Venezuelan sets record after skydiving with bed-sheet sized parachute

A Venezuelan daredevil has set a new Guinness record for skydiving using the world’s smallest parachute after he jumped from 14,000 feet with a canopy the size of a bed sheet. During his three-and-a-half-minute descent, Ernesto Gainza used a parachute measuring only 35 square feet. Gainza risked a spin that would have killed him but managed a perfect landing in the Palm Drop Zone at the Skydive Dubai Club, last week. [caption id=“attachment_1471463” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “It was awesome, amazing and emotional. I had to keep my body really straight, as even a little input from my hips or turning left or right could make the parachute turn,” he said. The athlete has already performed more than 7,000 jumps but spent a year in training for his attempt, ‘metro.co.uk’ reported. Gainza’s jump took 0.18 sq m off the previous record for smallest canopy, set by Brazilian Luigi Cani in 2006. Expert sky divers use parachutes that range in size from 80 to 200 square feet, and even the smallest of the high-performance canopy sizes developed over the last ten years average between 70 and 90 square feet. A representative from the Guinness World Records presented Gainza with a certificate after his jump. PTI