Racing_James_01

I visited this DZ whilst on a trip down to Miami for the weekend and after reading the reviews of Skydive Miami (more focused on Tandems) it sounded like this DZ in Clewiston would be better for me as a fun-jumper (B-Lic, 100+ jumps). It was worth the 90min drive :) I had a great time jumping here despite poor weather (low clouds and a bit of rain) and their Otter being away that day at nationals (used the C206 instead). I stuck around and waited out the weather till it cleared in the later afternoon. This actually worked out very well for me, because the DZO, Rick, ended up putting the C206 up a few times for those that had stayed and we got 3 jumps in :) It actually was pretty cool and felt like my own private skydiving experience! FACILITIES: The hanger/packing area is large, carpeted and everyone was very friendly and said hi. There is a very experienced camera guy there (Ronny I think was his name) if you are interested in getting some advice. The food/grill is simple but great...fresh homemade burgers at a DZ! LANDING AREA: This is huge and is divided into three sections. As&Bs, Cs&Ds and high-performance. There's a beer-line separating the ABCD and the high-perf area - be warned! ;-) RENTAL GEAR: They have about 4 larger Student rigs and a intermediate sized PD190. They also had a PD176 sports rig + 2 other smaller rigs for rent. Rental included the pack job too. OVERALL: I had a lot of fun and I'll be back when I'm next down in the area for sure.

This is clearly an excellent DZ so there's not a lot to add. The packers are quick, the rental gear was good, the weather is (usually) perfect, the food and bar are superb for a DZ. The coaches were helpful and keen to teach - I didn't feel like I was annoying them when I was asking for advice/tuition. There was no visible manifest other than a whiteboard, but they had plenty of take-offs so you'd never wait long. They have a tunnel nearby too. Overall - a good vibe and first class DZ. I think I was unfortunate in that when I was there - Eloy had the 2 days of rain it gets per year! So didn't get as many jumps in as I would have liked in 3 days. However - this is the exception rather than the norm. Also - good onsite accomodation in team rooms or bunks.

This place was great: excellent manifest with a visible screen so you could plan the loads better and not feel like you were getting bumped for whatever reason. I really like it when places do this :) They organized water training and also had a night-jump on when I was there. Shame I was 2 jumps away from my B when they did the night jumps :( next time maybe. The packers were efficient and friendly. The food onsite was good. They also have a well stocked shop and onsite rigging as well as good spectator area, swoop pond etc. I really can't fault this place - I completed my B-Licence here and had a great couple of days getting better at RW. The only thing to watch for is that there tends to be no set landing pattern when there is low wind. There is a 'first person down sets the pattern' rule, but the 2nd and 3rd person rarely follow. The flip side of this is that there is a huge landing area so there's plenty of space for everyone.

Good fun day (Friday) at The Farm. Hans and the crew are great and very friendly. Excellent rigging loft and huge hangar for packing. Facilities are decent but a little run down. There is also a short bus ride to the airport if they are not taking off from the grass runway. Very sociable group and no little ego/cliques :)