One of the downsides of skydiving? You never know where the wind is going to take you. Over the weekend, strong gusts and out-of-date photos led two skydivers to land in a high security nuclear submarine base, where they were detained until a representative of the skydiving company could come and vouch for them.
When the two off course thrill-seekers touched down on the grounds of Georgia’s Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base, security and Navy investigators immediately converged on their location, NBC reports. The jumpers had expected to land at the nearby airport in St. Mary’s, Ga., but when winds blew them off target, they opted to land on softball fields belonging to the base. Despite only alighting onto a recreational area, the two were still taken into custody because of security concerns and paper work problems.
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“There are highly restricted areas on this base that would be extraordinarily dangerous for them to intrude on,’’ base public affairs officer Scott Bassett told the Florida Times-Union.
Cathy Kloess, the owner of the Jumping Place Skydiving Center which organized the flight for the skydivers, said that her business was called to the base to provide identification for the two — one of whom was not a U.S. citizen — before the Navy would release them. She said that the skydivers had believed the softball fields belonged to the nearby town of St. Mary’s because of outdated photos provided to the Jumping Place.
“They definitely don’t want people landing on their military installation,’’ Kloess told the Times-Union. “They were very stern with us.”
She added that told the Times-Union that base officials were very understanding about the security breach being the fault of an “act of God.”
Including Sunday’s incident, seven skydivers have now landed in the high-security base over the past three years, the Times-Union reports.