CanuckInUSA

There are tricks to packing that "slippier than owls shit" canopy of yours. Get a packer to show it to you if they've got time. Good luck with it either way ... I'm sure you'll enjoy it. There's something to be said for flying a brand spanking new canopy. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Yes this sounds like the same exit point. The Chiliad exit point I speak of is atop Mt Chiliad on a platform that you need to jump over. From there there are five talus ledges to clear in your track or die scenario (the best I've done so far is only to clear the first three ledges and usually can only clear the first two). I really do like this "A" over looking the town of Dellimore with it's adjacent overhung cliff to also jump from. I wonder what other cool exit points that are out there (outside of the countless buildings). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I qualified for my San Andreas BASE Number the same day I received my real world BASE Number (BASE 1022). Dang it's been fun BASE jumping in this game. Here's are my four objects I'd use to qualify with if we had numbers. Building - Tallest building in downtown Los Santos Antenna - Tower in Mulholland (overlooking town of Dillimore) Span - Mulholland Intersection Earth - Mount Chiliad (track or die site) I've jumped from many more objects in this game besides those listed above. But these are the sites which I'd use to qualify with. The hardest and last object to obtain was my "A". But I found a tower on top of a cliff overlooking the town of Dillimore that was darn cool to land in with my canopy but then jump off of completing all four objects. Plus there's a nice overhung cliff adjacent to this tower which makes the area tons of fun to play in. Hmmm ... so many cool exit points found in this game and so many more left to find. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Well it may not be a cool sub 999 number (as I knew those numbers were already spoken for). But I did receive my BASE number card in the mail today (BASE #1022). I knew there was a bunch of people pushing for 1000, but I didn't know there would be this many. It's all good though. Thanks to all those who helped make this day happen.

I vote for Katee to make this 1st jump at the Perrine and not in WV. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Make sure you know what you're getting into. Make sure you know the BASE jumping gear, make sure you know the pack job, make sure you respect the weather and the site for it's challenges. Make sure you exit stable, make sure you can track (if it's a terminal jump), make sure to fall stable (if possible), never forget to pull (it has happened) and know how to fly your canopy and don't do anything stupid under it. When all this is done, remind yourself when you stand at an exit point ready to go, where you went wrong in life and make sure your family knows that you're BASE jumping ahead of time and know and respect the risks. BASE can definitely mess with your mind when you're at an exit point wondering whether to make that leap of faith or not. But it can also release a satisfaction equalled by little else after a successful jump is completed. If you really are serious about BASE, get your rear end up to Twin Falls sometime. There's no better place to learn than at the Perrine. Not too high, not too low, reasonably safe landing area and it's a site which can be jumped legally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Once you're done there, you'll be ready to move onto other stuff (like cliffs or the urban jungle). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

We must have attended two different swoop meets because I surely don't remember experiencing all the problems you described. In zone accuracy we had the best scoring runs we've had all season with most competitors scoring points on both runs. Plus I seem to remember a certain competitor coming as close as you can possibly get to the perfect score without getting the perfect score, yet no mention of this in your summary. In distance every competitor scored points on both runs except for one competitor who verted his first attempt which immediately took him out of the running on the entire competition. So through distance and zone accuracy almost every competitor had run clean. Something we had not seen all season. The 1st round of the speed course went well with most competitors flying clean and it was only on the 2nd speed round when we changed directions and had the winds to our backs (also flying the rarely used approach didn't help) where some (not all) competitors had trouble. All in all, every competitor has improved as the season progressed (as would be expected) and this competition was very unforgiving of errors. Dave Billings came ever so close to verting twice (but didn't) and won the competition while I verted twice, one which was an obvious fuck up but the other one was only by inches and it bumped me down into 5th place. So outside of the last speed round, I don't know why you claim ALL the competitors had trouble with density altitude on this day (the density altitude was high, but just because it was high didn't mean that every competitor had trouble with it). I don't remember seeing too many people in the corner. There were a few isolated incidents of people being there, but the skill levels of most competitors has improved greatly (with guys like Ryan and Eric flying better than they ever have) as our season nears it's completion. Assuming the pond is ever completed, the next and final local CPC comp will be very interesting as nobody is going to be used to the new venue (the new pond). But good luck to all who do compete. I know I'm going to have to become a magician (and pull a rabbit out of the hat) sometime between now and the next competition. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I just caught the piece on NBC. Not too bad. The reporter said some good things, the interviews with the swoopers were good and the footage was good. But I didn't like what the male anchor and that bitch Katie Courac (sp?) said at the very end. The male anchor seemed perplexed why baseball was removed from the Olympics (can you say because it's boring to watch) and didn't understand why we swoopers do what we do. That's okay, I surely don't swoop to impress the clowns at NBC. I swoop because it's fun and it makes me feel alive.

Of course this was said during an Eloy Holiday boogie, so it doesn't always apply ... "If you don't like the spot, it's not getting any better". Bryan Burke - Skydive Arizona Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Bump ... For those of you who may have missed this the first time around, here's a reminder of a free video to download and enjoy. It's mainly a BASE jumping video, but there is some swooping, Ground Launching, skydive tracking and a wingsuit balloon jump in it as well. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Being in the corner under any canopy is a bad place to be. This is why people being coached on high performance canopy flight are taught how to find the performance envelope of their canopy and to find it first at altitude before bringing it down close to the ground. But it sounds like you're saying that being in the corner of a higher loaded canopy (when things happen faster than someone may be able to react to) is a better place to be than being in the corner of a larger wing? Hmmm ... sounds like a receipt for disaster. I have no argument that people learning to swoop shouldn't be going big (doing things like 270s) and yes the first step is to do double fronts. But I'm on the side that believes that people should learn the fundamentals of swooping on larger canopies before they start using smaller ones. This way they can gradually build up their skills. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Christianty tries to tell us that the earth and everything on it was created in 7 days. But what about the rest of the universe? Oh back in the good old days when the bible was written, there was no science so humans were lead to believe that we were the center of the universe (remember when humans thought the world was flat). But now that we have science, Christians have changed their message to attempt to explain the bigger universe that we know (of course Christians still claim that we are the center of the universe despite the fact that we are in suburbia in our own galaxy far far away from all of the action in the other galaxies. Sounds like an excuse to me. So I'm with you on many of your issues. I'm agnostic and I only pick on Christianity because I know it (I was raised to be a Christian, not by choice, but because I was forced into it by my step-monster ... or was that step-father). I would love to pick on the other religions as well, but I don't know them very well. There may be a creator out there (call it God if you want). The universe is one hell of a big place that just boggles my mind and I just think it's ironic that humans still believe they are the center of the universe. Oh and as far as your concern of people remembering us. Shit I could die today and I'd be willing to bet that more people would be celebrating than weeping. So you better believe that I will be forgotten soon after I die. But I'm okay with this. I know I'm nothing more than the smallest of small entities living for an incredibly short time in a universe estimated to be what? Six or so billion years old? Oh but I forgot, the bible tells us that the world and the universe were created only a few thousand years ago despite all the physical evidence that we have to say otherwise and Christians proclaim the bible to be the truth and everything else is wrong and all non-believers will be rotting in hell. I'm okay with someone having a personal relationship with the possible creator of the universe (once again call this creator God if you must), but man made religions are a joke. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Obviously the riser pressure on a large canopy will be more noticable, but every canopy will load up to the point where you can't hold it. Take your canopy up high and do this as a drill to know what I mean. Start your riser turn and try and hold it. After a while (a while will depend on the canopy) you just can't hold it any longer (even on a small pocket rocket crossbraced canopy). Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Dude be happy you got a raise. I worked for a startup from the summer of '01 until last November and while I was appropriately paid for my profession (software developer) I never got one single raise in my 4 years at this company. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Whaaaaat.... I don't hear that from Scott or Brian... Sometime, I'd like some canopy coach teach me swooping (double fronts straight-in to begin with, then eventually 90's) and I think I'd do it with my existing 1.1 WL Sabre 170. (Maybe after 300 more jumps, maybe sooner, but it'd definitely have to be from a good canopy coach) Nobody wants to see low-timers doing 270s on large lightly loaded canopies. But I disagree with people like Rhino who say people shouldn't be learning to swoop with lightly loaded canopies. In fact if someone wants to learn to swoop then they need to learn on larger canopies first. Start with double fronts, 45s, 90s and work you way to 180s. Dedicate jumps to canopy control (hop n' pops and pulling high) and by all means (this is where I do agree with Rhino), get coaching. Besides practicing a lot, I have received some form of canopy control coaching on 4 different occasions and it has been a huge influence in my progression as a swooper. I still have tons of work to do (I'm mathematically still alive in my regional CPC circuit but I'm basically done for the year unless I can pull a rabit out of the hat on our final comp). But I am happy with where I am as a swooper and while I did downsize faster than the canopy nazis wanted me to, I DID NOT CUT ANY CORNERS in my canopy progression and training. So in summary, if someone wants to learn to be a swooper, they need to know that there are no short cuts and they really should be learning the basics on lighter loaded canopies before they pull out the pocket rocket. When they're ready to start doing 270s and higher, then they will have already built a good foundation of skill and experience on larger canopies. You don't need a small canopy to swoop. If you don't believe me, I'd like to show you on one of my bigger canopies, but better yet just download the video of Scott Miller swooping a Navigator to know what I mean. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Triathlon 220 Sabre2 190 Sabre2 170 Crossfire2 139 Crossfire2 119 Velocity 111 Velocity 103 plus ... Spectre 150 (for wingsuit jumps) Samurai 136 (for Ground Launching) FLiK 293 (BASE) Rock Dragon 303 (BASE) Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Save yourselves the trouble and only watch the last 10 minutes of Sportscenter. I had to endure 50 minutes of crap to catch the 5 or so minutes on the Perrine. But it was a good piece on our sport, Tom A and Mike T (I don't know the other guy as there was a 3rd guy) did a good job representing us. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I may currently be swooping a relatively small pocket rocket. But I learned to swoop on bigger canopies first. In fact my old Sabre2 190 and 170 canopies respectively set the ground work for where I am today. Some people are better under canopy than others, but there are no short cuts to swooping. Swooping itself is not safe. But to skip a step in your downsizing progression is just asking for trouble. Just my two cents of course. If you're set on downsizing, you won't be listened to anyone regardless. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Welcome, ask the appropriate questions here and you will get the appropriate answers. I was a private pilot before I became a skydiver before I became a BASE jumper. But I don't see too many similarities. Skydiving and BASE jumping use somewhat similar gear, but they are two different things, and yes planning cross-country plane trips do require some planning as does a BASE jump. But they are two entirely different planning scenarios. So other than having a wing over your head and having the skill and experience to land safely on the ground, I really don't see very many similarities between the three. Don't get me wrong, I think being a pilot is good thing when it comes to learning how to fly your canopy, but that's about it. Good luck with your flying and jumping goals ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I've only been playing GTA San Andreas for a week now, but I've been having tons of fun just driving around getting to know the town, riding the motorcycles, mountain biking and of course the skydiving and BASE jumping features of this game are pretty darn fun. I can't tell you how many times I've died BASE jumping because of wall strikes and low pulls (sometimes pushing the limits to see how low of an object I can jump from). But it's all good. It is nothing more than a game after all. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Very nice. As a fellow CBR owner (I've had a '96 F3 since '97) I can tell you that you've purchased a very well engineered and fun to ride bike.

You will never hear me say that swooping is safe because it's not and sometimes we fly a fine line between a nice greaser landing and death. Plus there has been a number of recent swooping deaths which could have been avoided. Also about 1/2 of the canopy control related deaths are swooping. The other 1/2 is just poor decision making and poor canopy control. Anyway ... there's a saying I like concerning BASE ... "BASE jumping is not safe. But it sure can be as dangerous as you want to make it". Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

You're mistaken by thinking that swooping is more dangerous than BASE jumping. Swooping is not safe and neither is BASE jumping. But swooping (when done right) is more of a science whereas BASE jumping can have unknown events happen on any jump that might not have been thought of before the jump. Neither discipline is safe and it's only through good judgement, training and experience that we can survive these two very fun aspects of parachuting. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

Myself and a few others were talking about being there around the 22nd-24th. Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

I agree that you guys have a problem with illegal immigration, but it's too funny that you so openly put the blame on the lefties. Don't forget who's in power right now and who is turning a blind eye to the problem only to appease the Latino vote. It's everyone's problem and fault, not just the lefties ... Try not to worry about the things you have no control over