> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Getting the drop on this whole fear thing - URL: https://www.smdp.com/getting-the-drop-on-this-whole-fear-thing/ - Published: 2005-09-03T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T07:39:55.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Education, Santa Monica, #archive-import *12,500 FEET ABOVE ELSINORE — It’s OK to be afraid.* Fear is not to be shunned, but embraced, or so that’s what school teacher Melissa Goddard is planning to tell her first-grade class this fall. And given that the 27-year-old isn’t of the do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do variety, it’s a lesson that just might stick. It’s also a lesson Goddard has gone to great heights to validate, skydiving for the first time over her summer break. “I just kept telling myself to look around, because I knew I would shut my eyes,” said the Hermosa Beach resident. “I was scared.” Kneeling before the open door of a hiccuping twin-engine airplane — propellers whirring just feet away, the earth below reduced to some sort of obscure Rand McNally grid — would scare most. People tend to have one of two reactions when you tell them you just jumped from an airplane with nothing but a backpack stuffed with nylon and strings: 1) “Why the hell would you jump out of a perfectly good airplane?”, or 2) “I’ve always thought about doing that, but …” For those who fall in the former, it’s probably best they just remain on tarmac. But for those in the latter, pull the ripcord already. “It’s so empowering,” said Goddard, who received the “gift” of a free jump at Skydive Elsinore from her boyfriend for her birthday. “I feel like I conquered something. I just kept walking around telling myself, ‘I just jumped out of an airplane.’” Brooke Leslie, who hails from Santa Monica, sat alongside Goddard in the prep room, watching a decidedly morbid film warning participants of the dangers exclusive to skydiving. The drop zone’s founder, a seeming ZZ Top reject with beard reaching for his lower regions, warns novice jumpers of the potential, um pitfalls, of leaping from an airplane. The registration waiver — signed and dated on film for legal protection purposes — does little to assuage a jumper’s fretting, with clauses like “there is no warranty whatsoever”, “assume all risk of death” and “parachuting activities are of little value to the public and no one has to engage in them.” Leslie, now bedecked in a spiffy blue rental jumpsuit, lamented the loose ends. “I should have called my mom,” the 24-year-old hairstylist admitted. “I should have called and told her I love her.” Leslie recalled the 90-mile trek she made that morning from Santa Monica to Lake Elsinore, in turns yawning from fatigue amid the two-hour commute to panicking upon the realization of where she was headed. So why do people jump? The video — post “death-becomes-you” segment — lends some answers. Amid the raucous footage of skydivers streaming through the sky, flying free of earth’s constraints to U2’s “Elevation”, one testimonial seemed to strike a chord with Goddard, Leslie and company. “It’s just one of those things you can’t explain,” offered one woman. “If you’re on the outside looking in, you can’t understand it. If you’re on the inside looking out, you can’t explain it. “You just have to experience it for yourself.” And so they did. Goddard was still smiling ear-to-ear a week after her first tandem jump at Elsinore on Aug. 13\. She’d been playing her DVD of the freefall so often, she feared she would “wear it out.” “It’s the time of your life,” she said. “I always try and tell my students to do something they wouldn’t normally do, teach them to take risks, try new things. I think it’s good for them to see that I did something scary. For them, learning to read might seem scary. “It will help them see it’s OK to get scared.” WHO’S GOT MY BACK? When the door to the side of the plane goes up, it’s on. I was going to have to jump. I was last in line, and the dozen or so others were already plummeting towards earth. The pilot was ready to turn this flying bucket around. My tandem instructor had fastened all the clips, connecting us at the hip, literally, and shoulders. I hadn’t told my mother I loved her. I hadn’t any snot-nosed kids to prove myself to either. This was a birthday gift to myself. I owed this to myself. What the hell’s the matter with me? At this altitude, one tends to have a few intense thoughts — Did I make all necessary arrangements in the case of my untimely demise? … Is an unexamined life really not worth living? … Did Chopin go skydiving before penning his “Funeral March”? But most pressing, who the hell was this guy strapped to my back? What if he unhooks me in the air and lets me fall to my death? I don’t have a chute, he’s got the chutes! Wouldn’t he then be embroiled in lawsuits? A pretty steep price to pay for a serial killer. A serial killer wouldn’t go through all the training to become a tandem jumper and then unclip people in the air, would he? Too costly, too time-consuming, too obvious. Besides, one unclipping and he likely loses his job … two at the most. What were the chances? Time to pull it together. In the end, it’s a leap of faith, as is the whole skydiving experience. No, it does-n’t seem very rational, even natural, for a human being adherent to gravitational pull to thrust themselves out of an airplane some two and half miles above the earth, falling through the clouds and smiling all the while. It’s not natural. It’s cheating. And that’s the kicker. That’s the smile-on-your-face-for-a-week after finally landing safely back in the Elsinore drop zone, back on tarmac... I’m back on freakin’ tar, Mac! Still, who the hell is this guy strapped on my back? Anyone with more than 6,000 jumps “has a couple of stories to tell,” notes Christiaan Rendle, a tandem instructor at Skydive Elsinore. Rendle, who lives in Hollywood and commutes to the Elsinore Valley each weekend, is no different. The 30-year-old Australian has broken his back and both his ankles skydiving, but he’s quick to point out that seldom does the careful novice pay a price aside from the $200 fee. “Most accidents happen because jumpers were doing stupid things,” reports Rendle. “It rarely happens in tandems. Experienced jumpers sometimes try and do stupid things.” Skydiving, by all accounts, has come a long way from the WWII parachutes, he says, explaining that the equipment used today compared to your grandfather dropping behind enemy lines in Europe is safer, stronger and much more reliable. “There isn’t too much to worry about.” As a sport, skydiving began to gain prominence following the “big one,” as antsy war veterans returned to the States with newfound derring-do and learned skills “of little value to the public and no one has to engage in.” Enter Skydive Elsinore, the oldest continuously operating drop zone in the United States, located roughly between the San Diego and Los Angeles metropolitan regions. While the war veterans have aged, giving way to a new breed of adventurers and sport skydivers, so has the clientele. According to Betsy Burkey, co-director of Elsinore, any one of any age is welcome to take a leap, that is if they are relatively fit and have the mettle. After that, she’s confident they’ll come back for more. As for Rendle, he knew he was hooked during his first jump, as a 16-year-old in freefall. “I can look at the tape and tell you the exact moment that I realized I wanted to do this,” he said proudly. “Everyone should try it if it’s something they’ve ever thought about, the majority want to come back.” As to be expected, there are a handful of “refusals,” as Rendle calls them — people who pay for the jump, sign the waiver, watch the harrowing film, suit up, train and board the plane … then, refuse to jump. Rendle said he had a girl the other weekend who was crying at the door. The plane circled ’round and the tandem instructor managed to convince her to let go of her fears, let go of herself. “People that do not go, and land, are disappointed in themselves,” he said. “They have all this adrenaline buildup and no release. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen.” Rendle said it’s the over-confident novice that he worries about, as their calm can be disconcerting. He doesn’t know what to expect from them in the air, what their motivations might be. “You should have a little fear, it’s healthy,” said Rendle. “You’re jumping out of an airplane.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/090305-12_01.jpg) to the Daily Press OH ’CHUTE: The writer seems pleased tandem instructor John McIntyre is sticking close by. (Photo: Matan Ori /Special) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/090305-12_02.jpg) to the Daily Press The writer (left) and Brooke Leslie, both from Santa Monica, seem relieved to again have their feet on the ground (Photo: Matan Ori /Special) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 3, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090305.pdf?ref=smdp.com)