Beware the Invaders
By Liz Mann

The tradition of the Cross Keys Florida Invasion started in 1995 when a small caravan of Cross Keys, New Jersey, jumpers packed their shorts and t-shirts and headed south. In 1996, the group started bringing students and newer skydivers to join the fun and finish their training. The latest invasion at Skydive Sebastian included Cross Keys instructors and student gear. Instructor Kim Worthington introduced the idea of including tunnel coaching to complement student training.

The two-week Invasion started December 20 and included 56 jumpers plus 20 staff members, making it the biggest Invasion ever. The most satisfying aspect of the Invasion was the steep learning curve created with the addition of tunnel time at the Skyventure wind tunnel in Orlando. Students and licensed jumpers spent 25 hours in the tunnel, resulting in huge leaps in everyone’s skill level.

With great weather and temperatures in the upper 70s for most of the event, skydivers kept the Twin Otter and Caravan turning with more than 1,900 jumps in 13 days. Emmet Buchanan organized formation skydives, and Yonatan Ran and Lajeunesse from CK1 Freefly organized tracking dives and freefly jumps. Pilot Mark Schmid flew his first night jumps on New Year’s Eve and gave a great spot.

Skydive Sebastian topped it all off with a New Year’s bang. Wendy Waller and Noemi Soos organized a terrific light show on New Year’s Eve, and Skydive Sebastian threw a great party.

In the end, Cross Keys invaders enjoyed a full two weeks of jumping (without gloves), amazing sunsets over palm trees and plenty of accomplishments to boast.

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