This article is from page 28 of the 2007-05-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
A BOYKE girl who is afraid of fly- ing and heights has conquered both by jumping out of an airplane for a good cause.
18-year old Lorraine Lynch and three friends decided to take on the challenge of a 10,000 foot parachute drop to help the childrens’ charity, UNICEF.
And in doing so, the plucky psy- chology student raised €600 for the oon
“We saw leaflets for the jump one day and we decided we’d go for it,” said Lorraine, who made the drop along with three of her fellow stu- dents at Sligo college.
“IT wanted to do something for the charity and people were very sup- portive in helping me with sponsor- ship,” she said.
Jacko’s Pub in Scariff and publican Eamon Moloney helped by putting sponsorship cards out for Lorraine and her friends and family rallied round also.
Customers and _ colleagues at Shaney Macs shop, where Lorraine works, also helped out.
When the day came, she travelled to the aptly named Airfield parachute centre where she was teamed up with an experienced jump-buddy and then taken 10,000 feet aloft.
“I did get nervous just beforehand. When we were at one thousand feet,
I thought ‘this is it — this 1s as high as we have to go’. Then they told me we were climbing another 9,000 feet. My heart skipped a few beats all right.”
At the zenith of the flight, Lorraine said, she “didn’t have time to think about it — you’re at the door of the plane and the next thing you’re out. When we were up there, it was very peaceful above the clouds”.
After 30 seconds of free-fall at 120 mph, the parachute opened and Lor- raine had a leisurely seven minutes of floating towards the ground with a chance to enjoy the view.
“The people who jump with you and the photographers who jump at the same time are just amazing. The man who jumped with me has made
more than 3,000 jumps,” said Lor- een b alee
Describing the jump as “a really amazing experience’, newly initi- ated adrenalin junkie, Lorraine, says she now plans to do another charity jump, this time from the highest alti- tude available to non-qualified jump- ace
‘“l’m going to the States for the sum- mer and in San Diego, they have the highest jump in the world at 13,000 so myself and a friend are planning to do that one. I can’t wait to do it eee 0