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Leaping letter carriers on Geneva Lake

LAKE GENEVA — Samantha Schindler gingerly stepped through the window at the bow of The Walworth mailboat and balanced on a narrow deck outside.

She gripped an envelope in her left hand and a handrail in her right. Her cheeks filled with red as the boat approached the pier.

This delivery was tricky even for an experienced mail jumper. The mailbox is perched atop a post at the edge of the narrow pier, just a misstep away from a ladder down into the water.

Samantha leaped from the still-moving boat, flipped open the mailbox, tossed in the envelope, turned and bolted back to the still-moving boat.

Thud!

Her body smacked against the windows on the starboard side of the boat.

Samantha breathed deeply, grasped the metal handrail with both hands and clung to the side of the boat as she shimmied her way from the stern to the bow.

“I forgot how to jump because I got nervous,” the 19-year-old from Lake Geneva said. “I turned and looked at the boat and forgot what to do, so I just jumped.”

Mail jumpers leap from boat to pier, delivering mail to summer and year-round residences around Geneva Lake.

The Walworth is one of only a few mailboats left in service in the United States.

The boat, owned and operated by Lake Geneva Cruise Lines, was commissioned in 1967. The diesel-powered boat is 14 feet wide and 75 feet long and can travel 18 mph between deliveries.

The mailboat runs June 15 to Sept. 15 every year, and passengers can ride along for a 2 1/2-hour tour.

Each year, Lake Geneva Cruise Lines holds tryouts for mail jumpers, and each year, the company hires about four, mostly high school and college students looking for a unique summer job.

Before the boat departed Thursday morning, four jumpers and Capt. Neill Frame, who has been at the wheel of the mailboat for more than 30 years, offered some advice to the four people brave enough to leap from the moving boat for the first time.

Shauna Riggs, who has been a mail jumper for four years, demonstrated proper jumping form while the boat still was docked at The Riviera.

She explained how important it is to jump off the boat correctly, making sure to time the jump so you land on the pier with enough room to stop the momentum built up from leaping out the window.

She also explained how much more important it is to jump back onto the boat correctly, making sure to get a running start from the pier before leaping toward the boat.

“You have to jump with the boat, not at the boat,” she said. “And you have to keep running after you jump, or it’s not going to turn out well for you.”

Capt. Neill reassured the prospective jumpers that it was fine if they were a little nervous.

“You can be apprehensive, but you can’t be afraid,” he said. “Don’t worry. You’ll be fine—or you’ll be wet.”

The tryouts simulated a typical mail delivery. Each person had to try two jumps—one to a short, narrow pier, where the mailbox was right at the edge, and one to a long, wide pier, where the mailbox was a few feet back.

But the simulation didn’t factor in back-to-back stops, which can number 60 to 70 at the peak of the summer season; a big load of mail, which can include letters, newspapers and packages; and rain, which makes jumping a precarious affair.

None of the four newcomers fell into the lake—even Samantha, who on her second jump tempted fate as she leaped onto the stern of the boat just as it was gliding past the pier.

“That was a close one,” she said.

MAILBOAT HISTORY

The mailboat is a tradition that dates to 1873. The Walworth has been making the run since it was commissioned in 1967, carrying more than 10,000 passengers each summer.

Mail is delivered six days a week. Only newspapers are delivered Sunday.

Before paved roads linked the rural areas to Lake Geneva, the mailboat was a necessity. But nowadays, the mailboat is a novelty, providing passengers a chance to see the lake in the morning.

Outgoing mail collected from mailboxes along the piers get a hand-cancelled U.S. mailboat stamp, as do postcards passengers write while on the cruise.