SkyDiving!
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Today I decided to do something stupid. I decided to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Why? I'm still not sure, but as a member of the Weekend Warriors club at the University of Michigan, I decided to do what any contributing group member would do and participate in the tandem jump at Napoleon's Skydive Center in Napoleon, Michigan.

The weather was awful when we woke up at 7AM. It was overcast, wet, and cold.


The weather lifted a couple hours later so we couldn't back out. Honestly, I don't think anyone wanted to after watching the instructional videos.

Practicing the 'arc' formation before putting on my jump suit:


Jump suits on and ready to go...

It came as no surprise that the Belize m-trek had the largest presence at the jump. From left to right, Brown Bomber, Sarah, Tom, and Jason.

The No Fall Zone (NFZ) team also posed for a quick picture before the jump:

Me, Tom, and Jason - our 3 man 'NFZ' team. 'NFZ' is the codename for the business concept we submitted to the Zell Lurie Institute's 'Dare to Dream' program. We are currently awaiting approval for initial concept funding. In the meantime, what better way to round out our business savvy, increase our risk tolerance, and build team cohesion by jumping out of a perfectly good airplane?

3-2-1-JUMP!

We exited the plane as tiny specs at 12,000 ft. Rapidly descending at terminal velocity (120 mph), we deployed our chutes at 5000 ft.

All things considered, it was the perfect day for a jump! The weather was perfect, and at the top of our ascent we could see Canada and Lake Erie. After touching down safely, I felt like I had accomplished what I set out to do... but I'm still not sure what that was exactly.

posted by Jake B. @ 9:30:00 PM