For Christmas this year, we decided to spend it in the skies over Eloy, Arizona. It was the perfect 4-day getaway (with the only problem being that it was far too short!). We flew down to Phoenix on Friday night, picked up our rental car, stopped to get some groceries, and made our way to Skydive Arizona where we checked into our deluxe team room. And by deluxe, I mean two bunk beds, a fridge, and a microwave. But hey, it’s cheap, it’s easy, and it’s on the DZ, so no need to worry about driving anywhere. In fact, once we got there, we only left the DZ for dinner on Christmas night and to go back to the airport Tuesday night (good thing rental cars are pretty cheap).
I got in 14 jumps at the boogie, two each the first two days, and five each on the second two days. The first day it took me a while to get motivated, and the second day I would have jumped more but winds picked up pretty early in the day and I much preferred sitting on the ground and watching others fight the winds. Still, other than the one windy afternoon, and chilly mornings, we couldn’t have asked for better weather (and the weather looks great for the rest of the week as the boogie finishes out).
Just as we did two years ago, we found that we really enjoyed the quieter pace of the early part of the boogie, before the dropzone fills up with the post-Christmas crowds. The first two days, I don’t think there was ever more than one plane flying; by day three there were two planes for some of the day, and by our final day, there were three planes turning loads all day. It’ll probably be like that or even busier the rest of the week, since not only is the boogie going on, but the USPA Collegiate championships are going on as well.
With those 14 jumps (assuming no jumping on Saturday, that is), I end the year with 853 jumps total. At only 66 jumps this year, it was one of my slowest in quite a while, but considering I didn’t get back in the air till April after my injury, I guess it’s not so bad. After 2010′s 191 jumps, maybe I needed a slow year. Hoping to pick up the pace again next year.
So far next year, we’ve only got one big trip planned – the Boogie in Nicaragua, but it promises to be a great one. In considering our travel insurance options, it’s only a slight difference in price to buy insurance for one trip vs. the entire year, so we’re buying for a full year. Maybe it’ll motivate us to do some more cool international travel before the 12 months are up! Of course, like all insurance, we hope not to have to use it at all, but it’s good for peace of mind. In fact, at the boogie this past week, I caught up with my friend who had hurt himself in Lodi a couple years ago. He filled us in on his recovery – it took a five months before he was fully recovered, and he wound up having to have surgery in San Francisco before going home to Norway. His private insurance covered everything, including a special medical flight home. We’re purchasing similarly generous insurance (which has no exclusions for skydiving, of course!). It’ll be nice to not have to worry about that part if we do have to deal with an injury abroad.