I started skydiving in 1995 and now have around 1000 jumps. Since my first jump, on a static line round parachute, I have been enthralled with this sport! Prior to this I was a keen swimmer, competing at a national level and training nine times a week. Deciding that I had taken swimming as far as I could and with increased academic pressures, I was on the look out for a new sport. Skydiving offered me excitement, a new challenge and something that was in contrast to the other aspects of my life at the time. The same is still true today.
A skydive demands complete concentration and involvement. I put myself in a situation where I am unable to think about anything else. For this reason, I find the sport a really good balance to my career, and can return to work after a skydive with a fresh and open mind.
Skydiving attracts a wide variety of people, all with different reasons and motivations behind their involvement in the sport. I cannot deny that the shear adrenaline buzz is a factor which keeps me coming back for more. However, there are other reasons: firstly, it demands a lot of skill because of its technical difficulties - falling and then opening your parachute is not that hard, but doing something interesting on the way down is a lot harder! Secondly, there are endless possibilities. There are skydivers with thousands of jumps who are not yet bored, because the more experience you gain, the wider the variety of aeroplanes, locations, altitudes, body positions and number of people to jump with becomes. Thirdly, I really enjoy outdoor activities. The sense of freedom that I get from skydiving is incomparable to anything else I have tried. I have an endless list of things I would still like to accomplish in the sport.
I enjoy every jump that I do. I can honestly say that I learn or experience something new on every jump. There are however a few special jumps that I remember:
- No 6, the first jump without a static line. My first taste of freefall!
- Skydiving into my graduation ceremony at the University of Kent.
- A high altitude jump from 22,000ft with oxygen, in Florida.
- A sunset jump into the University of Kent summer ball, DJ’s and all.
- My first hot-air balloon jump above the desert in Arizona.
- Exiting the wing of a biplane, it then diving into freefall with me.
- Surfing into Bewl Water Reservoir on a boogie board.
- Jumping into my friend’s wedding ceremony from 1,500ft.
- Chartering a Helicopter with UKC to jump on to campus.
- Running out the back of a Jet owned by the Maldivian air-force.
The discipline within Skydiving that I practice is called “Freeflying”. It is a three-dimensional freestyle aspect to the sport and involves flying head down, in a sit position, standing up and all within the relative wind of freefall.
I enjoy jumping with my video camera and just recently my stills camera, both mounted to my helmet. I often edit the digital video into sequences accompanied by music.