I blame Carrie Bradshaw for the fact that I put "Try a Trapeze class" on my bucket list back in high school. My bucket list has grown so long over the years that this one seemed to get pushed to the wayside and conveniently forgotten about. I'll deny that it had anything to do with the fact that I'm pretty terrified of heights and just thinking about doing anything that high up in the air makes my palms sweat. Then a few months ago a Groupon popped up in LA for 50% off a Trapeze Lesson on the Santa Monica pier. There was no denying it now, so I took this as a sign and I purchased the Groupon on the spot. I found out about a month or two later that Lang had purchased the exact same Groupon and I felt a little better about having a friend to do it with me. We found a Saturday that worked for both of us and headed to Santa Monica. I don't think either one of us really had any idea what we'd gotten ourselves into until we got to the pier and approached the hut where we were to check in and sign all of our safety waivers. My rule of thumb is the longer the waiver the more dangerous the activity, so I got a little more nervous when I saw the waiver was eight pages long. Nonetheless, I signed on the dotted line and we joined the rest of our class by the trapeze setup.
After going through all the safety rules, getting fitted for our harness belts, and learning the basics of what we'd be doing in the air, we put ourselves in order and began cheering on the first person to give it a shot. There were ten people in our class and I felt lucky to be in the tenth spot so I could learn from everyone going before me. We had one or two that made it up there and then just couldn't make the jump off the platform, but Lang did really well and even made it look easy.
Lang flying through the air!
I still wasn't entirely convinced but I knew that I still had to get up there and give it a shot. Lang was under strict instruction not to baby me and that if I showed even the slightest sign of hesitation to heckle me until I did it.
I finally made it to the top rung of the ladder and then climbed onto the platform and hooked myself in to wait my turn. The person in front of me finished their turn and he began hooking me up to the ropes and pulled the bar towards us with a hook. Then he tells me to lean out and grab the bar with my right hand as he holds my harness from the back of my waist. This already feels like it could pull me straight off the platform and makes my palms start sweating all over again. Now he's let go of the hook, is holding my harness with both hands pulling me back towards the platform and has me reach for the other side of the bar with my left hand. I now have both hands wrapped around the bar, seemingly holding on for dear life, my toes on the edge of the platform, and leaning over at almost a 60 degree angle. At this point I just have to trust that he knows what he's doing and that nothing too terrible could happen to me.
What seems like an eternity later but what is probably only seconds, he asks if I'm ready, I say yes, and he tells me to jump. I take a small hop off the platform, my arms lock and catch me as my weight pulls me down towards the net below, and I'm flying through the air. It is such a cool feeling that I almost forget to listen to the guy below that's controlling the ropes attached to either side of my harness. He tells me to swing my legs up and to hook them up and over the bar. I have a quick flashback to playing on the monkey bars as a kid and remember this sensation well. You fold your legs back towards your chest and then hook your knees onto the bar. Then he tells me to release my hands from the bar, arch my back, and pretend like there's a person on the opposite bar that I'm trying to reach towards. This is a completely foreign feeling, but one that you get use to, and then you show him "catch hands."
The dreaded "lean"
off the platform
start to tuck
hook the knees
"catch hands"
After swinging a few times like this the blood really starts to rush to your head so he has you release your legs back down so that you're once again hanging from the bar and then comes the dismount. Instead of just letting go of the bar we are to learn how to do a backflip dismount. I've never done a backflip in my life, whether that be on dry land, into a pool, and especially not in midair at the height of a three story building. I kept reminding myself that nothing too terrible could happen, people do this all the time, and then I just go for it. Three swings of the legs forward, back, forward, tuck my knees and there I was.... back flipping from a trapeze bar on the Santa Monica pier. Bucket list item #52 complete.
After the celebratory high fives and hugs I had mentally already crossed this off my bucket list and was ready to take off my harness to remain on solid ground for now and the indefinite future. Our instructor had a different idea. It was time to try a catch. This meant that instead of imagining someone on the other trapeze bar opposite from us, there actually would be a professional over there this time and his job was to catch us in mid-air and we were to swing from his arms. If I hadn't just completed the previous skill set I would have thought this to be impossible. But the little boost in confidence I had gained from just the initial swing gave me the nerve to try the release. The same fundamentals went into this new skill and as I hooked my knees on the bar, reached back with my "catch hands" I felt his hands latch on to my wrists and I released my legs from the bar and we were flying as one. The best part was that I thought we would stay like this for a few swings but I guess I hadn't paid close enough attention to the flyers before me because it was a one time swing kind of thing before he quickly released me. You'll see in the video how this takes me by surprise as I thought I was going to face plant onto the net and luckily righted myself enough to just land awkwardly on my feet on the net. But despite the messy landing, I had done it.
Lang and I both had perma-grin for hours after the lesson because we couldn't believe we had actually done it, how much fun it was, and how great of a workout it was too. I'm happy to have completed another bucket list item and that my fear of heights has lessened ever so slightly thanks to this activity. If anyone has the chance to do this I would highly recommend it!
Santa Monica beach
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