This month´s newsletter was provided by Jonno Horne, Skydive Spain resident FAA Master Rigger, BPA Rigger, USPA and BPA AFF, Static Line and Tandem Instructor and BPA FS Coach and Canopy Coach.

Read on for more of what´s been happening at our DZ this month.

Congratulations to Volare, the boys took Bronze at the World Games in Taiwan.

1^st place - Babylon

2^nd place - Skywalkers

3^rd place - Volare

Volare will be competing at this year's British Nationals were they will be expecting to take Gold and then to take the World Meet by storm.

Interview with Mikey C of Volare here...

Here are a few photos of the local beaches to Skydive Spain. Volare of Volare fame are seen here taking a day off from their 2 weeks training schedule and visiting one of our local beaches. The nearest beach to Skydive Spain is Matalascañs it is only 30 minutes away and has miles of sandy dunes (& hot chicks / dudes). You can also see the gang having lunch at one of the many very reasonably priced restaurants on the beach called chiringuitos.

On the beach at the restaurant

Today we welcome Steve Copeland from England. Steve has come to visit for us for a few days.  Here is Steve with Ainoa, who runs our manifest and office.

Andy Lovemore, who is Hannah’s assistant landing after jumping with Liz Boniface.

Andy Lovemore and Liz Boniface  after landing.

Visiting today is Carlos Serrano. Carlos has just finished his AFF course and has now come to Jump in the sun at Skydive Spain.

Alberto Fuertes, Adam Mattacola and Matt O'Riordan walking back to the packing hangar.

Here is Matt O'Riordan and Liz Boniface. They have chosen to train alongside Volare for 10 days so they can guarantee their jumps. If you want to train alongside any of our sponsored athletes check for dates on the website or pick up the phone and call our office girls.

Bego teaching Jose Antonio on a first jump course. He will do about 6 hours training with Bego on the ground. Then tomorrow morning he will make his first AFF jump, level 1.

Today we are visited by JC Perren the production manager for United Parachute Technologies. UPT make the Vector 3 harness container and the Sigma Tandem container. UPT are also the designers of many other parachute related technology, like the throwaway pilotchute, 3 ring release, skyhook and tandem skydiving amongst many others. In these photos you can see JC after jumping with Bego in shorts and Tshirt. Today we have a very comfortable 34 deg.

Angel Sanchez Reyes from Dos Hermanas, east of Sevilla jumping tandem with Jonno. Photo by Rob Campbell

Mike and Zak have just jumped tandem with Jonno and Pete. With 15000ft (4700m) you get a full minute of 120mph freefall on a tandem. Here you can see them watching their DVDs of the jump.

Raul, Cesar and Guillermo from Sevilla have come to do Tandem Skydives. Here they are filling out the paperwork and next to the Dornier after jumping.

This is the side wall of one of our hangers, over the last few months Andy Lovemore has built a huge line of rig racks, locker spaces and shelves, so our jumpers have somewhere to keep their equipment. If you want a locker of your very own, then contact the DZ and speak to the office girls. Email Info@skydivespain.com or call +34 6687726303, +34 666118152.

Liz Boniface and Matt O’Riordan de briefing their last training jump using one of our 42” wide screen TVs.

We say goodbye to Liz Boniface and Matt O’Riordan they were training alongside Volare for 7 days and completed 36 training jumps. Good luck for the Nationals guys.

Claudio Lettieri and Andy Lovemore dirtdiving their next training jump.

Adam Miller Has come to do an AFF course. Here he is having finished his ground school with Pete, ready to do his Level 1.

Volare packing after another 15000ft (4700m) training jump. Skydive Spain has just changed the packing floor. Andy Lovemore, Jonno and Andy U put down the new floor that has 2 layers of padding underneath to make that 10^th pack job of the day a bit more comfortable.

This is an exit shot of Ashley Newbold. After Ashleys AFF Pete Huskins jumped with Ash and took 50 high quality photos with a Canon 400D camera and a 17mm wide angle lens. If you want one of our camera people to jump with you then just email us at info@skydivespain.com or call us on 0034 687726303 or just ask the office girls before you jump.

Interview with Ashley Newbold, Recent AFF Graduate. Visits Skydive Spain for the second time.

Above is Michael Roesner standing with his Instructors Andy Lovemore and Jonno Horne. Michael has just finished his ground school with Andy and he is now ready to make his AFF level 1. The ground school Michael did with Andy consists of 6 hours of lessons ranging from how to fall stable through the air, to how to land your parachute safely. Below is Michael in freefall with his two instructors on his first AFF jump. Michael is so stable on his first jump that instructor Jonno is able to release and move round to the front. Great Job Michael!

Above is Nacho (centre) with instructors Bego and Sissi before his AFF level 1. Nacho has done 6 hours ground school with instructor Sissi before his first jump. I’m not sure how he managed to jump with the two chicks? Maybe he paid extra?

Above and right is Sissi and David Menor after a coach jump. David is using one of our hire parachutes before he decides to buy his own parachute. All of our hire kit is maintained by Jonno Horne who is a BPA rigger and an FAA master rigger. This means that Skydive Spain’s rigging room can take on any type of rigging work from reserve repacks to harness replacements. Check out our rigging page here. photo Andy Lovemore

Éder our pilot waiting for the jumpers before starting the engines. photo Andy Lovemore

Above is Manolo’s group dirt diving their next skydive. Manolo (right) is a load organiser during the weekends, he is Spanish and speaks English too. If you want to be part of an organised group then just ask the office girls who is organising today.

Here is our end of season meal, you can see the guys enjoying their dinner. The photo above is Duart asleep on the job (as usual) and the photo on the right is Bego doing an impression of a rooster. During the meal there was a presentation by Andy Lovemore to give out some certificates as follows.

Andy U for going above and beyond the call of duty,

Eder N P for turning the Dornier round faster then any pilot we know,

Jonno Horne for generally being the most intelligent person on the drop zone,

Susi for being fast, friendly and a real team player,

Ainoa for being the best dressed manifester,

Maxim for breaking his packing time,

Bego for having the best underwear,

Pete Huskins for entertaining us all,

And finally a surprise certificate for Andy Lovemore himself presented by Jonno for “Taking on the job that no one else wanted”

This photo is for Mikey Carpenter. I will leave the rest of you to work out who it is.

Barbie and Jacobo

In Sevilla there are many Spanish schools and today we have three girls from the USA learning Spanish in Sevilla that visited us at Skydive Spain to do Tandem Skydives. Here you can see a photo of Melissa, Alexa and Marissa and also  a photo of Melissa landing with fun jumper and instructor Pete. Well done girls, come back and do an AFF course..! If your brave enough..!

Here is Alberto Fuertes from Volare, landing after another training jump.

Above and below you can see Javier from Rota. Javier now wants to start Accelerated Freefall (AFF). Photos by Andy Lovemore

Instructor Bego landing after a fun jump in shorts and Tshirt. Bego is Spanish and speaks English fluently.

Its not all work here at Skydive Spain here are a few photos of the fun jumpers having a barbeque, thanks to Hannah for preparing the food and Jonno, Andy and Mikey for cooking the meat.

Miguel came to do a tandem jump just before he gets married. Miguel is in the centre with the pink shirt. And the short ginger guy in the middle at the back is Pete Huskins.

Here is the Skydive Spain shop. Skydive Spain has dealerships with the largest equipment manufactures, so if you need a quote for mains, reserves, containers or AADs then drop us an Email to info@skydivespain.com or call our office. We also stock a large selection of jumpsuits, helmets, audibles,  altimeters and goggles  call us for the latest prices we are happy to send equipment to you. And of course we sell lots of skydiving clothing, Tshirts, hoodies, swoop pants etc.

Welcome to Ashley and Adele Newbold, Ash has come to finish his consolidation jumps. Ash finished his AFF in Skydive Spain 2 months ago, he has now completed his 10 consolidation jumps and has his BPA A licence. Congratulations Ash, now lets do some formation skydiving. Remember you’re British Parachute Association  (BPA) “A” licence needs to be signed by a BPA advanced instructor. At Skydive Spain we have Ian Cashman who is our permanent chief instructor. Ian is a BPA advanced instructor / examiner. So when you finish your AFF at Skydive Spain you walk away with your a licence in your hand..!

Here is Ash packing after another jump from 15,000ft (4700m), the highest normal jumping altitude in Europe. From 15000ft (4700m) you can get 70 seconds freefall. Most dropzones only fly to 12000ft (3700m) 15 seconds less freefall.

Here is Andy and Claudio after another training jump from 15000ft (4700m). The guys train here at skydive Spain because Skydive Spain is the only centre in Europe that goes to 15000ft (4700m) on every flight. Most drop zones only go to 12000ft, from 15000ft you get an extra 15 seconds of freefall. If you think about it that’s like another quarter of a skydive, or a free skydive every 4 jumps..! With Skydive Spain you get the height the speed the facilities and much much more. Jump in the sun.

Close to Skydive Spain there is lots to do, here are a few photos of one of our recent visits to Gibraltar, our little bit of England in Spain. Gibraltar is 2 hours drive from skydive Spain. Wild Monkeys occupy the top of Gibraltar rock (called Barbury Apes even though they are actually monkeys), above and left you can see Hannah and Jonno with the monkeys. Remember to keep anything shiny in the car as they will steal sunglasses, keys, money and anything else they can get their hands on. Below you can also see a photo of Hannah near the top of the rock and behind her you can see North Africa! And finally for the English there is all the supermarkets you miss like, Morrisons and sainsburys so you can stock up on your Pot noodles. “The slag of snacks”.

Here is Roxanne Weir Lovemore completing her AFF ground school. You can see her in the photo practicing how to fly her parachute using a suspended harness to make it more realistic. In Roxanne’s suspended harness all the handles and steering toggles are in the same place as the actual parachute kit she will be jumping. This gives her confidence when making her first jump that she can fly her parachute comfortably and safely. Also in the photo you can see Roxanne’s father and Instructor Andy Lovemore. Andy has spent 6 hours on the ground with Roxanne to teach her everything she needs to know before making her first AFF jump. Good luck on AFF level 1 Roxanne.

Above is Ainoa one of the office girls, She is helping to start our Dornier28 G92 aircraft. The Dornier uses an external battery that you can see next to Ainoa, to start the engines. Our Dornier climbs to 15,000ft (4600m) in 12 minutes, no other drop zone in Spain goes to 15000ft (4600m) on every flight. photo Andy Lovemore

Above Jose Armario getting a gear check before flying to 15000ft (4600m). And left walking back to the packing area after 70 seconds of freefall. We recommend everyone gets an equipment check from another experienced skydiver before boarding the aircraft. photo Andy Lovemore

Jumpers on board ready to climb to 15000ft (4600m) in our Dornier twin turbine jump plane. It takes only 12 minutes to get to 15000ft (4600m) on the Dornier and with a huge left hand door it’s the most comfortable jump plane around.

Here you can see Andy Lovemore taking his daughter Roxanne on her AFF level 1 skydive. During the skydive Jonno, the other instructor is able to release and move to the front to communicate with Roxanne easier.

Jonno walking back to the padded packing area after making a tandem jump. photo Andy Lovemore

Eva and Daniel after their tandem skydive from 15000ft (4600m). It only takes a 20 minute lesson on the ground for a tandem jump then 12 minute plane ride then you get a full minute in freefall at 120 MPH (200KPH) and then 5 minutes under the parachute before a nice soft touchdown landing. Come and jump in the sun. photo Andy Lovemore