Royan is a lovely drop zone. Pilatus Porter planes and helicopters permanently I believe. Its got a decent packing shed, a cafe and a bar serving foods and beers etc throughout the day, the campsites sound and the people are friendly and willing to help you with whatever you need. Theres a shop for rigs and altimeters, hats tshirts blah blah. Its about 10 minutes drive from a big alfresco eating and drinking area overlooking the marina and beaches along the river. The beaches further round to the North West are pretty clean and a welcome change from a hot dropzone ! Nothing like a swim after a hard days falling.
I finished my AFF and consols a few days ago at Royan. As well as being a French DZ there is also an International school there called Airwaves - WWW.Airwaves.co.uk and they look after the Brits and the cloggies who come down and pass by. After a bad experience in Vannes it was pretty good to be greeted by good people who were clearly enthusiastic and motivated towards helping us become skydivers. Hats off to all involved. I would recommend this dropzone to any students who require either the French PAC or the AFF. Any questions I had were answered by my Airwaves instructor and I personally feel that they furnished me with the knowledge that i needed at any time in a dive or on the ground. The instruction I received from Airwaves and from some of the French instructors to me seemed clearly valuable and of top quality. I had no issues with bad kit or bad packing or waiting hours to be manifested or being 2nd classed for being a 'brit abroad', all involved were thoroughly professional from the directors to the 'manifest mc' and I thank them for carrying us through succesfully. Thanks very much.
If your a Brit and thinking of going down there speak to Rod Bartholemew of Airwaves, hes a top bloke, you'll be in good hands and I hope your chutes get packed and recieve the care they deserve from Andy. Nice one - see you again soon.
