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.
