waltappel 1 #1 September 25, 2006 Whenever the question comes up about jumpers' most memorable jumps, I'm usually at a loss to come up with one that really stands out. I have 28+ years in the sport and approaching 1600 jumps, and I have had some really hairy ones but I don't know that I've had one that was really magic. Until this past Saturday. Skydivermom and I did a CRW jump. We did hop and pops from 14 grand and, for a while, paid absolutely no attention to where we were headed--we were too busy having fun. Kathleen and I were flying along docked in a biplane when we both looked down and saw we were waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay away from the DZ. We were now on a cross-country jump doing CRW, trying to land somewhere close to the DZ. It was kind of obvious we weren't going to make it back. Off to our left was another jumper who had exited after us to fly around and watch us do CRW. We were all flying next to a huge cloud, trying to guess how far we could get and where we were going to land. It was pretty cool, but then the magic happened. Skydivermom started singing. Kathleen has a beautiful singing voice, but in the year or so that I've known her, I had never heard her sing. Now, we were flying along the edge of a huge cloud, not sure where we were going to land, another jumper flying next to us, her feet just above my shoulders in the "V" of my risers, and she was singing "One Moment in Time". There was absolutely no place I would rather have been. It was one of those perfect moments in life that was so beautiful that it makes me grateful to be alive to experience it. Like all moments in time, though, it couldn't last forever. Kathleen landed in someone's front yard, much to the delight of a couple of kids who lived there. I landed in their back yard. The other jumper landed across the street in an open field. The lady who lived there graciously gave us a ride back to the drop zone, where I got some well-deserved razzing for landing so far from the DZ. I think this jump will stand out in my mind for a very long time. Walt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waltappel 1 #2 September 25, 2006 Forgot to add--please post your "magic jumps"!!! Walt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lindercles 0 #3 September 25, 2006 QuoteI got some well-deserved razzing for landing so far from the DZ That's not how I remember it. I remember lots of hugging and crying because everyone was just happy you were alive. As for memborable jumps, the one that sticks out for me is this one. Three years in the sport and I can finally afford a new rig. Nothing particularly eventful about the jump itself, I'm just so amazingly happy that it happened at all. I guess it was just a magical day in Temple that day. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
selbbub78 0 #4 September 25, 2006 QuoteForgot to add--please post your "magic jumps"!!! Walt I have 2. The first one was Saturday February 21, 2004 (don't ask me how i know the date off of the top of my head). I was down in Lake Wales, Florida for the weekend, and it was only months before that that I had start to do CRW (yes another CRW jump). I was at a beginner CRW camp, but it turned out that basically everyone who showed up had some experience doing CRW, so we were doing a little bit more difficult dives. We had decided to do an 8 way box formation on the 5th or 6th jump of the afternoon, and had planned on breaking our formation apart "high" (about 5 or 6K). We were taught the important of rear riser stalls on the lightnings, and after our breakoff altitude, we were encouraged to get together with someone and practice our rear riser stalls to see how far back we actually went. This one girl and I who were both flying 126s, and were pretty much flying the same in the sky, decided to partner up after the jump was completed. The jump itself went great. We all got into formation, and completed it, and since we had only planned on doing 1 point, we broke it down at about 7000 feet. This girl and I met up after breakdown, and started to just practice our rear riser stalls. We started to get bored with that, and started to play leap frog using rear riser stalls. Basically, one person was flying with slight brakes (keep you higher), and the other person would go into a rear riser stall, and go underneth you. Then the top person would do rear riser stalls underneth the person who just went. We did this for about 3000 feet, when we both realized that there was no way we'd be able to make it back to the dropzone, and we better find somewhere to land in the swamps surrounding lake wales. We ended up landing on grass about 1/2 mile from the DZ (if that), but we couldn't go in the direction of the dropzone, since it was all swamps, and a fence. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get to a road through some swamp water, and a horse field, and more swamp. Eventually a truck found us, and took us back to the DZ. It was a pretty warm day out, and it was tiring walking around outside, but that was one of the greatest jumps ever! Playing "leapfrog" on rear risers was so much fun! Plus the jump itself went down without a hitch! Such an awesome time! My other jump that I will never forget, probably because it was the most gorgous scenery ever is my jump into the glacier in Alaska on Friday, June 16, 2006 at approximately 1630HRS. Of course a bunch of us got stuck on the glacier until about 2230 HRS, but it was well worth it, because there was so much to do out there, like go canoeing on the iceburgs ! CReW Skies, bubbles"Women fake orgasms - men fake whole relationships" – Sharon Stone "The world is my dropzone" (wise crewdog quote) "The light dims, until full darkness pierces into the world."-KDM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cocheese 0 #5 September 25, 2006 That is too cool. You've been blessed again by the magic of a wonderful woman. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jumpjunkie2004 0 #6 September 25, 2006 What a great story Walt! : )Jump, Land, Pack, Repeat... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
waltappel 1 #7 September 25, 2006 QuoteThat is too cool. You've been blessed again by the magic of a wonderful woman. You're absolutely right. I don't know that I deserve it, but I *definitely* appreciate it when it happens.Walt Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
micro 0 #8 September 25, 2006 Walt, that was beautiful. I miss Lee. And JP. And Chris. And... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skydivermom 0 #9 September 25, 2006 Okay now I'm crying! (I know WAH, WAH ) It was definately one of those moments for me where it just didn't seem real. Like "I'm here, but this can't be happening." Walt, you did a wonderful job writing up this amazing experience. Thanks so much, and thanks for sharing that jump with me.Mrs. WaltAppel All things work together for good to them that love God...Romans 8:28 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jumperpaula 0 #10 September 25, 2006 Here's One Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
