My Skydive - it's all about the 130mph freefall really

Doyle, I do not have the time nor inclination or energy or patience to read your extremely long (and inane) post about some charity thing, so, what are you doing? Treat your sentences like twitter messages. Keep them simple!

Right so!

In 140 characters or less:
"I'm jumping out of a plane in a skydive from a height of 13,000 ft at a speed of 130mph to raise awareness for charity www.carelocal.ie"



What I'm doing - and yes, I'm genuinely committed to doing this:

I'm doing a tandem sky-dive on Saturday May 30 at the Irish Parachute club in a place called Clonbollogue near Edenderry in Offaly.

There'll be 60 people doing it as part of a thing called MediaDive.

We'll be jumping from a little plane like this:



and obviously, since I'm strapped to the person that is doing pretty much everything (like pulling the parachute cord (hopefully) all I have to do is lie there and try not to pass out/wet myself/get sick with fear or excitement.



So what is a tandem sky-dive? Well, according to SkyDive.ie:

On a tandem skydive you are secured to an instructor and skydive up to 13,000 feet. Freefall will last approximately 30 secs before the giant canopy made for two is opened at 5,000ft.



It will be a 15 minute flight to an altitude of about 13,000ft. The moment of truth arrives all too fast, as your tandem master shouts in your ear "are you ready to skydive?".

You will leave the aircraft with your heart thumping. Here goes! The wind' rushes past you as you plummet ground-ward accelerating to 'terminal velocity', a speed of 130mph.

So that's 8,000 feet at 130 miles per hour. 190.666 feet per second. Just over a mile and a half. Jaysis.

According to the FAQ's, that's 30 seconds freefall and 5 to 6 mins under the parachute.


What I'm doing it for:

I'm doing it for a charity called Carelocal, who work with elderly people in Dublin. You can find out about them here.


Why I'm doing it:

I'm primarily doing it because people want to see me jumping out of a plane.

I'm doing it to help raise awareness for Carelocal and all the other charities that don't have huge marketing or advertising budgets; I'm doing it because I was asked and most of all I'm doing it because I've never got the opportunity before and it will be fun.

Things like this help too.

What you can do to help:

Spread the word! Tweet, blog or tell people about it. If you can afford to, Carelocal could really use your help in raising funds for a day out for the people they help. You can find out more and donate here:

http://short.ie/endthebadjokes/


What I'll be doing on the day:

Other than panicking, you mean? Tweeting it and perhaps interviewing the other people who are doing the jump with me. Hopefully.

Is that any better? Here. Enjoy this photo. I certainly did.


All photos taken from the SkyDive.ie galleries

That's about it. As Miley Byrne would say: Well Holy God.