11:30am - We were standing beside the river, waiting for the next jumper (after a 10 minute delay) when we heard the flutter of a chute opening and then an odd loud thump. His chute came open only 25' before impact. We were only 200' from the accident.

Everyone's head turned and all you could see was a parachute on the water, slowly it floated behind a large rock.

Boats rushed over. Another boat came to shore & got a stretcher. After several minutes, the rescue boat (above) came to shore for a couple minutes and then went back down river.

No ambulance. Nothing. 10 minutes later , people started jumping again.

I talked to a guy who was standing with the daughter of Brian Lee Schubert. They had been discussing her father's jump.

It turns out that, Brian Schubert and Michael Pelkey were the pioneer BASE-jumpers. It all started with a leap off of Yosemite Valley's El Captian on July 24,1966. Both men received broken bones during the jump. This jump inspired a sport that would start 12 years later, called BASE-jumping.

The reason for the 10 minute delay was because they were celebrating his first jump in 40 years. Brian had also been guest speaker at the 2005 Bridge Day ceremony in Fayetteville, WV.

9:30am : a jumper (name unknown) had chute trouble and hit the water. He was still alive, according to State Police at the scene. He was transported to a hospital.I got a picture of his jump (with chute trouble?) just before he went below the tree line. His chute opened much later than normal.