NickDG

#4 is Eddie Morris, not just a packer at Elsinore, but BASE 111. And, I've had a crush on Linda Witte since 1977 . . . NickD

I think for Skin's release from internet purgatory we should show up in a big black Hearse with a hooker in the back . . . I fully understand Tom's dilemma, but we are BASE jumpers, and BASE boys and girls we'll always be BASE boys and girls. I don't think (in general) the same rules that apply to the rest of DZ.com should apply here. After all, we tend to color outside the lines . . . NickD

Hey Brother, Don't for a minute think "Jump" didn't have the same effect on us. You're right, we were so hungry for BASE information and stories I remember running back to the house with your latest issue, turning down the lights, opening a beer, and putting some Led Zep on the 8-track. I was in heaven . . . When the time came to name my own BASE magazine we went around for weeks. I was last behind Carl's BASE Magazine, Phil's BASELine, and your JUMP. (I'm just glad I was before Andy's BASE Gazette.) It was a time, like you said, that BASE was such a hot button issue with skydivers I even suggested we call the magazine, "Fuck You" but we settled on the "Fixed Object Journal." It's funny when I look back as now I think a real BASE magazine could make it. We were trying to do our best when the highest we ever got was about 250 subscribers. And that accounted for all the hardcore BASE jumpers in the entire world. I'm proud of us all, we risked it all for something we believed in, you, Carl, Phil and in a smaller way me, (and even Andy) provided direction when no direction was to be had . . . We need to all get together somewhere sometime, but, I know after the laughs and all the stories the only thing we'd notice is Carl isn't there . . . NickD

>>HOT TIP #4: Dont talk to crack heads while approaching a building.

Tom, I've seen this many times, and did it myself twice. It's something you can observe going through past Bridge Day videos. A jumper opens using BASE deep brake settings and has a clean 180 (a 180 where you come out of the line twist while opening) and for a second or so the canopy is neither moving forward or back. It's just sitting there. Pull down a rear riser at that point and the canopy will turn 180 degrees almost on a dime. The riser side of the canopy you pull down will start flying backwards. There is no way to do that with toggles. The turn with toggles, because you have to release the brakes, will be much wider and much faster. And both those things blow chunks when the idea is object avoidance. Of course this calls for the perfect brake setting for you canopy size and weight. If possible spend an hour looking over the rail at Bridge Day. BASE jumpers turn out of 180s quickly and don’t go under the bridge. Skydivers disappear under the bridge and sometimes don’t reappear for quite a while. I've stood there on the edge waiting for clean air more than few times wondering where did that guy go? If it was the New River Cliff instead of Bridge we'd need an industrial size squeegee to scrape the toggle grabbers off the face. I remember when we didn't know anything about brake settings. or wing loading, in BASE. We are all pretty much jumping the same size skydiving canopies with the factory brake settings. Then we noticed heavier boys covered more horizontal distance than lighter girls did when the brakes are still stowed. This led to the multiple brake setting BASE manufacturers started giving us, and later when we started jumping canopies that were more correctly sized based on wing loading as it relates to BASE jumping, they found the optimum settings and did away with the multiple settings. While these settings also control openings to a degree the first purpose of all this was to have you open with minimal forward speed and give you the time to risers turn away. Being a toggle grabber totally defeats all that. Consider also that releasing brakes, that are set deep, gives you more initial surge forward, no matter how fast you get the toggles down to slow down, and that's no good either. And when impact is coming most people ball up and cover their heads with their arms. Ask yourself if you want to be in brakes automatically in this situation or full flight? I keep hearing about "the toggle/riser debate" only here. I never run into any long time BASE jumpers who ascribe to it . . . NickD

Here's the screenshots that were posted a while back. (Sorry, I forgot by who). http://media.chaz720.net/gtabase/ NickD

Bummer. Bob Butt is reporting Dave Annis has passed away from lung cancer. Keep an eye on the Air Trash web site for info on services . . . NickD BASE 194

>>Man, my canopy isn't doing well then is it?

Is someone tracking GTA BASE numbers? While healing why not throw up a website and start keeping track. You could be the virtual version of Rick & Joy . . . NickD

Pioneer built a few 19-foot Paracommanders for woman in the mid-seventies, but I don't recall what they called it. Could be this . . . NickD

Shrinkage, it's why I hate water jumps . . . BTW, in the short term the two things that will hurt a canopy or rig are acid and sunlight. Shake and bake drying is all right for older gear, but for something you care about a shady spot with a breeze is slower, but better, as it dries more uniformly. I always cringe a little bit when I see someone out in direct sunlight whipping a shiny new BASE canopy around like a bed sheet. Handling is what destroys the porosity holding properties of canopies for the very reasons 460 stated. It's why the less you repack a reserve the better it will fly. NickD

I met him in 1989, or so, but I've only run into him at a few Bridge Days since then. He's a cool and interesting guy, a student of Moe Viletto, and he did quite a few jumps with Moe's "hideaway" BASE rigs in the early 1990s. One jump he did I'll never forget was off a local bridge (not very high and with a bad landing area) from the back of a moving pickup. He is standing on a pneumatic plate that blasted him out of the truck bed. It threw him up and over the rail like he came out of cannon. He fabricated the entire system and I thought it was something we'd all be doing, LOL. From what I recall he was/is a Hollywood stuntman and to him BASE jumping was just another arrow in his quiver, as was skydiving. Anyway he's an alright guy, and I do remember him keeping his BASE jumping quiet even though publicity might have furthered his Hollywood gigs. I bring up that last bit as during the same time there was another Hollywood stuntman going around day blazing everything in site . . . two high profile jumps were the long blue bridge near me and the big red one in San Francisco. The one near me was totally out of control (and replayed endlessly on local TV) and the one up north ended with two parachutes out and an object strike. The tar was hot on this guy's heels and what saved him is he stopped BASE jumping . . . Here's more on the first fellow. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0621parachutist.html NickD

>>it only takes a small amount of incidents to jeopardize the fragile nature of base' legal status in Moab.

>>So again, what do you think about BASE jumpers not skydiving anymore?

Totally, she does . . . and the reason she does, and I don't, is she's an outty and I'm an inney. I even dropped my trousers to make my case, but despite the good impression I made, I still didn't get in. However, it was fully noted when my pants were down around my ankles in the Perris parking lot that even though I wasn't making it into Pieces of Eight, I was an excellent candidate for Air Trash, so it all worked out okay . . . NickD

Hope he's alright . . . Another Raven save? NickD

Yes, Anne was in the emergency room with her last night. Karen will post details when able I'm sure. I hope she's not a touch typist . . . NickD

I've always considered Karen (ApexKaren) a ten. The day she walked into BR looking for a job years ago I was hoping Todd would say not only yes, but echo what I was thinking, and say "hell yes . . ." Well, she's dropped to a nine and three quarters and might be in need of some uplifting messages. A dog took the tip of her right social finger clean off. She's K763 here on DZcom. NickD

You might mean something called the reaper roll. It's a tool you can use when you break off late and sloppy, and you're looking for clean air . . . NickD

Ann's going to be annoyed, she hates being called Annie . .. NickD

Shivers . . . Thanks, Brother. NickD

>>Too many rules and regulations

I understand what you mean, but for those two seconds after he pulled the reserve handle, it was pretty much out of his hands, and it was all in yours. Believe me, while he was releasing the brakes he was thinking, "thank you, Sid . . ." It's a tradition that we call them saves, and if he shows up at your loft with a bottle of Scotch, for sure don't be all humble and digging your toe in the dirt. Sending him away with the idea it was all him and well, gee, I like Scotch too. The darker side of this would be a reserve failing, for whatever reason, and the rigger saying the jumper messed up. You see how it works? You can't do that. Accepting the Scotch, and the responsibility is so much better . . . So, go ahead, you saved him; you don't have to count them, but call it that way. And BTW, on your last one, nice save, brother . . . NickD

I was trying to sleep, but couldn't . . . Thanks for all that, and especially for the PMs, Jimbo, Johnny, Karin, Vandev, blair700, helge, RayMan, screamer, and the rest . . . I have no words for that kind of back up, except you made me cry, and feel good, for the first time this week. You guys are much more than friends, you are true brothers and sisters. Thank you . . . NickD

I'm lost and having a rough time of it . . . I find myself between life and death, a snap this way or that from eternity, and I'm just tired of fighting it. I don't know how this will turn out in the end. But I can acknowledge those I've known, and love, and lament those I haven't . . . Just keep your heads on straight and remember the thing that brought us here . . . If I could pass on anything to people who don't know me . . . It's this . . . trust your inner self, go where your body, not your mind, tells you to go . . . And, Oh shit brothers, this sucks . . . NickD