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n0rbert

The Skydiving Season: Best Times to Jump

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What is the best time of the year to jump in N. America? In the Middle East? In New Zealand?

I'm new to the sport (13 jumps, last jump Jan 2011) and I've been struggling to get in jumps. There is no DZ near my location, so I travel to jump for a weekend or a week at a time. 12 of my jumps were in NZ in January, but there were only a few loads each day as the students were on break. I failed to jump in Hawaii in April (weather), in Tokyo in June (weather), in NC in November (ground school expired), in Dubai in June (limited summer hours). I would like to try for AZ next, but I would like to go when I can jump the most: good weather, lots of loads, etc.

Any suggestions?

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You can get good weather all year round in North America. You just need to go to the right place. Arizona and the Florida dropzones are busier in the winter because the weather is better then. In the summer there are plenty of dropzones farther north that have great dropzones.
"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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You mention AZ.

The core of the season at Eloy is end September (Arizona Days boogie kinda marks the start of the busy season) to mid May (the Challenge/Turbine Madness boogie kinda marks the end of it, when the DZ closes a few days during the workweek).

With Nationals at Eloy in October, and training for the World Cup in Dubai in December, you can bet SDAZ will be non-stop busy from September till end of January.

In my opinion, the best months for jumping in Eloy are Sept-Oct, and March-April. Not too hot, not too cold at night/early morning, with Sept-Oct being slightly better weather wise (we're splitting hair with weather days tho...)

The Southern CA DZ will have similar busy seasons, while the Northern States DZ will be much busier in summer, with some closing completely in winter.
Remster

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Quote

Quote

switzerland - we jump year round, but we're hardcore too! ;)



We jump year around too.. It's just you pasty foreigners who wuss out and dont visit Eloy in summer... ;)


if you dont come to our boogie, YOU're the wuss! ;)

http://www.paraclub.ch/en/skydiver/hella-herb/infos.html
“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

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If you want the most bang for your traveling buck then go to AZ during the fall or spring as mentioned above. It's one of the few places that is just as busy during the week as the weekends. Plenty of coaches and load organizing. You could also do any of the southern California DZs (Perris, Elsinore, SanDiego) during the same time, but you might find the odd slow tuesday/wednesday type deal (not always). The advantage is there is more to do if you dont want to just skydive.
Also look for boogies (also as mentioned above) at those places during those times as they are almost garaunteed to busy leading up to, during, and perhaps after.
Pretty much skydivers are like senior citizens. We go north for the summer and south for the winter.

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The US is much cheaper than NZ, but you should consider where 'home' is. Until you have a reasonable number of jumps a USPA A license may not do you much good in NZ (assuming they have similar rules to Oz).

Where did you jump in NZ? I know someone who runs a dz there and could pass on his details if you want to chat to him.
Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

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