[the_nozzle]

... which means you had a shitty tandem instructor . Shortly after a tandem pair leaves the door the instructor chucks a drogue which slows your terminal velocity to that of a single person and basically suspends the whole setup. Once that happens getting out the belly to earth position is basically impossible. The whole pulling back and description of your experience gives me an impression you were at a really sketchy drop zone.

[delvinj]

Instructor? No, he was just a polite guy strapped onto my back who was about to have a memorable jump.

Our "instruction" was a 30 minute VHS tape about how we couldn't sue for any accidents.

Sketchy indeed.