The women, members of Skydive Philadelphia, are taking consecutive skydives - 100 in one day - at the Pennridge Airport in Perkasie.
|Updated Tue, Jul 18, 2023 at 11:53 pm ET
PERKASIE, PA — Four skydiving women are taking to the sky today above Bucks County today in an attempt to break a Pennsylvania women’s skydiving record and raise money for charity.
The women, all from the Delaware Valley and members of Skydive Philadelphia, are taking consecutive skydives - 100 in one day - at the Pennridge Airport at 1300 School House Road. The community is invited to come out, enjoy some food and watch the record being broken.
Between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. on July 18, the women - Kelly Teel, Sheryl Benner, Jordan Lynch and Risa Alfieri - are taking 25 lower altitude jumps today during a series of “Hop and Pops” from about 3500 feet.
“You basically hop in and you pop out,” said Teel of Sellersville, noting that a typical dive for the women is from 10,000 and 12,000 feet. The “Hop and Pop” eliminates the free fall part of the dive giving the skydivers more time to break the record.
“It’s a lot to do in a day,” admits Benner, whose previous high was 14 skydives in a day.
Find out what's happening in Doylestownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“It gets the adrenaline pumping,” adds Teel, whose previous high was eight jumps. “Before I was a mom I’d spend all day at the drop zone. I’d be jumping my heart out. So I would imagine that by the end of the day we’re going to be exhausted. But we’re going to have a great team behind us. We have people who will be packing our parachutes for us and our husbands will be there to support us. I’m ready for the challenge. And my kids are really excited as well.”
When Benner, of Quakertown, isn’t driving a tractor-trailer for UPS, she’s jumping out of airplanes. “It’s a hobby,” she said. “But I also do it competitively. Last year we won gold in advance with myself and my teammates. It’s a pretty awesome sport.”
Jordan has 470 skydives. On Jordan’s 3rd instructional skydive, she lost her shoe right out the door! Worried as to how she was going to land with only one shoe- she managed to make it! Jordan is an operating room nurse and enjoys longboarding, snowboarding , reading, and the movies in her downtime.
Sheryl has been skydiving for over 10 years and has over 3,800 skydives under her belt. Sheryl has competed in every USPA Nationals event since 2012. Sheryl is a UPS driver by night and skydiver by day. When she is not or working; Sheryl enjoys hiking, stargazing and anything in nature.
Risa has been skydiving for over 10 years and has over 1500 skydives. She was so afraid of planes as a child and teen that she made her family take a train to Florida for vacation. My, have things changed for Risa. Risa is a clinical psychologist and enjoys birding and snowboarding when she is not working or skydiving.
For Teel, aka Skykitten, jumping out of airplanes is all about fun. The mother of two who works full time as a social worker said the sport offers rest and relaxation from a hectic schedule. Kelly now has about 1,500 skydives.
Jordan, who works as a nurse in an operating room, has 470 skydives. On Jordan’s third instructional skydive, she lost her shoe right out the door. Worried as to how she was going to land with only one shoe, she managed to make it.
Risa has been skydiving for more than 10 years and has over 1500 skydives. She was so afraid of planes as a child and teen that she made her family take a train to Florida for vacation. My, have things changed for Risa, a clinical psychologist.
The women were motivated to action last year when a colleague from Skydive Philadelphia, Chris Howard, set the state record for the most consecutive jumps - 101 jumps. He raised money for Bucks4Kids which helps support foster children in the county.
“We took that idea and ran with it and wanted to do it again this year to benefit another charity,” said Teel.
The women chose Rest Connections as their charity. The Quakertown-based organization provides services to vulnerable and at-risk women, empowering them to achieve social and economic independence. Check them out at restconnection.org.
“We liked the connection of women setting the record and women empowering each other,” said Kelly. “We thought they would be a great organization to support.”
Donations can be made to the effort through its Venmo account and its GoFundMe page.
“Come out and cheer on the women while they set the record,” says a Facebook posting by Skydive Philadelphia. “Activities for the kids! There is limited seating so bring a blanket or chairs to stay and watch.”
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.