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kathy.rowan

Hayden Rowan

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Hayden was tragically killed in Moshi, Tanzania on 13 February 2007 when the plane crashed a few minutes after take off.
Hayden was 25 years old. He was raised in Wanganui,New Zealand did a computer graphic design course and worked in Wellington for I think about 3 years before decided to do a skydive course in Methven New Zealand. The course started April 2007 and he decided to do his work experience in Moshi Tanzania. He went over there in September 2007 and became a permanent employee.
He loved Skydiving. It was his passion and was loving he lifestyle in Moshi.
Hayden was a very charismatic person, loved people and loved life. He was known in Moshi by the locals as "skydive" - if they saw him walking down the street they would call out "Hey Skydive" and rush over to talk to him and he always had time for them.
He had great dreams for the future - considering doing another skydive course back in New Zealand and would have qualified as an instructor/tandem master at the end of it. Hayden's brother Michael is enrolled to do the initial skydive course beginning April this year and they would have been at the same skydive school together. Michael and Hayden were very close.
Hayden on a trip to Zanzibar was also talking about how great it would be to open a skydive company on Zanzibar - another of his dreams.
I am Hayden's mother Kathy. I initially did a skydive a few years ago and brought skydive vouchers for Hayden and Michael for Christmas as they were both very keen to do a jump. They used their vouchers for Michael's 21st weekend in Taupo and I did my second jump with them and some of Michael's friends. I did my third jump while visiting Hayden in Moshi for 10 days in January and Hayden filmed the jump. I have some wonderful photos of him skydiving in New Zealand and Moshi and the video he made of my jump.
BSBD Hayden
'Nothing beautiful in this world is ever really lost. All things beloved live on in our hearts.. forever.'
Love you Hayden. You will always have a special place in my heart and all our family. So sad to lose you far too soon.

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Hi Kathy, I'm Jeff, I flatted with Hayden on Northland Road in Wellington. We met once briefly when you visited.

I just wanted to offer my sincerest condolences and heart felt empathy to your family. I know I speak for his Wellington friends in saying he was one of the most charasmatic people we ever had the pleasure of knowing.

That huge smile and enthusiasm for living life rather than being content with going through the motions was a genuine inspiration to us.

He's one of those people that defies cliched platitudes, and makes you truly proud to have known him, and feel a better person for having his influence in your life.

One of his favourite quotes was "Difficult takes a day, impossible takes a week". I think that fairly sums up his courage and zest for life.

We miss him immensely.

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Hi kathy,

its amazing seeing how many people knew him and what they saw him as :) i keep thinking back to the days when we were together and he decided he was doing this and how excited he was. we both left each other to persue dreams and i love that he went on to follow his dream so fully.. and made an impression on so many people. one thing i always admired hayds for how he was never just talk... if he said he was going to do something he would and never half heartedly! he inspired and encouraged me to do what i have done and continues to even in his passing. not only had when been together and continured to have a special bond in our parting but he was one of my best friends... i love that the last thing hayds said to me was... I love my life... he truely was as happy as he could be over there :) which puts me at ease a little. but itll be a long road to being ok again after such a loss... i love to see what everyone has to say about hayds on this site.. very special.
see you soon kathy xxx

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I can only express my sorrow for your loss. He appears to be a kind man, paasionate for life and compassionate for his fellow man. I would have liked to have met him.
Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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Thanks Kathy for telling us about your son.
It is a big loss to the skydiving community world wide having someone so young and so new in the sport taken from us.
From the course directors of the course he was on I am told that he was one the good students, My experience for them to say that shows me exactly how good of a guy he was, it shows he had great work ethics and would have been 100% committed to getitng up at 7am in the freezing temperatures of Methven to learn an industry that most only dream about.

Your other son will have a emotional journey following the footsteps of his brother while in Methven and I hope that you hold on to Haydnes ashes until your son has 100 odd jumps and gets the honor to scatter his brothers ashes while in freefall, Maybe you will be able to do a tandem jump on that day as well.

You sound like a strong lady and i am very happy for Hayden that you have been able to find the good in the sport/industry that took your sons life away from you. I am sure he can rest in peace knowing that you were supportive of his decisions and the rest of the skydiving community can admire you for not looking at the sport in a bad way because of this horrific sudden accident.

I find myself thinking of my family and my childhood while i am sitting in a plane going to height ready to jump and i am sure he would have thought alot about you while he was sitting in the hundreds of aircraft as well.

It really sounds like one of the good guys was taken from us. I am sorry it had to be your son.

BSBD:(



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Thank you for the suggestion of waiting for Michael to have done 100 odd jumps before scattering Hayden's ashes. It will be a very emotional time for him on the course.
I have also been thinking of doing a tandem on the day and trying to get it filmed.
Before I left Moshi Hayden had encouraged me to do a solo at Methven to two instructors each side of me - not sure of that now - might stick to another tandem during the Ash Dive.

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Well, KNowing Steve and Kirsty and how emotional they would be that it is one of their ex students, I am sure that once your other son has 100 jumps they will let him jump with other jumpers and let him release the ashes... However, saying that you must have 200 jumps in NZ to jump and fly around a tanedm. This is called tandem Relataive work.


So your options here are to wait until your son has 100 jumps, About 3-4 months into the course, and he will be able to scatter the ashes. Maybe sooner than 100 jumps.

or

Wait until the course is finished and your son has his 200 jumps by the end of his work experience. Then your son will be able to jump out at the same time you jump out doing tandem. The two of you and other friends with over 200 jumps or tandems can then link up in a circle or fly in close proximity of each other and release the ashes together while having it on video.

My personal suggestion, is that you you will probably have a funeral shortly.... I know it would be special to you to be on the ash dive as well so if you were to wait until your son has passed his work experience and has his 200 jumps and gotten his 'diploma', you could then celebrate Haydnes life as a memorial 1 year after his passing and at the same time celebrate your others son's achievment by yourself and your son returning to Methven on Haydens 'anniversery', or birthday even and release the ashes together.

So for you to be on the same jump legally with your son it must be 200 jumps. For your son to get the most out of the ash dive and have a good controlled jump with other people i would think around 100 jumps, but can not jump around tandems. Who knows though, Kirsty may bend the rules but I do doubt that.

I am certain that if you go to the link www.skydivingmovies.com and then search 'ash dive' thast you will see many other videos of ash dives. You will need to become a member but i am sure you will enjoy it as will your son. It is a massive skydiving movie database.

Either way, I am glad you are taking this idea on board as I am not too sure anyone would be able to talk my mother into listening to someone on the forums about how to out myself to rest.

There are so many different times that you might want to make the day for his ash dive, there is the NZ nationals, there is the good vibes boogie in the south island, i am sure that would have been a favourite day of his and then there is graduation day at the school, or his birthday etc.

I think it would be fantastic for you to jump with your other son on the ash dive and to be honest, Methven is a beautiful location on top of being the place that would have changed Haydnes path in life.

Anyway, Best wishes Kathy, I am sure you will have a beautiful funeral, Dont let him leave this world without his log book or altimeter, Then he will really be screwed up in the playground. HE is joining some of best people up in that playground.


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Thanks for all that information. Yes I am sure I want to jump at the same time so does sound a good option to wait until Michael has completed his 200 hours.
Is it a possibility for both Michael and I do tandems jumps, with other jumpers who may have done the course with Hayden and Michael still scatter the ashes.
The 1 year memorial is a good idea but I feel like I need to put him to rest and don't know if I could wait a year.
I am moving down to Darfield after the funeral, which is half an hour from Methven so will visit the skydive school to talk about the best options.
Thank you for your feedback. Appreciate it and your ideas.

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For sure.
IF you wait until after your son has done a few jumps, I can almost guarantee you he will be too scared to do a tandem jump.

So to get it over with sooner, you should both do a tandem jump and scatter the ashes before he starts doing solo jumps. Tandems can be very scary once you have a few solos under your belt because you dont have control anymore that you are use to.

If you guys went to Methven I am certain they would be able to take you up for tandem jumps and scatter the ashes while any of Haydens friends with over 200 jumps could also fly around the tandems.

I Think it would be best to contact the school asap as I have just heard from Kirsty (the director) that she and maybe her husband as well will be flying out of NZ tomorrow. I am sure she would like to be apart of the memorial as well.

I don;t know how you feel about the media but in my opinion that article that was in the herald was a nice article towards the accident, Maybe the tv news would be interested in playing the video on the 6'o'clock news. But again, that all depends if you it on the news. I think it is a nice idea because it sounds like Haydne had many friends around the country and this way they could all watch the jump as well.

Anyway Kathy, all the best, I hope you will post the video into skydivingmovies.com once you have done the ash dive. If Hayden has any RAW (unedited) skydiving videos that you would like to be made up into a montage and do not have anyone to do that for you, I would be more than happy to spend some weeks doing that for you if it is something you would like.

I hope you have a good funeral, When my best mates were killed in a car accident they had around 800 people turn up at each funeral, With Haydens popularity and age expect a lot of people to turn up.

BEst wishes to you and your family. Again, it shows great strength that you have kept positive about the sport. alot of families would bad mouth the sport as when it turns bad some people like to blame the sport as a stupid sport. It takes extrodinary people to love this sport, and each of us very quickly learn about what is important in our lives such as families etc.


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Michael is adamant he wants to scatter the ashes as a solo jumper so I think it is now very important to put Michael's wishes first as he has been hit very hard by this. They were so close and he was excited by doing the course and the possibility of Hayden returning to do the advance course at the same time. So we will either wait until Hayden's anniversary or if I find the waiting too difficult, go with the 100 solo jumps for Michael and I may just be able to go up in the plane, but not jump. I will definitely get a video and will post it on skydivingmovies.com.
Thank you very much for the offer of making any unedited videos into a montage. Hayden did a computer graphic design course before his 'change of career'. He has some wonderful mates who are making a slide show and video for the funeral. Your offer is fantastic. I know they would also love to do anything like that as well. I am trying to get his lap top and portable hard-drive returned safely as very precious now.
Unfortunately the plane was stripped before the police got there and Hayden's helmet, video camera, still camera and his altimeter were all taken. Although they may not have been in any condition to work, it would have been nice to have them back. The company has got his parachute though. And I have asked for his logbook which will be included in his own ashes.
Having done three jumps myself and experiencing the exhiliaration and adrenilin rush and seeing how happy and passionate Hayden was about the sport I am still happy to encourage Michael to follow his dreams. You can't wrap your children in cotton wool:)

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What do you mean by 'the plane was stripped before the police got there'?

Do you mean by thieves?


I think it will be a very special moment for Michael when the time comes. You may not have to wait until 100 jumps, something always comes up.

It is a sad time, but also very inspiring that his family are sending him off with a skydiving tradition.
I believe it would be an honor to be farewelled like that and that your son would be very proud!


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I took my twin cousins to Moshi a month ago to climb Kilimanjaro - where I grew up. After the climb they saw an advert for skydiving and wanted to do it. I took them to the Moshi aerodrome where they were to jump from and this is where we met Hayden. He was such a great and outgoing guy and he had us laughing and at ease in an instant. His love of his job was so evident in the sheer enjoyment he had in taking newcomers up into the sky.
When my family in Moshi phoned me last week to let me know about the accident I was shocked and deeply saddened. When I let me cousins know they were shattered. We all felt this way after only spending a few hours with Hayden - and this tells a huge story about him and they way he lived.
My thoughts are with you and your family and I know that your memories of him will only be good.
May he rest in peace.

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KAthy, Sorry to post again.. But I remember putting it out there of burying/cremating your son with his log book. I have to say that i probably made a mistake putting that in your mind. I think it would be a very very important document of Hayden for Michael to have later in life.
your first log book in a way is one of the most important skydiving documents you as a skydiver can have. When you show up to new dropzones it proves that you are experienced etc. His log books will also be detailed with some very special moments in his life, Like his first jump and how he felt, his first solo, first bigway, awards achieved etc. It would be a great loss to your family to send that off with Hayden, it would really be something you should keep. Michael will also be able to understand the emotions and the meaning of that log book as he goes through the course. He will start to understand more and more of what is written in that book as he learns all the 'terms' and what they all take to achieve etc.

Again, this is only my opinion but i think i was way wrong to even hint at that.


P.S. Maybe you should let MIchael go through his laptop before you do.;) I dont think i have anything to hide on my laptop but i would shrivel up if i knew my mother was going to look through it before i had a chance to make sure it was 'safe':D


I just can not get over the thought of how emotional the next year will be for MIchael, He will be experiencing everything his brother has just done and I am sure some of those moments will just stop him in his tracks.

I don't know your sons, Just being a kiwi and getting into skydiving and learning and the classes the same way Hayden did just makes me feel like i know where he was at in life. Not many people get into skydiving this fast like you do on that course. I remember sitting there on my first day, on the first course they ever did looking around at all my new class mates ... thinking that were all from such different walks of life but we were all about to become 'skydivers' all of the sudden. That was one of the best moments of my life, My parents thought it was too good to be true and so did i but it was the day that a fantasy-dream came true.



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Yes unfortunately locals had got to the plane and taken Hayden's helmet, video camera, still camera and his altimeter off his wrist, the plane's GPS system and a bag of the pilots - they are a very poor country and opportunists - anything that has any value they will take. Nice people but....
I have just emailed Hayden's boss to see if we can offer a reward to get any of the gear back - Michael, Hayden's brother, would like them back for sentimental value, even if they were damaged in the crash. So would I.

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That si terrible. At the same time, I imagine they would have had a running joke about not crashing or you would lose your stuff.:)
From what I have read about Hayden it sounds like he would have known that would happen if they crashed and from the photos it does not look like he would have minded a few them making some money off him.

It is a real shame though, sounds like a reward may do it but i imagine the stuff would be long gone by now.



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Re logbook - thanks - Michael would treasure it - will pass it on to him.
As for laptop - I understand!! Will let Mike go through it first. May be things on there a mother shouldn't see!!
Cheers



You are a good mother Kathy. Can i give you my mums number to tell her the rules if i ever pass on:D:D:D


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