We're especially proud of the "no hands kiss pass!"
Download AVI
Watch the video!
My license number is D-13839, and I have over 1300 jumps. I started jumping at the Massachusetts Sport Parachute Club (MSPC) in Turners Falls, MA. It was a special place with special people, and I have fond memories (I even met my wife there!). I jumped regularly at drop zones around New England, especially Orange (Jumptown) (which is the Turners Falls DZ transplanted), Pepperell, and Lebanon.
We live close to Boulder, Colorado now. The skydiving scene here is definitely different, plus you have to deal with harder openings and landings at over 5000 feet ground elevation!
I am also a pilot, which is very different. A great quote comparing skydiving and flying airplanes is: "If riding in an airplane is flying, then riding in a boat is swimming..." In other words, skydiving is flying your body! I love flying in all of its forms, though!
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Joanne and I got these pictures taken by Ira on July 12, 1998,
exactly two weeks before we got married!
We're especially proud of the "no hands kiss pass!" |
Download AVI Watch the video! |
These pictures are from a jump we did during 20-way practice.
In the one on the left,
Ira (the camera dude) got directly above us and framed Pepperell
Skydiving Center nicely! That's me at the very top of the picture.
The picture to the right is earlier on the same dive.
The object was pretty much just to geek the camera.
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Hey, we broke another New England record for most skydivers in a freefall
formation!
It was 76 people big, and we did it on August 23, 1997. The top image
shows the 3 planes that were flying together with all of the skydivers
pouring out - pretty awesome sight! However, I was in the plane on the
right, so I didn't exactly get this view. The bottom picture is the
completed formation. We held it for about 8 seconds after completion!
Thanks to Ira Gray for getting these awesome pictures!
The video shows only the final (and successful!) jump. It took a couple of days and multiple jumps. |
Watch the record video! |
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The previous record was a 54-way on Sunday, May 21st, 1995.
Click on the little picture to the
left to see the completed formation.
Can you find me? If not, or if you
want to see who all of the other people are, check out the
diagram of the dive.
If you want to see the
photo at the same time here's the
diagram with photo. Check out the
video section below to see the dive in action!
Amongst the jubilation we posed for
a group photo.
And yep, they made some
certificates!
The photos were taken by Robert Glenn, who flew in from Virginia
with the Casa airplane
(shown in the group photo) for the weekend.
The video is rather long, showing footage of the attempts leading up to the final and successful jump. |
Watch the record video! |
The picture to the right was taken in freefall over
Zephyrhills, Florida in January, 1991.
I'm on the left, and the other dude is Mark Hood. He lives out in the
Bay Area (California) now.
The picture was taken by Hiroto Shibuya with a disposable camera!
Only a short time after getting off "student status" as jumpers
(January of 1990),
we went
to our first "big drop zone" (i.e. with big planes, etc.).
We learned
a lot, got to jump in relatively larger groups (i.e. 5-ways!) and we even got to jump out of a hot air balloon (that was jump number 60 for me!
Here we are eating between jumps.
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Watch the balloon jump video! |
This is me
under canopy on my first jump under a big old honker of a canopy!
And of course I got
a
First Jump Certificate!
If you haven't yet, check out the cool Skydive home page for more stuff about skydiving!
| A cool 30-way sequential "room" skydive we did. It was done from a Twin Otter and two Cessnas. Roger Ponce de Leon organized this one, which took place at Pepperell on May 29th, 1994. | |
| This 28-way sequential skydive was pretty cool, since we turned two 14-way pieces! This was also organized by Roger Ponce at Pepperell, and happened in the summer of 1993. | |
| This video is unique in that two camera flyers were filming at the same time - one in the formation and one above it! The two videos were later mixed, giving it a more professional feel than many skydiving videos. The jump took place at Skydive Lebanon (Maine), probably during the summer of 1993. | |
| This jump at Skydive Lebanon during the summer of 1993 was pretty funny. First of all, the camera guy hit his helmet (and camera) on the door on exit. Then the dive featured some good bobbling around, which can be seen especially well due to the fact that the camera guy was *in* the formation! Needless to say, we were having fun! | |
| Tania and I tried some freestyle at Massachusetts Sport Parachute Club in Turners Falls, Massachusetts, most likely during the spring or summer of 1990. As a relatively inexperienced jumper, the results were "interesting!" | |
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An adventurous reporter visits a New England dropzone to do a story on what skydiving is really all about. (Filmed in 1989)
This is a TV show I saw just before I made my first jump. Later I got to know most of the people in the video. I still think this was one of the best news story portrayals of the skydiving world. |
| skyrush.com |
