Catherine Bernier is the creator of the skydiving YouTube channel and social media page Skydive Vibes. You may be familiar with the page Skydive Vibes, as it is a popular skydiving content account. Promoting the passion of skydiving, and creating weekly videos with topics to help you become a better skydiver!
We wanted to learn more about Catherine, and her page Skydive Vibes. Check out our interview with her to learn more about the woman behind the popular page. How she came up with the idea, what it takes to make a skydiving Youtube channel and much more!
Tell us about yourself and your skydiving history
My name is Catherine Bernier, I am 30 years old and I am from Quebec, Canada. I made my first tandem jump in 2011, afterwards I did my AFF (PFF in Canada) in 2012. Now I have 291 jumps – precisely!
Parachutisme Atosphair near Quebec City is my home dropzone. I have not visited many dropzones out of Canada. However, in 2019 I did visit Skydive Arizona. For me, it was very interesting, due to the desert location, hot weather and year round skydiving operations. Which in Canada, I am not used to!
What do you like most about skydiving and what motivated you to keep jumping?
I started because an old man once told me that, after trying everything in his life, nothing could compare to skydiving. “You will never get bored, there is always something new to learn and experiment”. Now this man is learning head down flying and he is over 60 years old!
For me, I have always loved to learn and push my mind and body to the maximum to improve. In skydiving, I like that I am fully responsible for what happens. That every part of my body can have an impact on my flight. It is amazing how much body awareness we have in freefall! The mind is also fully used and pushed to its limits, before, during and after the jump. Firstly, we need to be aware of our gear checks, practise our emergency procedures. Making sure we don’t forget any gear, and then of course, the stress and excitement (and a little fear) of the jump! Finally, one last push and in freefall, it is pure silence! You focus on the present like nowhere else. Well, now I feel I am getting romantic, but I guess this is why I jump!
How did you come up with the idea to create your Youtube channel and where do you find inspiration?
At the end of a skydiving season, I became pregnant. Winter was about to start. I had thought, if I do nothing to preserve my love for the sport, life and community, perhaps it would make me turn away from it. And so, I chose to use my knowledge of the internet and social media (it was a side hobby of mine for years). Combing my passion for the sport and my internet knowledge, I created a new project.
Having a passion for talking in public, I decided to make videos. Even though I am not a coach or instructor, I know I could share what I was learning, and also help skydivers with less experience than me. Simply, I started looking for common questions that new skydivers were asking. Looking into Facebook groups, forums and blogs. Next, I created videos to answer those questions!
Where do you get inspirations for the next topics? Does anyone help you to create your content?
Over the years, I have gathered a list of topics, and every time I get a small idea, good or bad, I write it down. I attempt to mix the topics that I know will perform well, topics my subscribers are asking for and of course there are ones I like to make for me.
Generally, I have been mostly alone in creating, editing, sharing and managing Skydive Vibes. Now, I have some help to pre-edit the videos. However, I still put up to 5-6 hours on each video, just for editing. It is a lot of hard work for sure. At first, I was at home with my newborn, and managed my time to produce many videos. With the help of my family to watch the baby! Since starting to work again, it is more difficult to find time. Lets just say that I stay up late at night, or wake up very early to work on Skydive Vibes!
What was your favorite video to make? And is there a video created that recieved unusual feedback?
Of course, going to Skydive Arizona, and vlogging it was such a great experience. It was challenging to find the right places to sit down and talk – I guess I am still shy to vlog in public! However, it was also very rewarding.
My indoor skydiving challenge was also very cool to make! It consisted of the 10 hours I trained in the tunnel, 10 weeks prior to the Canadian Indoor Skydiving Championship. Which I participated in! Every week of the challenge I vlogged and shared my progression. It was intense!
Never have I had a video that flopped, or was really disliked. Although, one of my first videos about “doing a good gear check”, was really discussed upon. To the point that I redid the video. It was all constructive feedback. Personally, I think that staying transparent with your intentions is what matters and keeps you away from the haters.
Where do you see yourself in the next few years in the sport? Do you have goals, short or medium term?
Currently I am doing my coach 1 course, so I would like to continue on that path. Perhaps to become an AFF instructor. Jumping is not easy due to the short season in Canada, and also with family and work. However, I want to keep jumping as much as I can each year. In terms of disciplines, I want to master freeflying and maybe freestyle!
If you could skydive anywhere in the world, where would it be?
The Maldives looked amazing! Eqypt would be on the list too! Really, any place with amazing scenery near the ocean would be epic!
Do you think about beginning to talk about other extreme sports, aside from skydiving, in the future?
I think Skydive Vibes is successful because I am an actual skydiver. To talk about other sports, I would need to do them first. And so, no, I intend to keep focusing on skydiving. Currently, I have many ideas to produce more content, like collaborating with coaches and instructors to bring online classes or live sessions to help the community to become better skydivers. Having the ability to make a living out of this venture, and be able to focus all my time to create content, I think, is my ultimate goal!
Closing thoughts
Thank you so much to Catherine for taking the time to answer some questions for us. Without a doubt, it is amazing to see Catherine’s dedication, and creative effort to bring knowledge and information to skydivers across the globe. Clearly, she puts in a lot of effort and time into her work, and its evident to see her passion through her videos. Certainly, as a community, we are lucky to have dedicated people like Catherine, providing content and bringing our community closer together. Thank you for all that you do for the skydiving community Catherine! It was a pleasure to learn about you and your work on Skydive Vibes.
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