insulation... everyone I know has at least one good waterproof rain coat of shell jacket. It's awesome for people who partake in winter sports, because there are multiple moutain passes within 2 hours access, and rain in the lowlands often means snow up top(even if it's wet heavy 'cascade crud', fresh snow is fresh snow). Skiing, snowboarding, sledding, snowshoeing, take your pick. I even tried my hand at snowboarding this year, and did surprisingly well! Until I flipped out making a heelside turn and hit my head on frozen hardpack, causing me to get taken to the ER and be tested and monitored for brain bleeds. Long story short, I'll live, and I'll stick with the hobbies I've got. : )
For those of us down low though, it means rain. For me in particular, Spring brings Track season, and that means hours every day standing out in the rain coaching. Ideally, the weather clears up after the first half of the season, but that's still a month and a half of being cold and wet. Last year was one of the nastiest Spring seasons I have ever seen. Wet and cold until early July. So far, this season is shaping up to be a little better. More windy than years past, but the rain seems to be holding back a little bit. Rain is especially a pain in the ass for me, seeing as I coach Pole Vault. I don't think that needs much explanation. Water+holding a firm grip on a smooth fiberglass pole=bad news.
For my own personal comfort, I hope it gets warm and dry soon. On the other hand, I think I'm blessed enough to live in one of the most beautiful places in the country. So if a little heavy precipitation in the Spring means that we get a gorgeous, lush landscape in the summer that leads to pretty changing colors in the fall, I guess I'll deal.
This is the last thing I'll hit in this entry, and I'll make it quick. Huntington Beach. Not just a city in Southern California, this small beachside community hosts one of the biggest paintball events of the NPPL season, the Surf City Open. I was lucky enough to go and play last year on a team with some friends. There were ups and downs in the experience, but overall I had a great time at this event. We didn't do as well as we would have liked, but as a friend of mine recently said, "At least at HB, if you lose, you're still at the beach..." It was a super fun vacation, and a learning experience.
This year I didn't go to HB, and if I could relive my last summer, I still wouldn't have taken back the opportunity I had to get my skydiving license. The one thing that it resulted in however was a draw on my funds, and I took a break from the tournament paintball scene. I was able to watch via the NPPL webcast however, and got updates from friends at the event. Nothing makes you miss being at a tournament more than watching one of the most fun events of the season. I didn't go, so this isn't a great event review, but between my experience last year, the cool new format, and the sadness I felt at having to watch everyone I know play from afar, I know I'm not gonna miss this event for anything next year. I guess I'll have to hit the fields soon.
Anywho, that's all for now. My brain's not super focused, and I know this was all a little bit scatterbrained, but I feel better having posted it so thanks for bearing with me. I'm not gonna lie and say I have better things to do, but I'm going to try not waste anymore time on this blog today. Till next time!
-Steph
