01:27 PM PDT on Wednesday, August 10, 2005

By JOHN STOFFLET / Evening Magazine

Why jump from a perfectly good airplane? If you're a "pond swooper," you do it because the landing is so much fun – that is, if you live to tell about it.

Andy loves excitement!

Kapowsin, Washington, is home to some of the best pond swoopers in America.

A lot of people jump from airplanes, but it's the way Andy Farrington lands that grabs your attention.

"When you're doing 70 mph, a little mistake is going to be a big one, so a lot of concentration going on there,” said Andy Farrington.

“That's a little scary. We have a little joke here that I keep telling him. If he kills himself, there will be no rest in peace, that iI will jump on his grave every single day," said Andy’s mom.

Andy is one of the world's best "pond swoopers." In this daredevil sport, advanced sky divers use a high performance parachute and turn into a steep dive to build up speed... just seconds before landing.

Swoopers skim at high speeds across a pond on landing.

"You come ripping across the pond dragging your toe, leaving a pretty good-sized rooster tail,” explained Andy.

Sometimes it's not your toe that's dragging, sometimes you’re swimming, and sometimes you're not.

"It's exhilarating, just that fact that you're gonna start coming at the ground so fast and different things, and how precisely you need to do it to make sure everything turns out good,” said Keri, Andy’s sister.

During a pond swooping competition back East, Andy unintentionally demonstrated how not to land.

"Pretty much the next thing I knew I was upside down in the water. It caught me by surprise… a little reality check," said Andy.

"That was a spectacular crash and we hope we don't have to see very many more of those,” said Andy’s mom. “But I have a lot of confidence in him and these other guys and we work at being as safe as possible."

Andy is moving close to 70 mph. At speeds like that, there's no margin for error and if you think this sport is death-defying, wait till you find out what he went through when he was just 2 years old.

Andy had kidney cancer, Doctors had to remove the kidney and he had to go through chemotherapy.

The fact Andy has only one kidney hasn't stopped him from pursuing a life of high adventure.

"Everything you're going to do is taking a chance. If I did get hurt or something did happen, I'd rather it be skydiving or something of that nature rather than a car-wreck or walking across the street or something stupid like that,” he said.

Andy Farrington is certainly doing his part to promote this latest daredevil sport. When he's around, there's always plenty of excitement in the air. Just last month, Andy took on 50 pond swoopers at a competition in Florida. He won first place and $2,000!

Last month, Andy Farrington took on 50 pond swoopers at a competition in Florida. He won first place and $2,000.

The Farrington family will be holding a pond swooping competition of their own later this summer at Kapowsin Air Sports.