Skydive City

In two days of trying to get a skydive at Skydive City here in Zephyrhills, I finally made one. Here's one of the most popular concessions at the Drop Zone (DZ for short): a place to pay someone to pack up your main parachute for $6, giving skydivers a chance to make the maximum number of skydives per day without getting worn out packing. If you look closely at the sign, under the price it says "experienced canopy compression engineers," reminiscent of the euphemism "waste management engineers" for garbage collectors.

I wandered around for a bit chatting with some of the local residents about the wind, which seemed a bit gusty and strong to me. I had not jumped for four months, never at this DZ, and with a new parachute, so my comfort level was very low and my anxiety level very high. They agreed that the wind was strong for 10:00 am in the morning and would probably get stronger. The first load of the day was on jump run and just about ready to drop its passengers.

Here is a tandem (an experienced skydiver with a passenger) coming in for landing. The people on the ground were acting as "catchers," ready to assist in getting the canopy under control once their feet touch the ground, allowing the pilot to concentrate on the passenger's comfort upon landing. Although at this very moment the wind sock was not showing strong winds, it was gusting up and down, so the DZ decided to go onto a wind hold for the time being. This gave me the chance to take care of getting registered and receiving the briefing about the landing area provided by one of the instructors. This is Scott, who showed me a picture taken from the air and told me how to easily find the DZ once I opened up under canopy.

Although Scott doesn't look like a professional (the hair, the t-shirt), he truly is, and as a skydiver, I recognized a young man who makes his living as a professional skydiver. He is a tandem master, AFF instructor, and camera flyer. He lives on the DZ. Over the years, I've grown to truly appreciate the ability of these young bright-eyed skydivers.

Meet Joanie, the DZ owner and operator. I met her years and years back at the World Freefall Convention when she was the owner of The Sunshine Factory, a pro shop for skydiving gear, providing everything a skydiver might need. Now she's got the same pro shop right on site at the DZ, and she was sweet enough to let me take a picture of her in her office.

I went home because of the winds and came back the next day, yesterday, and made a jump, since all my paperwork had been completed the day before. After wrestling my new parachute back into the bag, I was sweating profusely and discovered that the temperature was 84 degrees! No wonder this "rain bird" from the Pacific Northwest was so uncomfortable. The winds were still a little dicey, and since I only wanted to get my "knees in the breeze" and shake off some of the rust, I decided to come back this coming weekend when load organizers will be available and the DZ will have plenty of people for me to play with. As it was, it would have been another solo skydive or two, which just isn't as much fun as jumping with friends. I'll be back on Saturday, but it was fun, it's a great place and only five minutes from my sister' house!
:-)