31 Indoor Skydiving

Airkix, Basingstoke

Enjoyment - 80%

Success - 35%

Will try again - Yes

First timer’s recommendation – Spend a bit more on some longer flight times so you can master the basics.

I’ve never done anything like skydiving, bungee jumping, abseiling, potholing etc., and as a tandem skydive couldn’t really be counted as a sport, I put it onto another list of things to do and headed indoors for a taste of what a solo skydive would be like. Without the jumping from a plane part. The vertical wind tunnel at Airkix has been established in Basingstoke for over a year now and is one of only three in the country open to the public – the others being in Milton Keynes and Manchester. I paid £30 for two one-,minute sessions, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but given that the average time of an actual skydive is 45 seconds, it is value for money, or so the website says.

You get into a pair of overalls, put on a helmet, goggles and ear plugs and then wait your turn. I did a lot of waiting as there were a pair of ‘pro’ flyers who I think were in some sort of club, anyway they both had long hair and had five two-minute slots in between us novices, in which time it looked like they were trying to re-enact the scene from WALL-E where the robots chase each other around. They were pretty good at what they were doing, but it took me until my second run to get the hang of the basic belly-down position, which was a strange sensation, but quite satisfying, which the expression on the photo doesn’t really convey. I’m not normally someone who goes for adrenaline sports, give me a game of bowls in the summer with an open bar over a head first dive off a waterfall any day, but this was actually really good fun, and if it wasn’t so expensive, I’d be back there again, and if I grow a pair I’ll do a real jump one day.