quade 4 #1 February 28, 2003 Nice article but, uh, "The Peter Pans of Central Florida"?!?http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/custom/rush/orl-sptrush28022803feb28,0,2305360.story?coll=orl-sports-headlinesQuoteMajik skydivers find fun in taking plungeBy Rick MaeseSentinel Staff Writer Posted February 28, 2003 DELAND -- Of course, members of Majik jump out of airplanes. It's not like they have more continents to discover or anything.Not following? Here, let Solly Williams explain:"Some humans have that gene -- the extreme gene," said Williams, part of Majik, the top-ranked skydiving team in the world. "It's an instinctive part of humans. That's why people got in ships years ago. That was an extreme sport, going to discover something new. A new country, new people, new animals. There's nothing left to discover, so we do this."The Peter Pans of Central Florida gather every day at Skydive DeLand, a large hangar and landing field populated with a multitude of hair colors and body piercings. This is where Majik -- Williams, Gary Smith, Doug Park and Joey Jones -- skydive. Here's how it works:A computer spits out a list of formations that each four-person team must create during its 35-second fall. Teams jump from 10,500 feet and the squad that nails the most formations wins.Majik nabbed the World Cup title last year and set a record, averaging 23 formations per fall. The formations look like genetic diagrams. Team members grab ankles, wrists, arms and legs, hold each position for a split second, and then rearrange. Skydivers maneuver their arms and legs to control flight movement, deflecting the air in specific directions as they fall."It's kind of like figure skating," said Jones, whose hair color resembles the shade of orange usually reserved for road construction signs. "But you're doing it with three other people and you're all falling thousands of feet through the air."Jones' life revolves around the sport, for better or worse. Once upon a time, though, he lived a more mainstream life. Jones had a scholarship offer to attend the University of Beijing. A great opportunity, sure, but he didn't think he'd find much skydiving there. Instead, Jones enrolled at the University of California-Santa Cruz. His father was still happy because Jones was studying international business and Chinese.But two years later, he had had enough with school. He began living in a maintenance closet, maybe the size of a sleeping bag, at Hollister (Calif.) Municipal Airport. He swept floors and cleaned bathrooms in exchange for skydiving."I don't think my dad was too excited about that," said Jones, 32.But the sacrifice paid off. Jones is considered one of the world's best, as are his teammates. The Majik kick off this year's Florida Skydiving League season on March 15 with the Shamrock Showdown."We're always excited about going up, but your thinking changes," said 40-year-old Williams, a native of South Africa. "You stop wondering, 'Will I survive?' It's: 'How will I perform? I think we should do pretty good.' " quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #2 February 28, 2003 Heh, the Peter Pans of Central Florida...man, that's funny. That's really funny.--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
