scottayerSDC

I did my Tandems and AFP at SDC right before they moved to their present location. Everyone knows by now that the place is a resort that would be a great destination even if you weren't a skydiver. A person can go from never having flown in a plane to jumping out of one in a few short hours. Over the years I have taken it so much farther than that. What you have to remember is that fun can be a lot of hard work and if you apply yourself you can go far. I attained my pilots license with the help of SDC. I acquired almost all of my gear and almost all of my jumps in trade for work. I reached the 500 jump mark without actually paying for a jump since jump 20 something because of barter. I became a coach and then a tandem master. Giving someone else that first time experience is amazing. Now at 1500 jumps I can't stress enough that Anyone can get to this level it's not that hard. I have participated in dozens of demo jumps and a lot of them paid me. I have jumped over soldier field and intentionally landed in Lake Michigan. I have jumped from a helicopter and flown with a Jeep Commander to land with it and ride in it to display it to the media and Chrysler execs. and then made ESPN's top ten plays of the day. I received my pyrotechnics license with the help of SDC and all I wanted to do was blow off a couple of professional fireworks. Now I run both fireworks shows each year at SDC. I have participated in the UFO jumps. I have jumped from hot air balloons, bi-planes, many different jump planes and helicopters. I have made tons of friends and amazing memories. I wasn't any different from anyone else coming to SDC for the first time. With a little effort you can transform yourself and choose from many different options available with the help from SDC. Yes anyone can do this. I have read some of the reviews and most people get it. This place is an adult playground. You can go to wallmart the YMCA or even your local church and get some of the same experiences that SDC has...but nothing comapres to the fun that is within reach at SDC...nothing. People that live anywhere close to this place, and dont go to it, just dont understand what they are missing. I have used this place to generate maximum fun for myself and I urge everyone to do the same. Pick whatever level of SDC you want and go for it.

Yet another example of a low timer that couldnt jump because of a narrow landing area bordered by tree and runway and made of gravel. She even started this post. No one forced her to make this decision and I agree with her decision to not jump. She didnt jump because of the poor landing area and nothing else. Read all of her posts about all the jumping she was going to do. She was even contemplating doing her 100th jump there. That would have been 20 jumps she thought she may have done. Yes the dropzone did make a dz out of an abandoned area and yes there would have been people disapointed if it was cancelled however it would have been a lot better if the dz had posted beforehand that it may not be suitable for low timers and a lot of them would have went anyway. Lucky mcswervy has a great attitude and holds no grudges...I dont either. I am just trying to state my opinion. She even stated they ran out of ambulances. I didnt even know that. I also think a USPA rated dropzone should be a certain standard. One high enough that I dont have to research as much as a non rated dz. Going by Lucky Mcswervy's posts I think a lot of her trip was supposed to be skydiving. Props to her for being so nice in a diplomatic PC kind of way. Too bad she had no where to do it. Again I do agree with her attitude though...no hard feelings and totaly positive. Lets hope dropzones around the world dont take advantage of her, and others like her, great disposition. Any dropzone would be honored to have a Lucky Mcswervy jumping with them. I am glad she had a great time in Puerto Rico and I hope 2010 is much better than her 2009.

Not true. I refused to land at the airport (more to do with wind shear from the trees than the actual crosswind part of the landing), and a friend with 2000+ jumps nearly broke his heel the one time he landed at the airport. An advanced license does not fix the weather. OK but the a or b license holder that refuses to land at the dz cannot jump, you still could. Listen to what you are saying (above) Your friend would not have almost broken his ankle if the landing area was wider. This happened to a person with 2000+ jumps and the width of the landing area had a substantial impact (no pun intended) on him!!! Saying an advanced license doesnt fix the weather does not help promote your argument, because I never hinted at the notion. The landing area sucked and even a guy with 2000+ jumps had a hard time with it. I bet he never landed at the dz again! Yet he had the option to land elsewhere. I wonder if they will fix it for next year? The event was plenty appropriate... the weather was not. No the landing area was not appropriate just as 111 stated. The landing area was so narrow that the trees that lined the very edge caused wind shear that caused a jumper with 2000+ jumps to almost break his ankle. The overly narrow landing area also caused several jumpers to not jump because of the close trees and runway and wind shear. Again, had the landing area been wider the WEATHER, that everyone else but myself states caused problems, wouldnt have. It wasnt the weather... again, it wasnt the weather.

Duckie, I am not thanking you for agreeing with me I am thanking you for being one of the few a or b license holders to reply. As I have been stating, it was not a good landing area for the novice jumper. Had the landing area been wider it wouild not have been a problem. The crosswind would have been eliminated by the wider landing area. The gravel speaks for itself. There are probably a lot of c and d license holders that didnt even think about sliding it in on their butts. As F Duckie stated, the duck will return. I am still concerned with the a or b license holders replacing the duck. This is not so hard to understand is it. It's somewhat obvious that the jumpers that understand what I am saying are novice jumpers and the jumpers that do not understand what I am saying are experienced jumpers. It is sad that this jumper got really excited about jumping in Puerto Rico and couldnt. I am sure they found other things to do but the fact remains that they couldnt do what the intention of the trip was...to jump.

The landing area sumbitted was supposed to be a lot bigger. Had it been bigger, like it was supposed to be, the trees and the wind (and the cross wind landings) would not have been a problem at the DZ. So, inadvertently the size of the opted smaller landing area made the weather a problem. AGAIN I was not blaming the weather I was blaming the landing area construction making the weather a problem. AGAIN why would any skydiver complain about the weather?? Yes the AREA in square feet was big but it was long and very narrow and made of gravel and yes the wind was cross forcing inexperienced jumpers to either not jump or crash in to gravel by either attempting a forced crosswind or going short and biffing or going long and sliding into trees. The landing area sucked I wonder if they will fix it for next year? You read Duckies post (above). Because Duckie is inexperienced duckie opted to not jump that is a big let down from all the hype of going to an exotic DZ and not having the experience to jump. Did Duckie say they wouldnt go back?? NO they are probably hoping they will be more experienced by then. What about the next a or b license holder that takes duckies place?

When and where did you read that I was complaining about the weather. Why would any skydiver complain about weather???? I landed at the beach and had a great time because I have a d license. My girlfriend has 63 jumps and the beach landing was not available to her and the dz area sucked and she did not want to rip her jumpsuit or grind skin off landing in gravel. She also halted her dz landing because she did not want to land on the runway or in the trees. Therefore there was no responsibility put on anyone but ourselves. I jumped at the beach on my decision and it was great. That's because I have a d license. The landing area provided for a and b license holders sucked and most a and b license holders opted to not jump. That is what I put onto the people putting on the Boogie. They did not provide an adequate landing area for the a and b holders that were required to land there. I organize two events every year at my DZ for the past 6 or 7 years. I dont wait til last minute to start. In fact I have already started all the preliminary work for both of my events. When there is money exchanging hands I do try and provide perfection. I have been to several boogies across the country and this one was just as good as the rest except that "THE LANDING AREA SUCKED FOR LOW TIMERS" Yes since the boogie was not working out we did do other things and I am not in any way complaining about that. WE HAD A GREAT TIME IN PUERTO RICO. Neither one of us is bitter in any way we are just complaining about the landing area. I am not going to sugar coat anything so maybe it sounds like I am angry...I am not. We have great memories of many things that we did. We had a blast!! We saw arecibo, the light house, ponce, surfed, swam, bio bay, great food, awesome restuarants, old San Juan ...unfortunately none of them were attributed to the DZ. In all actuality what you are saying is if you are a low time jumper dont go to Puerto Rico for the Boogie, go to Puerto Rico for Puerto Rico. Well thats great Puerto Rico is the DZ's back up plan But I didnt go to puerto rico to hang at the resorts pool or drink free booze, or jet ski or surf or any of the fun things Puerto Rico has to offer I wanted my girlfriend to do the one thing that Puerto Rico doesnt offer to low time jumpers...Skydiving. When the boogie was at Arecibo people complained that there werent enough airplanes and that wait times were WAY too long. I was there and that was a fact but I never complained about it...others did and what did the DZ do??? They got a third Otter for the 2010 boogie. So now I am complaining that the dz landing area is not good...does anyone understand this? Are there any low time jumpers that agree with me?? I have not heard one person, including the dz owners, say "yes the dz landing area was bad it WILL be better next year" No excuses no explainations of why it was bad, just They will fix it or We will fix it. When small things pertain to health and welfare of people (skydivers) why should we settle for anything less than the best I dont want to make chicken salad out of chicken shit, that's not why I go on vacation. I/we all have a choice to go somewhere else where we dont have to make chicken salad out of chicken shit.

I will simplify it for everyone now. If you went to this Boogie and you were an A or B license holder you couldnt land at the beach and the main DZ landing area was very small for low timers and consisted of mostly gravel and usually had cross wind landings. When this Boogie was at Arecibo it was great I was there. I went back to the Boogie because I liked evrything about it. The DZ landing Area sucked. YES all the high time jumpers dont care abouty the DZ landing area because they could land at the beach or handle the small dz landing area. Of course the c and d license holders would love this boogie it was for them...it was not for the low time jumper.

Vivianna, First off what my opinions are have nothing to do with Rook, they are my opinions based on my skydiving experience. For you to insinuate that Rooks future "winter money maker" would be in jeopardy because of my opinions is completely unprofessional. I have stated in several posts that the weather is great and the boogie is great for the very experienced skydiver. My two skydives were awesome and the beach landings were great...for me. Some of the posts were removed by skymama because of some personal attacks on myself and on my girlfriend in which I replied very aggressively in a personal matter. Yes skymama should have reacted the way she did. My complaint stated the obvious. The main complaint was a bad, and in my opinion, dangerous landing area for the novice. I know a lot of novices at the boogie that did not jump because of the landing area at the dz. Had more novices jumped at your safe dz landing area there would have been more injuries. So I do disagree with your philosophy of protecting the novice. I know there were multiple landings on the beach by people that did not have a c or higher rating. Also I am not such a jerk boyfriend to leave my girlfriend sitting idle while I have a great time funjumping during valentines weekend. I stated that everyone was nice and the main complaint was that the landing area was inadequate for the low timers. There were too many injuries at the dz. Beach jumps are made at the skydivers discretion so I wasnt really speaking about the beach landings. Neither my girlfriend or I drink so I really dont care about the free alcohol and if you read one of the latter posts I didnt even really want the welcome basket it was the principle. If something is advertised it should be provided or some logical explanation as to why it cant/wont be provided. Two years in a row nothing was stated to us as to why others received something and we didnt. We paid $55.00 each plus my two jumps for a total of $160.00 for only two jumps. I would never have asked for a refund for my girlfriends reg. fee because that was not the real complaint. This was first and foremost a skydiving trip, not a beach vacation, not a sightseeing tour and not a resort escape and I also want to include not a drinkfest. I must say that with the great weather all the aforementioned alternatives were great but again it was not the purpose of the trip. For this to have been a successful skydiving trip a better landing area would have made all the difference. My complaint was not even for myself but for all low timers. Any dropzone has the right to stop jumping as a result of weather, waves, tide etc. I was told on the one occasion that the beach was closing because too many people were pounding in. Whether that is correct I dont know but it came from a reliable source.This was never the complaint. I am from the midwest and I know we all want everything too quickly and some of us can be uptight about it. Puerto Rico seems very laidback and take your time...it'll get done. When it doesnt get done I know I am one of the first to ask why was everything last minute. I am not bitter at the dropzone its owners or affiliates or the puerto ricans. There is such thing as constructive critisism. Had there been a better landing area at the dz We would love to come back. While I was on the subject I brought up other points of concern, agree with them or fight them that is your perogative. I never made it personal and I really dont mind if others come at me personally. I will defend myself though.

I'm sorry Skymama I hope you have a great relaxing weekend!!

Wow you have got some issues dont you Bitch! What's your problem with people from chicago?? I started out writing this expecting to get some negative feedback but not a personal attack. You cheese-head bitch. I have stated that the boogie had great weather and going to the beach was not such a bad alternative and that the boogie was a great place for c and d license holders but apparently you didnt read that. I never said anything bad about the owners of the dz or anything bad about the locals...other than too many in the parking area. The owners did not say that this was a boogie for experienced jumpers only. We saw the landing area before we came and knew it was probably going to suck. You were not even there. Read some of the other feedback and you'll see that many people have agreed with me and MY opinion. That's all it is, is my opinion. A politician can do something and 100 people see it one way and 100 others see it another...that is all their opinions. I am entitled to mine yet you are not entitled to yours because you were not even there. Everything you attack me on I didnt even say. You cannot however say anything about the shitty landing area. You cannot say anything about not getting a refund when the dz opted to land the plane with everyone aboard. It wasnt even me that did not get a refund it was another load that I wasnt even on. I did not receive the welcoming basket but it probably had alcohol in it and I dont drink...I didnt even want it , it was the principle of the matter. Obviously I did not have a purse stolen because I'm a guy. I wouldnt have minded if you attacked my opinions but you attacked me and my girlfriend. By the way stupid alot is not a word the correct way to write it is a lot...you sure do bitch a lot. I never bitched about spending time with my girlfriend on the beach, you continually put words in my mouth. I bitched about not being able to jump with her...why? because the landing area sucked. You cannot just get a c or d license over night. There were plenty of jumpers there from all over the country and probably even from all over the world with only a or b ratings . Are you going to tell them to jump more to get there c and d licenses?? Just so they can avoid landing at their shitty landing area? (some of us have jobs) you probably will. April from wisconsin says dont go to puerto rico unless you have a c or d license and if your purse gets stolen right from the dz dont worry about it everyone is nice. I hope you are not the typical wisconsin representative. Does your state know you are representing them in a Cant Understand Normal Thinking kind of way??? Wow I am glad you werent there. Maybe doing CRW in below zero weather has frozen your tiny brain (goes with tiny violin) and your giant *ss. By the way it was a great Boogie when it was in Arecibo but then again you wouldnt understand that it wasnt that good this year because...what was that again...oh yeah YOU WERENT EVEN THERE!!! So to cap this all off, The people of PR are fine I didnt meet too many of them, I am sure the owners of the DZ are fine, I didnt meet them, The weather is great and the beach is great. This years boogie was great for c and d license holders but not good for a and b license holders beacause they had to land in a shitty area. Had anyone been informed of this it would have been better. Even though I knew beforehand that the landing area was going to suck I went anyway...that's because there are beaches there and ocean and warm weather and this bitch from wisconsin wasnt there either. I am not ticked off in any way, I am not even taking this too seriously however I did want to warn the low time jumpers that unless they take care of things down there it might not be the boogie for you. And watch your purses from those friendly Pr people. Scott is looking out for you but remember April from wisconsin is not. If she is going to be there next year I will not attend. Take your tiny f*cking violin and shove it up your *ss. I wasnt looking for pity just informing people. By the way winds are weather and no I am not exempt from them...same as gravity. If I had a forrest in my landing area or on my runway I would remove them. So, basically this April bitch from wisconsin has called everyone in chicago an *sshole, just remember when you are traveling through our great city full of *ssholes you look like the sh*t passing through. Blue skies to all skydivers, including all the a and b license holders, but not Ape-ril from wisconsin. Wew! that was fun Hoo Hoo!!!

OK you say however they made up for the shitty dz landing area for the great beach landings, what about the a and b license holders that could not land there??? My girlfriend and many other low timers spent a lot of money in airfare hotel and registration. since no one wanted to land at the dz my girlfriend opted to not jump at all. We already paid the $55.00 reg fee. Since she wasnt jumping I did not jump as much as I would have and I went to the beach (not the worst alternative) but that is not the purpose of the trip. Yes I agree it is a great place to jump for beach jumps and c and d license holders, but everybody else got screwed.

There was a google earth map of the dz on the xtreme divers website go there and find the alternate landing areas. We were told that the landing area where all the locals were flying kites was not for us to land in. Obviously if it were an emergency I would but is ripping a jumpsuit or cuts and bruises an emergency? If it were everyone would have been landing in the kite field.

The cypres flags were facing north every time I looked at them. I agree coming from chicago the winds were not high but again think about how many 100 jump and under skydivers there were there. They also have larger canopies then we do. The landing area was 1000 feet long but the winds were cross and I dont think 100 feet wide is large. Who cares how large it is when the whole 100 by 1000 is ALL gravel and hard pack clumped dirt who wants to land there. I think most paid top jump prices and top dollar registration fees for a sub par dz. If the owners couldnt get it up to par in time then all fees and possibly landing with the plane should have been taken in consideration.

If I go up in the plane intending to jump and the dz calls it because of clouds or the surf is too high and there are a lot of skydivers wearing sandles or even bare footed and they cant land in the gravel provided landing area and they have to ride the plane down then they should be on the next load that goes up with the ticket from the previous load. Yes you could probably say be prepared and dont wear sandles or be barefoot. I always wear shoes but lots dont like to especially when landing in the sand.

I agree I would rather walk than be carried out but what some of you high time jumpers need to remember is what you say is a large landing area is tiny to low timers.