640 Jumps In 24 Hours... Or Was It 641?

What do you get on your 50th birthday if you're Jay Stokes? A new world record for skydiving, that's what.

A former Army Green Beret, Stokes wanted to top the old record of 534 jumps in a 24-hour period... and decided his 50th birthday over the weekend was the perfect time to try.

He almost didn't make it... slightly injuring himself around jump number 200. "I had a little bit of a problem with an injury, and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to continue, but I worked it out," Stokes told the Associated Press.

When it was over... Stokes had jumped 640 times in 24 hours -- an average of one jump every two minutes-and-15-seconds.

It took dozens of volunteers and four pilots to help him reach that remarkable number. As soon as he landed from one jump at 2,100 feet... he'd have a packed parachute strapped on his back and off he'd go again.

(Stokes notes on his blog -- available at the FMI link below -- he actually made 641 jumps... but disqualified one of them as he landed off the field, forcing him to hitch a ride back to his base. Ten minutes later, he was back on the plane.)

"I feel a little bit tired but I think I'll be OK," Stokes (below) said Saturday morning after his final landing of the day. 

His birthday was far from the only reason Stokes went for the record, however. He also took pledges for the event in Greensburg, IN. By the end of his last jump... Stokes had raised about $60,000 for the Special Olympics, and for a fund aimed at providing college educations to the children of special operations soldiers who've died in the line of duty.

Sounds like some great reasons to take a flying leap... or 641 of them!

FMI: www.mostjumps2006.com