SUSSEX — It's the anticipation. A shaky converse sneaker on a ledge, a torrent of wind and the view of Earth, miles off the ground. Grab your harness, take a breath and jump. But don't worry, Rich Winstock and Kurt Kellinger have your back. Between the two new owners of Skydive Sussex, they have 25,000 jumps under their billowy parachutes.
On an unusually cool day for August, the ground still saturated from the previous nights rain, a trio of young men, just on the cusp of adulthood sit and wait for their turn to take their first jump. They just turned 18, the minimum age required to jump, and excitedly await their turn to tandem jump with one of the thoroughly skilled skydivers.
"This is going to be my big hurrah before I go off to college," says Eli Cehelyk, his eyes wide. "My mom knows I'm doing this, she's not thrilled about it, but she's letting me do it cause I always wanted to. I can't wait to see the view."
Jesse Stricof admits some fear.
"Taking that first step out of the plane and putting my foot on the ledge will be the hardest part," he says. "But I really want to do it, and I feel it is very safe. I have friends who are at the shore today and they have a bigger chance of being eaten by a shark."
Stricof pauses. "I anticipate a few seconds of pure fear followed by exhilaration."
Skydive Sussex has been reopened and under new ownership by longtime friends Rich Winstock and Kurt Kellinger. Since June, both Winstock and Kellinger have cleaned up the overgrown drop zone, repainted and breathed new life into Skydive Sussex. Booking more than 50 jumps a day and bringing much appreciated business to the local deli's and gas stations of Wantage township, the two friends feel that with their strict safety guidelines, and love and respect of Skydiving, they can not only turn Skydive Sussex into a success, but also change people's perception of the sport.
"The media always focuses on the rare times something goes wrong and portrays skydiving as something that only crazy thrill seeking adrenalin junkies do, but you would be surprised to know that we have done jumps with mothers, grandmothers, lawyers, teachers, elderly folks and paraplegics," explains Kellinger, who is a retired Port Authority police officer and received a medal of honor in 9/11.
"One of the oldest gentlemen I did a jump with was in his 80s and he told me the last time he jumped was when he was in Normandy. I was honored to be able to tandem with him," says Kellinger.
Both partners use their laid back sense of humor to relax the nervous first time skydiver.
"I could tell you statistics, such as you have a bigger chance of getting into an accident on your drive home from us than jumping from the plane, but I find getting more personal with our customers is a better way to relax them and make the jump enjoyable," says Winstock.
"Whenever I do a jump with a mom, I always tell them that I am a father of three, that piece of personal information helps them trust me, and you always want to trust your instructor. All of my employees are trained to sense the mood of a jumper and can use humor to joke around when someone is nervous," he says.
Although Skydive Sussex's focus right now is on tandem jumps, Winstock and Kellinger have big plans to eventually open up a skydiving school, which has already been approved by the town. They plan on getting a much larger aircraft that will be able to take 20 people at a time into the sky; currently their plane can take two jumpers at a time. Having worked in the field and seen what other skydiving drop zones do, Winstock and Kellinger have a clear vision of what they want Skydive Sussex to become.
"The most important thing the community should know about Skydive Sussex is that we are USPA certified instructors and group members who abide by the governing body of rules and enforce safety," explains Winstock. "We abide by all policies and procedures and if you are going to skydive always call and ask if it's a USPA drop zone."
Safety first, thrills second, Winstock and Kellinger explain the advanced technology of parachutes and answers the question every first time jumper asks — "Do you have a reserve?"
"Not only do we have a reserve parachute which is only packed by a certified rigger, but if the instructor is for some reason knocked unconscious, there is a computer system that can detect this and will automatically deploy the reserve," says Winstock.
For Winstock and Kellinger, the thrill of jumping out of a plane has not subsided. They both get a kick out of first time jumpers and achieve such a genuine thrill from the energy of their customers.
"This may be my 20th jump of the day but it's your first jump of your life," says Winstock. "We still never get bored even after all the jumps we do because we feed off of the energy of people, and introducing them to this sport is a real thrill."
Kellinger agrees.
"Look, you sign that waiver realizing that your not signing up for tennis, your getting in a plane and jumping out, that's a big accomplishment, it can be life changing for many people, and the anticipation, the waiting and fear of the unknown is the hardest part, but when you land you walk out of here like Top Gun and are like, man, I just jumped out of a plane," Kellinger says.
Both owners also are deeply involved in helping charities such as Wounded Warriors, Special Olympics and Make a Wish Foundation. Winstock once made 40 jumps in one day for a little girl with sickle cell anemia who's wish was to go to Disney. He also did a tandem jump with a woman who was paralyzed at age 16. When they landed, she cried her eyes out. It is moments like this that stay with Winstock and Kellinger.