By MELISSA MEEHAN
JUMPING out of a plane isn’t exactly everyone’s cup of tea.
But for Cockatoo’s Paul Easterbrook, it was something he was born to do.
He made his first jump (tandem) when he was just 17, and while it took him another 10 years he knew skydiving was something he wanted to do.
“I can’t explain the feeling of jumping out a plane to someone,” he said.
“It’s just a great thing to do, people can overcome their fears… to throw yourself out of a plane… it’s really pushing the limit.”
Easterbrook worked in a coal mine to help pay for all the equipment, so he could make his dreams a reality.
Now he’s made over 1600 jumps, and is now part of a team taking part in national championships.
Over Easter, Easterbrook and his team-mates are taking part in the Australian National Skydiving Championships in York, Western Australia.
He’s the camera man for the amateur formation skydiving team Relo4ded made up of Scott Clark, Ben Allen, Drew Whitworth and Rick Frank.
“There’s a lot of pressure being the camera guy,” Easterbrook said.
“I’ve got to get all the formation, otherwise we don’t qualify”.
Formed in 2011 at the Nagambie Drop Zone, the group decided on a common goal – to win the intermediate category and break the current point scoring record for a single round, currently set at 18 formations in 35 seconds.
