Tag: tandem

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What are you truly passionate about?

take-your-passion

 

Earlier today, someone asked me a question that got me thinking…

He asked me what I was passionate about… Immediately, I replied “Skydiving”. To which he then asked “why?” sell me on your passion.

Six hours later, I find myself still thinking about the question. I didn’t have a hard time answering him at all, but it got me to thinking do we all truly feel the way I do? Does every other skydiver who’s passionate about the sport truly sold the same way I am? Or maybe I’m the one who’s not as obsessive as they are. Some skydivers I’ve met told me that I was stupid to take time off to rest my sprained knee while others just said “that sucks”.

In life, not everyone finds something to be passionate about, some people spend their entire lives searching for this passion while others know it early on in life. I stumbled upon it randomly while on a “yes man” challenge.

I had spent a year as a yes man starting in January 2009 where my best friend and I would say yes to any and all invitations to participate in activities, go to events, learn things, travel, etc… Obviously, we had to use logic in our endeavors (I did however give a lift to a homeless person, which looking back on it, probably wasn’t the brightest idea, but he did show me a spot where I could park my car for free downtown any night).

That year lead me to learning Salsa dancing, traveling to Cuba, New York, Boston and the Bahamas, bungee jumping, doing my tandem and many many many other things. It probably was one of the best years of my life.
After having done my tandem, I had approached the owners of the DZ and asked them about doing my AFF to which one of them replied “that’s what they all say” and laughed. He did proceed to offer me to join them in Zhills for my AFF course and the rest is history.

Fast forward 4 years and I’m now a sponsored skydiver as well as an equipment dealer and I find myself a big part of the skydive community in Quebec. A lot can change in such a short period of time when you love what you do… So what are you passionate about?

 

Blue ones!

Adam

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Atmosphair’s 20th anniversary… Sun… Wind… Weather hold…

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It seems like the theme of the season is “Weather hold”. Once again, my plans to skydive have been thwarted by the weather.

I arrived at Parachutisme Atmosphair on Friday evening just in time for a lasagna dinner at Marquis’ restaurant on the DZ. Had a couple of beers with friends, then went to bed so I could be up bright and early to get on the plane.The staff were nice enough to lend me a camper to spend the weekend in comfort. Saturday morning, I woke up to the sound of the Caravan taking off for a 16 000 foot jump (the load was completely booked before I even finished work on Friday, so I took advantage to sleep in).

With the sound of the plane flying by, I hurried to get dressed and get myself manifested on the second load. Once manifested, I noticed that there were a bunch of people preparing for a big way and asked to join. Niklas Hemlin was load organizing and I didn’t want to miss this. This pushed me onto the 4th load for a 10 way.
The weather was looking nice, but there were still some clouds out, nothing to worry too much about. We went up and managed to get 4 very solid points done. Niklas was great at identifying peoples’ strengths and weaknesses while flying and was quick to help correct them.

After the first jump, I had myself manifested for another big way and we did our dirt dive for an 8 way…

Then it happened…

It started to rain….

Then it started to pour….

We could see the holes in the clouds mocking us but they were being blown towards us. The rain stopped. We prepared ourselves to get on the load when it happened “C and D licenses only, wind is up to 21 MPH”.
Those words tore a hole right through my chest. I had been looking forward to jumping for weeks and haven’t gotten to because of the weather and here I am, at the DZ waiting to get on the plane… What a kick in the pants!

As everyone prepared to get on the plane, the microphone blares “weather hold”. All the C and D licensed skydivers’ faces turned red as they were already geared up and ready to go. They put their gear away and I laughed at the irony.

This pattern happened several times over the next 8 hours. Needless to say, we waited a LONG time for our next big way.

In the meantime, I took advantage to converse with Niklas about life, his experiences, how he ended up living in the US. It turns out it was fairly simple: He wanted to skydive. He was born in Sweden which has similar weather to Canada. Summer time, you could skydive… When the weather permitted of course. The rest of the year just sucked. So he decided to move.

While we waited for the weather to improve, Pierre, one of the DZOs and I gave out several participation prizes that were graciously donated by our friends at Deepseed and UPT (Thank you both!!!)

At around 5 pm, the clouds were all gone and the wind was dying down, so we prepared ourselves and got a 12 way going. Once again, we got 4 solid points and had a good time doing it.

We had just enough time to get one last jump done, just in time for sunset. Niklas decided to make us work harder on this one, a satellite formation. We all had a MUCH harder time with it (myself included), but it was a lot of fun. 3 points and nearly a 4th again. We clearly won’t be winning the world competitions with this kind of performance, but I must say that I had an amazing time doing them.

The day was followed by a steak dinner at Marquis’ which was very welcome as I was famished.

I must commend the team at Atmosphair for their organization. They set up a boogie with some of the lowest prices ever seen in Quebec (20$ + tax for a jump) and managed to pull off an amazing event regardless of the weather. My hat’s off to you guys!

Blue Skies!

Adam

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I. HATE. RAIN.

So for any of you who have been around Quebec… Or actually eastern Canada for that matter, you’ve probably noticed the erratic weather that’s been going on.
During the week it’s extremely sunny, come Friday, they’re announcing thunder showers and huge winds.
It’s hurricane season in the Caribbean and we suffer the consequences. That being said, every one of the past few weeks (Including the CRW weekend) have been canceled due to weather.

This coming weekend, I’ll be attempting to mess with the system and go to Voltige on Monday. Hopefully since it’s a weekday, the weather will cooperate. If not, I’ll be celebrating Parachutisme Atmosphair’s 20th anniversary!!!

Skydive Addiction along with UPT and NZ Aerosports are proud sponsors of the event.

THEY ARE OFFERING 20$ JUMP TICKETS ALL WEEKEND LONG!!!!!

That’s a HUGE deal for a Quebec DZ.

I’ll be there all weekend giving out prizes and random surprises, so keep your eyes peeled for me!

Blue skies everyone!

Adam

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20th Anniversary of Parachutisme Atmosphair!

Bonjour tout le monde!

 

Nos amis à Parachutisme Atmosphair célèbrent leur 20e anniversaire cet année.

Pour fêter ceci, ils font un concours mensuel ou ils donnent soit un saut Tandem, un rabais de 15% sur un cours de parachutisme ou des sauts gratuits dépendant de votre statut comme parachutiste.

Je vous suggère fortement de mettre vos noms!

Bonne chance!

Hey Everyone!

So our friends at Parachutisme Atmosphair are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year.

To highlight this momentous occasion, they are having a monthly draw giving away either a tandem skydive, a 15% discount on skydive lessons or some free jump tickets depending on your status as a skydiver.

I strongly suggest that you all sign up!

Being that it’s in Quebec City, it’s all in French, but just to sum it up:
You fill in the details, (Last name, first name, e-mail) then the same for a friend you’d like to refer.

Good luck and Blue Skies!

Adam


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Nuit Blanche 2 – Skyventure

Hello Ladies and Germs!

This coming weekend is take 2 of Skyventure Montreal’s Nuit Blanche event. It’s been booked solid for 2 months now as usual, but we’ll be onsite to give you the dirty.

I’ll be doing some 4 way RW  (Relative work) with some strangers, so this should be quite fun!

 

Also: The Quebec Invasion tour is heading to PST again this year, I unfortunately won’t be present, but if all works out, I should have the videos from their trip. Buffalo Wild Wings seems to be sponsoring the event again.

 

I’ll keep all of you posted about that too!

 

Blue Ones!

 

Adam

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Will you raise the bar?

 

Hey everyone!

The off season’s half over, with that, Sebastian Bos at GoSkydive UK got in touch with me and wrote up a post about this past year’s accomplishments… What do YOU have planned for 2013? Think you can raise the bar higher?

 

A new breed of heroes have raised the bar in 2012

By Sebastian Bos

It’s been a tough few years for sports fans who’ve had to watch a succession of their favourite sporting idols fall from grace. First it was Tiger, then came Lance and the final admission that brought an end to the slow puncture of his reputation. Michael Schumacher’s return to Formula 1 was chequered at best, while the old master Roger Federer began to show signs that his reign at the top of the tennis world may be coming to an end. And, of course, footballers continued to be more trouble than they were worth.

Can we consider 2012 to be a changing of the guard then? Bradley Wiggins won the Yellow Jersey clean at the Tour de France; Team GB inspired a nation with their feats of strength, speed, intelligence, coordination and determination at the Olympics; and both Andy Murray and Rory McIllroy played their part in creating the most memorable year in British sporting history.

But across the pond in America, one man’s achievement rose above them all – quite literally. In record breaking Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner, the world was presented with an adventurer who was prepared to push the boundaries of human technology to the limit and test the laws of physics like no one before him. Leaping to the earth from the edge of space isn’t something most people can get their heads around, but by bringing skydiving into the limelight from 24 miles up, Baumgartner demonstrated what makes it the pinnacle of adventure sports. How else could you enjoy the stunning views of the world from thousands of feet up with absolute freedom while travelling at over 100mph – or in Felix’s case nearer 800mph? In becoming one of the most viewed moments of 2012 across the world, Fearless Felix allowed us all to share in that sense of excitement and anticipation that comes with being courageous enough to make that leap. Skydivers often speak about their love of the adrenaline rush that they get from freefalling and the sense of empowerment that they get from facing up to a challenge and proving that they can do anything.

If you’d like to try something different and push yourself out of your comfort zone, why not try a Skydive (http://www.goskydive.com) out for yourself? At GOskydive thrill seekers are offered the best training and equipment available to make your skydiving experience an unforgettable one.

 

If you aren’t in the UK, but are planning a trip there, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the people at GOskydive. If you’re simply looking for general info about the dropzones in your area, send us an email and we’ll be glad to help out.

 

Blue skies everyone!

 

Adam

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BEER LINE!!!!!!

So this weekend had some amazing weather!

Went to Voltige Saturday night with my girlfriends, had a few beers by the campfire, crashed in a buddy’s trailer on the table we were 8 or 9 people sleeping there haha!

So come Sunday morning, the day began with a 14 way that I woke up too late to participate in, but I got to watch from the ground. Only 2 or 3 people made it back and Skygod bless them for taking it upon themselves to figure out the winds and walk the 2 miles back so that we don’t have to lol!

 

My day started off with a 5 way that involved my girlfriend and 3 others. We planned to do “Doughnut, star – right, doughnut, star-left then caterpillar (for those of you who don’t understand that, it’s basically the names of the formations we did, doughnut is a circle, star is when people turn in that direction and caterpillar is basically where people are a zig zag in the sky).

 

The exit went to hell but we managed to recover it and got our 1st point done however, on the 1st star attempt, I lost altitude and couldn’t catch up in time. On the landing, I tried practicing lower altitude turns (still at about 300 feet) to be able to get some speed and work on my control. The landing went smoothly and I got a fairly nice swoop out of it.

As soon as I landed however, I was rushed to catch my “taxi” (a pick-up truck waiting for me) to get back on the plane as I was informed that I was going to fly with two friends of mine who were on a tandem on the next load. The load was supposed to be one later, but got pushed up. Needless to say, I was rushing like hell and the plane was waiting for me at the end of the runway. At this point, I noticed a huge crack in the visor of my factory diver. =( So I unfortunately had to order a new one.

I was the only non tandem skydiver on the plane, so I decided to myself that I’d do a high altitude opening (10 000 feet) and work on my canopy flying skills. I also got to push everyone out of the way while creeping to the back of the plane haha!

I was working on my front riser controls during this flight, got myself kind of dizzy though and nearly puked inside my now “broken visor” helmet. Wasn’t fun, but I kinda laughed to myself for my weak stomach.
Come time to land, I did the same thing as the last jump, but went out slightly farther so I’d have more room. But this time, I noticed something…. There was no wind in my face… Instead of slowing down, I just kept moving forward farther and farther until I was about 20 feet from the picnic tables… Evasive maneuver time! I flared early, ended up stalling at about 7 feet in the air and landed on my knees about 5 feet from the crowd of people who were all cheering… Why were they cheering you ask? Not because I didn’t hit them… But because I had passed the beer line and I now owed a case of beer.

The tandem masters all came and thanked me, and all day I kept being reminded about how I owed beer haha!

I still owe that beer and I plan on bringing it to Voltige in a few weeks when I go back to do my 100th jump with Nicolas Huard (One of the DZOs) who will be taking me on my 1st CRW jump.

I’m stoked as hell!

I’ll be in Victoriaville this weekend, hopefully back at the DZ if the weather permits, so I’ll have a new post for you guys then and possibly a surprise or two before hand.

 

Blue ones in the meantime everyone!

 

Adam

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Voltige this coming weekend!

So last weekend I got to head out to Voltige for a few hours with a few people who wanted to try out a tandem. Being at a DZ I obviously couldn’t just go and not jump, budget being slightly limited, I only did two. I got an 8 way track jump done (where i lost the group and ended up about 300 feet above everyone) and  5 way spider (I was the left arm).

 

This weekend I’m heading back there with my girlfriend and a couple of friends of mine who want to try out a jump and I’ve got some extra spare funds, so it’s looking like fun times ahead!

The weather’s going to be slightly cloudy though, so we’ll see how things pan out. More to come!

 

Blue skies everyone!

 

Adam

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2 days to Voltige!!!

I’m heading back to a DZ that I haven’t been to in quite some time. It’s one of the first DZs I jumped at, and is probably the place I feel most at home at.

I’m not speaking about the staff, I’m talking about the people…. The skydivers at Voltige are one of a kind. There is no other way for me to describe it. But I can say one thing. I’m excited to go back!

I’ll be bringing a few people with me who wanted to try out a jump and they’re quite stoked to go!

I’ll have an article up about it this coming week.

 

By the way, I wanted to take a minute to thank Tara at UPT for her excellent service. She is a star and is always willing to help. If you’re looking at getting yourself a container, get in touch with her, she’ll not only take the time to help you with your order, she’ll always be available to answer any questions you have if ever you do. She is back office, so people don’t always get to speak to her, but I wanted to give her a quick shout out!

 

Blue skies everyone!

 

Adam

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Whuffo’s first jump

Until recently, Kalpesh S. was a Whuffo. (For those of you who don’t know what a whuffo is, it’s a person who asks “What for?”  As in: “What do you jump off a perfectly good airplane for?).
I came across his post on Twitter asking if he should try it out. As all of you know, the first thing I’d tell anyone contemplating their first jump: “DO IT!”. And guess what? He did!

I asked him to write up an article about his experience and I’d like to welcome him to the group of people who will not look to the skies longing to return =).

Untitled
By Kalpesh S.

“I am going to be your best friend for the next few minutes”, said my skydiving instructor, Adrian. He could not have spoken truer words as my life dependent on him doing his job.

As we were gearing up, Adrian continued to give me instructions on the steps to follow during the dive. Surprisingly for a person who is/was afraid of heights, I was not feeling nervous yet. The credit for this goes to Adrian and his precise instructions. After a final check of the gear, we were ready to board the plane.

There were three other divers in the plane. I was hoping to be the first one to jump off, but ended up at the very end of the plane. “Are you comfortable jumping off a plane that is put together with a duct tape?” Adrian asked. “Better to jump off than stay in such a plane”, I replied. I would feel the air getting colder as we started climbing. “We are at one mile, but that is not enough for us, is it?” Adrian said. “No sir, we will get up to 2 ½ miles”. No signs of nerve yet. After a short while, we arrived at the desired altitude and the plane’s door opened up. The other divers jumped off one by one. I was thinking I might get nervous once we get to the edge of the plane. However, we didn’t stay at the edge  long enough for the nervousness to kick in. We took the plunge almost as soon as we were at the edge.

Fear was not the first thing I felt; it was surprise. Surprise because I did not get a feeling of plummeting to Mother Earth. It felt more like floating even though we were falling at an incredible speed. Since the weather was clear the view was awesome. I did look down to the ground once and realized how far up we were. It was an amazing feeling. The parachute opened up after about one minute and our descent slowed down considerably. This gave me more time to look around and take in more of the views. Adrian and I were still talking as he continued to walk me through the process. We manipulated the parachute towards the landing area. I could see my family way down on the ground. They still looked so tiny. I knew they were looking for me so I tried to get their attention by waving at them. But they were looking in the directions of the other divers trying to identify me. Finally, it was time to land. Adrian had prepared me for this as well. We had a smooth and uneventful landing followed by hugs all-around.

This was a fantastic experience made possible by the very skillful team at Skydive Snohomish. Thank you for doing a great job. I WILL do this again.

You can watch the video of skydive below – comments welcome.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JnhrEnR1q0[/youtube]

 

 

I want to thank Kalpesh for sharing, and if ever any of you decide to try out a tandem or take your AFF or PFF, please let me know, I want to hear about it!

Blue skies!
Adam