Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/66705
LEAPING FROM AN AIRPLANE AND HURTLING TOWARD EARTH AT OVER 100 MILES PER HOUR IS ONE MAN'S TERROR AND ANOTHER MAN'S CHALLENGE. FREE FALL Skydiving is the ultimate fear-inducing chal- lenge. Just thinking about it makes the heart race and the mouth go drier than Vegas in summer. Boulder City has been home to Skydive Las Vegas since 1993 and offers thrill-seekers the experience of facing a primal fear just half an hour from the Strip. Leonard Sacco is one of 10 instructors entrusted with the task of pacifying jitters with 15 minutes of pre-flight safety training and the sort of bonding that only a leap from an airplane can bring. His tips? "If you feel like you can't breathe, just scream" and "Keep your body in banana position." Before boarding the PAC 750XL airplane, Sacco teaches this position, with legs and head curled upward, so when the moment comes, jumpers don't panic and try to contort into, say, a pineapple. On the day I went, there were 12 people on the jump, including three Vegas locals. The United States Parachute Association-licensed instructors help fasten the jumpsuits onto their charges before everybody boards the puddle-jumper. They jump in tandem on the backs of their novice daredevils to increase both safety and the pleasure of the dive by navigating the parachute. When the moment of truth arrives, you don't even have to find the nerve to leap from the open cockpit door. The instructors take the lead and push off. The first few seconds are discombobulating as the free fall begins, and then a sense of elation takes over as you get your bearings and feel like you're floating, despite the fact that you're plum- meting at more than 120 miles per hour with the wind roaring in your ears. At 15,000 feet, it's an eagle-eye view of Lake Mead, Red Rock Canyon, and the Strip. A giddy sense of weightlessness settles in for the next minute, before the instruc- tor pulls the ripcord and the chute opens. Finally, gentle silence and a sense of calm take over for the relaxing five-minute glide to terra firma. The whole experience lasts about three hours and leaves you light-headed but elated and proud. On the ride home, my girlfriend, Hannah, says, "The scariest part was the ride up." Skydive Las Vegas, 702-759-3483; skydivelasvegas.com vegasmagazine.com 119