Last Days in Byron Bay

[Douglas Spotted Eagle]

Saturday/Sunday:
Got up this morning, made some GREAT skydives with Eddie and Lynda, Stacy n’ Steve, and other members of the Byron staff. Aiysh decided today was the day that he’d begin Wingsuiting, and so Brad and Aiysh took the First Flight Course. Brad couldn’t jump his new Phantom, as he doesn’t have 200 skydives quite yet, but he’ll get there in a week or so. Folks in Australia take rules and recommendations very seriously, and Brad was completely committed to getting in eight more skydives before donning the Phantom that he’d purchased last month.
Aiysh (pronounced “Ash”) is an incredibly enthusiastic young man who recently completed his degree in Commercial Skydiving. He’s also a certified Kayaking and Snowboarding Instructor from India, and is adding Skydiving to his repertoire of available skills. Aiysh has been at Byron Bay for a while now, learning to fly a camera.

Aiysh and his wingsuit

His first jump went pretty well, although his instructor landed off, after following Aiysh and what appeared to be a problem grasping his hackey. Turns out, he was merely waving with his arms along with his feet. He didn’t do this during the practice touches, so it appeared a little odd. In any event, the horse pasture/sod farm in which I landed was a perfect landing area, even if a bit boggy. The DZ was right there to pick me up in their pickup vehicle, even before I’d finished gathering my lines and canopy.
Eddie, Lynda, and I went on a leap-frog jump, getting in some wonderful leapfrogs over each other. Lynda got caught in my burble and lost a little altitude, but she’s lightweight and fast in her V3, so she was right back with us. We were a bit out from the DZ so we had to power up to get back in the last 20 seconds or so. Eddie had never seen a Mach One inflated before, and was surprised at the amount of “go” the suit provided. It’s not a V3, nor is it at all suited for BASE jumping, but it does have a lot of zip….

Aiysh is happy after his first flight!

Now the sun has set, the beer is gone, and the air gets chilled to the point that it's time to head back to the BreakFree condo in Byron Bay. It's been a wonderful time with my new friends at Byron and in the Queensland/NSW portions of Australia. What a great crew these dropzones have. I can't say I've been to a "better" DZ anywhere in the world.