With the world opening up beneath you and the wind in your sails, the quest for the perfect jump seems almost logical.
On the 25th of August a couple of years ago, a small team of wing suit athletes took the world of wing suiting to a new extreme.
Australian company, Experience Series, along with B.A.S.E jumping athlete, Jarno Cordia jumped from a helicopter at 2,500ft and circled the 590ft Euromast building in Rotterdam.
Travelling at 350 kilometres per hour, the athletes opened their parachutes three seconds before hitting the ground and landing safely.
Their jump, according to Cordia was a courageous effort aimed at inspiring the world.
“Every jump comes with risk but we want to demonstrate that no matter how scary the obstacle is, together we can overcome fear and live through shared experiences,” he says.
The wonder of wingsuiting
Wing suiting, by use of a bird-like suit, combines sky diving and hang gliding in one spectacular leap.
While many of us may have attempted a sky dive or a BASE jump, it takes a few more skills and years of training to embrace the sport.
Wing suiting is highly technical and requires stamina that comes with solid skydiving experience.
“Your physical preparation will also include flexibility training, core strength, mobility and muscle memory training through hundreds of skydives,” Khan says.
In most countries, wing suiting requires you to complete 200 registered sky dives before even being allowed to jump into a wing suit.
There’s also the mental preparation.
“In an environment when the smallest mistake can be your last, maintaining a good physical and metal awareness is literally the difference between life and death,” Khan says.
Nonetheless, Khan believes there is still hope for those that want to embrace the sport.
“Anyone who can think clearly under pressure, has the dedication to complete 200 skydives and then conduct wing suit training can get involved in the sport,” he says.
“At the end of the day you need to be relaxed enough to enjoy the experience while also being aware of what can go wrong and how to get out of it.”
Cordia’s feat
Pictured: Cordia in action.
Though, anyone attempting to bite at the heels of Cordia and his astonishing leap would need to be willing to invest years into their wing suiting.
“The amazing thing about Jarno Cordia’s jump was that he opened his parachute less than 1,000ft from the ground which means there was no margin for error,” Khan says.
To achieve this, the super athlete not only has years of skydiving experience but several thousand jumps under his belt.
“A strong nerve and lots of courage was also critical,” Khan says.
Where to wing suit
Pictured: Tianmeshan, China.
According to critics, these are no nonsense wing suiting sites.
1.Skydive Elsinore – Lake Elsinore, California.
2.Troll Wall aka “Carl’s Huge Wall” – Norway.
3.Tianmenshan – China.