@Βασίλης-and-Ann0
Hey, greatest of luck with the Sea Suite guys....I am sure you will do well with it. And I know just how much hard work is involved Vassilis. I am 9 years into a 10 year project here and I am not even half way! But mate, maybe you are a bit more competent than I am!
That video was a few years ago now! At the time, Kate was going out with the guy she was strapped to, and he talked her into doing a jump! We went across to Monarto (about 40Kms from here) one afternoon to see Kate do her jump, but she didn't get to do it on the day...weather conditions deteriorated. It was a hot overcast afternoon and you could see the thunderheads gathering! I saw what was to be the last drop of the day.......I watched these tiny little specks in freefall for what seemed like forever and then the sails opened and I suddenly thought.....'hang on, I need to have a share of this fun' so, we were both re-scheduled for the next Saturday! Saturday came and it was blowing a gale....Da*n, cancelled for another week. The next Saturday it dawned clear and still so, down to Monarto again. This time it was on! People say..."didn't you feel scared", and I have to say up until the moment I sat in that open doorway with a sh*tload of nothing between me and the ground, (12,000 ft).....no I didn't. Lets face it when you have someone strapped to your back who has done it 1,800 times before, it sorts of gives you a bit of confidence you will live to tell the tale!
Next second we were in the air, and I realised, this, is, what, I, was, made, for! This was the most fun I have ever had in my life. I cannot describe the total exhilaration of freefalling. The only physical thing I was concerned about, we each (both Kate and I) had a photographer, and I could feel my cheeks flapping like a set of elephants ears in the jetstream....and I thought, 'that's not going to be a real good look'! That was in the days when I still had some semblanse of a sense of vanity!
A minute into freefall Dave pulled the cord, my legs shot up past my head like a pair of canon shells and we settled into the gentle floating phase of the jump. Dave gave me the control cords, one for each hand...pull down on the left one to go left, the right one to go right, both of them to go up, let them both out to go down....it was so easy. Kate and I revolved around each other in a large circle and shouted wild exclamations to each other as we slowly decended back into our mundane lives.
You have to do this once in your life Vassilis. I have had enough challenges to realise, this is not a dress rehearsal for something to come.....we are in the here and now, and I am never going to let an opportunity pass me by!
I have to apologise for the editing. I put together bits of Kates video and bits of mine hence the disjointed music breaks and the sudden ups and downs in altitude readings....
And also, apologies for using Van Halen with their 'Jump'......it just seemed like an appropriate song choice!
Cheers.....Rob