Skydiver, 93, gets thrill of lifetime

Three generations of one family did a sky dive Friday onto Coquina Beach, led by 93-year-old patriarch Lawrence Robinson.

“It was absolutely wonderful; you see so much from out there,” said Robinson after his 4:15 p.m. jump, which started two miles up and ended neatly on the beach near Longboat Pass, only a few yards from a small red blanket that served as a target.

Asked if he was scared — during the first 45 seconds of the dive, he plummeted at 125 mph — Robinson smiled and replied, “Oh, no, they make it so easy for you. They help you all the way through.”

He did take one precaution younger members of his family didn’t have to do: He removed his false teeth before jumping from the plane, so they wouldn’t blow away.

The snowbird, a retiree who hails from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, did a tandem sky dive arranged by Suncoast Skydiving, a private company. The plane took off from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.

During a tandem sky dive, both student and instructor are harnessed to the same parachute system, according to the Suncoast Skydiving Web site.

Robinson jumped first; on a second run was his daughter, Diane Candido, 67, of Bruce Mines, Ontario, Canada; and then his granddaughter, Kelly Robinson, 31, who lives in the Toronto area, they said.

A jolly crowd of family members and friends watched on the beach as the plane carrying Lawrence Robinson whined above.

Shortly after his jump, the gray specks in the clouds came into focus. Robinson was floating beneath colorful parachutes above the surf.

The crowd cheered and clapped as Robinson, gasping with exhilaration, touched down safely with his instructor.

“He was a model student, as good as any 20-year-old,” was the verdict of tandem instructor John Ledbetter, of Sarasota.

Then it was Candido and Kelly Robinson who took a turn later in the afternoon.

After the jump, Kelly Robinson exclaimed: “It was unbelievable, amazing.”

Candido explained that her father had always been adventurous, and that he had passed that trait to younger family members.

Earlier in his life, he had enjoyed scuba diving and loved to travel, she said.

Age hasn’t dimmed his enthusiasm for life, she noted.

“It’s genes; my father passed on his genes, and we all like to do adventurous things,” she said. “And we all love Florida.”

Friday was a first for Suncoast Skydiving owner Paul Erbele, of Ellenton, who said Lawrence Robinson was the oldest client his firm had ever helped jump.

The skydivers jumped from 10,500 feet, plummeting in free fall at 125 mph for 45 seconds; once the parachute canopy emerges at 5,000 feet, it takes six to eight minutes to reach the beach, Erbele added.

He scoffed at the suggestion that such activities might be dangerous.

“We’ve done thousands of beach jumps, and nobody’s even gotten a toe wet,” he said.

Lawrence Robinson made his first jump last month and loved it so much he wanted a repeat; his daughter and granddaughter were jumping for the first time, they said.

“Because of his age, I’m full of admiration for him,” commented John Case, 69, of Sussex, England, one of Lawrence Robinson’s friends celebrating on the beach.

“Jumping out of a plane at 93! — marvelous man!” Case said.

Sara Kennedy, Herald reporter, can be reached at (941) 745-7031.