Balloons run hot on skydiving fun

By Rosaleen Macbrayne

TAUPO - The sport of skydiving from hot-air balloons got off to a smooth start in Taupo yesterday.

Experienced skydivers Wendy Smith, Machiel Ruijtezkamp and Ted Rudd exited the balloon at 1400m (they would usually leave an aeroplane at 3800m) and opened their 'chutes at 600m. They drifted along the lake edge before landing in a paddock near Wharewaka Pt.

"It was awesome," said Wendy Smith, a veteran of 7700 sky dives all over the world.

The 34-year-old, who is also an aerial cinematographer, has jumped from balloons in England 20 times, but this was the first time at home in New Zealand.

It was also a first for Peter Paalvast's Balloons Are Fun company, which wanted to do some dummy runs with professionals, before introducing commercial skydiving flights for experienced parachutists in Taupo.

Wendy Smith spends half of each year running the Great Lake Sky Dive Centre with her brother Greg. She travels overseas for the other six months, training, competing and coaching.

She says skydiving from a hot-air balloon is the opposite of jumping from a plane.

"It is very gentle and quiet to start with - no sound and no slipstream. The speed and noise build up later.

"It was a very good learning curve for everyone."

Skydivers love to try different aircraft types, she says.

Mr Ruijtezkamp, from Holland, and Mr Rudd, a Taupo skydive tandem-master, both described yesterday's jump as marvellous.