Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510230140
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: SAU CHAN ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: FAYETTEVILLE, W.VA. LENGTH: Medium
It was an ugly fall day Saturday, but the falling rain failed to stop hundreds of falling parachutists.
On the 16th annual Bridge Day, parachutists came from around the world to plunge off North America's second-tallest steel arch span, the New River Gorge Bridge near Fayetteville, about 40 miles from Charleston.
Despite rainy, 40-degree weather and winds up to 25 mph, 360 parachutists stepped, somersaulted or dived from the 876-foot-high bridge, the only day each year they could legally take the plunge. One was thrown over in a cardboard box.
Nine people jumped simultaneously, breaking the record of eight set last year.
``It was awesome,'' said Brenda Oldfield, 37, of Sacramento, Calif., one of the group. ``We were running out of time with only 10 minutes to go when they told us it was time to jump.''
Tens of thousands of sightseers visited the craft and food tents along the 1,700-foot-long structure, or just enjoyed the view.
``There's nothing like seeing the fall foliage around you when you're falling,'' said Andy Calistrat, president of BASE, a Houston-based organization of daredevils who leap - usually unannounced - from Buildings, Antennas, Spans and ``Earth Forms.''
``What a rush!'' screamed 48-year-old Kathie Shepherd after her first BASE jump. ``I always wanted to do it in my 20s and in my 30s, but nobody wanted to do it with me, so I finally just did it in my 40s before I got too old. All my friends back home think I'm nuts,'' the accountant from Dover, Del., said.
Tomasz Juzyszyn, 26, a massage therapist from Wroclaw, Poland, and his friend Mark Buss, 25, a Toronto biochemist, came for the second year.
``It's a beautiful place to jump, and basically it's great that we can get away with it,'' Juzyszyn said. ``I'm a skydiver, but this is the ultimate skydiving.''
Buss shrugged off the danger, but conceded the rain made for a rough trip into the gorge.
``The rain is a factor, because a wet parachute will tend to be erratic. It will open really hard and inflate faster, and you will feel it more,'' Buss said.
The festival was designed for parachute jumpers in 1980, three years after the bridge opened. Past Bridge Days have included a seven-person bungee jump, a leaping Elvis and a wedding, after which the groom took a solo plunge.
Three jumpers have died on Bridge Day, the last in 1987. Only minor injuries, scrapes and scratches were reported Saturday. Most jumpers are injured as they try to land on the rocky, tree-lined bank of the New River.
by CNB