22 August 2022

A Sky Bound Celebration of Sorts

Today it is twenty years ago since I became a skydiver. At the moment I’m in Chicago, Illinois, for the Vertical World Record Skydiving. I’m part of a team of 200 skydivers who will attempt to create the biggest head down flying formation in history.

Had I an inkling of the journey I was embarking on in 2002?

Photo Sophie Saddington

Photos skydiving Ewan Cowie

Probably not, twenty years ago when Constant and Trudy asked me what I wanted for my birthday I decided to ask for an experience rather than a thing that would further clutter my student room. As I researched skydiving I found that there was more to it than just strapping yourself to someone else and falling out of a plane. There were courses with opaque names like “Static Line” and “Accelerated Free Fall”.

In the end I chose the one with the longest name, which was most expensive and seemed to promise most freedom after graduation. Accelerated Free Fall it was. Constant and Trudy’s contribution would not cover the whole course so I saved money and in August 2002 set off to France to become a skydiver.

Skydiving showed me an alternative world of play. It changed my priorities, derailed the path I was one and turned my life upside down. I turned down jobs at two big international firms and decided to enroll in theaterschool. I never looked back.

Goed voor één hoogtewekker, 2003

Here I am twenty years on and still passionate about flying and the weird little community it attracts. I often ponder on the similarities between the playful, creative and nomadic New Babilonians that Constant described and the skydiving community. To celebrate my twentieth anniversary in the sport I worked on an edit combining Constant’s work with video’s of skydiving from some of my favourite video flyers in our community.

Hangende sector-detail, 1961

Observatorium, 1956 | Photo: Tom Haartsen

Rode sector, 1958

Music

When I was working on the edit I got tipped on the song “Constant’s Dream” by Amber Arcades. The song seems to reflect on New Babylon and part of the album “Fading Lines” from 2016. Maybe singer/songwriter Annelotte de Graaf was inspired by the New Babylon exhibition at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in 2016? Who knows. I have not been able to get in touch with her yet.

Video

This video is a celebration of the skydiving community and Constant’s work, which I love in equal measures. I dedicate it to my family (of which Constant is part) who have supported me on my crazy serpentine path and my tribe of nomads who share the stoke of flight with me. ❤