Marc Hauser is a professional Skydiver, his dream was to break the speed that a human can touch in the air in horizontal position, without any assistant gear!
He gave us the following exclusive interview...let's see what he has to say!
Hi Marc,
First of all we would like to thank you for this mini interview and we hope all the best to you.
XSA - Could you tell us about yourself and your record?
Marc - I just wanted to push the limits.
Wikipedia tells us that "An efficient track can reach horizontal speeds of nearly 100 mph“.
But I had some doubts, my horizontal freefall felt faster than this. So I tried to find out my speed and I did push the limits. When the GPS devices from FlySight were available, I wanted to find out where my personal speed limits were. From my experiences as a glider pilot I knew that a heavy loaded glider flies faster than a light one. And with my 2 meters and 100+ kilos I am that heavy loaded type of human glider.
Then I tried to claim a first official mark in this sport. There was no name for it. So I invented the expression „Speed Tracking“ because that’s what it is: Tracking with speed.
Tracking as a freefall skill was not invented by me, of course, and there have been many skydivers who tried to be as fast as possible in a horizontal tracks before. But I’ve never seen faster tracks than mine. So I thought there was the time to claim it as a world record. The FAI doesn’t know the discipline, I will get in touch with them in 2013.
My name is Marc Hauser, I’m a 41 year old father of two teenie girls and I live in Berne, the capital of Switzerland.
XSA - When did you decide you wanted to become a skydiver?
Marc - When I was around 7 years old, I knew that I would once fly over a city in freefall. Just like a bird, with no extra help. It was a clear image infront of my eyes, so it wasn’t a common daydream, it was a kind of real imagination for me. And it was funny, because I also felt, that no one on the ground would take any notice of it. That was quite close to the experience I made this october in spain - and I loved it very much: the dream came true.
When I was 20 years old, I started skydiving in Empuriabrava, Spain.
XSA - How did you take the decision to becoming a professional? (if you are professional?)
Marc - As I am just a semi professional skydiver (probably you could call it even less than that...) I still have to work on other jobs. And that’s perfect. I’m running my own text agency
www.erfolgswelle.chAnd as a creative director, I invent company names with
www.adverbis.chAnd I’m a kind of artist:
www.hausermarc.com Now I became a watch seller for my sponsor, the Swiss watch company FORMEX
www.speed-tracking.com and I work in a great office for education and economy:
www.jugend-wirtschaft.chSo, you see, I would not like to be reduced to one of these jobs. It’s the richness of the combination I love.
XSA - Can you explain us the difference between the regular free fall and the horizontal free fall?
Marc - Freefall is free, but falling. Speed Tracking is a discipline in Freeflying. The Speed Tracker stretches out his arms and legs and he turns himself into a plane flying foreward. Like this you cover more distance foreward than downwards. That’s what I call flying and it really gives you the feeling of human flight. At the end of every speed tracking dive, I make a turn like a bird – or let’s say like a private rollercoaster: you just decide the shape of the curve and then you fly like an eagle by adapting the right body position. At this speed it only takes small changes to have strong results. For me, it’s a pure gift to experience something like this. And it’s even better than the dream of flight; because it’s real. Now my goal is to share this kind of flying with other people.
XSA - Tell us about the Speed Tracker?
Marc - Imagine Superman in the movie: He has to take his arm and fist to fly, don’t ask me why.
In Speed Tracking you fly the same style – but without the arm in front of your sight...
You need a certain angle towards the ground, that accelerates your body in the air. You „slip“ downwards and you get faster and faster. In the beginning it’s a little scary, because even normal free fall is pretty fast. In a flat freefall on your belly you get vertical speeds around 180 km/h and no horizontal speed at all. In Speed Tracking I reach vertical speeds of 300km/h and total speeds in this diagonal flight of 400 km/h. What counts for the record is the speed over ground, like a racing car, we call it „ground speed“. And that was 304 km/h.
XSA - What kind of gear you use ?
Marc - I’m wearing a special designed freeflying suit from sonic. It’s a suit with booties, but not a wingsuit. Then a full face helmet with fixed visor. My rig is a Vector3 with Skyhook from UPT and my main canopy is a Storm 190 from Performance Designs with an Optimum Reserve. Then I have a Cypres2, a Viso from Larsen & Brusgaard and two FlySight GPS.
XSA - How important is the faith to your team and the support of your sponsor?
Marc - We were training this jump since 2010 with Babylon Freefly in Empuriabrava, Spain. Tom Naef was the main man at my side and from time to time there were other skydivers from this company flying with us, like Rolf, Will and Nimmo. It really feels nice to have the best skydivers around you, they are way more experienced in freeflying than I am and it was a wonderful feeling to fly side by side with them – at the beginning of the skydives. In the second half of the flight, I had a hard time to spot the team because I was a little faster.
The sponsors are really cool. It’s not easy to find some these days, but finally I got a partnership with
www.formexwatch.com a family owned Swiss watch maker and they are really exited about skydiving. That’s why the management decided to create a limited edition watch based on the record: Just 304 pieces. And FORMEX wants to support the skydiving scene in the future, that’s great for our sport and I’m very happy about that. Then I found five additional small sponsors and some supporters. As I work in marketing, I had the skills you need to get sponsors. But the most important thing was the inner fire they could feel. I’m very lucky to have such great people around me!
XSA -Can you describe the most memorable skydiving experiences?
Marc - Every single skydive is special. The moment when you step out of the plane, the countdown, the smiles, then the exit and the pure sense of flight. The whole adventure: flying through clouds or sunset dives. Watching your team flying wing by wing, like birds. Words can’t describe the beauty of this scenery. And the epic feeling of gratitude beeing part of it.
XSA - Have you ever visited Greece or have you ever think to skydive in Greece ?
Marc - Yes I loved the small part of your country that I’ve seen. Athens is fantastic. Now I know what it meant in an advertising slogan about Greece: To be „chosen by the Gods“
For skydiving I’ve never been to Greece yet. But I could imagine the wonderful scenery with beaches and islands all around. I just hope the best for your country and I’m doing my very best in using as much olive oil as I can. For sure we all should spend our holidays in Greece to help. Keep your head up, keep your heart strong!
XSA - Have you ever tried Wingsuit jump or BASE jump?
Marc - That’s the plan for 2013. The wingsuit, not the BASE. I’ll keep the BASE as a dream until I’m experienced enough. Or maybe forever.
XSA - What helps you to relax before the jump?¨
Marc - A couple of orgasms, followed by some beers for me. Wow, I see that „orgasme“ comes from the Greek οργασμός!
Seriously: Skydiving is a relaxing sport. My partner doesn’t even call it a „sport.“ So there’s nothing to be relaxed about anyway, she thinks. But she never made a single jump!
XSA - Which is the favorite food of a Swiss skydiver?
Marc - Watches, made out of Swiss chocolate with some golden greek olives on top.
Cheers and blue sky from Switzerland
Marc
XSA - Thanks Marc once more!
You can follow Marc's adventures in the skies on his facebook page
here