neles

Heya Seb, don't scare people off :))) Just kidding, thank for posting this thread, I thought if I did it people will truly hate me. At this time, I have several people that seems to be eager to join us for the Boogie, but ofcourse, it is still early to say anything, most people still can't plan anything two-three months in advance. I invite you guys, if you think you will be around, anyone who is close enough, and could afford to drop by our DZ, you won't regret it - I can't guarantee much, but that I certainly can! :) I already arranged that beer truck (I think Sebastian knows what I'm talking about ;)) and had some talks with people that organize rafting on Vrbas, and it should be a kick. Welcome! P.S. Seb, are you still coming to the paraski? Cheerio! Nenad www.blboogie.com | www.paraski-jahorina.com | www.padobranci.com

Heya, great to have some feedback - I know it's not much, we were pushing hard for the first video, the second one was really more of a play in the mixer. I guess we could have done a lot better, but we don't have any helmet cams (not that we didn't try to build something by our selfes) - if we did, we could really get some action shots :) As soon as we make more, I'll be sure to post it here, in hopes they are of better quality :) Blue ones, Nenad

I just had to post this... :) --- Banja Luka, a city only a couple of hundred kilometers north of Bosnia’s capital city Sarajevo, offers a rare opportunity to skydive in a mysterious location forgotten by the outside world. With war ravaging the country only a decade ago, today the only thing dropped out of planes are skydivers! And the only place to skydive in Bosnia is at the exciting and very large Serbian Air Force Base in Banja Luka. With a committed bunch of regular jumpers and new student jumpers joining regularly, the drop zone is really starting to get it happening. With many planes of all sizes and more army choppers than you can count lining the runway, it’s like no other drop zone you will ever see! The Drop Zone’s Chief Instructor Dushko is a veteran jump with heaps of jumps under his belt and loves to see the look of students who are about to jump out the plane for their first time. With a few other experienced jumpers always at the drop zone, the place is well supervised and has all the facilities you would want from a drop zone. With a massive landing area and a special area for accuracy practice, there is no shortage of landing spots for those who want to land on a 10 cent coin or swoop their ass 200 meters, its all here!! Now off the drop zone there is also a massive choice of bars to have fun. For those male jumpers, the women in Bosnia are something that you need to see to believe. And ladies, you will be extremely surprised also! The most common question asked by locals to foreigners visiting the country being “are you here for love”? Often the answer is yes!! Also if you come from a country that the pound or the euro is your currency, you are going to love this place. Its sooooo cheap!!!! The beer here is cheaper than water in France and 3 euros and that’s dinner taken care of! With winters well below freezing, the summers are beautiful and warm and perfect for jumping. Apart from jumping and partying, Bosnia has an amazing history and beautiful scenery and the the people are so warm it will bring you back again and again. Only a short train or bus from Zagreb, (capital of Croatia), or from Sarajevo, (Bosnia’s Capital) so getting here is not a problem. Croatia air and many other airlines fly in daily into Zagreb and so do buses and trains from various locations. So why not do something different than heading to your local drop zone for a jump and grab your skydiving buddies and head to the 1 week long Bosnia’s Banja Luka Skydive Boogie in 2006. www.blboogie.com

Hi, I don't want to take much of your time, I just wanted to let you know, that I have taken the liberty in creating a little DZ flash banner, and uploaded it to the main homepage of www.blboogie.com, website with info to first Bosnia Boogie, and I hope it is ok with you. Keep up the good work. Cheers, Nenad Skydive Banja Luka

Heya people, I've posted 2 music video compilations we made at Bosnia Banja Luka DZ last year, and I would appreciate any comments I can get. You can find the vids either on www.blboogie.com website, under fun & multimedia link, or simply on the links bellow. (unfortunately, must use right click, Save target as...) www.blboogie.com/devel/spot1hig.wmv (6mb) www.blboogie.com/devel/spot2hig.wmv (5mb) Thank in advance. Much appreciated, Nenad

Ladies and gentlemen, I have received few requests from people, regards to aircrafts we have at our disposal. Aircrafts, as wel as their specifications and pictures, can be found on the Boogie website (www.blboogie.com), under link "Boogie info", when you scroll to the bottom. I will name the aircrafts here, just in case: - Mikoyan Mi-8, medium duty military transport helicopter, - Yugoslavian Utva-66, four-seat utility, high-wing airplane, - Italian SIAI Marchetti SF600 'Canguro', light military-transport aircraft You can check out specifications and action photos of these aircraft on our website. Hope you like what we have to offer. Sincerely, Nenad

Heya people, I'm really glad to hear from you, I'm looking to pick up on the interest, for I was really worried that all I was pushing for the past few months would be in vain - I hope I'm wrong, especially when I see you people :) It would be great to have you here! Eugene, long time no hear, I hope you are ok. I dropped you a line, and I'm real happy to see you comment on the boogie. Without your help and suggestions, boogie would still be just an idea in my head - with your help, and help by people on the skydive sos thread, I managed to get the whole machinery going. Thanks! :) sgt_ludy, excuse my boldness, but I can only assume you were deployed in Bosnia as a part of EUFOR, or some other organization? I have enough trouble explaining to people that Bosnia is not at all that dangerous as people from abroad usually think, maybe you have a more optimistic point of view to share :) You have more credibility than me anyway, people can say I'm not being objective. Anyhow, It's great hearing from you people, and I hope I can get you to come - if there is anything I can do to ease your mind or help you out - I'll be right here. Sincerely, Nenad www.blboogie.com | www.padobranci.com | www.paraski-jahorina.com

N/A

Dear skydivers, and skydiver wannabies (like me), who roam this space, I wish to invite all people of good will (or bad at that, we will fix you up), to join us at first ever International skydiving boogie in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and probably the region. I would like to invite everyone with few spare days, or a vacation, who wants to do something more "wild" then usual, to drop by for a nice vacation with us. We have a great DZ, great skies, bunch of neat, exotic aircrafts, and ton of events planned. I have been working for the past few months on the boogie website www.blboogie.com, and I hope I have done a good job gathering information and putting it up. Of course, there is far more to be said about the Boogie and all surrounding issues that it is said on the site, but that's why I'm here. Event itself is multi discipline, no obligations. You are welcome just to visit and hang around if you wish. Dropzone is equipped with all the necessary installations and facilities, so you have nothing to worry about. We are setting a base camp for accommodation, so we could provide cheap if not free accommodation and stay. Since we are located inside the perimeter of the military base, we will probably be able to arrange accommodation inside the now empty army barracks, for those who wish a solid roof over their heads. A nice motel is adjacent to the DZ, for those who wish more privacy, and of course, there is a lot more to choose from. Boogie is scheduled from June 2nd 2006. until June 8th 2006. but who ever wants to drop in early, or leave late, is more than welcome, and I encourage anyone who can afford a prolonged stay to do so. You will see why once you come, and I certainly hope you will. Also, there is a deeper story to this Boogie, and it can be fit into something like this: If you wish to do something for a noble cause, for example save skydiving in Bosnia from total devastation, you can do so, very much, simply by coming to jump with us. Your much needed presence will open the eyes of the community to the problems that sports in general are suffering from, and bring attention, it, indeed, deserves. We have no entry fee, thus we only charge the jump ticket, at US$20.00, and that is only preliminary - we hope that we can lower that price even more if enough participants apply. Of course, you can expect tons of various surprises, as we didn't figured them out yet, as well as many other activities we can help organize for the duration of your stay. We sincerely hope to see you, and I'm standing by to answer any and all questions (and I sincerely hope there will be interest). Cheers. www.blboogie.com | | www.padobranci.com | www.paraski-jahorina.com

Hello people! I'm slow, I know, it took awhile to gather some prominent people and get them to talk. Now, I will try to save your time to the maximum, and I will tell you what we agreed on. - (Bosnia) Banja Luka Boogie 2006 is on (potentialy, ofcourse, depending on interest - and it's my job to provide it) - we had in mind about 7-10 days, sometimes in end of spring - begining of summer (may-june). Features we can provide for our visitors: - DZ (no kidding?) - 2, maybe 3 MI-8 military helicopters for 13k feet jumps - 1 or 2 Utva-66 airplanes for 13-14 feet jumps - 1 Utva-75 plane for sightseeing, if someone is interested :) - 1 (maybe more) rented plane (not sure which one, maybe AN-2, but it's skydive oriented, flown from a friend in Slovenia) for I guess 14-15k feet jumps - military grade, unlimited capacity accomodation (not height of the luxury, but it's comfy and useful, and it's unlimited, since we have complete empty millitary base at our disposal - that means it's either ridicilously cheap, (2-3 bucks a day) unless we get it for free - which I hope we will) - two large artificial lakes in the immediate vicinity of the DZ, for speed freaks - we have few chutes and some sad equipment to rent if someone gets in the need - bunch of local food, weird suprises, drinks, and God knows what else - I guess unlimited amounts of of local beer in tanker trucks (not kidding here) - lots of really good time - absolute safety - and various things I probably forgot to mention. Ok, now some additional info: - Bosnia is in Southern Europe in a region called Balkans, while city Banja Luka is in the north-central part of Bosnia - for those who heard about civil war we had here - it was 10 years ago, so you shouldn't be worried about your personal safety whatsoever - this country isn't really cheap, but considering our definite dislay of hospitality to any and all of our guests, we will try to cut down all possible expenditures to minimum - 5 miles from the DZ, is fully-equiped international comercial airport Banja Luka (Mahovljani) so it's great for charters - we can organize raftings on the lively river Vrbas if there is interest in it, ofcourse, as well as I guess other activities for the moderate adventurer - for those who would be ariving to Sarajevo International airport, we would provide either air or bus transport to Banja Luka - we also have a solid offer of hotels, motels and other accomodation methods, if you are not satisfied with our military grade accomodation - and again, a lot of other important things I probably forgot to mention. Now, the "touchy" part, prices First off - one thing is imperative for you to understand - we do not, and would not, throw this boogie for profit. At all. Positive zero is all we ask, because the whole point behind it is to get as much people as possible, to make them feel real good, have a great time, and go back home with good oppinion on us, the club, the sky, the city and the country. Thus, we were discussing something in the lines with this - since we cannot afford to organize it all, rent planes, buy fuel, and whatever else is necessary - only to be duped and noone shows up, we figured something like this: Considering most people from abroad have to undertake a solid travel, and plane/gas prices or not really at it's off-peak, we wish to provide minimum fees - and these fees are NOT intended for profit, but are based PURELY and ONLY to cover the expenses! Nothing more! We do not wish to profit on you, but to provide you many good, high jumps and a good time. We only need to cover fuel, permits, planes and pilots and such. So: Entrance fee would be between USD$100-200, depending on how many people would apply. The more - the merrier - and cheaper. This price INCLUDES jumps at the also variable price of about USD$30 - we discussed the potential, as I have said, to reduce the price of jump to value of $20 or even lower, depending on the number of people attending, and potential sponsors. I believe accomodation can be provided for free (or included in the entrance fee at least). As I said we WILL do ANYTHING to reduce the prices to the minimum. There will be load of free food, bbq, drinks - and basicaly, all necesities for hygiene and consumation are really cheap for most standards. So, now it's your turn to tell me - is all this worth it? Do we have enough interesting features to provide to our visitors? would people be comfortable with pricing? As I have said, this idea depends on YOU people, on YOUR interest. Please advise me what to do, any suggestions, criticism, comment are most welcome. Please let me know what do you think, before I put some poll on to see what the rest of the crew thinks. Thank you boys and girls. Looking forward to hear from you. Sincerely, Nenad (if you forgot about me). http://www.padobranci.com

Unfortunately, nothing yet to report - work, work, and nothing but the work. Can't get five minutes with these people, as they are all over the local papers atm. However, I intend to put up that poll today, and hope to get some info from it. See you there. Sincerely, Nenad.

Howdy people :) Good to see you around. This is another update, though, not financial, but it's ok. This campaign generated quite a lot as it is this far. Anyhow, unfortunately, I didn't get the opportunity to elaborate my plan on organizing boogie down here with the club and the chief, for chiefs niece (or a relative of some sort, I'm not certain about the relation) had an accident - it's a little 6 year old girl (she was also on the event last week) - she was playing with a friend and got hit in an eye with some stick or a metal bar, not sure, but she (I certainly hope not) can lose an eye. Doctors at first said there is no hope for it, but yesterday they said there is some remote chance to repair the damage at least to some extent. I certainly hope they do, for the kid is a real joy rider, even in the hospital with all the people worried she's being cool and keeping hopes up. Because of that I only had a brief moment to discuss the idea of a boogie, and the initiative certainly exist, as well as enthusiasm, so I was kinda "put in charge" of gathering intel and making some drafts. I hope that these days I will have a chance to lay out the idea and see with all relevant parties what is it to do. I heard that guys from Serbia tried to organize a boogie type of event last year, but weather totaly scrwd that up, so that not even plane could take off. Hopefuly, what I have in mind, will do better. Now, as I have said million times before - you are all welcome down here, whether or not boogie actualy takes place, but I will keep you posted on any progress I make. As for ticket prices, I thought that the round trip from USA would be far more expensive - not that it is cheap, but certainly is cheaper than I had in mind. City of Sarajevo is on some 150 kilometers from Banja Luka, but I would see to it that buses are chartered to pick people up. Ofcourse, it's all on a long run, but I must think upfront. As for UK, I have a friend in Telford, Shropshire, Birmingham area, that was here 5-6 times this and last year, and he was telling me about even cheaper ways to get down here by plane, using third party airlines, and this and that. If I'm correct he was telling me about some people that came down here for like 40 pounds or so. I will get into it and let you know. I thought to put a poll, to see whether would people be interested in this event, and if not - why. So if you give me some hints on why you wouldn't jump down here, I would really appreciate it. Either too far, or too expensive flights to here, or perhaps someone would feel insecure...? Whatever crossed your mind, please let me know. In the mean time, keep up the good work - will keep you posted. Sincerely, Nenad

Heya purple :), Don't push the people, they'll think that I want to rip them off completely off their jumps for this year :) But it is quite the opposite, believe me. Btw, I just got info on boogies from Jose, and I choked him too with one of my overly long messages from personal arsenal - and after a (very) brief thought - I realized there is quite a possibility of throwing a boogie in 2006 down here - hopefuly a good one - so at this time I'm entertaining the idea and thinking which strings to pull, whom to call, and what to do next. But if things go as I think they will (except for all the paper work and administration issues) I believe there is a huge chance and 100% support for this idea. All I need now is basicaly an iron boot and excpetional patience to squeze some bureauocrats down, and speed things up. I will keep you posted on this, and perhaps I will see you all down here :) Off to think about this. Sincerely, (wish me luck) Nenad

Another announcement - just to let you know - thanks to another anonymous donor - we've collected $309.00 - if you just knew how many jumps that is for these people... :) Bubbling :) Nenad

Darn, People, sorry for the delay - and what is that ridicilous question - of course your donations help - more than help - just imagine that I will finally get my first jump! And thanks to you, by most part. If I was waiting to to store that much money, beside all the expences of life, college, family (at this moment I am the only one working in my family right now - parents retired, brother and sister students, grandparents and two uncles refugees), bank loans... I'm not complaining, it can always be worse, so I'm satisfied with my life - I'm alive and healthy, and that's what matters to me - so trust me, your donations DO help. Real lot. As most people, I hate to owe something to anyone - so I feel obligated to explain one thing regarding the gift I promissed - I was confronted with a member here, about the devaluing F-117A Nighthawk by offering pieces of it as gifts. This is by no means intended to offend anyone - I respect the US, even though I sometimes don't agree with the active policy - and the piece I offered to send is nothing more but a souvenire, as pieces of Berlin Wall are in Germany. It's a respectful piece of machinery - and I see nothing insulting in it. More to it - the pilot was rescued unharmed. Please, don't consider this as an insult, since it wasn't intended to be. I'm sorry for anyone that got offended, and my lack of tactics. Sorry. As for delay, I'm really sorry - these guys managed to pursuade a local bank to sponsor one local competition in the precision jumping, and there were 15-20 jumpers from all around Bosnia and Croatia. I'm proud to announce my brother won a gold medal, amid this competition. Four flights all in all. Not that the results really matter that much - it's important that people jump - they are so happy just to jump, that if you hit the "pancake" or miss it by the mile is not important whatsoever. Just to let you know, your kind donations reached $279.00, which is simply - great! :) And thank you all. Thumbs up to all the people for their kind support, funds and gear you are sending in! I'm hoping this thread will not close anytime soon! Btw, I tried to figure out on my self, and got a solid understanding, but would like if someone could elaborate in more detail, the Boggie term. Anybody? Thanx in advance! Respectfuly, Nenad P.S. You can check the new yesterday's gallery at the www.padobranci.com! Just click the top news. Can't miss it! Btw, just so there wouldn't be any misunderstanding - nothing of the equipment you see there - is not ours - almost nothing anyway - helis and planes as well as barracks and optics and almost everything else, is a courtesy of our airforce. Utva-66 and Utva-75 are courtesy of aero club piloting school, jumpsuits are homemade, and so on. I thought - God, these people will think I'm scamming them - on one side, I'm complaining on the lack of funds and equipment and on the other I show them bunch of stuff - what will they think - so I wanted you to know that is not gold everything that shines. Hope to see you on www.padobranci.com and hope you enjoy the photos. Nenad