In
this episode of the Vanning Ain't No Joke Podcast we talk with a
skydive instructor Ryan Redfoot (@ryan_redfoot) who lives in a DIY
truck camper and one of his students Maxamillian Crouch
(maximilliancrouch) who lives in a van. Also joining in is one of
the parachute packers Ryan Loggins (iamryanloggins) who's 18, lives
in a tent and skydives every day.
In
the middle of the episode Drew Newell (drewnewell6490), another
skydiver living in a van joins in on the talk.
This
episode was recorded at a campfire with all sorts of skydivers who
had travelled to Moab specifically to skydive. Well actually it was
filmed in the van next to the camp fire but you get the
idea.
I got
to do my first jump a few days before we recorded this. It was a
tandem jump with a dude I have been following on Instagram for a
long time, Sketchy Andy Lewis (@sketchyandylewis). What a unique
experience. There's so much going on its hard to remember
everything. I remember that I wasn't as scared as I probably should
have been. It felt like an insane roller coaster ride. I was just
strapped to this dude's belly and kinda just held on for the ride.
The moment you get into the plane there's no turning
back.
Ryan
Redfoot and Maxamillian were on the same plane as me. They were
giving me crazy fingers on the way up. It was Max's 11th jump and
he was doing an AAF course certification jump with Ryan as his
coach.
The
door opened and Max and Ryan were the first ones out of the plane
jumping almost at the same time. Right before he jumped Max said to
me, "Welcome to the crazy club" and he jumped. Sketchy Andy told me
to hang my feet out the plane and just like that we were rushing to
the ground. All I remember is spinning out of control and watching
the ground speeding towards me. The air rushing all around me. It
seemed like we were falling for so long.
After
Sketchy Andy deployed the parachute he said "Are you ready for the
crazy shit?"
I
thought we already did crazy shit. "The crazy shit happens after
the parachute is pulled I asked."
"Oh
yea." and we began helicoptering out of control. Basically we were
just spinning so fast my legs were following my body around in
circles. "Bring it back, bring it back" I could hear Andy yelling.
We regained control and he was like "yeaaaaaaaaa!!!!" "How was that
he asked?"
"It
felt like we were out of control" I told him. "We kinda were. Want
to do it again?" He asked. "Sure" I replied. "As long as you got
it."
"I got
it" he said and with that we were helicoptering out of control
again. We did it one more time before gliding to a smooth
landing.
Skydiving is something you won't forget and its
probably actually even safer then driving a car because it's taken
way more seriously. If you ever get the chance go skydiving. You
will not regret it.