Pensacola News Journal does a write up on Psycho Bob and our boogie.. A Nice read…
For someone who says he’s afraid of heights, Robert Collins loves to fly.
[Glad to know it's not just the ESC staff who are scared of heights! - SRN]
Just about every weekend, the 45-year-old Pensacola resident clambers aboard a small plane, climbs to 13,000 feet and leaps joyfully out into the wild, blue yonder.
The big blond guy with the cherubic grin, also known as “Psycho Bob,” is a skydiver.
Collins spends most weekends at Emerald Coast Skydiving Center in Elberta, Ala., but he and two other area jumpers are heading to Nha Trang, Vietnam, for the first skydiving “boogie,” or gathering, to be hosted there, Feb. 22 to March 7. Skydive Vietnam will feature about 200 skydivers and is organized by Extreme Sports Cafe. Last year, the group of international skydivers went to Laos.
“It’s a big deal, and I get to be a part of it,” he said.
But what about that fear of heights?
“I’m the kind of person who hates to climb a ladder, but I have no problem jumping or flying,” said Collins, who learned to fly a plane at age 14 and has been employed by an air traffic controller at Pensacola Regional Airport since 1994. “It’s such a rush. I love it.”
His love affair with skydiving began in 2004, after a “big time wake-up call.”
“I was 39 and suffered a collapsed lung from smoking,” he said. “It was serious. The doctor said he hoped my affairs were in order.”
Collins vowed that he would change his life, and with the support of his wife, Patty, began living it to the fullest. Skydiving was at the top of his “To Do” list.
The first time
His first jump was a tandem-jump with Rick “Barefoot Broken Boner” Payne, a tandem instructor and senior rigger at Emerald Coast Skydiving Center.
“Honestly, I don’t remember much about that jump, just that I loved it,” he said, chuckling. “I was hooked.”
Payne will attend the Vietnam skydive and described Collins as one of his favorite students.
“Robert has the spirit for the sport, of wanting to have fun and just loving life,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Out of approximately 5,500 tandem jumps during his instructing career, Payne has had only two students back out.
“I never had to worry about that with Bob,” he said.
Indeed, after that initial leap in 2004, Collins became a licensed skydiver and now racks up 125 to 150 jumps a year.
Serious jumpers pay around $1,500 to get their license, then another $5,000 or so for their own gear, Collins said, “But after that, it’s just $22 to go up and jump at Emerald Coast,” he said.
Not just for ‘maniacs’
Both Collins and Payne said the biggest misconception about skydivers is that they are a group of thrill-seeking “maniacs.”
“They say we’ve got a death wish, but it’s the exact opposite. We have a life wish,” Payne said.
“It’s not just for adrenaline junkies,” Collins said. “Come out to Emerald Coast one weekend, and you’ll see everyone from grandparents to military guys. You get all kinds.”
Skydiving isn’t Collins’ only adrenaline rush.
He has made several BASE (Building Antenna Span Earth) jumps from the 876-foot New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia (seriously injuring his back on his first leap in 2005), paraglided off of a mountain in Jackson Hole, Wyo., went hang gliding at Lookout Mountain and hung from the top wing of stunt pilot Freddie Cabanas’ Pitts Special biplane while it flew inverted.
The Thomasville, Ga., native doesn’t shrug off the inherent danger of his high-flying interests.
“It’s a calculated risk you are taking every time,” he said.
Collins wears a closing pin (used to deploy a reserve parachute) on a necklace to remind himself, “how quick things can change.”
Chute didn’t open
He recalled his first real scare, during his 17th skydive.
“The main chute malfunctioned and I had to cut it away,” he said. “But I didn’t panic. All of my training kicked in, and it was like Rick’s voice was right there in my head, telling me what I should do.”
“It was kind of exciting,” he added, with a smile.
Excitement is on the mind of Collins’ jump buddy, Kevin “Elvis” King, who is ready to hit the beaches of Nha Trang.
“We’ll be jumping out of these big, classic, Cold War-era planes, which is very cool,” said King, 41, a Navy flight instructor stationed in Pensacola. “One of the planes can only slow down to 200 miles per hour, which is going to make exiting from it really different.”
He described skydiving as “the most exhilarating, freeing thing you can ever do.”
“Guys like Bob and Rick make it look so easy. It’s something you want to do again and again,” he said.
Collins, due to retire in four years, said he’d like to build his “extreme sports” resume and eventually assist those seeking their own adrenaline adventures.
“I would love to kind of guide people through these crazy things they’ve always wanted to do, but haven’t,” he said. “You only get one chance at life, so make the most of it.”
Rebecca Ross
Pensacola News Journal
