Sky diving - Bravery or foolishness

I did it!!! Skydive 15000 feet with 60 seconds of freefall and I have a picture and video to prove it. To everyone who had no faith in me - ha - and to my faithful fans - thanks for the support.

Saturday 24th November 2007 at approx 10.00am (NZ time) I leapt bravely/foolishly from the plane. My tandem jumper is called Adam and the camera man - Udos. Below is the true story - exclusive to Kiwi adventure blog.

Before i left for NZ i had decided that i would take this opportunity to do some acts of bravery to prove primarily to myself that i could do them and maybe to prove that i too could "live". One of these acts was to skydive. From the brochures picked up I noticed that i could achieve this dream in Lake Wanaka. We arrived in this very scenic place on Thursday 22nd November. We had just passed a gruelling 4 hours driving on the most winding roads up and down mountains that you could ever imagine. We were both wrecked. We were fortunate enough to find a really wonderful apartment to chill out in for a few days. Thursday evening we watched some movies- a rubblish one called The Alien Hunter with James Spader and really nice movie called 13 going on 30 with Jennifer Garner. Friday dawned all to quckly and contrary to the plan to have a sleep in until at least 10 o clock both inky and myself woke at 9.00. In the afternoon I wandered down to the Isite which is beside the lake with the determination of booking the skydive. I didnt really let myself think about it too much as i was fearful that i would chicken - and that was not allowed. Dan served me at the counter - he was English and had recently moved to Lake Wanaka with the mrs. He had done the skydive himself and absolutely loved it. This was very encouraging to me. I booked the 15000ft as Dan said it was worth the extra 15 second of free fall. The alternative was a 13000 ft jump with only 45 seconds of free fall. Someone was to pick me up at 9.30 from the Isite on Saturday for my jump. After i had taken this brave/stupid step i wandered around. The Lake is extremely beautiful with a backdrop of mountains, some of them snowcapped. I think that i must be a shopaholic as i had to try on some clothes in some shops. Luckily for my credit card they 1) didnt fit me and 2) looked really terrible that i didnt buy anything. I wandered back to the apartment and told Inky my exciting news. I slept well and struggled out of bed the next morning and made it down to the Isite in plenty of time. I was collected at 9.20.The day was glorious, sunny and no wind - no jump was on. I was subconsiously extremly nervous and i could not think of anything to say to the driver. We arrived at the airport and i was checked in. They showed us a video ( in order to get us excited) of what was going to happen - instead it made me really nervous. I opted to have a video taken of this wonderful experience so that i could show everyone back home and also to show my children and grandkids and of course my beautiful little niece Lily. I had to put on a madly coloured jumpsuit - i had great difficulty doing this as i tried to put it on with my shoes on - eventually i removed my shoes and it was much easier. I met Adam my experienced tandem jumper/trainer and we jumped into the little plane. There were seven of us in all in the plane, me, adam, udos, and 2 other sets of tandem jumpers. they were jumping at 13000 feet. Off we went. The plane achieved a high of 1000 feet per minute so i knew that i had roughly 15 minutes before my jump. I had the pleasure of seeing the others jump before me - this was a BIG mistake. To see people fall so fast towards the earth really was not good. Then my turn. They kept making smile and make thumps up jesters - that we were sitting at the door ( my stomach is turning with fear as i discribe this) i posed for the wing camera (above) and we were gone. I tried to scream but it was phyiscally impossible. I felt like i was falling and was scared. i wanted the chute to be released. Eventually if was and then i wanted to be on the ground. I know discription of the event is very scant but i think i totalled stressed myself have blocked a lot of it out also i feel sick with fear at the moment.

We landed safely i got my video and left.

I was very disappointed that i didnt enjoy it and didnt get a brilliant high from it.

I am glad i did it - but i will never do it again.

In answer to the title question - difinitely foolishness. XX