Close Call For Hall 

Visitors to our forum and the internet in general will have heard all about Jem Hall – in South Africa filming for his latest video, Winner to Wavesailor ­– almost meeting his maker when, for reasons known only to himself, he decided to go skydiving. [Now we know why his copy was late. Ed.] Chris Murray (K202) was there.

“We went down to check out the action after teasing him about how Stoner was packing his parachute, and watched in horror when his chute didn’t open properly. He went into a vicious 100mph downward spiral – then the flapping chute appeared to rip off, and we all gasped in horror as he went into freefall. It was a truly terrible moment. Suddenly there was a sharp snap as the reserve was pulled and we could hear Jem whooping from 100ft up “Whooo! I’m alive! I’m alive! As soon as he landed he fell straight to his knees and kissed mother Earth. It was a crazy thing to watch, but it’s the first time I’ve had an adrenaline rush from just standing still on the ground.”

            Mopping his brow, Jem said: “The first chute failed and we span like crazy and then my tandem dude put out the second chute. It was seriously scary shit, but it all happened so fast. On the plus side the groundrush was just AWESOME and you get two freefalls for the price of one when the first chute fails – but you also get to change your pants afterwards.”

            A dry-humoured forumite commented: “Apparently after they landed he didn’t complain to his instructor at all. He just commented that he thought the harness lines were too short…”

So folks, we’d suggest that you get on one of Jem’s clinics now before he sells out or goes skydiving again!