Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Dubai!
Sun 29th Jan, 12
WOW! What a Crazy last few months it has been for the team!!!
First off it was off down under for our first time to Australia, we had met a few quality Aussies previously at the Voss Freefly Festival this past summer and had an epic time jumping with them, so when we were offered a chance to come play in the southern hemisphere we jumped at the chance!
True to our initial impressions, we had a massive steaming pile of awesome fun! The attitude we encountered was one of 100% up for having a great time, which is the best base to work from for camps and boogies.
We started with the Australian head down record warm up camp at Skydive Nagambie, working towards vertical formation flying. Everyone took on their designated roles with what we guess to be a typical Aussie "Up for it" attitude which meant we were able to smash out some really cool 2 plane formations.
Then came the Full Moon boogie, and after 2 days of pure vertical flying requiring a high level of focus, everyone was up for running some angles. But after 2 epic days of big ways, it was time to turn up the speed. There was no time for half hearted measures here, it was on! Fast, steep, hard and with some turns. As the boogie progressed so did the speed of the dives ending in an all out "My jump suit is on fire" Back to the future "I don't think I've ever gone that fast!!!" "Star Trek 4 -The voyage home" Type of situation. Basically it was MEGA!
Massive Thanks to all our Awesome Australian friends!
From there is was a quick stop off at IFLY Singapore located on the island of Sentosa, which is the perfect location for such a facility. Hosting some major attractions such as Universal studios Singapore, one of the biggest flow rider houses in the world and many other giant offerings.
As you get the train across from mainland Singapore to the wind tunnel on the Island of Sentosa, The first thing you notice is just how big this facility is! Compared to other IFLY tunnels it's on Steroids! A Massive 16ft tunnel, in a building with restaurants and a roof top bar, a massive viewing area, a gigantic screen on the outside of the building with a crazy stereo system pumping out videos of tunnel flying.
For a more authentic Singapore experience just get back on the sky train to the mainland, and within a few minutes you can be in local downtown Singapore eating a giant bowl of Beef Noodle soup for just $3.
Back on the Island every night there are 2 massive firework displays just across from the tunnel which can light up the entire flight chamber whilst you are flying. The tunnel itself is a modern design 16ft tunnel, basically its massive and super fast! There is no skydiving in Singapore, but still there is a small group of enthusiastic local flyers plus regular groups flying over from Australia as it is the closest tunnel for our friends from down under.
Holly Kilham is the contact for pro flyers and is super helpful in getting things booked, so for more info you can contact Holly at: Holly@iflysingapore.com
From there it was off to Dubai for the first Dubai Sequentials ever!!! 4 organisers, Mike Carpenter and Fabian Raidel of Volare as well as Kristian Moxnes and Stephanie Soria with 28 invited participants making 4 groups of 8 ways, plus a few sneaky days of 16 ways!
For the majority of the participants and the organizers it was our first time out to Skydive Dubai. We were jumping over "The Palm" An Island built on reclaimed land. The drop zone is also built in this way out past the coast line, so the visuals for the jumps were fantastic, a backdrop of skyscrapers and ocean. The plan was to make some of the best sequentials that the mostly European and American participants had ever achieved! With the skill level increasing so fast across the world we were able to attempt some really exciting and challenging jumps in both the vertical and with movement.
For the New Years eve celebrations we all headed to the Atlantis hotel at the peak of the palm for an all out beach Party, Faithless and Basement Jaxx supplied the soundtrack to a celebration (in the style of most things in Dubai) Which was nothing short of Massive!!! Then the biggest surprise was a gift from the Prince Skeikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum of free jumps for everyone on the last day. What an awesome way to finish a great event and get everyone super excited!!! Big Thanks to everyone at Skydive Dubai and Anna Howerski for organizing such a Mega Event!!! Check the video below to see some of the action!
Whats Next? A summer full of absolute Gold!!! Hope to see you at some of the Awesome events we have planned over the Summer, 2012 is gonna be MEGA!!!!!
We hope to see you there!!!!
The Volare Team.
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