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Acampo Sky Diver Dies in Jump

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Nicole Cadiz wanted one more sky dive before the day's end, but she never expected it to be her last.

The 26-year-old woman died Saturday evening after winds ripped off her harness during a 13,500-foot free fall at the Parachute Center in Acampo, just north of Lodi, according to the San Joaquin County Coroner's Office.

Cadiz, an experienced parachutist with more than 1,000 jumps under her belt, had executed eight leaps earlier in the day.

Then, on her ninth just before 7:40 p.m., high-velocity winds snatched her harness and chute off her back.

Parachute Center owner Bill Dause said Cadiz then attempted, but failed, to get back into her harness, and she plummeted to the ground.

Paramedics found her in a neighboring vineyard.

Her new husband, Anthony, was one of seven others making the jump with Cadiz.

Dause attributed the accident to an unclipped chest strap -- which he could not explain -- and Cadiz's upside-down position in midair.

"Skydiving is a high-risk act, but with the equipment we have, it's got to be a combination of things that go wrong for that to happen," he said. "It wasn't just that the chest strap was undone, but also her position in the air."

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration investigates parachuting accidents, but representatives from the agencies could not be reached Sunday.

Cadiz, an Acampo resident, worked as a manicurist in Lodi, though friends said her real passion was sky diving every weekend at the Parachute Center, where she first learned the sport seven years ago and became adept enough to work as a sky videographer.

"She loved sky diving, she was always here," said a 21-year-old friend who was one of seven others with Cadiz on her fatal jump. "She was well-liked by everyone here. Her whole life was this drop zone."

"It's just devastating, we're all devastated by this," added Jan Davis, who was editing a parachuting videotape on Sunday.

The last parachuting death in the Sacramento region occurred at the Parachute Center last October when a 23-year-old Orangevale man committed suicide, said coroner's Deputy Al Ortiz.

Nationwide, 32 of the 3.25 million parachute jumps made in 1997 resulted in fatalities, according to the U.S. Parachute Association, an Alexandria, Va.-based group that sets safety and training guidelines for the sport.

Some at the Parachute Center were visibly shaken Sunday, but they still moved about the hangarlike building, packing their parachutes and watching others descend from the sky.

Dause said parachutists understand their sport's inherent dangers and know that tragedies like Cadiz's can happen. Still, their love of the sport compels them to continue.

"Everybody's sad," he said between flights. "But we've just got to bite our tongues and keep going."

To see more of the Sacramento Bee, or to subscribe, go to http://www.sacbee.com

© 2000 Sacramento Bee.

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