The sky’s the limit

Shyenne Bryant broke the Florida state record for most skydives in a single day on April 21 with an impressive 78 jumps [Courtesy of Shyenne Bryant].

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Posted May 1, 2024 | By Caroline Brauchler
caroline@ocalagazette.com

As one Ocala woman plummeted toward the earth for the 78^th time in 24 hours, she broke the Florida state record for most skydives in a single day.

Skydiving enthusiast Shyenne Bryant is not your average skydiver—apart from setting this impressive record, she’s also afraid of heights. Just over a year ago, Bryant turned to Central Florida Skydiving to fuel her adrenaline-seeking personality and get over her fear of heights in a sky-high way.

“It’s definitely an adrenaline high, even once you come down and get back on the ground,” Bryant said. “It’s a pretty special feeling.”

Bryant, 26,  went skydiving for the first time in April of last year and said she “just instantly fell in love with it.” In her first year of skydiving alone, she logged an impressive 430 jumps.

“I’ve been pretty certain my whole life that I never wanted to skydive,” Bryant said. “I’ve had a pretty intense fear of heights my whole life—I actually still do.”

Bryant set out to break the record not long ago, when on a regular day she logged 10 jumps and said she wished she could do it all day long. On April 21, she and her team originally set out to break the Florida state women’s overall record for most skydives in 24 hours by jumping 50 times.

By 1 p.m., Bryant had logged 40 jumps. Seeing that there was plenty of daylight left, she set her sights even higher.

“I am naturally a competitive and ambitious person,’’ Bryant said. “I kind of like looked around to my team and my support, and I said, ‘I think we can do it. I think we can break the overall record for the state.’”

The team consisted of two planes, two pilots, two people packing the parachutes, three parachutes, and even three or four people helping Bryant get dressed and geared up between jumps.

Since discovering her passion, Bryant has become a coach at Central Florida Skydiving, helping people feel safe and comfortable for their jumps, helping them improve at the skill and videotaping them with a camera through the air.

Bryant offered great thanks to Donnie Hickey, the drop zone owner at Central Florida Skydiving. Hickey also was one of the pilots taking Bryant up to 3,500 feet in altitude and getting her back to the ground within six-minute rotations.

A typical skydiving trip takes you up to 10,000 feet in altitude and provides about 45 seconds of freefall. To break the record, Bryant jumped from 3,500 feet in altitude and experienced five seconds or less of freefall to jump 78 times.

Bryant spent about $4,500 to break the record, including for the cost of the jumps, the pilots’ time, the aircraft time and to compensate the parachute packers.

“I went on my first skydive right there in Dunnellon at Central Florida Skydiving, mainly, I think, to prove to myself that I could do it and that my mind was strong,” she said.

Bryant said the people she has met along the way have helped her form a tight-knit community, all of whom share the same exhilarating passion.

“I’ve known the people for a year now and I consider some of them my closest friends and I even consider some of them my family at this point,” Bryant said.

She isn’t just an adrenaline-seeker in her free time. For her day job, Bryant owns the Dakota Sport Horses farm and works as a professional competitive horse show jumper.

“I just have never turned down an adventure,” Bryant said.

Next, Bryant hopes to earn her license to become a tandem instructor to take others skydiving with her. She can do so in two years when she meets the requirements for the amount of time participating in the sport and has already met the requirements for the number of jumps logged.

“This is just the beginning and the tip of the iceberg,” she said. “I’m looking to set many more records. Hopefully, I can take them even nationally and globally eventually.”