World skydiving champion Jessie Farrington of Shelton, who will be 77 in September, continues to skydive five or six times per week.
Her love of family and sport have been central throughout her life. Since she was 15 years old, she has jumped from planes more than 10,000 times.
Farrington holds numerous gold medals and championship awards and has been featured on the cover of Parachutist Magazine several times, particularly for her participation in complex skydiver formations.
“Skydiving allows you to fly like a bird. It’s the sensation of flying, not falling,” Farrington said. “When you’re in the sky, it’s just total freedom.”
Kapowsin Air Sports, the family drop zone launched at Shelton by Jessie and her husband Jeff in 1979, is the largest skydiving center in the Northwest.
The two of them and their two adult children are involved in running the business, which will eventually pass to their grandchildren. Previously, Farrington’s father had operated Thun Field Skydivers at the site since 1964.
Besides skydiving, Farrington helps manage the manifest, which is the heart of the drop zone coordination system consisting of log bookings and registrations, load organizing and communications among pilots, ground crew and instructors.
As needed, she also greets visitors, drives the truck to pick up skydivers after their jumps, and fills in at the site’s commercial kitchen. She said she loves teaching and coaching others as her main focus these days.
But freefalling and soaring at a height of 13,000 feet above the ground excites her as much as it always has.
“What I like doing is formation skydiving. Normally, I jump with four to 20 people, and we make a variety of formations, constantly changing and flying around each other,” Farrington said. “As an older person, it’s something I’m as good at, or better than, many younger people because I’ve been doing it for so long. My shoulders are still strong, and I don’t yet see any reason to quit.”
Farrington learned to jump from her father, a World War II fighter pilot, who was still an active skydiver at age 85.
Later, she and Jeff taught their own children to skydive, although their first unofficial dives occurred in utero as Farrington continued to compete in championships.
“What I’m most proud of is that both of my kids became world champion skydivers, and that I taught them,” Farrington said. “It’s going to be great fun helping my grandkids learn, too.”
Farrington’s daughter Keri Bell is an accomplished formation skydiver who is a member of the Highlight all-female skydiving demonstration team. She has also been featured on the cover of Parachutist Magazine.
Their son, Andy Farrington, is a member of the Red Bull Air Force, an elite group of world class aviation and skydiver athletes. He has also won multiple gold medals in aerial competitions.
Including nieces, nephews and in-laws, the family has more than a dozen multi-generational skydivers. Farrington is looking forward to training her five grandchildren in the sport. The oldest is currently 13 years old.
Among Jessie Farrington’s honors: In 1993, at the Western Washington Fair in Puyallup, she won first place in landing accuracy among 40 other nationally recognized champion skydivers known for exact pinpoint landings.
At a skydiving competition in Switzerland, she landed precisely on a 3-centimeter disk placed on a mountain slope.
In 1999 in Thailand, a world record was set when Farrington and 281 others — including her husband, daughter and son — made a skydiving formation as part of birthday celebrations for the king.
Farrington has participated in skydiving championships and events throughout the world. She noted skydiving has universal appeal and, as compared to other sports, almost anyone can participate regardless of age or skill level.
Clients at Kapowsin have come from Columbia, India, Mexico, Europe, China, Australia and other places across the world.
Farrington said the use of wing suits, also known as squirrel suits, is currently popular. With additional side fabric silhouetting like a flying squirrel, one falls at about 70 mph rather than the usual 120 mph. With these suits, skydivers are able to stay up longer, prolonging their ability to make complex, shifting formations with other divers in the sky before their parachutes open.
Entering the business at Shelton airfield, one is in the office, shop and dining area. A door leads to inside a large hangar where long rows of colorful skydiving helmets, suits and equipment hang on the walls and where returning skydivers claim an area on the floor to pile their own gear. An exit leads to four jump aircraft belonging to the business.
The walls throughout Kapowsin Air Sports feature photos, articles and awards accumulated over the years, presenting a visible family history of accomplishment and a welcoming, friendly ambiance.
Tallied daily, the Kapowsin Air Sports website this week had cited 321,437 skydives, including 32,635 tandem jumps with beginners, 175,478 experienced jumps, and a total of 190,651 airplane loads since the drop zone began.
Farrington said at the Kapowsin dropzone they’ve never had anyone say they were sorry that they had tried skydiving, and that only very few have said they were glad to have done it but once was enough.
“I think everyone should try skydiving; it’s truly a safe sport and so exhilarating,” Farrington said.
As for her own recreational skydiving, she said has no intention of quitting any time soon, adding, “It’s been an incredible ride.”
To learn more, visit skydivekapowsin.com.
