DexterBase

Maybe the anti-BASE policies will get washed away.

The difference, at least to me, is that I can find an explanation for the other malfunctions. This one... boggles my mind completely.

Hey Tom, I think we ought to split these threads because they're clearly two seperate discussions and I'd hate to see one smother the other. They're both worthy of being explored more thoroughly.

Then that would have to apply to the TARD as well. Rollovers pressurize very slowly compared to a freefall deployment. More importantly I believe, the pressurization is very steady compared to shockloading the canopy with a TARD.

Marty is THE MAN. A dollar sent to Asylum, is a dollar wisely spent.

I would have to agree. A TARD or rollover could get you down, that is, if you're not too injured to attemp one. Likely, the best option will be to wait for rescue. (Tommy, do you have a number I can reach you at? I want to do some more jumps with you.)

oooh, that is really, really strange. How can the bridle wrap around the tailpocket? When the PC is loaded, it's pulling on the canopy attachment point. Until the canopy starts to pressurize, the drag on the PC keeps the bridle too tight to haf-hitch around the tail of the canopy. The only time I could see the bridle having a chance to do this is after linestretch, as the tail is not pressurized yet. It would have to occur after linestretch because the lines aren't trapped in between the bridle and the tail. It seems like a lot of things would have to fall into place just right (or wrong, I suppose) for this to happen. spooky. Edit: What type of canopy was this? Is the canopy know to have a backsurge on opening? Still totally lost...

How do the glide angles (and trim) compare?

Peace Brother...

I need some help. If you can let me know who you are, I'd sure appreciate it. Thanks!

Whoah, Whoah Whoah!!!! THAT is Katie. I think that's a total crock. Those vents blow straight up. It's the wind that is out to get us BASE jumpers. Accuse me of.... sheesh!

Careful taking Jaap along. The wind seems to follow him around. Just kidding, we're waiting to take you out again!

In that situation, you kind of just need to trust yourself. Is you packjob consistant? If so, it's unlikely that your pin tension will have changed all that much since your last ten jumps that it was fine for. Is the jump super low? If you're really sketched out about it, then prime your pins half way and put your rig on. The amount of drag a PC creates will pop your pins. After even a relatively short delay, the pins will pop. At the the object we took you to, I will jump with my pin flap closed, the pins buried, and a 42" PC. I rarely get a pincheck.

Oh man, you called that one right!

You know, Katie and I don't have plans for thursday night..... Hmmm..... what could we do thursday night?..... hmmmm...... We could hang out and discuss that DZ issue maybe..... you know, if we were invited over.... hmmm....

One thing that some people may have not considered is where to exit in higher winds. If the wind is up, and I'm landing at the upper landing area, I definitely don't want to cross the tree line unless I need to. That tree line has eaten many BASE canopies and jumpers. In high wind, I will usually exit closer to the Twin Falls side of the bridge, in line with the landing area. Make sure you're far enough out towards center span to lower the strike potential if you have a 90 right or greater. If all goes well, you only need to fly straight out and turn 180 to land. You'll never have a chance to get involved with the tree line. Turn earlier than you think you need to. It's better to come straight down if you're over the landing area, than if you're over something else. (If you turn into the wind and your canopy is moving backwards, you'll be glad you turned in earlier.) ----Center span exits---- Another common mistake I see everytime I'm in TF, is people that exit, fly straight down the beach, then turn and cross the treeline while they're very low. I see lots of jumpers make their base leg only feet over the treetops and end up landing during their turn to final. After opening, if your plan is to land at the upper landing area, make a straight line to the landing area and get across the treeline while you're well above it. There is no need to fly down the beach and then cross the tree line low. This is especially important in higher wind conditions. Use your head and think about things. Don't just do what everyone else is doing without thinking it through yourself. BOTTOM LINE: You don't need to jump. I made one jump when the winds were absolutely nuking. I was flying a higher wingloading (ACE 220) and when I turned into the wind I was travelling straight down in full flight. Had I been flying my BlackJack 240 (with a lower WL), I would have been flying backwards pretty fast. As soon as I opened I knew that I made a bad decision. It worked out okay, but it might not have. Thanks to the jumpers that still talked to me after that one.

I used to do that to myself on purpose. On payday, I'd pull a random pair of pants out of my stack and slip a couple twenty's in the pocket. Then after a week or so, I'd put those pants on and be stoked to find the $$$ I left for myself. It's a guarantee that one day in the near future, you're going to get a nice surprise. And, it's free.

Hey dude! my landing was flawless! ...well, right up to the handcuffs, I suppose...

You know, I wouldn't even mind if the NPS kept BASE jumping on their do not do list. Seriously, I think the cloak and dagger stuff is cool too. But damn, why do they have to be so hard on us? It would be one thing if they cited us and handed us a $500 ticket then sent us on our way. That I could deal with. (I could make myself feel better by telling myself the money was going to relocate the cute little bears that are ripping off car doors or something. Maybe feeding the little squirrels at the pizza place... cute little bastards.) Our bust last summer cost (between both of us) around $8000 all said and done. That's including rigs, fines, and other equipment permanently confiscated. Oh, and could I get a year of probation on the side, please? Think about that, what did I do? Did I rob a bank? Did I hold up the little shops in Curry Villlage? Did I get drunk and drive around running over road signs? Did I assault a Park Ranger? No, I parachuted off a cliff. I paid the entry fee into the park, hiked out my trash, and even landed on a path in the meadow, not even disturbing a single blade of grass. The punishment does not fit the crime. As far as I'm concerned, I would be endangering the public far more if I would have driven drunk. While we were in court, a person was charged with a DUI. Their fine was $1500 and they were given probation. Did the NPS keep their car? Nope. At least there's written laws about getting drunk and driving around. I want someone to explain to me how my parachute jump was over five times as dangerous to the public than drunk driving. That's what the court seems to be trying to tell us.

Hopefully if you're eating breakfast, you get something more than what they serve a the Shiloh. A couple bagels and some coffee is hardly what I'd call a breakfast. edit: everyone knows the best breakfast in Twin Falls is at the Kung Pow Ranch.

The course was really well designed. The field was spread out enough that we weren't stepping on eachother and couldn't even see the other teams at times. Yet, if you look at the results, the time difference between 8th and 13th place (us) was only ten minutes. That's pretty impressive that the finish was so close between a lot of teams. At about mid-race, we had a pretty good lead over many of the teams that ended up finishing ahead of us. I made a couple navigational errors that cost us the ten minutes that would have really counted. We're young racers so these mistakes are to be expected; however, we're learning and we'll continue to get better and better. We train pretty hard so I imagine we'll see real improvements before our big race in September.

My argument is that BASE jumping is not illegal in the National Parks. If it is, then they need to come out and say it. If it isn't, then they need to put a system in place for us to get permits, and then they need to actually issue permits.

Care to explain it to us?

Dude, seriously, don't ever sweat that Tom giving you shit about backing off a jump. Ask him about the morning load at the Green Giant in NorCal. HaHa!!!! That was truly funny.

Same story in Yosemite. If there was a nice rock next to the Merced river, say a nice 80 footer with a deep swimming hole at the base, you could jump off all day and not be in any trouble. If you put on a BASE rig and did a static line jump from the exact same spot and landed in the exact same swimming hole, suddenly you're guilty of illegal aerial delivery. Now, even after you paid to enter the park, and were already legally standing inside the national park, you somehow "delivered yourself into the park by parachute." I paid the admission into Yosemite, legally hiked to the summit of the big stone there, and parachuted to the valley floor. I was found guilty of illegal air delivery even though I never deliverd anything into the national park. My jump started after I was already inside the park. If I would have jumped from the same spot without a parachute and somehow miraculously survived, I would have been in less trouble. Probably none at all. More proof that the air delivery law is not based on any logic, other than "BASE jumpers are bad."