In July 2007, I was back in Blighty (that's what us POMs call England...yes I am a POM!) for my kid sister's wedding. I had blagged a free airfare back so figured I would do a spot of business at the same time. One of the places on my list of must do's was the Bodyflight Windtunnel at Bedford, and boy am I glad I made the trip!
Despite my Mum's little Toyota Sat Nav doing it's best to force me to show it my "wild side", and a 5 hour car trip that should have been a 2 hour car trip, I arrived at the tunnel mid-afternoon.
Very, very different from the obvious Skyventure Tunnels that I have been to previously (You know what I mean; there is no mistaking a Skyventure Windtunnel!). If it wasn't for the logo on the door, I would have figured I had come to the wrong place. First impressions of the place for me any way, were not so flash.
But through the big double doors, and up several flights of stairs (which with my big fat gut, the way it is now, was a bit of an effort!!) and then into the reception area and the transformation is amazing.
This place is the most pimped out, impressive, well thought out , well laid out place I have been to so far.
I bumped into a couple of old friends Pete Allum and John McGiver, who sadly were just leaving, but Manager Matt Ariano agreed to show me round the place and be able to take a few photo's. The facilities are outstanding, everything built with purpose and brand new (so unlike many skydiving facilities), there are team rooms, accommodation blocks, a cafe a games room, and in development is a swimming pool and gymnasium.
I then met MD Paul Mayer and after one of those 2 way, I know you from somewhere moments, it turns out that I shared a 2 hour block of time with Paul back in 2001 in the Orlando Tunnel. Little did I know that he would go on to Mastermind a project as impressive as this one surely is. If I had known I probably would have lent him some money to start up with!! (hehe)..
I couldn't go all that way without trying the place out so I decided to treat myself to half an hour. Dave Sawyer was on hand as a coach and having told him I was rusty as an old sheriffs badge, having not jumped for 4 months, we figured a wee bit of belly flying just to brush up, then onto trying out some back flying.
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What impressed me most was the sheer size of the tunnel and the quality of the air. As much as I enjoyed the tunnel in Orlando, it is hard to really feel what effect your inputs have (especially on maneuvers such as moving up and forward or back and down, or side slides), but the extra room in this tunnel gives you that extra second or so to feel what you are doing, and it really does make all the difference.
Dave did a stand up job trying to man handle my huge carcass around as I struggled to get to grips with the finer points of back flying, and by the end of the session I was able to turn in place and move up and down (not smooth as silk mind, but a foundation of a skill block was laid).
I tried to swap Paul my shares in Deepseed for his Tunnel (just kidding but it is a tempting thought!!) but left Bedford with some great memories and a commitment to try and make a suit for the tunnel that can take a good thrashing. We now have a couple of suits in Full time tunnel scenarios, and once we have the test data, we will make an announcement.
I would like to thank Paul and all his staff for taking the time to show me round the place and say that, in the immortal words of Arnie..
Despite my Mum's little Toyota Sat Nav doing it's best to force me to show it my "wild side", and a 5 hour car trip that should have been a 2 hour car trip, I arrived at the tunnel mid-afternoon.
Very, very different from the obvious Skyventure Tunnels that I have been to previously (You know what I mean; there is no mistaking a Skyventure Windtunnel!). If it wasn't for the logo on the door, I would have figured I had come to the wrong place. First impressions of the place for me any way, were not so flash.
But through the big double doors, and up several flights of stairs (which with my big fat gut, the way it is now, was a bit of an effort!!) and then into the reception area and the transformation is amazing.
This place is the most pimped out, impressive, well thought out , well laid out place I have been to so far.
I bumped into a couple of old friends Pete Allum and John McGiver, who sadly were just leaving, but Manager Matt Ariano agreed to show me round the place and be able to take a few photo's. The facilities are outstanding, everything built with purpose and brand new (so unlike many skydiving facilities), there are team rooms, accommodation blocks, a cafe a games room, and in development is a swimming pool and gymnasium.
I then met MD Paul Mayer and after one of those 2 way, I know you from somewhere moments, it turns out that I shared a 2 hour block of time with Paul back in 2001 in the Orlando Tunnel. Little did I know that he would go on to Mastermind a project as impressive as this one surely is. If I had known I probably would have lent him some money to start up with!! (hehe)..
I couldn't go all that way without trying the place out so I decided to treat myself to half an hour. Dave Sawyer was on hand as a coach and having told him I was rusty as an old sheriffs badge, having not jumped for 4 months, we figured a wee bit of belly flying just to brush up, then onto trying out some back flying.
<>
What impressed me most was the sheer size of the tunnel and the quality of the air. As much as I enjoyed the tunnel in Orlando, it is hard to really feel what effect your inputs have (especially on maneuvers such as moving up and forward or back and down, or side slides), but the extra room in this tunnel gives you that extra second or so to feel what you are doing, and it really does make all the difference.Dave did a stand up job trying to man handle my huge carcass around as I struggled to get to grips with the finer points of back flying, and by the end of the session I was able to turn in place and move up and down (not smooth as silk mind, but a foundation of a skill block was laid).
I tried to swap Paul my shares in Deepseed for his Tunnel (just kidding but it is a tempting thought!!) but left Bedford with some great memories and a commitment to try and make a suit for the tunnel that can take a good thrashing. We now have a couple of suits in Full time tunnel scenarios, and once we have the test data, we will make an announcement.
I would like to thank Paul and all his staff for taking the time to show me round the place and say that, in the immortal words of Arnie..
"I"LL BE BACK"
