Hawaii can be explored by land and sea, but exploring it by sky adds a different perspective. Skydiving gives the North Shore a new look for people on a one-time adrenaline rush, or those who make a hobby out of falling from the sky. Jon Kauts, a pre-professional biology senior from Arizona, has gone skydiving twice, once in Arizona and once on the North Shore. “I liked it better here than in Arizona. It’s all about the view, and, as we know, Hawaii is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The view in Arizona was just desert. It wasn’t that pretty,” he said. In addition to the beautiful view, the lure of skydiving is a mixture of speed and danger. “That initial actually leaving the safety of the plane gets the adrenaline going. The fall itself feels like you are riding a motorcycle really fast,” said Kauts. Hawaii only has one registered drop zone, and it is shared by two skydiving companies: Skydive Hawaii and Pacific Skydiving Center. They share Dillingham Airfield, which is situated past Waialua near Kaena Point.The Oahu skydiving companies take skydivers and tourists up in planes, but skydivers can also jump out of helicopters. Jared Zimmerman, a junior in finance from California and a certified skydiver, has done a helicopter jump. “That was actually one of my very favorite jumps,” he said. He explained when jumping out of a plane, you are already going as fast as the plane, so when you jump out you don’t experience a weightless feeling because your trajectory transitions slowly towards ground. “But in a helicopter you’re in the air and just standing on the edge and jumping out and it feels like you are jumping off a cliff. It takes about 8 seconds to stabilize and you get the falling feeling a lot more. That’s why I like it.” People can skydive for recreation or for sport, and Hawaii is known mostly as a recreation destination. “This place is so focused on tourism they call it a tandem factory,” said Zimmerman. He got his certification two years ago here and has done 60 jumps. To get certified, “You have to go on two tandem jumps, and then do five jumps with an instructor that stays right close to you to make sure you pull your parachute and don’t do something too stupid,” said Zimmerman. Once certified, skydivers can participate in the sport aspect of skydiving, which is mainly competition. “It’s like glorified figure skating in the air. It looks cool, and it’s very difficult. That’s one of the things I underestimated—how hard it is to replicate what you see them do in videos. Like, flying head down takes hours to figure out,” said Zimmerman. According to the United States Parachute Association, there are seven categories of competitions. Most of them are judged on how well the teams or individuals “form prescribed geometric formations in freefall” and how close an individual can land to a marker.
Writer: Samone Isom ~ Multimedia Journalist
