Our next stop was San Francisco. Here, we began working on
our documentary project on skydiving. We planned to meet fellow Missoulian Jeff
Shapiro in San Francisco to log some time in the wind tunnel at iFly. The wind
tunnel is basically the equivalent of a free-fall during skydiving. Jeff and
his instructor in Lodi, Ed, considered this experience important in learning
how to maintain a stable body position during free-fall. The upward force of
the wind moves around your body in different ways depending upon how your body
is positioned. The most stable position in free-fall is called the hard arch,
which is when you lay on your stomach and try to bring your head and heels
upwards to make a banana with your body.
This
documentary project also allowed us to participate in some skydiving ourselves.
But, as we got closer to the dates of when we planned to jump out of an
airplane, I was starting to rethink my participation. When you jump, the plane
is going about 120mph. So there is the initial wind-force on your body before
gravity sets in and then the pull toward the earth causes you to fall at about
120mph. I’m not a physicist or a scientist, so this is all based on my gathered
understanding. Basically, you are falling pretty darn fast. I have never really
been in a super stressful, life-threatening situation before and I was unsure
of how I would react. Would I panic and flail my arms all around? Would I
freeze up and be unable to even pull my parachute? 
I told Jesse how nervous I was
beginning to feel and he suggested that we try out the wind tunnel. We
originally planned just to watch Jeff in the tunnel. But lucky for me, they had
some open slots on the same day. Jesse and I told the instructors that we were
considering getting AFF(Accelerated Free-fall) certified for skydiving and they
gave us some tips that translated to a real dive. We asked them about their
skydiving experiences and oddly enough, most of them said that they had only
dived a couple times. They were so talented in the wind tunnel, walking
upside-down, spiraling through the air. It was really cool to watch, but I was
so surprised when they told us that they weren’t interested in actual skydiving.
I guess the free-fall lasts longer in the tunnel and the risk factor is
minimal, but it’s kind of like only climbing in a gym.
The tunnel was definitely
beneficial for my nerves and my confidence. Both Jesse and I did pretty well in
the wind tunnel. We weren’t too squirrely, but the tunnel time definitely
helped us figure out how to not spiral out of the sky.
The people
who worked at iFly were such nice people, as well. They cater to birthday
parties and so the wind tunnel instructors were pretty goofy. They bring
giggling little girls and little boys who want to be like superman into the
tunnel and swirl them around. It was pretty hilarious to watch the kids and
their gangly limbs blowing all around.
After
playing in the wind tunnel, Jesse and I thought it might be cool to stop and
see the Golden Gate Bridge. Jesse has seen it before, but I have not. We thought
that traffic might not be so bad since it was between noon and five, but we
underestimated city driving yet again. We got to Treasure Island, which is
halfway across the bay and decided that it just wasn’t worth our time to sit in
traffic for hours. But, when we went to get back on the highway, we discovered
that the entrance was under construction. So, we wandered around Treasure
Island, which is not very big, looking for another way onto the highway for
about half an hour. We finally figured it out and scadoodled out of San Fran.
Even though
we didn’t get to see the Golden Gate Bridge, I still felt like we might have
gotten a tiny taste of San Francisco. So many people. So much hustle and
bustle. And yet, when we drove around Treasure Island, the pace slowed. A young
woman stood alone and gazed over the bay, her white dress billowing from the
breeze. She did not seem aware of the thousands of cars rushing past the island
less than a mile away. She only heard the siren song of the ocean.
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