Taupo (and the kill thrill club)

So today i was meant to skydive at 11am. Weathercheck at 10:45 and I have to wait some more. Then at 11:30 told that i'd be rebooked for 1pm because of weather. 1pm comes, weathercheck: no go, 2pm. 2pm weathercheck, no go, so 3pm. 3:15 they pick me up, and some waiting, more waiting and waiting and waiting.

the next thing I know I'm putting on a red jump suit and a pilots hat, and i'm stupidly calm. The good thing about travelling alone is there' s no one there to psych you out or to complain about your terror to, thus no terror is had.
Yeah, I wasnt even shaking, just did as I was told, got into the plane with the nice man (my Tandem Master, Steve, who was just a bit taller than me) and off we went to jump out of a perfectly functional aeroplane at the height of 12,000 feet. That's a 45second freefall for those wondering, and with a drog that SLOWS us down to 200km/h.

And here, without anyfurther ado, I give you: the flying argentine.


that's my name on the load board, that's me written to go up in the aeroplane.


Steve and I on our way to the aeroplane, which we shared with 4 other tandems.


the calm before the storm. On my left is Steve the tandem master, and on my right is Jason the cameraman following me down the jump. Neither of them look sane enough to be wanting to jump out of aplane with.


right about HERE is where reality descends and I realize the gravity of what i'm about to do. I also committed the error of looking down. I'm shitting a brick for a bout a split second before its too late to think because i'm flying.



...and god does it feel good.


"look ma, no hands!"




me, steve, and .. the earth. and we're spiralling towards it. Yes, spiralling. You cant see it, but we're actually spinning as we're falling. I have a dvd of it too, as proof. I was spinning.


dont ask me why i'm doing the "bunny rabbit" with my hands. At this point i was trying hard to breathe. You cant breathe up there. I mean, i was GASPING for breath because the wind was so strong that i couldnt inhale. So all effort was put into that instead of mantaining an air of photographic grace- forgive me.


"... and i'm free...........

.... free fallin'..."



I've put this here to dispell any opinions of my vanity. Lets face it, i look horrific. But there's reason behind it: i was literally gasping to have a breath, my eyes were tearing, we were spinning and falling at 200km/h, and well, i admit it, i'm a pansy.
BUT A FLYING PANSY!



by the way, did you not notice that i'm also shaking my cameraman's hand? yes, look at the glove, there's another hand there. in mid air. now you see why the fear?



Eventually though, it subsided..

and inside my head "please deploy parachute, please deploy parachute.."





its a bird, its a plane, its.. two people who'se parachute hasnt deployed yet.. ahem.


THANK FUCK FOR THAT, and as soon as it deployed, steve says to me all calmly, "welcome to my office".

I got out of there at 7pm, after wanting to jump at 11am. What a day of suspense and freewheeling.


Thankyou ladies and gentlemen, and goodnight.