Vertical Disparity's
Roy Schermerhorn!!

Evan, Roy and Simon

Roy Schermerhorn is almost as famous for his skydiving as he is for his world reknowned title of "Father of the Year". Being one of 36 children himself, it's no wonder he knows how to take good care of his kids. The rest of the team sucks that right up, too, always whining for ice cream and for Roy to tell them a story. (I just don't think Cathy fully appreciated being put over his knee when she got a bit lippy with him. Be a good girl, Cathy and do what Daddy Roy tells you.)

Needless to say, girls, Roy's happily married. But I think he has plenty of single brothers, and his kids, well, don't get excited. They're not only still in training, I think Linda's got first dibs on them.

It was pretty easy to get an interview with Roy. We didn't have to look far for him, and all we had to do was change Evan's diapers while Roy gave Simon a bath, and the interview happened kinda naturally. We think some of the answers will surprise you:

• Q: Isn't it tough skydiving with kids, Roy?

• A: Not at all! In fact, I'm skydiving more than I ever have! I've got 1100 jumps now, and most of them just last week!

• Q: Why do you like doing 8-way?

  A: Satisfaction of successful jumps with smooth exits, a reasonable number of points, fast recoveries when things do go wrong, and safe flying with people I trust and like.

  Q: Why do you compete?

  A: It's the motivator to keep meeting the challenge of improving, and, again, provides satisfyingly successful and safe jumps even in practice with a group of people I like. Competitions themselves are exciting in their own high stress way.

  Q: What's your favorite block?

  A: Oh, just about any block I don't have to key.

  Q: Hmmmm... Interesting factoid, Scherm! So, what was your most memorable skydive?

  A: Exiting right rear Otter on a formation attempt and flying over the base to a slot just left of the "back" of a POPS record attempt. Felt more like being a high performance aircraft than any other experience, the visuals were great, and it was a very effective way to get there (if anything too soon for others going around to the back) I was awesome.

  Q: I think I remember that dive. You cut me off! Well, that was then and this is now. And, I know you don't get much time to think to yourself, but did you ever have any profound thoughts on skydiving???

  A: It's the challenge of the sport aspect and the people that keep us coming back, not the thrill.

  Q: Wow. I think I was all wrong about you! Hey, let's say we wrap this up and go get a scotch.

  A: Let's make it a double.

E-mail Scherm with your questions!

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