They say the hardest part is just letting go.
Whoever coined the phrase must have been a skydiver, because nowhere does the old adage hold more true than 14,000 feet in the air as you stand on the edge of oblivion, peering out the open end of an airplane.
Your instructors and veteran skydivers have promised one of the greatest rushes imaginable during the 60-second free fall that is just a step away, but oddly enough, you're hesitant. Perhaps the images of faulty chutes and a passing mention on the six-o'clock news have you wanting to turn right back around and do what mom and dad would most certainly prefer-land with the plane, not after it.
Just as all those doubts and worries are about to pop up in the back of your head, you are headed out the door-thanks to the instructors buckled to your back.
Welcome to the world of tandem skydiving.
Tandem skydiving is the way to go for first-time skydivers, combining the thrill of skydiving while eliminating the hours of ground school that are required before you can hit the skies solo. After a short equipment overview and a review of the liability involved, all you have to do is wait for your plane.
For the dive, you are not wearing your own parachute, but you are firmly attached (by four 2,000 lb-bearing clips and a harness) to your tandem instructor. He tells you what to do with yourself in the air, how to land and, of course, provides the gentle nudge out the back of the plane.
It is indeed the thrill of a lifetime, and the opportunity to enjoy it is far more accessible than most Duke students might imagine. The chance in fact is right in your own back yard with the Sky Devils-Duke's own skydiving club and team. And it's a chance that an increasing number of students are taking.
"Looking down out of the back of a plane is one of those one in a million experiences," said freshman Stephen Perrett, a member of the Sky Devils. "It's something that everybody really needs to try."
The Sky Devils jump out of a drop zone located approximately 40 miles away at the North Raleigh Airport through a skydiving operation called Carolina SkySports. The operation is run by Paul and Nancy Fayard, who originally collaborated with a group of Duke students some years ago to set up what is now the Sky Devils.
The Sky Devils are comprised of a nucleus of hardcore jumpers, well on their way to forming a competitive team, and sporadic weekend warriors who decide to brave the skies for the first time.
"It's open to anybody and everybody," said sophomore Sky Devil David Arthur, the club president. "We want people to join the team, but we love to have anybody who just wants to jump, even its just one time."
The Sky Devils provide a unique opportunity for Duke students, but it is an opportunity they almost did not have this year.
Arthur, along with fellow sophomore Rodd Secrist, jumped into the sport head first as freshmen last year. The pair, neither of whom had ever skydived before, came to a Sky Devil information session at the start of the fall semester and used the contacts to jump their way to skydiving licenses (20 jumps) by the spring. The one problem: they were the only ones jumping, as the club's president abandoned his post and new jumpers had no avenue for joining up.
"We jumped as many weekends as possible and tried to pull in as many first-time divers as possible, but we really didn't have any handle on in until I started hearing that the club was running out of money," Arthur said. "At which time I walked into Sports Clubs and asked what I could due to rescue it and they basically told me to take it over."
What Arthur has managed to do, last spring with the help of Secrist and this fall with the help of sophomore Christine Paczkowski, is revive a club that was down to just two members and set the stage for Duke to have a competitive team by next year. Extensive and persistent recruiting efforts this spring, along with the rescuing of a budget that fell by the wayside with last year's lack of leadership, has given the Sky Devils a solid base for the next three years.
"They even mention our club on the campus tours, saying that Duke has a skydiving team," Arthur said, "but the sad reality of it is that we almost didn't. It's great that we have a skydiving club, but I'd like to have that skydiving team."
In order to field a team, the Sky Devils will need as many as eight or nine licensed jumpers. A number that seemed impossible last spring is almost a certainty for this spring as at least that many members of the club are on track to reach the 20-jump minimum where they can begin 'relative' work. The road to licensing is long and very costly. The first five jumps must be done in tandem, the next five with your own chute, but with an instructor, and then 10 solo jumps before you can get a license. Each jump is expensive itself (though each time is successively less), and the licensing fee is a monster. Even with the financial help the club provides its team members, it costs each person around $1,000 personally to get licensed.
"It's the kind of sport where you've really got to like it to commit because it is a large financial commitment and a large mental commitment as well," Arthur said.
It takes a special type of person make that commitment-one that's not always easy to spot.
"I know that every time I go up there, I crave free fall," Arthur said. "It's the one place that you can do anything. To find team members, you're looking for a certain personality type-someone who's both committed and ballsy. You want them to go out there and push it to the limit."
The Sky Devils are looking to push that limit at next year's national collegiate competition. This year, Arthur will attend the competition, which will be held Dec. 26 - Jan. 3 in Deland, Fla., to compete in the solo division, not only giving himself a chance to compete, but scouting what lies ahead for next year.
"If anything, I can better judge what they're expecting," Arthur said. "I'll be able to better help train our team."
Once the Sky Devils have sufficient jumpers licensed in the spring, they will begin training as a team. The majority of the instruction will come from the instructors and veteran skydivers at the drop zone, most of whom have developed a family-like relationship with the Duke jumpers.
"Everybody out at the drop zone wants to coach us and is excited to coach us," Arthur said. "We are all still learning, so it's just my job to get everyone out there and then it's in the hands of the instructors."
One final goal for Arthur and his fellow Sky Devils lies more in the realm of entertainment-delivering the game ball to the homecoming football game from 14,000 feet above Wallace Wade Stadium. It's been done before, but never by a Duke student, and Arthur figures it will take having registered 200 jumps, well over the mark for being licensed for such a jump.
"I'm out there jumping all the time to try and reach that goal, so hopefully my senior year I'll be able to deliver the football to a game," Arthur said. "200 jumps is a tough task to make by senior year, but I'd like to see as many members of our team jump into that stadium as possible."
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