Skydive City Zephyrhills

Its the 4th August and I leave for the West Coast early to-morrow. However I have not said much about the skydive centre where I am. When I was planning this trip, Lesley Gale of the Skydive Mag in the UK helped me decide on locations. I was told Zepyrhills was one of the most friendly. I certainly can say that it has been so for me. From a skydiving point of view I have probably learnt more about my own skydiving and started to learn some new skydiving techniques - sit flying (thanks Pip) than I have for many years - the only exception to that was the canopy course in Spain earlier in the year. Unfortunately I don't have any still pictures of me jumping here, but I have taken quite a few around the DZ which I hope you will like. Some of the pictures were taken early this morning before the DZ was open. There is a very big landing area here and there is a well established swoop pond here also. The pond attracts all kinds of birds. The pond has fish in it, so some of the larger birds do their shopping here.

There are some pictures of people landing, one of them (red jump suit) is Pip my freefly instructor swooping in. As a matter of interest Pip has more jumps than anyone I know, he has over 19,000 to-date. There is also a couple of pictures of Paul (one with the plane the background and white jump suit)who runs the Bar and is an AFF instructor and cameraman. I would love to say the alligator is real but its not (or a very heavy sleeper), but it looks good. Its next to the bar so no doubt has given one or two a nasty turn from time to time.

I mentioned in an earlier blog on ZHills about the age profile of people here. Age does not seem to be an issue here, no matter how old you are, you are included. Over this last weekend they have been practicing a 16 way for Thanksgiving day, I would say that about half the people were older than me and some much older.

So for the skydivers out there reading this. If you want to do some serious skydiving and want a good vibe you must put ZHills on your list. Finally I have submitted an article to the USPA Parachutist Magazine about my trip, hopefully it will get published.

Next stop Perris Valley Skydiving, California john 4/8