Skydiving in General

I was working as a Promotions Co-ordinator for a gym about 4 years ago, which involved organising marketing and fundraising events. We were raising money to enable handicapped children to take part in sport and one of the fundraising activities was a sponsored parachute jump. In the process of trying to persuade members of the gym to join in with this event, I inadvertently got myself talked into it too! Apparently I couldn't very well persuade people to do something I wasn't prepared to do myself!! Once we had agreed to take part in the skydive we had to arrange for sponsorship from friends and family. The deal was that we had to raise at least ...  Read the complete review

Talking to the head of my parachuting centre, he told me that this year there have only been 4 refutes, out of 100's of first timers. This should not make you worry of the embarrassment if you are one of those few (they are very respectful of ones fear), but should strengthen your will to think that this is not such an unusual feat. So why should someone want to do a skydive you may ask? Well, obviously it is an amazing experience, and one which becomes more exhilirating the further you persue the sport, but many people, including myself, confess that they would just love the chance to show off to all their mates who havn't done it. It may also look good ...  Read the complete review

Don’t worry, it’s no worse than throwing yourself out of the back of a plane. That’s the insult really. You see, in theory, it’s one of the simplest ideas you could have. Essentially it’s exactly the same as standing on your garden wall and jumping off. Except that maybe its just that little bit higher up. In practice, however, it’s a little more difficult. For a start, that little garden wall of yours will be fifteen thousand feet below you. That’s right, fifteen thousand feet, just under three miles. For me, it all started a week or two after my brother Mark had done one. ...  Read the complete review

I was bought a skydive for my 18th birthday, five years ago, although I didn't actually do the skydive until a year later. The total cost of the skydive was £120. As I have had no experience of skydiving before, the only option I had, was to do a tandem, skydive, where I am strapped to a trainer who knows what they are doing. I could have taken part on a course to train me to skydive myself although this would have cost in the region of £300. I called to book a day for my skydive several times but due to the weather I was unable to do it for a while. I basically had to keep phoning on all the days I was available to do it until the weather felt friendly enough ...  Read the complete review

Skydiving is frankly a bit of a mental thing to do. Why would anyone voluntarily throw themselves out of a perfectly good plane 12,000 feet above land?!? Wellllll....there is that something that you quite can't put your finger on that makes thousands of perfectly sane people do it every year with only a flimsy piece of cloth tucked away in a bag, and 4 metal clips to get them back to earth safely. A few months ago, whilst in the stunning New Zealand on a Round the World trip of a lifetime, I became one of those?.who has been there, done that....and most importantly lived to tell the tale! I have often vowed that I would never engage in such silly ...  Read the complete review