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Monday, April 22, 2002 Aerial thrill seekers plummet to victoryBy LYNN BULMAHN | News-Journal Staff Writer DELAND — The clock starts ticking as they burst from the aircraft door. The four athletic men in their matching black jumpsuits and helmets have exactly 35 seconds to perform numerous practiced routines — clutching each other's wrists and ankles, spinning their bodies around in precise formation — as gravity hurls them 6,000 feet downward. They are mere specks in the sky, freefalling without open parachutes at more than 100 miles an hour. As masters of this extreme sport, performed at equally extreme heights, they make it look easy, magical, like they're dancing in the wind. All eyes are upon these world-class sky divers. But few people in the crowd below can see them clearly; the choreography begins at 10,500 feet. These daring young men are members of the DeLand Majik team — Joey Jones, Doug Park, Gary Smith and Solly Williams. They perform fearlessly, usually flawlessly, hoping their artistry will be perfectly captured on camera by the team's videographer and aerial photographer, Jay Kaplan. That's the only way they'll score points with judges. Time's up, and the quartet breaks apart — about 4,000 feet above ground. Now, the chutes come out and the Majik men float back to the earth, followed by Kaplan and his video. It's an extreme sport, all right. But, members of the four- way sky diving team rarely consider the danger. It's the World Championships that are on their minds. They've already set a new world record, edging out the reigning champs. They want one thing — to be the best in the world. They're working hard to make that happen. And theirs is one of the most exciting stories in the world of sport sky diving. The Majik is in its infancy — but was already known as "the team to beat" on March 17, when the Florida Skydiving League Shamrock Showdown was held at Skydive DeLand. Smith, 37, and Williams, 39, are from South Africa and are veterans of that country's national team. They joined two former members of an Ameri can team, FX — Jones, 31, and Park, 36, — to form Majik. The four were no strangers to winning. The South Africans medalled in the 1997 World Championships; Jones and Park won a World Cup the following year. But, as a foursome, the Majik were an inexperienced team, having had a mere 299 jumps together. That's miniscule when compared to another team, the Arizona Airspeed, already world champions. "They have had at least 2,000 jumps together," Jones said of Airspeed. But, sometimes hard-working challengers can topple even the most experienced veteran teams. And the Majik are willing to do what it takes to achieve excellence. Team members say their training commands a demanding schedule. They work from 7 each morning until 10 p.m. or midnight, and training takes up a full two weeks a month. It's not all jumping from aircraft. Athletes all, the Majik run, lift weights, work out — and then do wind-tunnel training in Orlando. Team members work to keep themselves sharp mentally as well as physically fit. Their training regime is similar to that of an Olympic athlete or someone in professional sports on the world-class level. Theirs is not a high-paying championship sport — yet. "We work in the sport of sky diving, coaching other teams," Williams said. They earn their livings that way, he said. "Last year, we were on the road six months," Williams added. Sky diving takes the team around the world. In May, they plan to go to the Japanese Nationals and to the Swedish National Basic Camp. The World Championships will be in France next September. Their permanent residences, however, are all within two miles of DeLand Airport. That helps, since the members sky-dive — a lot. "Each of us has about 10,000 jumps on average," Jones said. "I'm the low man with 8,700." Competitive sky diving has about 40 formations. Twenty-two involve spinning each other around. Judges draw the formations out of a hat immediately before a meet. "Per jump, you have a sequence of five or six to do and you try to repeat as many as possible," Smith said. But, he added, teams don't know the order of the formations prior to their meets. Perhaps one of the most exciting meets ever occurred in DeLand in March. The brand-new Majik was pitted against the then-world champions, Arizona Airspeed. It was a match worthy of a Rocky movie. The Airspeed had never been defeated in competition during its three-year history. But already, "there was talk of us being the next world champions," prior to the March 17 meet, Kaplan said. The Majik's formation was the talk of the sport sky diving world, and the Airspeed members wanted to shut out their potential rivals. "They came here with a vengeance to shut us down, and they were fired up enough to set a new world record," Kaplan said of the Arizona team. But, there was one problem: The Majik followed Airspeed's last jump. And, DeLand delivered. Majik's video was handed in and the judges played it. It was as if every person in the entire airport was frozen still, staring at the screen; DeLand team members remember everyone breathlessly watching the Majik video on the event's TV monitors. The judges' next announcement shook the sport of sky diving: The minutes-old world record was shattered and the new team had ruined the Airspeed's winning streak. "That team had never been beaten before in three years, and they are two-time world medalists," Smith said, smiling as he remembered the victory. "It felt like magic," he quipped. That win, no doubt, will spark an intense rivalry between the two teams — but Majik is ready. A sign in the training room at Skydive DeLand reads: "Second Place is not an option!" Theirs is a highly competitive life. The guys admit they seek action. "If not for sky diving, we all would be doing something — rock climbing, racing bikes or some extreme sport," said Jones, an ex-Marine who is the only Majik member with a military parachuting background. "Doug used to be a downhill skier." "None of the rest of us had a military introduction into the sport, but we were all looking for an element of extreme activity," Williams said. "We were in search of adrenaline," Smith, the group's only married member, added. Majik — pronounced with a French accent — is a name representing "people living good lives and doing the right stuff," Jones said. "It isn't sleight of hand or black magic. It has to do with the way you live and the way you are." HICI Special Report — Skydiving: Parachuting Pleasures and Perils |
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