Water Jump
 

For you legs and cherries out there who have never made a water jump before, here is what it looks like at Shark DZ in lovely Key West.

TR

Are these done in scuba gear? Looks like fun.

Not unless you have a SCUBA mission.

They can be fun.

TR

We included five water jumps in the SAR course in the 8th SFGA in the Canal Zone. Two were two w/SCUBA and the last included a 1000+ M underwater swim. The JM, I took my turn, could develope some good stone bruises on his hand from "helping" the jumpers up and out the door. I am on a different computere so refer to:
http://www.sfcommo.com/memoriesofasp...ldier/id8.html

OTOH we conducted monthly "Hollywood" water jumpers for physical profiles, VIPs and the just plain sick, lame and lazy who had enough horsepower to get on.

BTW: The water in TR's picture looks like it could make for an interesting swim to shore.

I did a water jump at "Wood Lake Drop Zone" in beautiful Fayetteville, North Carolina. We jumped in PT clothes (shorts, t-shirt, running shoes) with added B-7 life preservers for those that might experience difficulty in the water. They were unnecessary (for me, anyway) as the reserve floated pretty well. The unit ran us through a water training program to be qualified for the jump, which included a 50 meter swim in full uniform with LBE and weapon, a 10 meter blind drop into the pool, and extracting one's self from beneath a collapsed and soaked parachute canopy.

The jump itself took place on a fabulously warm day in June. It was a great experience; one of my top three jumps.

Nice. Looks like the guy in front is parasailing. Is that PR?

No my comment in the intital post, "Shark DZ in lovely Key West" referred to Key West, FLORIDA, not Key West, PUERTO RICO.

Right ocean though.

TR

Sorry bout that. I skipped the words and went straight to the picture. I tend to do things like that. :D

The fun part ends when you haul your butt out of the water and spend the next half hour rinsing the salt water out of the chute. Water jumps where fun for everyone except the guys at Key West that got tasked to support the damn VIP jumps. I remember having to "escort" the XVIII Deputy CG to Key West so he could "experience" a water jump. The most amusing thing about that episode was the look on his face and that of his aide when they were told that the name of the DZ was Shark DZ. I think that they spent more time scanning the water for sillouettes of large sea creatures than they did paying attention to the direction of the wind. The aide got so wrapped up in becoming a fish snack he neglected to activate his canopy release assembly when he hit the water and was heading for Cuba with a chase boat close on his heals.

Jack Moroney

If its the same Hsu, I was an Infantry LT with the current CDQC commander.

First Water Jump - Bad Memories
 

For you old-time Bragg guys:

My first water jump was in late '72 into MacArthur Lake. It was a sport jump out of a Huey. The J/M was SFC Joseph "Batman" Barbarik; one helluva guy! It was one of his last jumps he made before going to Golden Knight Tryouts. He made the Team and was going on his first trip when he and 13 others were killed in the C-47 crash in March 73 in Chatham County, NC. I was fortunate to know and jumped with some of the others.

I went on to do several more water jumps in Panama and Yuma. COL M, looks like you and I are the only ones to shake a wet chute. Dave

Holy resurrected ancient post, Loggie!

TR

Para-SCUBA
 

This is a Hollywood Para-SCUBA jump. Just the dive and parachute equipment.

pics
 

Great pics guys !

Sirs

During a water jump on a dark night, are you coming in blind or are there visual queues?