Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Skydiving: Age shall not ground Hank Spijkerbosch

By Gary Hamilton-Irvine
Rotorua Daily Post·
17 Dec, 2013 04:00 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Rotorua skydiver Hank Spijkerbosch (with trophy) receives a top honour for his involvement in the sport. Also pictured are his skydiving mates (from left) Trevor Stafford-Bush, Ron Leech, John Hewitt, Ken Ralston, and Frank Conway. Photo/Supplied.

Rotorua skydiver Hank Spijkerbosch (with trophy) receives a top honour for his involvement in the sport. Also pictured are his skydiving mates (from left) Trevor Stafford-Bush, Ron Leech, John Hewitt, Ken Ralston, and Frank Conway. Photo/Supplied.

Rotorua's Hank Spijkerbosch, the eldest active skydiver in the the country, has received a top award for his service to skydiving.

Spijkerbosch has been sport jumping for 46 years since taking his first plunge in Rotorua in 1967.

He was awarded the Gordon Calder Memorial Trophy for Excellence at a Parachutists Over Phorty Society (POPS) meeting in Matamata last month.

The award recognises his involvement in the sport during the past five decades.

Spijkerbosch is a long-time member of the New Zealand Parachute Federation and a foundation member of the New Zealand POPS.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The 72-year-old still loves to skydive and even had three jumps last weekend.

"As long as I'm alive, and able to, I will jump," he said.

Every two years Spijkerbosch and other members from POPS are invited to different skydiving events across the world.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He has experienced the thrill of skydiving in places like Holland, Italy and Australia and hopes to travel to Argentina next year.

Spijkerbosch has only ever had one accident since learning to skydive.

"My second ever jump had a parachute failure," he said.

"I opened my reserve and landed in Lake Rotorua. I was okay... I was very close to not being okay.

"The instructor said 'go home put on some more clothes and come back. If you don't do another jump on the same day you won't do it again'."

Spijkerbosch said he jumped again that day and had never looked back.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Rotorua Daily Post

Chiefs confirm successor to Clayton McMillan as coach

Rotorua Daily Post

'Go one better': Bay of Plenty Steamers fired up for NPC season

Rotorua Daily Post

'That's mana': Club spirit drives historic rugby win


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Chiefs confirm successor to Clayton McMillan as coach
Rotorua Daily Post

Chiefs confirm successor to Clayton McMillan as coach

It leaves the Crusaders as the only franchise yet to decide the future of their coach.

20 Jul 08:00 PM
'Go one better': Bay of Plenty Steamers fired up for NPC season
Rotorua Daily Post

'Go one better': Bay of Plenty Steamers fired up for NPC season

19 Jul 06:09 PM
'That's mana': Club spirit drives historic rugby win
Rotorua Daily Post

'That's mana': Club spirit drives historic rugby win

19 Jul 08:10 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP