TVPB

That's why we got along so well. So much in common. Except the number of points on a jump!!! I'll bet you $50 if you can beat the Aussies. Interested? p.s welcome back..

Welcome back you old bastard. If you train your arses off, you might get half the points the Aussies get11 Good luck with it all. I am standing down from this one but will be going in 2008. Say hello to the team. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

CUTBACKS SQUEEZE NATIONAL PARKS Officials count on volunteers, service reductions as costs rise Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau Monday, May 1, 2006 Washington -- Over the last decade, more people are visiting the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the park has grown by thousands of acres, from the recently restored Crissy Field to the addition last year of one of San Mateo County's largest undeveloped tracts of land. But during the same 10 years, the Bay Area's popular national park has cut its staff by 30 full-time employees. Facing flat budgets from the federal government and rising costs, park managers have been forced to rely on volunteers and outside groups to avoid reducing public access. Park officials say resources are stretched so tightly they are having trouble keeping up with basic services, such as picking up trash at Crissy Field or providing regular patrols of the newly acquired lands near Devil's Slide. "You can only stretch the rubber band so far," said Brian O'Neill, the park's superintendent. "There is no question that we can't continue to endure cutbacks without commensurate cutbacks in services and our ability to be stewards of these places." The story is the same -- and, in some cases, worse -- at the National Park Service's other 389 parks, preserves, seashores and historic sites across the country, where superintendents are making painful choices: cutting seasonal and full-time staff, closing visitor centers and reducing interpretive programs. Though the Bush administration has supported modest spending increases for the national parks in recent years, they have barely kept pace with inflation. Meanwhile, operating costs continue to rise each year, forcing park managers to cut services or find volunteers willing to provide them for free. A General Accountability Office report released last month, which examined 12 of the most heavily visited national parks, found that park officials have made difficult decisions in light of their money woes, including: -- Closing the visitor center at the southern end of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. -- Shutting down winter use of seven restrooms along roads and trailheads in Acadia National Park in Maine. -- Reducing backcountry patrols in Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park. -- Cutting interpretive programs at Grand Canyon National Park from 35 in 2001 to 23 in 2005. -- Shortening a visitor center's operating hours and cutting naturalist programs and Indian art tours at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. The Park Service has fared better than many other domestic agencies as the Bush administration, struggling with rising budget deficits and a war in Iraq costing $10 billion a month, has tried to reduce spending unrelated to defense and homeland security programs. But any cuts in services at the national parks -- which have more than 450 million visitors each year -- are more likely to be felt directly by the public. Top administration officials took issue with the GAO report, saying it was overly pessimistic and failed to emphasize that the Park Service's budget had climbed from $1.4 billion in 2001 to $1.7 billion in 2005. "Record high levels of funding are being invested to staff and improve our parks," Matthew Hogan, the Interior Department's acting assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, wrote in an official response to the report. "Over time, the national parks have received significantly more funding increases than most nondefense government programs." But the GAO investigators said the overall funding increase for the Park Service was somewhat misleading. Congress boosted funding to help reduce the backlog of delayed maintenance at the parks -- a priority that President Bush campaigned on in 2000 -- between 2001 and 2005 by 4 percent annually in inflation-adjusted dollars. But the amount the agency was given for daily operations at the parks actually fell slightly in inflation-adjusted dollars, by 0.3 percent. Without sufficient daily operating funds, park officials have been unable to keep pace with steadily rising costs -- especially employee salaries and benefits, but also utilities and fuel for vehicles -- forcing them to make cuts. "Officials at the park units we visited stated that they absorbed these additional costs by reducing spending on personnel and other expenditures," the GAO report said. "Park officials also told us that they reduced services including reducing visitor center hours, educational programs, basic custodial duties and law enforcement operations, such as back-country patrolling." Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks, known for their groves of giant sequoia redwood trees, delayed the opening of the Lodgepole visitor center by 5 weeks -- until next Monday -- to save money. The two parks have trimmed staff, cutting one full-time ranger and three seasonal rangers in the interpretative division. Instead they have added volunteers from the Student Conservation Association to keep a presence at spots like the General Sherman Tree, the world's largest tree by volume. "Those are the trade-offs that we have to make," said William Tweed, the chief park naturalist. "We are trying very hard to provide visitors services, but we are providing less than we were providing a decade ago." At Yosemite National Park, which drew more than 3.4 million visitors last year, park officials estimate they have reduced their full-time staff by 5 to 7 percent, and their seasonal staff by 20 to 25 percent over the last five years. As the number of park rangers has fallen, Yosemite's managers have asked volunteers to help out. On a typical summer evening, only one out of five interpretative programs is conducted by a park ranger. The others are run by volunteers, friend-of-the-park groups and Yosemite's private concessionaire, Delaware North. "They see the erosion in the operating budget," said Scott Gediman, a park spokesman. "We sit down at the table with them and we say, 'We don't want to cut these services,' and we say, 'Can you help us do that?' " Parks across the country have found similar savings by enlisting volunteers to perform tasks that rangers used to do. Retirees collect fees at campgrounds, friend-of-the-park groups run historic sites and maintain trails, volunteers and employees at park bookstores hand out maps and answer questions from visitors. The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area near Los Angeles has had a hiring freeze for the last four years, forcing the park to rely on retired schoolteachers to lead education programs and to seek state grants to pay for other programs. "People are still having a good experience and a quality experience, but clearly they are going to see fewer rangers as we direct our efforts to coaching volunteers and building partnerships to deliver services," said Woody Smeck, the park's superintendent. But park managers admit there are limits to what volunteers and friend-of-the-park groups can do. Officials with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area -- which includes sites such as Alcatraz, Fort Mason, the Marin Headlands and Muir Woods -- have been asking volunteers and nonprofit partners to perform more basic services, from running interpretative programs to protecting natural resources. "They are asking the really basic question, 'What is government providing?' " O'Neill said. "They are saying, 'I want to create a margin of excellence, but I don't want to be a substitute for what should be a basic function of government.' " Within the agency, park officials are preparing for more cuts. The Bush administration is proposing to cut $100 million from the agency's budget next year, although Congress may seek to restore the money. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., who chairs the House Resources subcommittee that oversees national parks, said the parks should not be asking Congress for more money, but should focus on reforming their business practices to spend their money more wisely. "Of course, every agency says they need more money to do their job ... it's not unusual," Pearce said. "But the management of the parks over the past 10 or 20 years has allocated up to 90 percent of their budgets on salaries -- and that's not a very positive position to put yourself in." Most parks already have crafted business plans to become more efficient. Many parks are now undergoing a process called "core operations analysis" with the goal of bringing fixed costs -- especially personnel -- under 80 percent of their budget. But some fear it could be used to pave the way for even deeper staff cutbacks. "We would hope that core operations analysis would be used to help justify the true needs in the parks," said Blake Selzer, legislative director of the National Parks Conservation Association, which supports increased funding of the parks. "It should not be used as a justification for insufficient budgets or as a justification to cut appropriations." A bipartisan group of 105 House members signed a letter warning that the proposed cuts to the parks budget "will undoubtedly lead to additional reductions in resource protection and visitor services, and further increases in visitor fees." Thirty-two senators signed a similar letter urging Congress to "address the significant operating shortfall plaguing our national parks." E-mail Zachary Coile at zcoile@sfchronicle.com. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

Faber Faber Faber. You are now starting to sound like one of the old bastards in the sport. The phenomenon you mention is not new. It is in fact as old as the manufacturers themselves. The only difference now is that the market for the gear is growing so there are likely to be more people (absolute numbers) doing it. The ratio is probably the same. After a while you just get despondent and say, "Oh well, they are adults and they have made a (sub)conscious decision to do it". "F&*%ing A^*^%holes". Then you realise that these people are selfish, lazy, illogical people. They are ultimately responsible for their own lives. There are volumes of information out there and lots of generous people who are more than willing to help. But they choose not to seek or utilise that help. There is no logic to doing something like BASE jumping without the right training. I say f%&*& them and give them NO sympathy. Kick dirt over them, steal their gear and jump it, buy lots of beer with their money. For that is what they would want. Jump, party, have a good time. p.s. at least the person you mention has made the effort to do AFF and has realised the work involved in getting to his/her original dream. There is hope.

Two very important things should come out of incidents and fatalities. Respect and sympathy for the person and their family and friends. No matter what the person was like. Learnings from the mistakes that have/may have occured. It is one thing to speculate what the actual specific circumstances were on that jump. You have to be careful in what you say happened in a particular circumstance. This is particularly the case if you do not have actual / first hand knowledge of the situation. There are legal / psychological / respect / etc reasons for this. It does not hurt to talk about possibilities though. If someone else picks up from this thread that short delay slider up jumps do have a higher risk level and incident rate, and they think twice about doing it (especially on earlier jumps), that may actually prevent an incident/fatality in the future. And that is worth gold - especially for that person and their family. When you have a discussion about something technical such as slider up short delay openings on its own, it does not carry much punch with newbies as it is not linked to any emotional event. When there is an emotional event attached, people tend to take a lot more notice. Unfortunately that is basic human psychology. Hence the value of the discussion - even if it distracts people from the original purpose of the thread. That is what incident reporting is all about. That is why we should talk about possibilities. But we should also clearly explain and understand that some of this discussion may be linked to the person and actual event that the original thread is about. Condolences to all involved. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

Feel free to provide any info / media / feedback / etc. Don't forget to get some copies of footage from the world meet too. Photo's would be nice too. Matt has to wear weight?? You must be cuddly!!! Good Luck with it all. CYA in 2008 Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

The competition rules are described at the following website: OzCRW - Competion Rules & Judging While you are at it, take the opportunity to surf around for more CRW info. Good luck at the Worlds. And don't forget to feed Matt with Ham and Cheese sandwiches. He goes lots faster when he has more!! As far the judges, ask them, pander to them, give them what they want. Each judge is different, It is your job to understand what this is. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

r.e. metal detectors -> it is not compulsory for a rig contain any metal components For specialty jumps, you don't need rapide links, 3 rings, chest strap buckles, leg strap buckles, ringed p/c attachment points, keeper rings, etc. But for general use (considering wear and tear, compatability & configuration, etc. Metal components are preferred. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

What damned list? And who is this Nick guy anyway??? You have a few more decades to add to the mountain you have already created. Don't sign off just yet!!! Luv your work. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

You are going to be sssssoooooo bbooorrrring when you finally come out of puberty. Enjoy the ride while it lasts.. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

I know a good plastic surgeon. And if you can't afford him, Jack the Ripper knives are sharper than those cheap plastic things we get on rigs these days. The other option is to ground crew for . . . . maybe someone in San Francisco!!! If I had tits (real ones - not man boobs), I would have lots more money. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

50ft???? You need your eyes checked!!!! Maybe your visions is a bit foggy??? By the way, nice skivvy and haircut. You look hot! xoxoxoxoxo Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

yeah - they all shoot video and want the money shot!!!! Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

She better not be leaking. No telling what drugs she has been taking (Acid) and how well her body has absorbed it. Don't get her too excited. And DONT" let her sit naked on the rig..... Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

You are a jerk Tracy. And what is wrong with a bit of acid huh? Now, the canopy may not appreciate that fact that acid is one of the three big no no's, but the jumper won't mind when he gets a hard opening and the canopy falls apart. Should make great video too. This should be funny. BASE jumpers don't use reserve canopies because they don't need them, but they start using a reserve harness when it falls apart on opening. We should start a contest to see who can work out the cutaway / transfer system first. Luv your work. And if he still thinks you're a jerk, just tell him that I agree!!!! I am surprised the other people actually let him near them. Sounds like a lot of people know stuff all about taking care of gear. Those were happy days Spacy. p.s. you have done the right thing. It is up to the others to respond. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

With all due respect - can I suggest some internet surfing lessons. I have been to all sites you mentioned and it did take a bit of research ten years ago. This time around I just typed into google and yahoo and got info straight away. For driving directions - go to www.viamichelin.com ITW is obvious!!! Verdon is easy. Czech Rep might be hard and you WILL need local guides. Good Luck pm if you are struggling to get info. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

Pete Fielding in Oz is about 54 now. He has been jumping for decades and discovered / first jumped MANY sites in Oz. He is jumping more now than ever before. He mentored a number of greats (i.e. DW), and is respected by ALL human beings that have met him for his personality and achievements, most of which have gone unnoticed. I have the utmost respect for him. If it was anyone else, it would be different. I have taken a 65 year old for a number of BASE jumps. Jim Guyer is the oldest active one I have met (I met him at Bridge Day and in Australia). At BD2000, Harry Parker mentioned that Jim was a 73 yo from NC. It just goes to show, you are only too old precisely when you think you are too old. You may have to allow for your age and physical abilities when jumping (response times, mobility, etc), but you can still have a go!!!!! Pete is 25 years older than most of his colleagues, but he can still keep up with most and is faster than the rest!!! Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

Don't be so confident. Our peso dollar has caught up quite a bit. Or rather, you guys are "catching down". Watch out for thr Yuan! Send the money to the developers of the systems now. That way the rig may come out sooner and I won't have to wait for the pensioners version with stiffeners and robotics for my rapidly decaying body!!!!!! I am looking forward to it. There are others working on it too. And the best thing will be that all men will be equal. The fat blokes who can't track for shit will be able to keep up with those long slender, athlete types. That's you and me baby!!!!!! Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

Hands dirty - exactly. Lots of work - definitely. Complicated - absolutely, hence, I don't think that there will be too many people who could fly it successfully. There will be some people prepared to pay for the privilege of great flights. The "skydiving market" is bigger than you think too. r.e. doing their own work. Hats off to the VKB boys, and Robi P, and others. The picture in my avatar is a home built suit. I'm all for it. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

Znam Robi - samo se salim. Molim te - pozdravi braca i Hrvatski padobranci.

Discussion on wing suit designs in the BASE forum. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_threaded;post=2180510;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC; Thoughts? Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

So - since we are getting creative, we might as well reveal what will become the purpose built wingsuit/rig of the next generation: - obvious final step is that the rig and suit will be one unit. Not two connectable and integrated units. Further, the shape (aerofoil) of the jumper will be incorporated into the design of the complete system to create a very uniform classically shaped wing. When you order the suit, you will have to specify 3-d shape and the manufacturers will be able to create a system that will perfectly fit your shape. Some of the specs/ideas follow: - the arm wings will become an integral part of the side flaps and riser flaps of the rig. - the bottom flap of the container will seemlessly integrate with the leg wing. There is a possibility that the canopy may be packed into cells on the legs with the central part inflated via air flow. This is to keep the solid material with the body and the inflated material separate. This is kind of like splitting the nose when packing a reserve canopy - but is will be packed down instead of up. - the top flap will be integrated into the inflated cell design around the head area. - the material used for the flaps will be smoother to minimise drag. No cordura anymore. - the helmet will be connected to inflatable cells that are then connected to the shoulders. This would be flexible to allow some degree of lateral movement of the head for visibility and awareness opportunities. The intent here is to create a camber shaped profile at the leading edge of complete system/person. There may be some form of solid side extensions from the helmet to assist in the formation of the leading edge camber. - the cell(s) created around the head and shoulders will have some degree of rigidity introduced in order to enhance the shaping at the leading edge. Ideas include shoulder pads created from a variety of materials, etc. - the footwear/shoes will become specialised and will allow for various turbulence created from standard shapes and designs. Vortice and parasitic turbulence around the shoes will be reduced as follows: the heel area will become a continuous/tight/stretched material running down the back of the leg towards the heel. There will then be a curved section at the base of the foot leading to a thin trailing edge past the extended toes. The material at the front (shin) part of the foot will be an elasticised section that leads to a solid section that finally ends up connecting to the thin trailing edge. - there will be a cell running from the front of the helmet (chin) towards the chest area. - all the harness material / webbing / hardware /etc will be internally contained and smoothed over to reduce parasitic drag. The catch, only the most skilled / best wing suit flyers will be able to get the full benefit from this suit. The average Joe Blow (which is most of us) will have to spend a long time improving our flight skills on standard designs. The suit will have much higher inherent risks and hence will not be suitable for most people. But the rewards for those special ones will be great!!!! And there is more . . . . .but that will come at a later time. Tom Begic April 2006 Note: these ideas occured in 1999 but as one person pointed out, laziness, lack of resources, and other priorities prevented them from coming to fruition. BTW - good work by VKB to actually get ideas out into a real product (even if only a prototype). Robbie P - kad ces mi napravit jednu? ;) Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

For statistics, competition, and a reasonably accurate measurable comparison - what 813 and Tom A stated is the best option. There is less room for arguments. Definition of delay: from when your body ends its contact with the object, until the deployment system is actually initiated. Hence, Ray is kind of correct in fundamental terms. Delay is kind of a planned thing IMO. Hence, if you are still in freefall and fumbling for your p/c, I think your delay is over. It's also over when you . . . . . . . . don't throw the pilot chute and the jump HAS ended. If you catch my drift!!! Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

Most people don't have a computer with them when they drive a car, have sex, day trade (just seeing if you are paying attention ), etc. You usually get the info before you do the deed, not on the exit count. And if the adrenalin is the thing that is making the decisons for you (as opposed to just affecting them a little), maybe you shouldn't be on the exit point. And in this day and age of laptops and satellite broadband connections, there is no excuse not to have the information on the computer, at the exit point!!!!! The excellent this is that he has finally learned, and made it public. This will help a number of people to minimise mistakes. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

First freefall? Not teaching him? Packing skills translates to sub terminal freefall skills? Am I missing something here? p.s. you asked for it. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.