Taking the Leap: 13,000 Feet Above San Joaquin

by NISSA HALLQUIST | photos courtesy THE PARACHUTE CENTER

As you head along Highway 99, you can tell you’re approaching the Parachute Center long before you near the exit. In the sky up ahead, parachutes of every color blossom, floating through the air like dandelion seeds, each carrying a person before drifting back to earth. ›

Arriving at the Parachute Center, the parking lot is filled, while inside, groups of slightly nervous first-time jumpers and experts mingle, checking their equipment and waiting to be called to their planes. So many people willing to hurtle themselves through space—I wonder, why would these people decide to jump out of a perfectly good airplane? More than that, why would someone continue to do so over and over again? I made it my mission to answer this question.

The desire to jump from great heights is not as new as we might think; people have been parachuting for hundreds of years. According to the U.S. Parachute Association (USPA), the modern take on the sport began in the late eighteenth century when Frenchman Jacques Garnerin began parachuting out of hot air balloons across Europe. Parachuting from airplanes began during WWI, when parachutes were introduced as safety devices for pilots, but it wasn’t until after WWII that parachuting for recreation and competition became popular.

In order to train jumpers in the sport and keep it as safe as possible, commercial skydiving centers began to pop up in the mid-1950s. Locally, the Parachute Center in Acampo has been offering just such training—for jumpers of every skill level—for nearly twenty years.

For first timers, the Introductory Jump comes as a $100 package, complete with all necessary equipment, training, plane ride, and a jump in tandem with a licensed instructor. From an altitude of 13,000 feet, freefall lasts for about a minute before the parachute is opened to slow the descent. After that, the parachutist enjoys five minutes in the air before landing in the drop zone next to the Center.

For those who are serious about the sport, the Center also offers the Accelerated Training Program, which takes skydivers through seven levels of training and jumps in a period of two to three days.

Taking into account the training method and individual’s learning curve, the USPA states that a person can take their first solo jump sometime between their fifth and tenth jump. After this, jumpers can try for their skydiving license, which allows access to drop zones all over the world. A minimum of twenty-five jumps are required in order to get an A license, fifty for a B license, and so on. Each progressive license gives you increasing status and jumping privileges.   

So, beyond bragging rights, what is it about parachuting that’s enticing? The people who choose to skydive aren’t necessarily insane (we’re kidding), but simply people who seek new and exciting experiences. They’re looking for a new perspective of the world, and just happen to have found it—more than two miles up in the air.

If you go: Parachute Center, Acampo, (209) 369-1128, www.parachutecenter.com.

Profiles:

Bill Dause: 35,000 Jumps

Bill Dause, founder and owner of the Parachute Center, discovered his love for skydiving just like everyone else: by taking that first jump.

“I went once, and I liked it so much I went again,” Dause recalls. “And I liked going that time so much that I decided to go once more. It just sort of mushroomed from there.”

In cultivating his newfound hobby, it was often a challenge to coordinate. At the time, living near Salt Lake City, Utah, it was up to the skydiver to hire a pilot, find a good place to jump, and get proper equipment. Dause decided to start his own center with everything in one place, and so began the Parachute Center.

The business was founded the same year Dause made his first jump, in 1964, but wasn’t able to function in Utah as often as Dause liked due to unpredictable weather and a relatively limited population of interested skydivers. In Dause’s mind, the best weather and greatest possible pool of jumpers were to be found in California, so the Parachute Center moved west in 1977.

Looking for a good central location, convenient to skydivers from the Bay Area, Sacramento, and San Joaquin, and enough space to set up a proper drop zone, he found what he needed a few miles north of Lodi in Acampo, next to the municipal airport. The Center set up camp here in 1981, and business hasn’t slowed down since, which Dause considers something of a mixed blessing. Over the years he’s jumped over 35,000 times, but the Center’s been so busy lately, that, while happy for the business, he’s been missing out on some seriously good air time.

Leigh Ainsworth: 6,500 Jumps

Instructors at the Parachute Center are brought on in a freelance capacity based on their licenses, other credentials, and observed safety habits. One such instructor who made the cut is Leigh Ainsworth, a veteran skydiver who traveled to Acampo all the way from New Zealand. North America’s summer is New Zealand’s winter. So, as it was with Bill Dause, weather was a big reason for her travels to California.

As professional skydivers, she and her husband also traveled to the States to make competitive and exhibition jumps. When asked why she personally enjoys skydiving so much, she says that she loves being able to work outdoors and to not have to punch a time clock. After making over 6,500 jumps, the best thing about skydiving is its variety, she says.
“You can travel all over to do this,” Ainsworth says. “See new things, meet new people. And no jump is the same as another. There are always new things you can try to keep it interesting.”

Ainsworth made her first jump when she was just 10 years old, then began training for her license when she was 16. Since then, skydiving has remained both her passion and her career. She’s earned her D license (after 500 jumps) and her tandem license when she decided to teach skydiving to others.  

Her amount of experience has made her a confident teacher. A small person physically, such confidence is what makes the people with whom she jumps in tandem feel secure as well.

Edward Roldan: First-time Jumper

As most first-time skydivers tend to be, Edward Roldan is both excited and nervous as he waits to get in the air. While many skydive in honor of a special occasion, such as a birthday or graduation, Roldan has simply been talked into coming along with some friends (themselves also first-timers), just to try it. He says the main reason he’s interested in jumping is for the adrenaline rush. And maybe a little bit not to wimp out in front of his friends.

After this, things begin to move pretty quickly. Roldan is paired up with Ainsworth as his tandem instructor. She helps Roldan into his harness, and then they’re escorted to the plane. Once the plane is up at 13,000 feet, it’s time to jump.

“There was so much going on, I couldn’t really take it in at first,” Roldan says, of the initial freefall from the plane. “But after a few seconds, it really feels like flying. I felt like Superman.”