Sport / Watch: Skydivers touch down in Tingwall
A MULTI-national group of skydivers touched down in Tingwall earlier this afternoon (Friday) as part of their quest to jump in five countries in 24 hours.
A group of onlookers had assembled to catch the rare sight of ten skydivers landing, who had been delayed in arriving in Shetland by a few hours.
They landed in a field next to the Herrislea House Hotel, with the resident sheep no doubt wondering just what was going on in their patch.
The team had flown from Bergen, having been in Sweden before that. After setting foot on Shetland soil they were due to fly from Tingwall Airport to Faroe, before finishing up in Iceland.
The crew had a range of nationalities, from French and Austrian to American, Norwegian and Spanish, with some having completed up to 3,000 jumps so far.
Organising the challenge was Arne Aarhus from Norway, who previously worked in Shetland.
He has done nearly 1,200 jumps in the last three decades, but he said he was “ecstatic” as he landed in Shetland.
“It was cloud all the way from Bergen, and it just opened up over here. It is so beautiful,” Aarhus told Shetland News after landing.
“I always loved it here and went all around. But to get the view on the canopy, and in freefall, I had lots of time to really digest the true beauty of this.”
He said he has jumped all over the world, from beauty spots in Panama and Indonesia to more high-profile locations like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
“But this beats a lot,” he said, adding that it is “not fair that people are missing out on this”.
Those who missed the skydivers’ landing need not worry, however. Aarhus will be bringing a new group from Iceland to carry out a return leg, touching down in the same spot at around 4pm on Sunday 18 June.
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