Jake Scoles has completed about 230 skydives since he took up the adrenaline-packed sport about a year ago. By Bridget Cook
THE sky is the limit for 19-year-old Jake Scoles when it comes to reaching the ultimate adrenaline rush almost every weekend.
Just over a year ago, the former Kooweerup student received a tandem skydive jump from his mother and a solo static line jump from his father for his 18th birthday.
It was these two jumps with Commando Skydivers, which operate from the Tooradin Airfield, which saw Jake become hooked on the sport.
In about a year, Jake has leaped solo from more than 10,000 feet above ground about 230 times, completing about 10 jumps each weekend.
Jake admitted that while he was excited for his first tandem, his fear peaked when it came to his first static line jump.
“But 230 jumps later you don’t even think about it, you just do it,” he said.
However Jake said the rush he gets from each jump has never died down despite doing it so much.
“Every jump is as good as the last,” he said.
“Never in my life have I experienced anything like it.
“I’m hooked on it so much that I come back here every weekend.”
Jake said his goal was to become a cameraman, which he has now achieved.
“I now just want to become the best tandem jump cameraman I can be,” he said.
“I am also practising to take tandem jumps now, but I’m not there yet.” As you could expect, Jake said his parents were a bit apprehensive when he decided to take up the daredevil sport full-time.
“As I went on, they both realised that it was just another thing for me to do,” he said.
“My dad has been really supportive and I wouldn’t be where I am in the sport today without him.”
He says his friends also seem shocked when they hear what he does during his leisure time.
“Old school friends get shocked especially when they ask what I have been up to since school and I answer, ‘I’ve taken up skydiving and jump out of planes each weekend’,” he joked.
Jake is the youngest of about 60 full-time members at Commando Skydivers.
He said they are all great people and being part of the group adds to his enjoyment of the sport.
“Even if the weather’s not that good, it’s still great to go down to the club and talk with all the guys,” he said.
It is this factor as well as his love of the sport that Jake said would keep him doing it for a long time.
“It will kill me before I stop,” he said.
“I see myself doing it for the rest of my life … I’m hooked on the adrenaline and can’t walk away from it.”
