In discussing premium membership recently, I commented on the fact that a lot has changed for me within SL, particularly in the last year. That got me thinking about the things I used to enjoy during my early years, and which I’ve not actually taken time out to experience for a year or more. As a result of this, and my recent times spent flipping around in Steve “Cubey” Caver’s most amazing Stingray (which I’m finding to be almost as much fun as my beloved Neuspa!), I delved into my inventory and pulled out something which had not see the light of day in, well, probably a couple of years.
My skydiving kit.
Back in 2007/2008, I loved to spend time skydiving. I was a member of a couple of in-world clubs and routine jumped either from a launch system or out of an aeroplane for formation jumps. When I had a decent spread of land (i.e. a region), I installed a jump system for myself and friends to share (THAT is still sitting in inventory as well!) but as time passed, things changed. One of the clubs folded, friends lost interest, and eventually I stopped going.
There are many places in SL where skydiving is possible, and most give away free basic parachutes. I have a TerraSport III Pro, together with altimeter and stunt kit, which allows me a little extra fun on the way down. Most skydiving centres include a target area, so if you’re competitive, trying to get closest to the bullseye can become engrossing.
Landing requires some skill; there is not only the wind to contend with, but you also need to be able to mark your time and flair decently. This not only slowly your final few metres of decent, allowing you a gently landing on both feet, it can also (when used strategically), be used to drop you precisely in on target.
Given I hadn’t been jumping in a good while, I was uncertain as to whether I could recall everything. in the end on my first jump, using the Jump / landing zone at Mills, proved better than I’d anticipated. After a 4,000 metre launch aboard the skydive lift, I was away and after a single forward roll, into free fall. Admittedly, I didn’t try any real stunts on my first time back in the harness, but I was pleased with the result on landing…
After this, I did settle back and have some fun…
I also took time out when jumping to acquaint myself with the TerraSport SkySurf board, which offer the chance to “surf” around the sky and have additional fun (particularly when jumping from altitude – although it can leave you searching for the landing zone if you stray too far – and beware of region boundaries if jumping on a private island sim with no neighbours!
I may yet give a tandem parachute jump a go in real life; but when it comes to skydiving and all the antics therein, I’ll leave that squarely in the Second Life; It’s a lot more fun here, especially for the lungs (less outright screaming….), and even when you do SPLAT! there is a degree of humour shown…
It’s fair to say I’ve missed skydiving in SL more than I’d realised. I don’t have the land at home to set-up my own space for it any more, but as I said, there are plenty of places to enjoy the fun right across the grid, so I’m not exactly stuck for choice. All I need to do now is find a new jump partner…
Related Links
- Cubey TerraSport III Pro parachute (SL Marketplace)
- Cubey Terra SkySurf III (SL Marketplace)
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 
There was a time when, bfore loging out, me and My lode, will jump from our skybox in our sim!
Now we still do it from time to time and always a great feeling after, the right one to take to RL!
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Heh. Back when I had a region, that’s precisely how I’d finish-off many of my days in SL.
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We have a skydive launcher at Masocado! It’s at the little WarBug airport on the beach behind the big high rise condo building. You’re welcome to come and jump any time!
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Thanks, Lindal!
I will be taking you up on the offer :).
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Be glad to skydive anytime. Way out of practice and need to get back into it. As always, the falling is easy, it’s the landing that’s hard! 😉 I’ve had one of Cubey’s pro chutes for years and still eat dirt most times I land. Years ago the Mo-Tech Industries Tower & Sky Lounge by Moriash Moreau was the tallest structure in Second Life. I wrote an extensive article about it a few years back for a well-known SL publication/blog. At four kilometers tall (yes, 2-1/2 miles above ground level) it was so high that when I parachuted off of it it took over five minutes to free-fall down to chute-deploy level. I once opened the chute at the top and it took me so long to fall I got bored and gave up (something over 15 minutes later). Banzai! 🙂
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You’re on!
I’ll have to see if Ziki would join us – we could form a nascent “SL Skydiving Blogger’s” group :).
I tend to make most of my jumps for the 4Km mark, as it allows a lot of time for fiddling around with stunts (forward / back rools, spins, sits, hadstands, etc) – although a way to speed things up is to go into a head-down dive :). Most competitve jumps I took part in (2007-8) were over water; the target float was only something like 6 metres across – which sounds a lot until you’re coming down over it and there is a bit of wind to contend with :). Miss it, and it was straight in for an early bath, and use of another little Cubey accessory – the auto-inflating Mae West!
I admit to embarrassing myself SPLAT-wise yesterday. Was so busy fiddling around trying to get the camera aligned for a snap that I wasn’t looking down and skysurfed straight into the glass roof of someone’s skyhome. Somewhat embarrassing lying in a messy heap with your parachute informing everyone that it’s ready for use…
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And we did several last night, all at mainland using the Scuba terry lancher and Soar free chute!
On Corsica we ended on the rouf of our villa, me crushing hard, Saphy with a lovely landing!
On Sansara we did a 2000m 1 and again, landed or tried to, on our hose there and again Saphy made it much better then me, lol!
And if feels really wonderfull, as railroad journeys that we started doing using a train we made!
yesterday it took us for all full trip around athol!
If i had a dream, was to take Rod whit us in one of our trips for Him to see how SL can be unique, even with all metaverses around and where LL needs to focous in promotion and development, mainland!
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