WORTHINGTON — Although they’re miles removed from one another in terms of the amount of risk they involve, Jonathan Morris says skydiving is a bit like eating potato chips.
“It’s something you can’t do just once,” he said.
Morris, 19, of Raceland, parachuted for the first time a year ago. His first skydiving experience, he said, was a tandem jump with his friend, Phil Henry.
Since then, Morris, a junior at the University of Kentucky, said he has made more than 200 jumps.
“I just fell in love with it,” he said. “It’s a very rewarding experience. The feeling of peace that it gives you, there’s nothing quite like it.”
Morris was one of eight skydivers who spent Saturday jumping at Ashland Regional Airport as part of an event intended to promote and to build interest in the sport. The jumps began at 8 a.m. and continued until dusk.
The event, which continues today at the west end of the airport, is sponsored by Tri-State Skydivers, a South Point-based business that offers skydiving instruction.
Tri-State Skydivers owner Larry Lemaster said the event also was intended to establish the Worthington airport as the group’s Kentucky base of operations. The group also jumps at Lawrence County Airpark in Chesapeake and at Robert Newland Airport in LeSage, W.Va., he said.
Lemaster, whose business owns and operates two Cessna 182 airplanes, said he is a veteran of more than 2,500 parachute jumps.
“I’ve jumped off everything from hot-air balloons to helicopters to a Boeing 727,” he said.
He said one of the things he enjoys most about the sport is how it serves as an equalizer, of sorts.
“You see everyone from doctors to CEOs to guys who dig ditches for a living,” he said. “When we’re out here, we’re all just skydivers.”
Jerry Laslo of South Point said his first jump, which he made three years ago, was supposed to have been his only one.
“I just wanted to try it,” he said. “Now, it’s something I crave.”
In fact, Laslo said his addiction to skydiving is so strong that if he goes more than a couple of weeks without doing it, he starts having dreams about it.
He admitted that all of those dreams are pleasant ones, either. Occasionally, he said, a nightmare about something going wrong during a jump will creep in.
Laslo said the adrenaline rush from skydiving tends to lessen after one has made a few jumps. However, he said he “still gets butterflies” when he’s about to go out of the door of the plane.
Saturday’s event was to have featured jumps by renown parachuting expert Luigi Cani, using the world’s smallest canopy, 37 square feet — roughly the size of a twin bed sheet. However, Cani, a Brazil native living in Los Angeles, was unable to jump due to a shoulder injury.
Cani said jumping with a chute so small — a normal-sized canopy for an experienced jumper is about 120 square feet — is “like flying a jet fighter. It’s very responsive, very fast and very dangerous.”
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.
Local News
Related Photos
-
Kevin Goldy
Discussion
Jumpers put on exhibition
Event continues today
- Local News
-
-
2 recipes revealed in Sanders autobiography
Want to cook like the Colonel?
-
Vet picnic will be Saturday
Tri-State veterans are invited to a free outing on Saturday.
-
‘Building Doctors’ will make rounds in Portsmouth June 14,15
Main Street Portsmouth, TSHD Architects and the Ohio Historic Preservation Office of the Ohio Historical Society will sponsor a Building Doctor Clinic for old-building owners in the Portsmouth area June 14 and 15.
-
3 arrested after meth lab found
The Boyd County Sheriff’s Department arrested three after discovering a meth lab at a home in Rush on Saturday.
-
Going with the flow
The popularity of water trails is growing in eastern Kentucky as more and more communities embrace adventure tourism as a way to paddle their economies forward.
-
State artists will shine at MSU show
Jennifer Reis wants Kentucky artists to have a chance to win prizes chosen especially for them.
-
Central Park festivities: Musical salute honors veterans
Many, including city officials, gathered Monday to enjoy music and festivities during the Memorial Day Celebration in Ashland’s Central Park on Monday afternoon.
-
An event fit for an American
Hundreds decked out in red, white and blue lined the streets as marching bands, local officials and floats galore made their way through the streets of Ironton Monday morning during the 144th annual Memorial Day Parade.
-
3 arrested for running meth lab
The Boyd County Sheriff's Department arrested three people after discovering a meth lab at a home in Rush.
-
Crowd deals with sizzling weather in paying respects
Although the weather called for scorching heat, many showed up to pay their respects at the Memorial Day celebration in Wurtland on Sunday.
- More Local News Headlines
-
2 recipes revealed in Sanders autobiography
Patz Suspect's Sister: I Went to Police in 1980s
Diplomatic Expulsions Follow Fresh Syria Report
15 Dead in Northern Italy's 5.8-magnitude Quake
Angry Birds Spreading Their Wings
Witness Describes Fla. Face-chewing Attack
Man Falls Off Crane, Dies After Police Standoff
Russia Condemns Ally Syria Over Massacre of 108
Dairy Farm Uses Chiropractor to Help Cows
Unexpected Smog in Pristine National Parks
Air Canada Plane Makes Emergency Landing
New Ticks Spread Across Southeast, Diseases Rise
Bring Your Own Tech Programs Charge Up Students
Pope's Butler Vows to Help Vatican Investigation
Mother of Allegedly Abused Girl Denies Claims
Raw Video: 19 Dead in Qatar Shopping Mall Fire
Service Dogs Help Wash. Soldiers Battling PTSD
Raw Video: Heckler Bursts in on Blair Testimony
Japan Farmers Plant, Seek Radiation-free Rice
