Martin Reynolds. Dangerpants.

It was March, and really cold, but I knew instantly as I jumped that I would do more. I went back again a week later, but soon realised that there was a lot of waiting around and looking at clouds and wind meters in the UK, and so, with work and playing rugby, I did not continue back then.

Years later, I watched a documentary about Angel Falls and decided I was going to base jump off it. Mark was now living in California, so after a bit of research, I decided to go out to Davis and do AFF with him. At that time, Freefly was developing as a discipline, particularly in the USA, with Olav and the Freefly Clowns, Fly boys etc. And I instantly knew that was what I was going to do while pursuing the goal of jumping off Angel Falls. I messaged Tom Sanders to let him know I would be going on one of his trips to Venezuela in the near future once I had completed AFF. No reply.

I went back to the UK with about 30 jumps, a second-hand rig, and a bright red and yellow freefly suit. I soon found out that Langar and the UK were not quite as on board with the happy-go-lucky freefly thing, and Dave Hickling left me in no doubt that things were different back at Langar. I think one of my biggest achievements in the sport was actually gaining Dave’s friendship and respect as a jumper, although it took about 20 years.

I decided after about 100 jumps that it was now time to revisit the Angel Falls project, and to my complete amazement, Tom Sanders said that if I did a few more jumps and a BASE course, then maybe I could go on the trip later that year. So after a pretty intensive base course in Perris, static balloon jumps, 7 jumps in one night off the Foresthill bridge outside Auburn, and a road trip to Yosemite and a jump (No.167) off the 5,000’ cliff face of Half Dome on my own in the winter, I was ready. The trip to Angel Falls was everything I had thought it would be, and more. And jump no. 228 off Angel Falls went in the log book.

I pretty much then tried out most things that were dangerous in skydiving, and that I had not yet gained the experience to do. I think the biggest lesson in the sport is that you don’t know what you don’t know, and there are a lot of things I would have done differently and more cautiously, given the knowledge I have now. Skysurfing, BASE, Canopy Piloting, Wingsuit, Speed – all have had several incidents that could have gone rapidly south. Midnight clinging on to a guy wire 200’ above a field, a deployment bag and pilot chute stuck on a skysurf board at deployment altitude, line twist on a Velo 90 in a wingsuit that was too tight for me, and countless canopy piloting dramas.

Freefly and canopy piloting were fast becoming my thing. Bullet Freefly with Steve Newman and Mat O’Riordan was my first team, and then in 2005 The Bad Lieutenants Freefly team, becoming later a VFS team with Mat, Dan, James and Jim. As BLT Freefly, we competed at two world meets, and as a VFS team, we achieved Bronze at two World Championships. We also won the UK nationals four years in a row. We organised UK head down records and events, and tunnel events. I think we had a good balance of flying and socialising. I also managed to get myself on two head down world records (108 and 138).

I started to train and compete in canopy piloting around 2005, and King of Swoop at Empuriabrava was one of the first big competitions I took part in back then. I have since won UK Canopy Piloting Nationals 6 times, held UK record for speed, and the current distance record at 189 meters. I competed in the Swoop Challenge Invitational in Copenhagen, competed at many world events, including The World Games in Colombia, and at the World Air Games. I am proud to have achieved Bronze in Freestyle at two World Meets and 4th place at World Air Games.

I try to promote our sport wherever I can, and am always happy to give advice on the DZ. As Canopy Piloting Technical Expert (for British Skydiving), I also try to contribute to EPC meetings. I am proud to have been awarded the Taz Causer skydiver of the year in 2024. This year, I managed to win the UK nationals, place 11th overall at the Pink Open in Klatovy (Czech Republic), 14th overall in the World Meet in Arizona, plus Bronze in freestyle. I also bought a Moustache and am really excited to do more paragliding in 2026. Oh, and I had a complete hip replacement in September 2024. (And no, it was a ski injury).