What happens when you combine the skills of skydiving with martial arts? The video above is what happens – this is active member of the Armed Forces and both licensed skydiving and martial arts expert Ernie Torres of Virginia in USA as he attempted a unique stunt in order to raise money for a cause very close to his heart.
As if throwing yourself from an airplane and falling towards the earth at terminal velocity wasn’t exciting enough, right?
“After watching the video of the current record holder, one thought came to mind, I can do better and use the publicity of something like this to raise awareness to what I think is a well deserving cause- One that has personal meaning to me and many of the people I’ve served with in the Armed Forces over the years- The Wounded Warriors Project.” said Ernie about the motivations for his jump.
“Also, this event is not something I’m trying to profit from. Sponsors and myself have already covered all costs. All funds donated through our donation page go directly to The Wounded Warrior Project.”
On the day of the jump – due to technical difficulties Ernie and his team had to switch aircrafts, which delayed the jump by over an hour. Once all was set and back on schedule Ernie was determined to achieve his stunt and managed to successfully set a new world record in the process by breaking 12 boards in mid-air.
“We jumped from an altitude of 16000 feet, which requires oxygen to avoid a condition called hypoxia. Hypoxia can cause a person to feel ‘high’ (pardon the pun) or giddy, leading to a possible lack of sensible reasoning and importance of deploying your parachute. I deployed my parachute at 4000 feet that gave me approximately 70 seconds of freefall. That may seem like forever to some but it’s not very long with you’re trying to accomplish a specified task.”
Skydive Arizona — the team alongside Ernie who assisted with the logistics and execution of the attempt is home to some of the world’s greatest skydiving talent and champions in the sport. Having Arizona Airspeed, Arizona Arsenal, AXIS Flight School, instructors from Adventures in Skydiving and SkyVenture Arizona, and other local talent.
Ernie describes this as:
“In the air with you it’s the equivalent of having a team of Jordans on the basketball court with you asking you what you want them to do!”
“I’m not sure I can even put the feeling into words. There I was, a small-town ‘nobody’, with the world’s best skydivers on my team, asking me what I needed from them. If that wasn’t enough some of the regular local talent who don’t regularly compete came along. All of them band together to help me achieve my goal of accomplishing a world record and raising funds to help The Wounded Warrior Project.”
So far, $1187 has been raised and through the post press coverage this is hoped to increase donations to ‘The Wounded Warrior Project‘ — a worthy cause helping soldiers from the armed services in every way possible.
We commend all individual and group efforts towards a positive cause such as this… and when they are executed in such unique and exuberant style… well that’s what the ethos of GUAVO is all about.
To find out more about the good work of WOUNDED WARRIORS CHARITY:
http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/
Ernie’s Donation Page Link:
https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org/individual-fundraising/blackbeltskydive/
FEATURED TALENT: Ernie Torres
Filming / Photo credits: Terry Schumacker / #thisisguavo Media
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