Here's what each of us thought of our moment of freefall...
Note: the jumpsuits only fitted one of us....
Andy:
The next morning we woke up to some patchy cloud and were sure they would
cancel our jump again. However to our
suprise they said it was clearing up over the jump zone so we headed to the
airport. We donned our very striking
jumpsuits, strapped into our harnesses and there was no turning back. My tandem was a South African called Eric,
and we’d opted to have a video done so we each had our own cameraman too. There were five of us jumping, each with a
tandem, plus four cameramen. We all
squeezed into the plane and we were off with some great views on the way
up. The ascent was about 20 minutes and
the three girls infront of us were jumping first from 12,000 feet. Seeing someone jump out of an open door of a
plane is the weirdest sight! We each had
to wear oxygen masks to get up to our jump height of 15,000 feet. The jump light went green and Matt was first,
he shuffled down the plane and before I knew it he was out the door. We followed and I got to the door, got into
position and then we were out. That
initial feeling of free fall is indescribable, the adrenalin kicks in and
there’s a wall of air hitting your face as you quickly accelerate to 130mph. The freefall lasted for 60 seconds and it’s
easily the biggest rush I’ve ever had, I can see why it’s so addictive! As the canopy opened my feet and hands were
numb from the rush, and as I looked around at the mountains and lakes Eric said
“here’s the view from my office”, it was a moment I will never forget.
Matt:
As for my skydive I was to entrust my life with a Brazilian
by the name of Mac. Very laisez fair he was too! As we got onto the plane i
noticed tht everyone elses harnesses were nice and tight except mine which was
pretty much hanging off. ‘Ah don’t worry about it,’ came the response from Mac.
Hmm reassuring. After a good twenty minutes of ascent onbard the plane we were
set to go. Mac kindly tightened up all straps with minutes to go, much to my
relief. He also chose these very moments before we jumped out of the plane to
explain what i had to do. Some of this i forgot immediately; no surprises
there. You don’t really have time to contemplate much before you get hurtled
out of the plane at an alamring speed. What you do get is a huge rush
–something akin to the best rollercoaster you’ve ever been on but with that
very moment of freefall extended. If money were no object i would have immediately
handed my credit card over and done it again. As for my forgotten instructions;
well I hung onto my harness for dear life for the duration of the downfall.
Something I only had to do for a couple of seconds. Hence on the video i look a
complete tit; again no surpises there. All in all, highlight of the trip so
far. There are a couple of decent places to skydive on the north island and
it’s taking quite a bit of self control not to splurge and do it all again!
