mdrejhon 8 #1 April 8, 2005 Introducing myself: Total newbie, two jumps, both tandem, both at Skydive Ganonque (located between Ottawa and Toronto). Computer programmer by day, avid downhill skiier in winter, now I'm looking for something different to do this summer!! You know how those first jumps went, if you see my video ;-) I'm seriously considering forking up the necessary $1200 CDN for Skydive Ganonque's variant of AFF training... I want to jump freefall solo! And maybe eventually learn formation eventually, if I decide to go big-time on this sport. But it's almost a 2 hour drive away and the car rental costs will surely kill me. I live downtown Ottawa, so I don't own a car. I will probably have to camp over there at their little campsite during about three weekends to get my full training in. Does anybody here go to Ganonque on a regular basis I could carpool with? If not, does anyone go to Mile High Parachuting, which is closer by only 1 hour drive. I'd also consider other dropzones nearby, if the transportation issue is more easily solved. I'll consider a Toronto-area or Montreal-area DZ, or even an out-of-country dropzone -- I'm still dropzone shopping. Might even take a 7 day vacation and train at an open-all-week dropzone, need to trust the people though... The courses typically require me to do the training in a one-month time period, to qualify for solo. (Pssst, for the trouble of carpooling, how does free gas sound, a free meal on me, even free beer -- but only after driving back, unless the DZ afterhours campsite permits it.) While a carpool with an experienced jumper would make for interesting conversation during the ride, I'm still interested in newbies in the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor is looking for a partner to try to train with. I'm all ears for ideas. It would make training more fun even though we won't jump together initially (but rather with our instructors)... Would love to hear from others! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyangel2 2 #2 April 8, 2005 Welcome to the boards Mark. Have you contacted Remi? He lives in Canada. I'm not sure were or how close he is to you. Going for an extend trip to one DZ to finish up on your skydiving training is a great idea. Skydiving, just like any other sport, when you are learning new things, doing them over and over, back to back, will help you. Camping out isn't too bad, I do lots of road trips when I'm traveling to different DZs and I love having all my stuff right there. Get a good tent cause you know once you are done with your student training, you will use it again traveling to a boogie.May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. - Edward Abbey Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GanGirl 0 #3 April 8, 2005 Hi Mark, this is Andrea from Skydive Gananoque. There are a bunch of people that make the trip to Gan every weekend from Ottawa, Montreal, and Toronto. Of course, I'm biased but it's an awesome place to learn and an even greater place for dropzone life...campfires, bbqs (someone will always let you cook on theirs), beer, and lots of skydivers with tonnes of experience and lots of stories. I love it :-) We also have a bunkhouse that is free to stay in if you don't want to camp out in a tent. I'll email you privately with some contacts for potential rides. We opened last weekend and this weekend is calling for good weather (knock on wood!). Hope to see you soon, Andrea Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #4 April 8, 2005 Hey GanGirl, thanks for the response! I'd love to hear from you -- You can send email to my email address link that's found at the bottom of my website at www.marky.com or send me a private message. (Yes, that's my real personal website -- I'm an computer programmer/web guy). I'll send you a PM as well and inquire... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
piisfish 135 #5 April 10, 2005 welcome to the forums and to the activity. You can always check with people like Remster ( moderator of the french speaking forum), Joboulay, Ypelchat etc... they are all french canadians.scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #6 April 11, 2005 Hey there, thanks - I went today April 10th (er, yesterday) and did one of the qualifying tandems before my PFF course. Today pre-PFF tandem instruction went well. The TI today went well beyond what I paid for and gave me essentially an hour total of direct instruction and questions-answers, and made sure I accomplished many objectives successfully. Was told I had great altitude awareness this time! Wrote a quite a bit of notes and observed minor errors (i.e. we synced our altimeters in the plane 1000M too early, for example, and knees a little low at some point) and talked about what I can do better next time, but the important part was that my altitude awareness was great this time which was the main objective of today!! I correctly signalled my TI to pull. Even did two practice flares too and aided in the actual one. What I learned today will help me greatly when when I finally start my actual PFF and classroom stuff. I really want to make sure I soak up as much information as I can, so that my hearing impairment is less of a barrier during classroom training. (Will still need to bribe a fast typist to type the teacher's lecture on my laptop, so I can follow more easily. Also need to negotiate the canopy control communications once I'm under canopy solo, that Billy Vance suggested paddle/flag signalling from the landing area. I'm reading up as much as I can from "Parachuting: The Skydiving Handbook" as well, to minimize the chance I'll get lost in class.) I also met a group of very nice guys, as well as by email, several of which live in Ottawa and I'm starting to chat with them now. I'll see about the carpool. Normally, I'm shy since I'm just a "NeWBiE" and don't know how the pro's view me, but they were very nice! As soon as my May 1 paycheck arrives, I'm finally starting PFF! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #7 April 14, 2005 I found a volunteer who'll drive me on April 30th! Can't wait to start my 8 IAF jumps! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Remster 24 #8 April 21, 2005 I need to check this forum more often! 1600 new THREADS! lol Well, looks like Gan fits your bill. Havent been yet, but from all I hear, its a fine place. When you are ready to hit the road, check out Nouvel Air, south of Montreal: we are hosting the nationals this summer: 3 beech 18s and 1 Twin Otter during that week... should be fun! Remster Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mdrejhon 8 #9 April 21, 2005 I'll keep that in mind. My priority is to get "A" rated first. I'd like to check out other nearby dropzones eventually, finances permitting of course. I'm trying to figure out how the heck I'm going to get 100 jumps in, during this year... 75 is almost certainly doable, though. I'll be beyond 25 jumps by the end of May. I hope! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ArcNemesis 0 #10 January 23, 2008 Hi everyone, I'm in Gatineau (QC) And am eagerly awaiting the season to begin, to start AFF training....can't wait!! I'm looking into Mile High Parachuting in Arnprior...heard all good things so far!! Or a place called Gatineau Skydive: www.goskydive.ca Any feedback? Anybody in the Ottawa/Gatineau area willing to team up for training etc....feel free to contact me directly; [email protected] Chris Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
