Student interest takes off as skydiving club falls into place

ON BOARD A DEHAVALAND DH-6 — Standing at the hatch of the airplane, cruising at 13,500 feet, Philadelphia is a mere speck and the Atlantic Ocean is a pond. The Delaware River is just a worm slinking through a patch of grass.

The wind whistles in your ears, the cold air stings your face — and the last thing you want to do is try to fly.

But it's your turn to jump.

Ten Princeton students tried skydiving Saturday as part of a club that is just taking flight at the University. Originally founded at the University of Pennsylvania two years ago, the skydiving club is now spreading to other campuses in the area.

"It's the greatest feeling in the world," said Sarah Brownlee '03. "You don't feel like you're falling at all. When you're standing at the door, looking out, you can't even see below, you're so high up. Then one, two, three and you're out. You're just floating there."

"We just kind of give people the opportunity to try something that they might not do at any other time in their life," said Bill Redecker, founder of Penn's club. "When you get involved in something that has changed your perspective and changed your life, you feel kind of selfish not to share it."

Redecker, who has made more than 400 jumps, has expanded his not-for-profit club to Haverford College, The College of New Jersey, Rider, Trenton State and Villanova universities. He publicized the club at Princeton by holding an informational meeting last week and placing fliers around campus.

Most of Saturday's participants — who went skydiving from a drop zone in Williamstown, N.J. — chose to jump with a professional assisting them, requiring only 30 minutes of training. Two of the students — who hope to become licensed jumpers — took the more complex accelerated freefall, part of a multilevel skydiving training program.

"It's hard to put in words," Mark Durocher '03 said after his first skydiving experience Saturday. "The concept is what strikes me most — you jump out of an airplane and you fall for one minute, 8,000 feet. It was a glimpse at a whole new world."

Durocher jumped at sunset, above the lights of Philadelphia and Atlantic City. "For two hours afterward I was literally shaking, because I was on such an adrenaline high," he said. Durocher, who hopes to become a licensed jumper, added, "I want to spend every cent I have on this."