Skydiving Nationals a success

The NZPF Skydiving Nationals were held in cloudy weather  at the Matamata Aerodrome.

The competition had to begin earlier than planned on Friday but luckily the rain held off and all jumps took place.

Event organizer Graeme Templeton said thanks to the good will and co-operation of the organizers and competitors, two events were completed with three more on Saturday.

“The event went exceedingly well, with good vibes and good-spirited competition. It’s been very successful and the weather allowedus to complete all the events.”

Mr Templeton said this year’s competition was held in Matamata because it has great camping facilities and light air traffic which makes it a safe DZ (drop zone).

This year’s nationals was more spectator friendly with the inclusion of the CRW (canopy relative work) competition which  involved jumpers stacking their canopies on top of each other creating formations.

One of the competitors this year was New Zealand’s oldest skydiver Hank Spjkerbosch who has been jumping for 35 years and says he keeps coming back to compete because he loves the friendship and comradery that comes with skydiving.

“It’s a great hobby; you can get together with friends and have some fun. There’s nothing like it, when you get out of the plane and get to watch everyone fly around the sky. It’s still a lot of fun, definitely better than taking up bowling.”