Bali's sky alive with 1,000 descents

Bali's sky alive with 1,000 descents

JAKARTA (JP): Up to March 17 the skies over the island of the gods, Bali, and its eastern neighbor, Lombok, will be seeing 1,000 descents a day.

But it will not be the numerous Balinese gods descending against the islands' colorful sunsets, just 190 parachutists from Indonesia, the U.S., England, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia.

"Most of the participants have world-class reputation. One of them is Hermans Landsman of the Netherlands," Edy Christiono, supervisor of the Indonesian team, told Antara news agency.

The two-week boogie (mass parachuting jump) show is meant to be a major attraction promoting Indonesian tourism in the eyes of the world. The event also aims to popularize the sport among Indonesians, Edy said.

Participants have been arriving in Bali for the event since March 2.

Given that there are 1,000 jumps a day, each participant will jump an average of 80 times. The aircraft made available for the jumps are the Air Force's Hercules and Cassa, Edy said. He added that in addition to the boogie show, tandem jumping and air acrobatics will also be performed to add zest to the overall presentation.

Edy said both civilians and members of the Armed Forces make up the 30 members of the Indonesian team. He expressed the hope that they could learn something from their world-rated counterparts.

In Bali, Edy said, the show will be concentrated on two beaches, Kuta beach in Badung regency and Lebih beach in Gianyar regency.

The show is jointly organized by the All Indonesia Aerosports Federation, the Air Force, the Bali provincial government, the state oil company Pertamina and the Udayana Military Command supervising Bali, East and West Nusatenggara and East Timor.

This evening Bali's governor Ida Bagus Oka is scheduled to host a welcome dinner for all the participants. (arf)