Hangin by the Hangers

Hey hey! I'm still alive everyone! Yay! And I've officially gotten my AFF certification. Although that is not A-license yet, so I am still working on that. Only a few more days though, and I'll be able to jump out of Airplanes anywhere in the world!

So, as you've all gathered, I've been jumping out of airplanes for the last week. And my oh my, it just gets more and more fun each time you do it! For those of you that have taken tandem rides, you've gotta try the courses! The freedom that you have in the air is unparalleled to that of a tandem jump! For example, I've always dreamed of doing a double backflip. Well, skydiving, I've done a quadruple backflip, then a front flip, then some barrel rolls, then a couple three sixties, all in one jump! That's way more than I could ever do on a pair of skis!

So, for some more amusing stories about Skydiving too. I am a man of firsts apparently. First of all, there are three other students learning to skydive with me. Now, the jumpmasters used to talk about one student years ago that finished his AFF certification in 5 days. They were super proud of him being able to do it that quickly. Guess how long it took me and the other 3 students! yep, 3 Days! Needless to say, the jumpmasters have all been dumbfounded at how quickly we are jumping, and how good we all are this soon in the game!

Now, there are 9 levels that need to be completed in each stage of the AFF certification. Each level being a jump where you practice some type of new skill. Such as 360's or backflips. After you complete level 6, you are cleared to jump out of an airplane completely on your own if you'd like. Most people do their first solo jump at that point. Some however will go through the rest of the stages before doing their first solo jump. Well, I was different. As I showed up to the Drop Zone on my B-day, just after have finishing my AFF-certification, I was asked if I wanted to do a 5 way. "Of course" I say. So, it is me, two other students, and two jumpmasters. We go through the jump before hand, and then in at 13,000ft above sealevel, execute, more or less, a perfect 5-way round. Falling at 120mph, we were all holding each others arms to make a big 5 person circle in the sky. Once we all got to the ground, I reiterated the fact that I still hadn't done a solo jump to my jumpmasters. They were flabbergasted that I had just been a part of a 5-way before I had ever jumped on my own! This was my 10th jump too. So, I had half the number of people in my group as I had jumps. The Jumpmaster was talking to some other sport skydiver and asked him how many jumps he had. The other skydiver said 220. The Jumpmaster then told him he'd have to do a 110-way round to rival what I had just done! :)

Well, I don't have a TON to talk about unless it has to do with skydiving, but I promised I'd get some pictures and video done. Well, it turns out that the jumpmasters did a rough editing job of all of us students and our first few jumps. Problem is I haven't quite gotten a copy of that video yet. So, in the meantime this post was mainly to get some pictures up of the drop zone as seen from the ground. These pictures were taken by "Frenchie," one of my fellow students. (His real name is Amadee, but we all got nicknames. Mine is Bendi-boy. Apparently I'm really flexible or something. . .)

And on a side note, some things I've been able to see while I've been skydiving.
-A full circle rainbow
-Skydiving through clouds during sunset. (ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!)
-A stunt plane flying in barrel rolls around our skydive plane with the pilot waving to us.
-The southern alps
-The end of the Leslie-Karamea track
-The Abel Tasman walkway.

Things scientists used to believe about skydiving. . .
-If you touched someone while in freefall, you'd both explode.
-If you open your mouth while falling through clouds, you'll explode.
-During free fall, you don't have to breath, because the air just gets pushed through your skin! :)

Oh, by the way, thanks everyone for all the B-day wishes you sent my way! I had a blast on my B-day, but it sure wasn't the same without you. Turns out I'm the youngest one at the dropzone though! So, my party consisted of hanging out with the people at the Dropzone. They did a fantastic job of surprising me infact. One jumpmaster brought me into the back room to "try different parachutes" and when I came back into the main room, there were about 15 people waiting there and they sang Happy birthday to me, and gave me a delicious chocolate cake. So, yeah, I still got to make a wish and what not. That night we then went to the only bar in Motueka, and played some darts. So, it was still good, but definately not the parties I'm used to! :)