Skydiver sets NZ record

A New Zealand skydiving record was set at the opening of the inaugural Lift Off Abel Tasman Festival.

Tasman resident Wendy Smith isn’t afraid of heights, open spaces or the cold – she thrives in them.

On the first afternoon of the two-day aviation festival, Smith opened the event by achieving New Zealand’s first HALO (high altitude, low opening) skydive from 25,000 feet.

To put that in perspective, commercial flights traditionally reach 35,000ft, and the highest tandem skydive altitude for Skydive Abel Tasman is 16,500ft.

Smith said a normal skydive allowed 50 seconds of freefall before opening the parachute, but the increased altitude allowed her to fall for one minute and 50 seconds. She said the views were ‘‘absolutely amazing’’.

A jump from such a height was no mean feat. Smith had oxygen equipment from Nepal, specially designed for HALO skydiving. She said she breathed oxygen from the supplementary system from the moment the plane took off until she landed. Up that high, it’s also extremely cold – minus 38 degrees C, a temperature Smith said required the thermals she used in the Himalayas.

No stranger to getting high, Smith holds 10 world records, two Guinness world records, and an Emmy Award. ‘‘A lot of my life I’ve been an aerial cinematographer all over the world.’’

She said her recovery after setting the record consisted of a sit down and a cup of tea.

After doing more than 21,000 skydives, she said her next mission was ‘‘probably to see how high we can go’’.