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BOOGIE FEST 2012

This summer has several promising events at the DZs in the region. One that truly caught my attention was the Boogie Fest 2012 at Parachutisme Atmosphair.

It caught my eye for a few reasons, one of which is that it falls around my birthday.  Another is that it’s a boogie aimed at promoting Festivent which is a hot air balloon festival that is celebrating it’s 30 years.
One of the events includes demo jumps into a stadium full of people. (70 jumps total, all will be free for those of you who have their EJR).

The event will also have a wingsuit camp, 2 plane big ways (Caravan and Twin Otter), a 7 seat helicopter and a Red Bull party.

It is the FIRST major skydive event in the region of Quebec city and I’m planning on being present.

See below for the ad.

 

Blue skies,

Adam

 

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Cet été  à énormément d’évènements qui me semblent intéressantes aux DZs dans la région. Une d’entre elles qui a vraiment pris mon attention c’est le Boogie Fest 2012 à Parachutisme Atmosphair.

Il y a plusieurs raisons pour laquelle elle m’a attiré, la première c’est qu’elle sera aux alentours de mon anniversaire. Un autre est que c’est un boogie qui sert à faire la promotion de Festivent le festival des montgolfières qui célèbre ses 30 ans. Un des évènements inclus des sauts demo dans un stade remplis de personnes. (70 sauts total, tous seront gratuit pour ceux d’entre vous qui ont leur CSD)

L’évènement aura aussi un camp de Wingsuit, des big ways de 2 avions (Twin Otter ainsi que Caravane), un hélico de 7 passagers et une soirée Red Bull.

C’est le PREMIER évènement majeur de parachute dans la région du Québec et je prévois y être.

Voir l’annonce ci-dessous pour plus d’infos.

 

Ciels bleus,

Adam

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Skydive Varadero

So I just got back from Varadero Cuba…
Absolutely had to pop into the local DZ to check it out and hopefully to do a few jumps with the locals…
Turned out it’s a tandem factory, but they’re fairly welcoming to other skydivers. Weather didn’t permit us to jump on the day of my visit, so we played dominoes together…
(I snapped some photos, but haven’t developed them yet)

The DZ is actually owned by the government there, they fly a 20 seat soviet chopper (didn’t get to snap any photos of it though)
Depending on wind conditions, you either land on their badly maintained field or on the beach in front of your hotel.

Equipment-wise, they’ve got the standard canopies/containers (American brands, but bought through Europe).

The staff is extremely welcoming, but the facilities need work… There’s only about 15-20 skydivers that live in the area, the rest are all tandem tourists.
A jump ticket is 25 CUC (+ – 30$), they go up to 11000 feet.

Weather never ended up permitting me to jump, so my friends and I decided to rent some scooters and go to town on our 5th day. We got into an accident and I sprained my ankle… Karma of course came into play and the following days were perfect for skydiving… I sat next to the pool watching planes fly by.
Needless to say, that part sucked.

Hope you’re all having a very blue off season!

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Helicopter jump

So it’s nearly the end of the season in Quebec and in most places actually…
Although there’s still a couple of weeks left to the season, it’s over for me at this point.

I ended it with a bang though, got my first helicopter jump done (4000 feet).
And yes, I bought beer… And rum actually haha.

To give some of you a quick description of what it’s like to do a heli jump as opposed to a normal skydive from a plane, when you jump from the chopper, you’re getting off out of a vehicle that’s barely moving, so you actually get that feeling that you’re falling at first. When you jump off a plane, the plane’s moving at about 80 mph, so when you jump, there’s wind pushing you in some direction, the wind you’re feeling (Called relative wind) starts off on the side (opposite direction that the plane is moving in) and ends up in front of you (you’re falling down, wind seems to be blowing up)

I don’t know why for certain, but, once you’re actually in the relative wind, you don’t feel yourself falling, you feel as if you’re static in one place.
With the helicopter jump, you feel yourself falling until you’ve accelerated enough to reach a speed at which you once again feel motionless.
It’s quite the similar feeling to a bungee jump.
Base jumping is also the same feeling as this.
It’s something I’d do again, but it’s not that high on my priority list…

Blue ones everyone!
-Adam