Jesse Wetherbee is a high-energy guy: unsurprisingly, because he’s 21 years old and works in a coffee factory. He’s got get-up-and-go for days. These days, as a matter of fact, he’s getting up and going to Piedmont Skydiving to rack up a goodly amount of freefall! We took the opportunity to chat with him just after one of his most recent jumps about his latest airborne adventures — and what plans Jesse has up his sleeve.
“All through high school, my buddy Daniel was talking to me about going skydiving,” Jesse remembers, laughing. “I finally got time one weekend and I decided, you know what, f*** it, I’m going. I want to experience that. Well, that was this past June, and I’ve been going ever since.”
Jesse joined us for that first jump right here at Piedmont Skydiving, encouraged by the hearty recommendation of his friend, who had jumped with us several times previously. Luckily, we’re just a few miles from where he lives and works, between Charlotte and Greensboro. The drive was easy.
“In all honesty, a lot of people would have been scared,” he remembers, “But I was more excited than anything. I’ve always enjoyed roller coasters; going fast; climbing trees. For me, it was just something that I knew I was going to enjoy, and it got my adrenaline pumping.”
Now, with four tandem skydives under his belt, Jesse pretty much has the skydiving thing on lock.
“With my fourth one, I knew a little bit of what to expect,” he explains. “The first jump, as soon as my foot came off that ledge and we started doing those first couple of flips, all rational function in my head shut down and I went into pure instinct. With these recent ones, I have had something to focus on and I have managed to pay a lot more attention. Example: I can actually tell you with certainty that we did about six flips this time, and I got a good look around in freefall. I paid attention a lot more than I was able to the first time. It feels good.”
These days, Jesse is looking forward to earning his skydiving A license and joining us in the sky as a certified jumper. In the meantime, he’s a great mentor for his friends and family that are looking skyward. He loves bringing newbies along to the dropzone so he can show them the ropes.
“Generally, whenever I take somebody skydiving with me, they’re, like, man, I don’t know,” Jesse laughs. “I explain to them this way: it’s like a really big roller coaster. You’ve got the plane ride up. That’s going up the hill. When you’re sitting on the edge, that’s the split second when you get to the top and then you drop. When your instructor pulls the chute, that’s when you get your twists and turns as you are going down.”
“I have a lot of fun anytime I go [to Piedmont Skydiving],” Jesse adds. “All of the people are nice. I can show up to the dropzone and have fun with them and not even have to talk about skydiving. We can go and laugh. Hanging out in the drop zone is the best part, and then jumping is the icing on the cake.”
Jesse, we love your company, too, and we’re looking forward to having you join us in the sky as a licensed jumper!