We
were privileged to recently take Kelly Demele skydiving here in Franz
Josef and were able to get a few words about why skydiving is so special for
her and the significance of a jump in our part of the world.
In Kelly’s words:
I have been skydiving
for 10 years, and I hold a D rating. I never miss an opportunity to
jump from some unique aircraft or unique places and Franz Josef was the one
place I knew I wanted to do a skydive. This
skydive meant so much to me, because my late husband travels everywhere with me
if the opportunity arises, We were so close and I met him
skydiving. He was a very important skydiver in that he was one of the
first wing suitors ever and some of the top instructors in wing suiting he was
the one who taught them.
As I was part of a tour
group traveling around the whole south island, there were many opportunities to
do skydives, but since I do them most every weekend back home in Tampa (Skydive
City) in Zephyrhills, Florida I did not want to just do a skydive. I
wanted it to be Franz Josef because of the location, the view and most of all
the altitude. I have
skydived in many places, never over mountains or snow or glaciers for that
matter, we don't have any of those things in Florida. I am looking
for the biggest, highest, most awesome place to do it.
It doesn't get any
better than that.
There was no other place
that I wanted to jump. It was going to be Franz Josef or nothing. As
it turned out, it was the most perfect day, weather, sunshine, and my two new
friends that joined me on the plane.
For me the skydive is
about being free and the wind in your face, and all your stress and bad things
going on in your life are completely gone in those few minutes that you are in
the air until you touch down safely on the ground. Nothing else matters
but that freedom. Whether it be in the human form or the spirit world.
It just so happened
everything fell into place during the trip and this jump happened for a reason,
it was meant to be. My heart is forever engraved with this special
moment. I can thank Chris and Jordan for that.
~ Thank you from the Skydive Franz team for choosing
to do such a significant skydive here Kelly, it was a real
pleasure and inspiration and great to see you taking along a copy of
Parachutist magazine (Kelly is a contributing author and photographer and skydivers get credit for great shots with the magazine).
