A Little History:
The
chronicle of tandem skydiving, like so many elements
of our sport, began with the vision and enthusiasm
of an experienced skydiver to try something new, and
more significantly, to be able to share the thrill of
freefall skydiving with someone else. It was 1977 and
most parachutes in use were "rounds".
Parachute technology was evolving but still far behind
today's sophisticated equipment and procedures.
The
skydiver took his wife as his first "Tandem Student," strapping
her into the same harness with him for the experiment.
Encouraged by the relative success, more jumps were made
by other skydivers, even some with children strapped
into their own separate harness and fastened to experienced
jumper's harness.
Intrigued by the possibilities of an actual training program
centered on tandem skydiving, Ted Strong and Bill Morrissey
began engineering the tandem concept into real equipment
made specifically for tandem jumping.
The
first Tandem Jump made on this newly engineered equipment
was made in January, 1983 with Ted Strong as the tandem
pilot and Ricky Meadows, an employee at Strong Enterprises,
the "Student."
Two and a half years and hundreds of experimental tandem
jumps resulted in tandem skydiving equipment and procedures
reaching an acceptable level of feasibility and more importantly,
safety. In the process, further
development produced major equipment innovations and advancements. In 1987,
US Patent #4,746,084 was issued to Strong Enterprises for this original and
pioneering work on three major tandem concepts.
Commitment to development and innovation continues at
Strong Enterprises every day in everything we do. We are
the parachute company with imagination!
Today, almost one million tandem skydives are made each
year, bringing the thrill of freefall skydiving to a vast
and more diverse audience than ever before.
