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PICTURES FOLLOW THE TEXT Our skydive finally happened on Sunday morning, 19th November 2006. We left Tavistock at 6.30am with frost melting in the early morning rain. As we cleared Okehampton the skies were brighter in the East and by the time we arrived at the airfield at Dunkeswell conditions were perfect. The briefing was short and soon over and we climbed into the small Cessna aircraft. It was fairly cramped, the pilot sat on the only seat, Daniel and I with our instructors and a camera-man on the floor. The Climb took twenty-five minutes and provided us with a fantastic view, North West past Hinkley Point and into Wales, West into Cornwall and South all along the Jurrassic Coast. Daniel and his instructor parted the aircraft first and plummeted towards the airfield 10,000ft below and I followed head first immediately afterwards. It was a very surreal experience, the sheer terror that I had expected didn’t happen, just a sort of fascination of being “out of touch” and of being supported by an immense wind and amazing un-obstructed scenery, and the odd spectacle of the camera-man “flying” around me. The chute opened after about thirty seconds, and after a few exciting high G manoeuvres and a gentle and totally silent float the last couple of thousand feet I was on the ground and looking up at Daniel who still had a thousand feet to go! My most memorable moment? Seeing my son depart the aircraft and vanish instantly. Daniel’s memorable moments were two-fold, managing to glance at the aircraft as he fell away from it, caught in the photo, and seeing his father flash by him on the way down!!! The heroine of the day though was our companion, Stephanie Reid. She had only ever flown in a Commercial airliner before, and was terrified at the prospect of jumping. When it was her turn, she shook all the way up, but on seeing the look of panic on her fellow pupil's face when she departed the aircraft, gathered it all together and departed the aircraft in fine style. We, all three, would do it again tomorrow, given the chance and are wondering what on earth we can ever do to top the experience? Thanks to all our sponsors. Once sponsorship is in we will be presenting a cheque to Derriford branch of Cancer Research UK and after jump fees this should be well into four figures!!!. We have an awful lot of chasing of pledges yet to do. If anyone still wants to add to the total, please give me a call on 01822 611444!!! High resolution pictures are available if required by enyone. Clicking any of the images below will enlarge the image in a new window.
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