Milestone jump for Rotorua skydiver

by Anita Moran anita.moran@dailypost.co.nz
After 25 years and 10,000 sky dives, Rotorua's Lynette Warn still gets a buzz every time she jumps out of a plane.

Mrs Warn, 44, did her first skydive in 1983 so she could cross it off her list of things to do. She has now reached the 10,0000-jump milestone.

"I wasn't really impressed with that first skydive. I never thought it would turn into a career," Mrs Warn said.

She attributes her disappointment to having a circular parachute because when she tried at again a few years later, she fell in love with the newer rectangular parachutes.

"They are far more controllable, and you can jump from a bit higher up ... There was more adrenalin."

In 1991 she started work at a parachute centre in Parakai in Auckland, packing chutes and doing her training. Within three years she was qualified and she became New Zealand's third female tandem instructor. Since then Mrs Warn has been hooked on skydiving and has racked up 6000 tandem jumps and 4000 solo skydives.

"Im stoked to reach this point in my career. Ten thousand skydives sounds like a huge number, but I can honestly say I've enjoyed every single one."

One of her highlights include taking singer Ricky Martin for a skydive during his New Zealand visit.

"I was in Mercer, South Auckland and he came to do a jump and ended up doing four."

She said even after so long each jump is different.

"It's a buzz sharing the experience with people.

"For some of them, it's their first skydive ... Seeing their expression is great."

Mrs Warn said safety was paramount and she had been quite lucky nothing had gone wrong when she was taking people skydiving.

"I am probably one of the very few people in the country who has never had a tandem malfunction."

She said it was similar to getting in a car.

"The first thing you do when you get in a car is put your seatbelt on.

"Well, when you get your gear on and get into the plane, you check everything is in order."

Mrs Warn hopes her achievement encourages other people to get involved in skydiving.

"I hope my career might inspire a few girls out there and show that skydiving is a profession both women and men can excel at."