In the most basic of all terms, a dropzone is a place where one has the ability to go up in a flying machine and then jump out wearing a parachute. We can, and often do, accept this as all we really need – but we also are a fussy bunch. Dropzones are a complex porridge of everything else we wish for and require to have a good time, with ever more layers of complexity and sophistication added to elevate somewhere over somewhere else, with skydiving operators aiming to tickle our privileged pleasures in the most enticing ways they are able to create.
Skydive Bovec has a lot to offer. Even outside of the unique-ish aerial activities – such as mountain swooping amongst the southeastern Alps – the basics are strong. The town has what you need and is but a walk away, the locals are mostly pretty friendly, and everything is cheaper than Switzerland. Many things listed in the win column made Bovec popular, and recently the weights and balances started to shift. When a medium-sized skydiving operation is presented with big dropzone potential, frictions can develop – some of which ultimately led to Adventure Boogie getting cancelled. Yet across the span of another weird skydiving season beset by alterations and changes, things shifted again – and Tora Tora came back to Skydive Bovec.
Resorting to writing about the weather in an event report could possibly mean that nothing of particular interest happened. Every event is a gamble with the possibility of un-jumpable conditions, but only when the dice fall in our favor can we properly assess the full potential of what has been planned. Anyone familiar with doing sport in the mountains knows how rare an extended run of good weather really is, let alone the idea of perfection – but for a single September week, the attendees were gifted with the kind of perfect skydiving weather only usually available in daydreams and fancies.
This good fortune meant that Adventure Boogie existed without compromise, and can be assessed as perhaps the best version of itself. Every scheduled activity from start to finish happened as advertised. Mountain swoop loads went up – plane after plane, day after day. Each of the planned innhopps went ahead, and the parties too. All the ground-based offerings, representing all the things an alpine sports town can offer, enticed groups away from the hangar to spread out around the local terrain – giving the front and centre hub of action at the airfield a laidback and easy feel.
Even in the new times, where things are all much less certain – there are lots of places to choose from for a skydiving trip. Many events out in the world are excellently run and offer a lot – but it would be hard not to count Adventure Boogie among the very best currently on offer. The Tora Tora team has been running events for a long while now and understands very well that success one year does not mean going bigger the next. Their solution is to keep the number of people the same but extend the event, and next year Adventure Boogie will be two weeks long in the manner of their Paradise Portugal end-of-season gathering in Portugal, with a separate registration for groups one and two – and of course the option of staying for both. Save the date and get in early.
Skydive Bovec knows it has everyone’s attention, and they mean to develop and expand their operation to cater to the many groups that plan to visit. An on-site hotel will go up soon, and packages that make logistics easy are being designed. Significantly, the 2021 version of this dropzone has put a lot of effort into their procedures and safety – and with zero injuries not only for this boogie but the entire Summer, things are looking good.
