Posts Tagged ‘skydiving’

CBS’ 60 Minutes calls wingsuit proximity flying “the world’s most dangerous sport” – so of course Red Bull have their finger on its pulse.

A brief reminder of some wingsujit facts and figures:

A typical skydiver’s terminal velocity: 110 to 140 mph or from 180 to 225 km/h.

A Wingsuit Flyer’s velocity: dramatically reduced speeds, a momentary speed of 25 mph or 40 km/h has been recorded, however 60 mph or 95 km/h is more typical.

Materials used in wingsuit: Rip-Stop nylon and or Parapack with thin plastic ribs

Can you do it? In the Skydivers Information ManualtThe United States Parachute Association (USPA) recommends that any jumper flying a wingsuit for the first time must have at least 200 jumps and be accompanied by an instructor or 500 jumps experience without instruction… Heed their advice.

For wannabe wingsuit flyers Red Bull have produced the ultimate movie, due to be released this summer. It’s called the Human Flight 3D Movie (redbull)…

This is a partially fictionalised film, but it is inspired by the members of the elite Red Bull Airforce who are themselves appearing on camera – it would be pretty hard to find stuntmen for this kind of extreme-ness!

Human Flight 3D is an authentic look at the dangerous but thrilling culture of this elite aerial sport and being 3D it allows the audience the virtual experience of flying alongside the world’s top precision skydiving, BASEjumping and wingsuit flyers who make up the Red Bull Air Force.

Pundits say that the storyline might be weak but the flying will be awesome!

It’s impressive on YouTube but on the big screen and in 3D it’ll be like you’re there with a wingsuit on, a ‘chute on your back and part of the elite team. It will allow you to experience the thrill, the adrenaline rush and the pure primal dream of flying like a bird.

Keep your eyes open for the movie. If you want to know what it feels like to fly like a bird but don’t have quite enough courage, or perhaps money, to do it yourself, then this’ll be the next best thing.

I am so glad I write articles on extreme sport – the things people come up with… and to think I might have missed this!

Try this one on for size… a parachuter surfing on the back of a wingsuit flyer, and poised and accomplished enough (the both of them) to hold the position for 20 seconds – that’s like an hour when you’re doing a crazy stunt like this!

It’s Jonathan Tagle with the parachute and Jeff Nebelkopf in the wingsuit. Phil Peggs is the estimable photographer.

Make no mistake – this was a daring stunt and a first ever.

“It was a challenge to line up underneath him because I had to estimate where he’d be based on the last place I saw him as I was sliding in. He would then get his feet around my rig. It changed my centre of gravity when he hooked onto me – made me fly a little more head low, so I had to compensate a little bit,” said Nebelkopf.

After securing the position the pair held the pose for 20 seconds before breaking and heading off to make their own way back down to the earth.

Tagle said: “The weird thing about the break off was that I had the feeling I needed to pull, but I was already under a good canopy.”

Quite something… hats off, well done, congratulations, etc etc….

… and your guardian angels have their eyes wide open…

Readers of our site will also be happy to know that you can skydive, whitewater raft and scuba dive on the Great Barrier Reef  from this town…

It is one of only two areas in Australia where the Wet Tropics rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef meet and is a culmination of the best that Far North Queensland has to offer. Not only does the golden beach stretch for over 14 kilometres with tropical islands scattered close by, but the water is calm, crystal clear, and brimming with fish.

What’re you waiting for?!

You might have heard of Major Phil Packer… the man who was paralysed in February last year when the vehicle he was in was hit by a rocket in Iraq. He suffered broken ribs and a crushed lower spine. He was the man who was told he would never walk again and yet he finished the London marathon, albeit painfully slowly, but remember – 18 months before the doctors said he would never get out of a wheelchair.

We like talking about extreme personalities and this is one man who is definitely worth a mention or two. Thanks to AffiliAid for this introductory video:

Phil Packer says: “From the original prognosis that I would never walk again, I have been very lucky and my injuries have improved. I set out to raise £1million by completing a number of challenges including 3 Main Events; Rowing the Channel, walking the London Marathon, and pulling myself up a Mountain. El Capitan is the last event before I concentrate on providing opportunities for people with disabilities and raising the profile of disability sports. I will travel to the USA during the first two weeks in June and with the expertise & support of Andy Kirkpatrick, Ian Parnell and Paul Tatersal, will pull myself up 1800ft in 3 days”.

A quick excerpt of Maj. Phil Packer completing the London Marathon (6MadeInEngland9):

and how he has successfully got others involved in his charity efforts (AffiliAid)

Packer started his 1,800 ft climb up the sheer rock face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park yesterday, 8th June.

His ascent of El Cap. is being attempted despite the fact that he was told he would never walk again.

Major Packer, who lives in Westminster, London, has said the three-day climb will be his final fundraising campaign before concentrating his efforts on promoting opportunities for disabled people.

Climbing a rock face would be a challenge most of us would balk at but with a characteristic display of courage over disability, Major Packer is determined to conquer the face that many able-bodied people have failed to do.

Pulling yourself up with your arms (the equivalent of doing more than 4,000 push-ups) is a painfully slow way to scale a rock face and though he’s in constant pain since the rocket attack last year, it’s not enough to discourage him from taking up this challenge.

He wants to prove that his disability is no bar to rock climbing even though he’s no fan of its dizzying heights.

Unseasonable rain over the Yosemite Valley won’t make his task any easier though experience suggests this trifling inconvenience won’t interrupt his attempt.

He and his team are climbing to support ‘Help for Heroes’ and to raise awareness of Disabled Climbing Opportunites.

Packer’s live update of his climb states: “Great day, currently at 250 meters. Very tough, arms are tired, but every pull up is one pull up nearer the top. Passed Pitch 6 out of 16. Sleeping on a portaledge tonight.”

Having attempted and completed a marathon, kayaked, sky-dived with the Red Devils and accepted El Cap’s challenge, Major Phil Packer is, in our opinion, the perfect candidate as one of our extreme sports personalities.

To find out more about him, or if you would like to contribute to his fund-raising efforts, please go to: www.philpacker.com

His is a noble cause and I will keep you posted on the climb…

MTV recently began airing a new Sunday night line-up. “Nitro Circus,” “Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory,” and “Bully Beatdown” are three of the new shows. They focus heavily on extreme sports, which have been steadily becoming more popular throughout recent years.

“Nitro Circus” is centered on freestyle motocross rider, Travis Pastrana, and a small group of other extreme athletes. Some of their stunts have included dirt bikes, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, tricycles, skydiving, base jumping, and even attempting a back flip with a monster truck.

Being professionals in extreme sports, the Nitro Circus gang is always taking their skills to a higher level. On a recent episode, Jim DeChamp lands the first front flip on a dirtbike. There is never a dull moment with the crew on “Nitro Circus.”

From what can be seen in the video below from mtvfanscape it is without doubt going to be an adrenaline fuelled show – wow – what are these guys on?……………and could they send some this way!

Rob Dyrdek created “Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory,” after finishing “Rob & Big. He purchased a 25,000 square foot warehouse and turned it into a “Fantasy Factory.” The factory consists of an indoor skate park complete with a foam pit, basketball hoops and a lot of other extreme kit. There is also a recording studio Rob had made for his cousin Drama to work on his music production. Upstairs are offices for his corporate team who often join in the Fantasy Factory fun. Iit is always fun to see what Rob and his friends are planning next.

Here’s Rob explaining what his show is going to be all about and showing us around his ‘factory’ – gonna be a lot of fun – and thanks to EpicExtremeSports for the video.

“Bully Beatdown” is a show hosted by Jason “Mayhem” Miller that focuses on Mixed Martial Arts. The premise of the show is that a victim of bullying can have their bully challenged to an MMA fight against a professional fighter. This is the classic, ‘pick on someone your own size’ scenario.

The bully is able to turn the offer down in which case he looks like a wimp or fight with the opportunity to win $10,000. Every fight consists of two 3-minutes rounds. In the first round the bully loses $1000 of $5000 every time he is tapped out. The second round is strictly kickboxing and the bully will win $5000 for just surviving the round. At the end of the fight, the victim wins whatever money the bully has lost.

And here is the video from mayhemmiller – whether you like it or not this is different and certainly very extreme.

This move into extreme sports by MTV certainly suggests that the ‘wave’ of popularity behind extreme sports is still building momentum – thats good news as far as we are concerned. Check out the action on a Sunday evening and tell us what you think.