14 DAY TRIAL // Venezuelan professional skydiver Ernesto Gainza set a new world record on Saturday for doing a skydive using the smallest parachute.
The daredevil managed to break the Guinness World Record by jumping from 14,000 feet (4,200m) with a parachute a little smaller than a single-bed sheet – 35 square feet (3.25 square meters) – at SkyDive Dubai Palm Drop Zone.
The extreme athlete touched the ground after a three-and-a-half-minute death-defying skydive at about 6.20pm, on Saturday, and reached his goal despite the strong winds that were blowing at 26 miles per hour (41.84 km/h) that day.
“It was awesome, amazing and emotional,” said the 35-year-old skydiver, according to The National.
“It’s been my long time dream to prove to other human beings it doesn’t matter how much sacrifice and effort you have to go through to achieve something that you want. You just have to go for it. I want to motivate others to fight for their dreams and fulfill mine as well,” he continued.
Gainza, who performed more than 7,000 jumps, had been in training for a year for this amazing feat. Before the incredible jump, the athlete admitted that the stunt was one of the most dangerous he had ever done in his life. He had two reserve regular parachutes but, luckily, didn't need them.
“Many things could happen but we had trained very hard and had performed many tests to make this a successful record,” he said.
Normally, expert skydivers use parachutes that range in size from 80-200 square feet (7.4-18.5 square meters), with a regular one measuring 120 square feet (11.14 square meters). However, over the last decade, high-performance canopies have averaged between 70 and 90 square feet (6.5-8.3 square meters).
Guinness World Record representative Samer Khallouf was present at Palm Drop Zone and made sure all rules were obeyed to mark a new world record. He even accompanied Gainza on the plane to make sure the record-breaking parachute was not replaced before the jump.
At the end, Khallouf presented Gainza with an official certificate for his jump. The previous world record was held by Brazilian Luigi Cani, who jumped in February 2008 with a 37 square feet (3.43 square meters) canopy.
However, this was not the first death-defying stunt performed by the Venezuelan skydiver, as he usually tests new models of parachutes for manufacturers to ensure they’re safe for public use and has been doing this for the past five years.