Tag: stoked

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Review: Skydive Gananoque

Hey everyone!

So first thing’s first, I’d like to Lucie to the team, I’d also like to wish Ashley (www.skydivechick.com) well and I’m happy to hear that she’s well on the road to recovery. =D
It’s always hard for me to hear about friends of mine that sustain injuries, especially the kind that stop them from doing the thing they love most… Skydiving!

 

So Back to the topic at hand. Earlier this month, (March 31st and April 1st) the “Frenchie Invasion Tour” (my friends from Quebec and I) went to Skydive Gananoque.
I had never been there before (Yes I bought beer) and wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I heard a lot of stories about the place from friends of mine that had gone about the crazy campfires they have there. (More to come on that later on in this post).

Friday evening, I was picked up by a couple of friends, and we headed down to Gananoque (1000 islands). We arrived just after 8:30 PM to check in at our motel.

Needless to say, we’re kind of childish (Would you expect different from a group of Skydivers?).

 

 

So we headed out to a restaurant called the Riverside Bar & Grill.
We were greeted by Will McCarthy (The Co. DZO at Skydive Gananoque), his girlfriend Michelle (Who also happens to be a Skydive coach) and a bunch of the others from Quebec.

The food was awful, but we had some beers and headed back to the hotel.

We proceeded to do what skydivers do best: Crack open a case of beer and sit around and tell stories.

 

The next morning we headed over to the DZ to meet up with the rest of the group and start our day.

Now, Skydive Gananoque is fairly off the beaten path in a sense, you could quite easily drive right by it without realizing you passed it until you’re 5 miles down the road.
We had a GPS with us, so we sort of got saved by that.

The Drop zone has quite a big landing area, it’s easy to spot from the sky and has a HUGE hangar… Unfortunately, the packing area isn’t so huge, so we just packed in the hangar.

(Pictured above: Rachel P and Alex D.)

(Above: Aerial view of the DZ taken by Will McCarthy)

So we began our day with the tandem master refreshers. As I had already mentioned in my last post.
(Above: My girlfriend and I posing for the camera before we “risk our lives” in the hands of someone who’s name we don’t even know =D )

Following  the tandem jumps, we did several loads including Lucie’s 100th. The load was planned by Will McCarthy and was quite a success.
(Pictures above taken by Alain Milot)

Of course, this jump was followed by a good old fashioned Pieing (Video to come)

(Above photos taken by Alain Milot)

We ended the day all together at another restaurant in the area (I can’t remember the name) then headed back to the DZ for an INSANE campfire. I’ve been around a LOT of campfires at lots of DZs, but this was BY FAR the best I’ve ever experienced. I’ve never witnessed someone needing a farm tractor to keep it going… (Yes, Will supplied a tractor for this campfire)

And no, the logs were not cut before being used. (For you tree-huggers out there, all the trees being used for the campfire had fallen during the winter)

Overall, I can confidently say that this is my favorite drop zone that I’ve been to so far. Tom and Will McCarthy are extremely welcoming, the entire staff of Skydive Gananoque were great to us and jumping out of the sexy King Air was a blast as always.
I will most definitely go back, and I suggest that anyone who’s reading this head there too!

A HUGE thank you to Tom, Will and Michelle (Didn’t get a good shot of Will to post):

As well as a shout out and thank you to Alain Milot for allowing me to use his pictures:

PS: I’ll be back at Gan on Victoria Day weekend, I hope to see some of you there and maybe get a few jumps done with all of you!

Blue Skies!

Adam

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My 100th jump!

When my friend Adam asked me if I wanted to write for Skydive Addiction, I was thrilled!

Writing has always been an important part of my life. I have been writing stories, journals, poems and all sorts of texts in both French and English ever since I have known how to write.

 

As for skydiving… it entered my life almost two years ago now… and it literally changed it. Skydiving quickly became a passion, something I have been thinking about EVERY SINGLE DAY ever since the idea of doing it entered my mind. Am I skydive-addicted? Oh yeah! I truly believe skydiving is a beautiful drug and I really don’t see how I’ll ever get enough of it!

 

I’ve been writing a lot for myself about skydiving ever since I started and I do have quite a few stories to share with you. But today I will tell you about my most recent one: my 100th jump, which was quite a memorable moment!

 

As we were heading to Gananoque, in Ontario for the opening weekend of this awesome drop zone last Friday, I knew that with 97 jumps in my log book I had pretty good chances of hitting my 100th jump. And I was actually quite happy to be doing it there. Gananoque is where I did my first big ways and I knew that no matter what, we were going to have a blast!

 

We were actually quite a bunch of highly motivated skydivers meeting in Gan for the opening weekend, mostly French people from Quebec, since most of the DZs in Quebec open a month later.

 

After my second jump of the day (my 99th), I started collecting names of people who wanted to be part of my 100th.

“What are we doing?”

“I have no idea, just figuring out who wants to be part of it for now, and then we’ll see!”

 

When I realized almost everybody I asked said yes (or definitely!), I thought it might be a good idea to start writing down names. And… that’s when I found out there was a problem: 19 jumpers won’t fit in a King Air, which can nevertheless accommodate 15 people and go up to 13 500 ft in 12 minutes.

 

“We could load the Cessna and make it go up half an hour earlier to meet the King Air”… that was one of the silly solutions that were suggested.

 

OK, so we may not have been able to fit in all the people I would have loved to see as part of my 100th, but we did get quite an organization for it. Will McCarthy did a fantastic job in organizing a 3 point 15-way, keeping in mind that this special jump had to be a successful and safe one.

 

I have to say, I did feel quite special with all those people excited about jumping with me. Okay, they were excited about jumping in a big way, no matter for what reason. But I did let myself believe this was MY moment.

 

There was exhilaration in the plane all the way up. Yellow light went on and my heart was racing. As I climbed out the plane and held on to my friend Ge, who was to be part of the base with me, I did not care for one second about the fact that it was so chilly up there. I gave my count to key the exit and we were off. The exit was not quite stable, but we did manage to recuperate quite nicely. The clouds were magnificent, although I only noticed them when I watched a video of the jump later on, as I was so concentrated in staying stable and doing my best to make things right. I did manage to look around and figure out that most of the jumpers did make it, and I enjoyed seeing all the smiling faces around me.

 

We did in fact end up with a one point 13-way, which is actually impressive, considering it was one of the first jumps of the season for most of us.

 

When I opened my parachute, I felt like I always do at that very moment: exactly where I belong.

 

I did manage to have a pretty good landing, and I was really proud of myself! As I was packing, later on, Tom, the owner of the place, came to me and said “You know that now that you’ve made it to 100 jumps, you’re a sky-goddess.”

Hum.. that really felt good to hear. But I wouldn’t say that. In my head, and when I look at the other people I see flying, I still feel like a baby, with so much left to learn! Okay, maybe I turned into a toddler last weekend!

 

And well… of course, at the end of the day… Adam and some other “friends” made sure I was pied to celebrate this new milestone in a creamy and cold way!

 

Adam… your turn will come soon enough!

 

Blue skies!

Lucie in the sky!

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WHAT A WEEKEND!!!!

I don’t have the time to write up a full post today, but I just want to write a quick thank you to everyone at Skydive Gananoque! Will, Tom and Michelle are excellent hosts and I have to say that I consider them a GIFT to the skydive community. If you’re a fun jumper, you know what I’m talking about when I say that it’s frustrating going on a trip somewhere, wanting to get some freefall action, arriving at the DZ to find out that it’s a tandem factory or one of those places that “fly when we feel like it”.

Everyone at Gan was excited to get into the sky and just have some fun!

Lucie (One of Skydive Addiction’s newest members who I look forward to reading) hit her 100th jump over the weekend (Video of the pieing to come). And Will was nice enough to organize the load for a 15 way.

Since it was day 1, some of us got to go up for a Tandem Refresh with the tandem masters. (A tandem refresh is done every year for everyone with a tandem master rating. Basically, what it consists of is the tandem master takes an experienced skydiver up for a tandem to make sure that he still is able to fly and knows what he’s doing and also to brush off the cobwebs.)

As a skydiver, I can say that it’s a very exhilarating feeling and brings back the whole adrenaline rush from your first time! You now know what’s going on, but you don’t have control over it as you aren’t piloting the canopy. I was in good hands, but it’s still a different experience. It was quite fun, I must say!

I’ll have a full article of our trip up later this week along with pictures and some videos.

In the meantime though, here’s a picture of our campfire: Yes, that’s right, we didn’t use logs, we used an entire tree for our fire!
Thank you Will for making it possible by using the tractor to bring us all the wood we needed to keep this fire going (Video to come as well)

 

Blue ones in the meantime!

Adam

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Tunnel time: Best way to clear your sinuses

So I managed to get in a good 10 minutes of tunnel time on Monday… Just enough to remind me how addictive it is haha!

We did some 3 person belly flying, started off with level control and working on mantis flying to warm up.

The next 2 minutes were spent doing doughnuts (You go into a circle holding hands, then everyone turns to their right and touches the person next to them on the leg, then go back into a circle holding hands, repeat on the left)

After this, we worked on our lateral movement by moving side to side in formation and working in a few rotations to get as many points as possible.

The last 2 minutes were spent doing more doughnuts to work on our control as we had a bit of trouble keeping level during our rotations. I ended up hitting the wall and hurting my knee :(, thankfully that was my last 2 minutes in the tunnel as I was limping for a bit.

Overall, it was a great time. I noticed a steady improvement in my flying, going back in the next few weeks to work on some more belly flying, then I plan on buying an hour and learning to fly mantis 100%.

 

9 more days and we’ll be on our way to Gananoque for the season open. We’re about 10-15 people heading down if not more, looks like it’ll be quite the fun weekend!
I’m very excited to get on that King Air! Thanks again to Will for getting me all the info about the DZ, there will be a review of our visit as soon as we get back!

 

PS: I’ll be adding a new section for people who don’t know how to skydive and would like to learn to as soon as we finish with our website update so keep posted!

 

Blue ones!

Adam

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Brushing off the cobwebs

I’m going to  be heading to do some tunnel time at Skyventure next week to brush off the cobwebs, grease the joints and just have some laughs with my friend Luc who was with me on the trip to PST last month.

Important note for those of you who live in the Montreal area: Skyventure is raising their prices as of April 1st 2012. It is a significant price increase, so for those of you who want to get their tunnel time, get it ASAP.

Also, Mike and I are working on a redesign of Skydive Addiction, we have a new logo in the works and we’ll possibly change things up a bit. If any of you have any suggestions, please drop me a line here.

Blue Skies,
Adam

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Follow-up post!

So Will at Skydive Gananoque was nice enough to get in touch with me, I got permission to tell you all where we’ll be.
Hopefully some of you will get to join us for the opener!

For those of you that won’t, well as always I’ll have a review of my stay as well as a bunch of pictures. (But seriously.. Come jump with us)
SIDE NOTE: If you’re not a licensed skydiver, but still want to join us, they have tandems CHEAP!!!!! Book one, it’ll make me smile to see you experience it! (No I’m not paid to say this)

We’ll be heading down on the 30th, partying the night before, waking up at the break of dawn, taking FULL advantage of our day there and our night by the campfire.
Anyone who reads this, come up to me and I’ll gladly hand you a beer from the case I’ll be buying… To find out why I’m buying, you’ll have to ask me in person when I open it for you.
There’s no guarantees that I’ll be wearing the winging beauty crown again, but I’m sure there will be plenty of others to entertain you all.

Blue ones everyone! See you in 25 days!

Adam

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So we’re once again planning a road trip…

This time, we’re headed to Ontario again, not PST, but somewhere on the way.
I haven’t gotten permission from the DZO to divulge the name or info yet, so once that happens, I’ll write up a follow up.

We’re gonna be another group of about 10 people headed down for the season opening March 31st.
I’m quite excited for that as it’s not only day 1 of the season in Ontario, it means that there’s only a month before day 1 back home!!!!

 

In the meantime, I’ll leave all of you with a funny video I came across a while back that was filmed by the person who taught me how to skydive: Daniel Paquette.

It’s called Mr Control. (Sorry that it’s in French, but you get the idea)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKFivKeHgzc[/youtube]

Hope you enjoyed the giggles,

Blue ones!

Adam

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My 100th Jump – By Normande

Another great piece by a friend of mine that she had written but never published:

My 100th skydive

Written by Normande M. C.

Translated by Adam A.

July 21st 2009.

For the past 2 days I had been working at my front flips, back flips and barrel rolls with nothing in sight but my 100th jump.

15 minutes before the jump, I was told that we were going to do something special for my 100th…. a Four-Way.

“Uhhh.. I’ve never done anything more than a 2…”
“I’ve been training for my RW”
“I have things that I need to work on…”
“A four?”
“Screw it, I’m confident! I’m gonna take full advantage of this opportunity!”

Above, were the things that ran through my head soon after being told what we were about to do.

Next came the briefing, ah, not as bad as I though, I can do this.

I just need to perform a smooth exit,
keep my heading and speeds in check,
keep an eye on my altitude and open at 4500 as planned.
And the most important: Have fun, smile and savor the beautiful moment I’m being offered.

Back on the ground, I find my friends from the sky.

An unforgettable moment.

This was my 100th jump.

This was my moment.

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PST Pics – Taken by Steve Tambosso

So I got in touch with Steve Tambosso the local photographer at PST.

He sent me some REALLY sweet pictures that he shot.

You can check them out below: (Click on them to zoom)

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Winter jumps at PST

So first off, I’d like to give a HUGE thank you to Adam Mabee at Parachute School of Toronto for the ENORMOUS hospitality he showed us at PST.

Not only were we welcomed with open arms, he made sure that we got into the sky even when mother nature wasn’t 100% cooperative. The wind conditions were perfect, but cloud ceiling wasn’t very much so….
We got several hop and pops done, some emergency exit practice and luckily I even managed to get in on one of the two loads that got to 9.5k (We had a blue hole opened up for us for about an hour on the Sunday).

Long story short, Adam was a great host, and I honestly look forward to going back to PST again.

So Friday evening around 4:30 pm, we head off from Montreal for a 7 hour drive to Toronto.
We were to be the last ones there, leaving Montreal with somewhat disappointing weather (There was a pretty big snowfall while we were on our way), that left me kind of worried that we wouldn’t get to jump if conditions stayed this way. But as we got closer and closer to our destination, things got greener and greener…
To put things simply: There was no snow after the Quebec/Ontario border.

Now, we’re beginning February in Canada… One would expect to see some white… But seriously, there was nothing at all.

At this point I’m thinking “What the hell kind of a winter jump is this gonna be? I’ll be landing on grass”

But we continue on our way regardless. Obviously we’re not here for snow, we’re here to jump off planes.

Around 11:30 PM, we arrive at the hotel, everyone’s been drinking, we’re last to arrive. The others has stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings and managed to get us sponsored. We would have to skydive while wearing their kid’s crown, in exchange, we’d get 50 wings. For those of you who don’t know, B.W.W. has a hot wing challenge where you have 5 minutes to eat 10 of their hottest wings (200 000 – 350 000 scoville) – More on that later.

So we get drunk and head to bed around 2:30 AM like good skydivers. ( We can sleep on the plane right? 🙂 )

At 7:30 AM, we get up and head out for breakfast then on to the DZ.

We arrive around 10 AM.

The DZ is just opening up, they’re pulling their Cessna 182 out of the hangar (The 206 had just gotten a new engine, so they’re going easy on it for a bit).
I walk in to see this:

Put a smile on my face, even though Adam hates it for being tacky.
I manifest myself on the first load to 4500 feet to get a quick hop and pop done and to simply work off the rust since my last skydive.
While on the load, that beautiful blue sky you see in the picture earlier proceeds to disappear and we’re told that the ceiling is at about 5000 at the moment.
Worked for this load, but later on, it kept creeping lower, and lower, and lower, and lower…
Luckily, Adam kept us warm with a nice fire:

Needless to say, the ceiling never went back up and stuck around 3000-3200 feet.
Adam made sure that our time wasn’t wasted and let those of us who were comfortable do some emergency exit practices:
We may not have gotten full altitude, but we did have a great time.

That night, we went back to B.W.W.

With our pictures from the day as proof:

 

 We of course got our hot wings…And yes, I proceeded to eat them in less than 5 minutes… Tears, runny nose, burning fingers and all…. I will not go into details about how my poor colon felt the next day.

So Sunday morning, we headed back to PST for some more action. We had convinced Adam to open early so that we could get as many jumps in as possible before heading back.
We were greeted by gray skies and a ceiling of 5000 in the morning. So once again, hop and pops.
I got on the 3rd load, attempted to do a mini track jump with one of the girls, but ended up back-flipping unintentionally on the way out and simply tracking on my own.
After that jump, I decided to sit out for a bit to warm up while the others jumped more.
I’m super glad I did, because Adam came in to announce that there was a hole that opened up.
Before he even got further than the word “hole” to tell us how high we could go, myself and 2 others were running to the whiteboard to put our names on the next load.

We got up to 9.5k, I got to do some head down, and I had triumphed at what I had set out to do: Get a full altitude winter jump done at PST.

All was well until about 500 feet, when I realized that I was coming in to land on a patch of ice. I figure “time to slide on my butt”, I proceed to do so, but then slide another 20 feet past the ice right into the mud.
Those wings + my muddy backside have won me the nickname “Shitty pants” at the DZ for quite some time.

Hopefully Adam and the others at PST enjoyed the laugh at my expense.

 

Once again, I’d like to extend a HUGE thank you to Adam and the peeps at PST for being so welcoming and so nice to this group of crack-headed skydivers from Quebec.
I have to say that of all the Drop Zones I’ve visited, this is by far one of the ones that is MOST fun jump oriented. Adam is a true saint in the sport, he runs the school for the love of the sport and not for the money.
Rentals at 12$ if you pack them yourself are by far the cheapest I’ve ever seen for any canopies at all. (You’re jumping Sabers if you go for the sport canopies)

If ever you’re in the area, be sure to stop in for a fun jump or two, and as Adam constantly says “Just don’t fuck up”.

 

Blue skies everyone! (More pictures from PST on our facebook page and here)

Adam A!