– Skydiver Thomas LaRochelle

Sky divers thrill crowd

LEWISTON – Maddy Ballard, 5, and her brother Reece Daniels, 7, were staring at the sky Saturday afternoon searching for a plane.

“I see him! I see him!” exclaimed Reece when the Cessna became visible.

Like others at the Simard and Payne Memorial Park, the home of the Great Falls Balloon Festival, they were there to see the sky diving show.

An announcement from the Skydive New England booth told the crowd the four jumpers combined have made more than 20,000 jumps and hold eight world records. “They are trained,” the announcer said. “They know what they’re doing.” Two were jumping at an elevation of 3,000 feet, two at 5,000 feet.

Far above, the plane circled then dropped weighted streamers to determine wind direction.

Soon two jumped.

Perched on their parents’ shoulders, Maddy and Reece started cheering.

“It looks scary,” said the kids’ mother, Heidi Veilleux, as she stood next to her husband, Jason Ballard of Manchester.

At first the jumpers looked like tiny dots. The dots grew as they dropped.

High above they swirled. Smoke came from their shoes, allowing the public to track them and give a bit of a show.

As the first two jumpers came close to the ground they kicked their feet and grinned.

The first landed on his feet, then the second. The crowd cheered and applauded as the stars waved, dragging their chutes.

Soon all eyes went back up for the second team. Two more dots emerged from the plane. They seemed to hang around in the air. Since they were higher, their descent took a bit longer. They performed swirls and turns. Their performance parachutes allow them to steer. All of a sudden they seemed to drop fearsomely fast.

They came in with their legs extended in a sitting position, thrilling the crowd.

More cheers and applause, waves and smiles.

“That’s pretty impressive,” said Jason Ballard. “I can’t believe how fast that guy came in.”

His son’s reaction was that he would not want to jump out of a plane, “but I would want the smoke shoes,” Reece said.

Nearby, Gerald Nicholas of Lewiston was with his grandson, Bryce Dufour. Little Bryce was on the cell phone, giving a skydiving report to his father. “We loved it,” Nicholas said. “They were coming in very fast. I’m surprised they stopped like they did.”

Close by them, Nancy Jackson of Lewiston was all smiles. “This was my first time seeing something that close up. I think it was pretty cool. Wouldn’t catch me doing it.”

One of the jumpers was Thomas LaRochelle of Brookline, N.H. The jumps “went the way we planned it,” LaRochelle said, still wearing his chute. “We were concerned about winds and weather (thunderstorm) coming in.” Streamers dropped from the plane told them the wind direction, which was critical. The first pair of jumpers, which included LaRochelle, wanted to jump into the wind, which would slow them down.

The second pair, Steve Feldman of Boston and Skydiving New England owner Mike Carpenter of Lebanon, Maine, “wanted to do downwinders,” he explained. “They hook it around, nose it down” and fly with the wind. “They were going 60 miles an hour across the grass,” LaRochelle said with a grin.

LaRochelle said skydivers jump “because it’s a lot of fun. Dennis and I have been doing it 37 years. We’re pretty careful with it. We’re still here, still doing it, enjoying it.

The best part, LaRochelle said, “is when I step off the airplane … and all the way down to the ground. I live for that adrenaline rush.”

Weather permitting, skydivers are scheduled to jump between noon and 2 p.m Sunday, the final day of the festival. Skydivers may attempt to jump from a balloon Sunday evening if conditions permit, said festival logistics director Mike Theriault.

Balloon launches are scheduled for 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Sunday.