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Skydive Grand Haven: Man who died was experienced, made too low of a turn

Posted at 2:27 PM, Aug 21, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-21 14:27:30-04

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. – A lakeshore skydiving group says that a fatal accident last weekend was caused when the skydiver made a turn too close to the ground.

Paul Van Vuuren of Atlanta, Nebraska, died Saturday at the Grand Haven airport while taking part in the Dink, Dink, Boogie event where a couple hundred of skydivers had gathered.  Van Vuuren fell approximately 50 feet when witnesses had said his parachute had collapsed.

Skydive Grand Haven, which was hosting the event, says that Van Vuuren was an experienced skydiver who had made hundreds of jumps. They say that Van Vuuren’s equipment did not fail, but that he executed a turn too close to the ground and was not able to recover. They say that not making turns close to the ground is one of the foundational rules in skydiving.

In the post on Facebook, Skydive Grand Haven says that the weekend’s events featured hundreds of experienced skydivers using smaller and faster parachutes than normally used in the tandem skydiving offered at the facility.