Blue Sky Ranch

I am a newbie and did my second skydive here recently - they were genuine and friendly. Planes were nice and new, they have showere, camping facilities, good video editing, really just stupendous in every way! I heard a few folks say that turbulence at the treetop level can collapse your parachute! Eek! I'm already scared enough without that to think about! I will return to get my A certification there - I'm looking forward to it!

I am an original American skydiver, and while writing the history of skydiving ... I needed to find a DZ where I could learn more about what is going on in the modern world of skydiving. The Ranch was the perfect place to start. I wish to thank Billy Richards, Guy Wright, Kim Emerson, Bruce Chapman, Frank Mancini, Mike Myer, Bob Scura, and Jim Leonard ... to name a few, for taking the time to chat and give information that made my book successful, 'Skydivers, Flying With Their Pants on Fire'. You can aleays pick up a copy at the Ranch store from Kam Bayrasli. In fact, his story is in the book also.
In season, the Super Otters will get you to altitude fast and often.
I am a Texan, but never do I miss a stop at the Ranch every summer. "The Ranch" sounds more like Texas, but it is big time NY. Enjoy.

Having just returned from Iraq, I had 8 months of tax free money to spend. Always wanted to get my license, just didn't have the time or money. Now with saved up leave and hazard fire pay, I had both.
My brother got his license there in the early '90s. My sister in the late 90's. There must have been a reason why they went there.
I did a combination AFF/IAF program. I had plenty of static line military jumps and a few civilian static line jumps from 172s.
The plan was to stay for 5 days and jump as often as possible, then return and jump 5 more. The staff was amazing. I slept at first in a tent and had numerous offers to stay here or there. In those 10 days on my way to my A license I went through many 'firsts', and we all shared stories and beers at the ends of the day. They showed me the local bar, CAVU's (Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited), about 6 min away. The packing area is covered (great for those NY Julys), there's a small snack bar there, and the local pizza place is great. The aircraft are great, and even during the week the Otter gets up over a dozen times.
I now know why my brother and sister got their licenses there.

The Ranch has been my home DZ for the 2003 season. Here's what I know: Weekends are so busy you may have trouble finding a place to pack. The landing area, while not large, is not tiny. The problems are the trees (stay as far away as you can). Depending on the direction of the wind, there can be rotors off the tops of the trees. There are also downdrafts and thermals on hot days. The Ranch may be a litle difficult to spot your first few times up there, so ask people to show you the tricks on how to find it. If you have a cutaway, your canopy may end up in trees or some other hard to reach place. Study the outs and the winds aloft before you jump.
That said, there are some really cool people at the Ranch despite its proximity to New York City (I grew up in NYC, its a nasty town). Max Cohn runs the freefly school. Jack Jefferies is there running camps, organizing big ways, and just fun jumping.
Unlike any other DZ I've been to, there is PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION to the Ranch. There's a bus from NYC that takes you to New Paltz, then you can get a cab for $11 to the Ranch. And someone will almost always drive you back to the city at the end of the day.
I took some friends for tandems, and they had a blast. Their videos were very well done too.

My wife and I (Raeford people) went DZ-hopping up north last Fall and ended up at The Ranch one weekend. The end-of-season RSL meet going on, but we still found plenty of others to jump with. I must admit that I had never been to another DZ that came anywhere close to Raeford when it comes to facilities and goodwill. I would have never thought I would find another place I loved so much, but I did at The Ranch.
As we were not members, we paid a whopping $16 dollars to 14,000; this, one dollar more than members as I recall. We were in our RV, so I called ahead and talked to Guy, the manager. Even though there were no RV hookups available per-se, he told me where I could park and hookup my electricity, just accross the ditch from the great hall. Thanks, Guy!
The Otters were flying non-stop, right up to dark. I made a bunch of jumps then settled into the apres-skydiving scene at the bonfire. Unbelievable. It fascinated me that people were driving 60+ miles from NYC just to hang out and socialize for a few hours. The crowd there was first-rate; very friendly to us out-of-state jumpers if I do say so. Saturday night after jumping, Billy brough out about 20 free pizzas and at least two kegs of beer. Very nice. I was standing around the fire Saturday night and about had a fit when I saw all the wild skunks eating the pizza bones under the great hall. Crazy!
Of great interest to me were the cool camping platforms that are scattered throughout the woods. It seems that members are able to "claim" a platform and occupy it for the season with whatever tent or shack they wanted to erect. Interesting. They were raised up off the ground to keep the animals out, or so I was told.
The swoop pond there is fantastic, though you would be crazy to swoop it in other than one direction for fear of hitting the ledge on the leading edge. People were camped all around, set-up between it and the woods.

All in all, I give this place my highest rating and can't wait to return.

The ranch rocks! Took my first jump there. The people were so cool that it just made the entire experience better than anything else I've ever done in my life... and that's tough to say but it's true. My friends and I had a blast and we rave about it all the time. If you haven't yet, I highly suggest checking it out.