94-year-old South Australian man celebrates birthday – with a skydive
Bruce Hoffmann has taken to the skies for his sixth skydive with daughter Lori to mark his 94th birthday last month.
“It is such an adrenaline rush,” said Bruce says.
“I did my first skydive after I retired at 80. That time we dropped through the clouds, and I got a face full of raindrops, which wasn’t very pleasant, but it didn’t put me off!
“The wind rushes past you at around 200km/hour and it is very noisy – but it’s an amazing feeling.”
Bruce has completed most of his skydives at Langhorne Creek, 55km from Adelaide and has also done one in Sydney with his grandson, Liam. T
Bruce now plans to do a jump each coming year to celebrate his birthday – but it turns out he had always been a thrill-seeker.
Growing up in the Barossa Valley, Bruce earned his pilot’s licence at 20 and became the area’s first gliding instructor, as well as a founding member of the Barossa Valley Gliding Club.
He also held the Australian two-seater glider altitude record for eight years, gliding at the low height of 12,600 feet.
“Anytime I can get in an aeroplane, I do,” Bruce said.
As well as flying, Bruce’s interests were in the family business of wine. One of the seven founding ‘Barons of the Barossa’, his Tanunda-based family winery, Hoffmann’s Wines is now known as Peter Lehmann Wines.
When he retired at 80, Bruce moved to Loxton and lives on his son and daughter-in-law’s property in a self-contained unit where he is supported by Resthaven Riverland Community Services and attends the gym twice a week, doing cardio and weight training sessions.
“I get in the car and go somewhere most days,’ Bruce says. “Whether it’s the gym, or the RSL, or out for a meal, I’m always doing something.”
Bruce still has a few more things on his bucket list to cross off, including a Ferrari Hot Lap at The Bend (he’s already been around in a Mustang), flights in a Tiger Moth and a Waco biplane, as well as climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge and parasailing.
Good on you Bruce!
