Skydiving is on my bucket list but I wonder if I will ever cross it off! As adventurous and thrilling as it looks, it's no joke to just jump off a plane. And here we have this Kochi based IT professional doing it fearlessly!
The craziest part is that Vijayan jumped off 200 times in just one year! Let's dive into this inspiring skydiving story that has made India proud.
How it all started
Vijayan has always been an athletic person and initially wished to climb Mount Everest to unfurl the Indian flag. But since his wife discouraged the idea, Vijayan knew another way to make this dream come true was during a freefall.
As an athletic person Vijayan has done everything from long-range shooting, paragliding, contact sports, mountain climbing and parkour. And during his first skydiving jump in New Zealand in 2019, he knew he wanted to pursue solo skydiving someday.
Vijayan jumped 200 times within a year!
In 2022 Vijayan got his professional licence went for skydiving in 23 destinations around the world. While one has to dive atleast once every 30 days to retain their license, Vijayan was making an exception to this.
The amazing part is he jumped more than 200 jumps within a year. I can't even think of jumping off even once, and at time he actually managed to jump six to eight times in a day!
Guinness World Record for longest freefall
Vijayan set the Guinness World Record for the longest outdoor freefall, lasting 2.47 minutes, in Whiteville, Tennessee, USA on the 1st of July, 2023.
This passion not just takes time and money but so much willpower to keep going.
Acing over 200 jumps in a year
Getting a Guinness World Record isn't a piece of cake, but this adrenaline junkie went skydiving at all of the UK’s 18 drop zones. He went jumping every single day for 18 days. But in Vijayan's opinion Abu Dhabi was the best destination for skydiving because of the way the teams there treat jumpers.
So do you think you could beat this world record? As fun as this sounds, skydiving is not for the faint hearted and needs strenuous back-bending exercises and full-body stretches. Let us know in the comments if you have ever gone skydiving and if not Vijayan inspired you with his passion.
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