People come to the Hamptons for many reasons, the most common of which include our beautiful clean beaches and sweet little villages. Others come to golf, sail, hike, explore history, or just relax and enjoy it all. But this last weekend we had guests at A Butler's Manor who were on the East End to do something I had heretofore been unaware one could do out here: Skydive.
Liam and Laura were our thrillseekers, and this is Laura here in the picture, showing some mock attitude but actually loving every second of her (approximately) 60-second freefall before the parachute kicked in. The company that offers the experience is
Skydive Long Island in Calverton (about 25 miles northwest of us). I knew nothing about skydiving (and my fear of heights is such I'm not likely to try it anytime soon), so was fascinated to learn that a first time jump is always a tandem jump (seen here) with an experienced professional; Laura's jump instructor has clocked over 14,000 jumps!! Also, notice the hands in the bottom of the picture. That's the photographer (you were wondering about this already, right?) who jumps with you...he has a video camera, plus some sort of TeleTubby-looking camera on his head that takes a strobe series of still photos, like this one. The cameraman can't launch his parachute until AFTER you do (otherwise it would get in the way of his photography of you). Now that's thrill-seeking!
Needless to say, Liam and Laura's description of their jump was THE topic over breakfast the next morning!! Still, they said that the next time they come stay, they're going to skip the sky and just enjoy the blue of the pool!
(PS: Doesn't the East End look cool from way up there!)
Quote of the Day: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. --Edward Abbey
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