I am very pleased to be able to announce the new dates for Jump Start 2012.

DATE:        Saturday 5th May 2012   (weather day is Sunday 6th May)

WHERE:     Whenuapai Airbase, Auckland

Tandem Masters & Camera Flyers:
Please register as part of our working crews here.

Excess Baggage Deals for Jump Start working crews:  
Full details here.

Sport Skydivers: 
Do you want to jump from the ramp of the C130 Hercules ??  To make this a relality you’ll need to fundraise a minimum of $300, which will put one teenager on the ramp and secure you a slot too. To get started just create your own fundraising page. It easy and lots of fun.

Set up your own fundraising webpage here.

View other fundraiser pages and donate on your friends page here.

Full details about Jump Start: 
FAQs go here.

Best regards,
Tim Fastnedge
Communications Coordinator
0275 701 702

TIM FASTNEDGE.
JUMP START – the experience of being alive
Event Director | Communications Coordinator

P 0275 701 702
F (09) 827 6596
E tim@jumpstart.org.nz
W www.jumpstart.org.nz

Jump Start 2012 is confirmed for the weekend of 25th & 26th February 2012.

We have secured a deal for flights & baggage, for those Tandem Masters & Camera flyers coming Auckland.
Thanks to Island Holidays & Pete Head (new on the JS committee), we can now assist you with excess baggage at no charge.     You will need to book your flights through Island Holidays via Pete Head and they will take care of excess baggage costs. 

Please contact Pete Head by email pete@jumpstart.org.nz with your details as soon as possible so we can secure you the best airfares.
Pete can assist you in getting your flights arranged and will cover excess baggage costs to you.

Last but not least, dont forget to register as part of the working crew — go here >> http://www.jumpstart.org.nz/tandem-camera-working-crews/

Best regards,

TIM FASTNEDGE.
JUMP START – the experience of being alive
Event Director | Communications Coordinator

We are now asking tandem master & camera flyers to register as part of the official “working crew” at Jump Start 2012.

Please click here for full details and to register as part of the working crew.

Dates of Jump Start 2012 -  confirmed for over the weekend of 25th and 26th February 2012.

Need further information? contact us here.

Here is a great way to make a donation to Jump Start 2012 – you could take away an official match ball from the RWC 2011, Signed by the All Blacks.
Make your bids today !!

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=417983992 

Special thanks to Pete Head and Island Holidays for their support. 

The RNZAF have now advised the dates for Jump Start 2012 -

DATES: Saturday 25th February 2012 (weather day, Sunday 26th February 2012)

WHERE : RNZAF Base Auckland, Whenuapai Airbase

Do you want to jump from the ramp of the C130 Hercules ?? To make this a relality you’ll need to fundraise a minimum of $300, which will put one teenager on the ramp and secure you a slot too. To get started just create your own fundraising page here. It easy and lots of fun.

Set up your own fundraising webpage here.

View other fundraiser pages and donate on your friends page here.

To be part of the working crew as a Tandem Master or Camera flyer, email us your expression of interest here.

As the first rays of light shine over the horizon, Royal NZ Air Force (RNZAF) Base Auckland wakes up with a sleep-eyed yawn to the cough and splutter of an engine. A group of grinning teenagers walk up the runway. Its Jump Start 2011, and these kids are about to experience the feeling of being alive.

The ramp of the Air Force C130 Hercules is dotted with brightly coloured jumpsuits and parachute rigs. Huge smiles decorate the austere background of green and grey, and nervous laughter fills the tarmac. Groups pose for photos with the plane towering behind them, wiping sweaty palms and hiding fear behind silly expressions and poking tongues.

Two by two the pairs walk up into the plane and seem to disappear into its gaping mouth. The door is shut and ear plugs are squeezed in to deafen the roar of the monster aircraft. The huge metal beast flexes its muscles. Inside a group of teenagers hold on tight and prepare for take off.

Jump Start is an annual New Zealand charity event that gives 50 youths from CanTeen and Project K the chance to jump out of a C130 Hercules at 10,000ft. It began in 2007, when Pete Maher, a skydiving enthusiast, decided to do something a little different for his 50th birthday.

Now once a year the Air Force base at Whenuapai is transformed into a hub of people in bright red t-shirts. Tents, a BBQ, a loudspeaker, observers, jumpers and RNZAF members are overshadowed by a swarm of teenagers with happy faces watching skydiving footage and throwing a rugby ball.

The New Zealand skydiving community pulls together to back Jump Start every year, with tandem instructors and cameramen traveling to Auckland for the event. The teenagers love it ?to them the skydivers can do what others cant - Fly. They pull the fingers at the laws of gravity and take the kids to a world of blue skies, clouds, and speeds of up to 120mph.

This year the event was called off the day before. However eight hours later Jump Start director Tim Fastnedge was given the green light once again. The Herc was ready to go and it was all back on.

The C130 Hercules was bought by the RNZAF in 1965, ordered in 1963. The first Jump Start in 2007 was the first time a civilian had ever jumped out of it.

The view from the top is like nothing else. The ramp opens up to a panorama of earth and sky and the roar of four 4,900 Hp engines.

The constant clicks of cameras capture what will be a once in a lifetime experience for the 50 teenagers. There are shaking hands and nervous shuffles, silent screams and looks of pure terror on the ramp. But wide eyes and terrified gasps quickly turn to huge grins and waving arms. They forget they’re falling and feel what it is to fly.

After each plane load has landed, certificates are given out to each young person who has jumped. CanTeen and Project K are gifted the funds raised by the sponsoring skydivers. The whole thing is low key, but relaxed and full of camaraderie.

Three dont get to make the jump as clouds come over, but they go up in the plane, and the skies aren’t grey enough to darken their grinning faces. Plans are made to take them for a tandem skydive at the parachute club on the air base in the next few weeks.

Fifty teenagers leave at the end of the day with great big smiles on their faces. They’ve visited a world where their problems don’t matter. Out in freefall there is no pain, there is no sickness  – there are no worries.  Just that moment, right there. And there’s a huge freedom in that. They get to experience what it truly means to feel alive.

Jump Start 2011 has raised over ten thousand dollars for the charities and the dates are already set for next year’s event.
To find out how you can get involved or to donate to Jump Start, go to www.jumpstart.org.nz

What a day… the great news is WE ARE A GO for Jump Start tomorrow at Whenuapai.

Everything as per normal …. Jump Start is GO for tomorrow…

The CanTeen and Project K kids are over the moon… see you all tomorrow at Whenuapai at 6.00am.

Tim Fastnedge
0275 701 702