To the general public, Patrick Swayze—who died at age 57 this week—will best be remembered for the films Dirty Dancing and Ghost. To skydivers of the day he’ll be remembered for Point Break. And for two reasons. First, Swayze took up skydiving at Perris Valley so that he could film many of the skydiving scenes himself. According to co-star Keanu Reeves, the production company issued Swayze a cease-and-desist order to stop skydiving; he kept jumping anyway. Along the way he joined USPA and earned his A license. Second, the movie’s release in 1991 brought a flood of first-jump customers out to DZs nationwide. Those customers didn’t find skydivers bantering in five-minute freefalls, but many did find a sport of their own as shown by USPA’s membership totals. Membership rose from 20,000 at the end of 1990 to 26,150 in 1992, and steady increases in subsequent years. Thanks, Patrick, for boosting our sport. Blue Skies.
September 16, 2009 at 3:37 pm |
This is a terrible loss, for his wife-first, then for his extended family and friends, then for Hollywood. He was a great actor and now cancer took his life. Well, life is short and the unexpected does happen!
October 23, 2009 at 8:12 pm |
To quote Patrick “100% pure adrenaline, some guys snort a line for it, jab a vein for it, all you gotta do is jump.”
You will be missed by many Patrick
October 24, 2009 at 8:00 am |
I saw the Point Break when I had 7K+ jumps.
Untill this day I think that this movie portrait the pure spirit of the skydiving. No one movie after that was even close to the fun and rush presented to a general public.
Thank you Patric.
November 21, 2009 at 4:44 pm |
When I saw Point Break I was a young man, I was so impressed by that movie that I knew it (skydiving) was something I wanted to try. Fast forward to ten years later I eventually got my license and I still jump every chance I can get! The cheapest high, w/o involving drugs and illegal ways of life!! Thank you Patrick for showing me that life, skydiving.