
TVPB
Members-
Content
772 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Never -
Feedback
0%
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Dropzones
Gear
Articles
Fatalities
Stolen
Indoor
Help
Downloads
Gallery
Blogs
Store
Videos
Classifieds
Everything posted by TVPB
-
Speaking of Top Teams and Sashaying (drinking induced sashays don't count ) - its great to hear from you fellas. Missed you in Croatia. What are SA's plans for future competitions? Tom Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
isn't that what makes it exciting?
-
Are you flying towards the wall or away? You are probably right. I think Spacy Tracy used to say 8 secs is final decision time and about 12 is impact if you drop straight down. p.s. my memory is really bad. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
Its an all Australian affair shot off Launch Point 7 at Kjerag in Norway. Adam Hartley took the photo of Me (Tom Begic) in my home made mid 1998 wing suit whilst I was filming the incomparable Dwain Weston doing aerobatic BASE skysurfing. We were all VERY afraid on various stages of that jump too. But boy, wasn't it fun. Oops forgot the how. He had a standard headcam setup. Video and stills. Dwain was actually doing turns immediately adjacent to the wall. I was intentionally flying head down and using my leg wing to both control my vertical descent rate and steer myself towards Dwain and away from the wall. Although I only saw Adam later in the jump (photo was taken about 10 secs down from memory), I believe he launched further out and started tracking much sooner than we did. He actually had to get his body into a steep track position and look back at the wall to get us into the photo. This makes it look like we are closer than we are. However, if you look at my video, we were very close anyway. But that is / was the Australian way. As i said, this jump was both scary and fun.
-
see the avatar
-
Hi Mike What about the Swedes and the Aussies??? Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
and you can CRW jump after your freefall!!! But where does it end?
-
B = Buildup A = Attitude S = Site E = Equipment What does this mean? Buildup - have you prepared appropriately for the type of jump you are doing? Have you got the prerequisite skills and experience? Buildup is mainly to do with training and experience or preparation for a jump. Attitude - is your ego (we all have one - its only the magnitude that varies ) overestimating your ability to perform the jump you are intending to do? Are you trying to impress others? Have you thought it our properly? Are you physically and mentally ready to perform the jump you are intending to do? Attitude is all about the person and their REALISTIC readiness to perform the jump. Site - this is all about site selection. Have you done a site assessment? Are the weather conditions appropriate? Are both you and your equipment compatable with the site you are about to attempt? Equipment - are you using BASE specific equipment that suits your size, experience, and flying style? Is your equipment correctly configured for the type of jump you are planning? Do you have a plan B and will your equipment be able to cope with this if your first plan does not work? Basically, we need to look at: - the persons history - the persons current state (mind, body, experience) - the jump site - the equipment Stay Safe Have Fun Good Luck
-
B = Buildup A = Attitude S = Site E = Equipment What does this mean? Buildup - have you prepared appropriately for the type of jump you are doing? Have you got the prerequisite skills and experience? Buildup is mainly to do with training and experience or preparation for a jump. Attitude - is your ego (we all have one - its only the magnitude that varies ) overestimating your ability to perform the jump you are intending to do? Are you trying to impress others? Have you thought it our properly? Are you physically and mentally ready to perform the jump you are intending to do? Attitude is all about the person and their REALISTIC readiness to perform the jump. Site - this is all about site selection. Have you done a site assessment? Are the weather conditions appropriate? Are both you and your equipment compatable with the site you are about to attempt? Equipment - are you using BASE specific equipment that suits your size, experience, and flying style? Is your equipment correctly configured for the type of jump you are planning? Do you have a plan B and will your equipment be able to cope with this if your first plan does not work? Basically, we need to look at: - the persons history - the persons current state (mind, body, experience) - the jump site - the equipment Stay Safe Have Fun Good Luck
-
If I ever go jumping with you, I'm going to bring a finger printing kit with me and make that a part of my prejump equipment checklist. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
Ahhhh toggles v risers. I totally agree - toggles give faster response. BUT That is when you grab hold of them properly / first attempt and use them properly. i.e. statistically you have a much greater chance of missing toggles than risers as they are a smaller target. Add in the newbie jumper / scared shitless factor that undermines your mental faculties a bit and then it makes them even harder to grab when you need them most . . . . . You should factor this in your decision making process. Toggles v risers is not a black and white decision. e.g. The miss has happened to the best of us. RIP Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
I may have some video. Did they pick up a trophy together at BD2000? I'm not sure if my version has Smiley or Anne??? Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
Does anyone have the list of all competitors & results for the Yr2000 Bridge Day competitions? It was on IPBC but I can't find it anymore. Thanks Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
There is nothing wrong with competition. And there is nothing wrong with pursuing an activity on your own just for the love of it. That is the beauty of freedom & choice. Competition breeds excellence. It improves equipment technology, jumping technique, jumping quality, controls prices, attracts spectators, strokes ego's, etc. Where would we be without a friendly low pull comp? Either way, Stay Safe Have Fun Good Luck
-
All sounds pretty good to me. I like the simple divisions of 3 points. Respect Leave no Trace Contact the Locals One point I disagree with - "The two systems (ethics and legality) operate independently" Jumps that are perceived as "illegal" require a much higher degree of ethics due to the potential repercussions if accidents or incidents occur. Repercussions & examples include: - you may not be covered by travel / medical insurance hence evacuation & treatment may have to be personally funded, - if authorities "catch" individuals breaking laws realted to jumping, they may increase penalties thereby making jumping that location less palatable. i.e. the reward is not sufficient to overcome the potential penalties, - loud behaviour is considered somewhat acceptable on legal jumps (i.e. yahooing after jumping off KL tower is OK, doing that on night building jumps is not). If done on illegal jumps, people may make complaints to authorities which draws unecessary / unwanted attention to a jumping site. There is also potential for increased penalties. - how we execute a jump (stand on railing, use launch point aids, etc) is affected by "legality". - "legality" affects the time you have available to access a jump site. Time has a direct affect on safety (i.e more time means you can better prepare students OR you can wait out poor weather OR . . ). Safety is one of the most important factors when considering ethics. Getting busted is one thing. But getting someone killed because you are in a hurry is infinitely worse. Apart from the site characteristics, why is the Perrine a great place to teach people? Because you have the option of taking time to teach people properly. - etc etc etc some points: Ethically, we (meaning jumpers), should maintain high standards wherever we jump, regardless of whether permission is obtained or not. Especially when the public is involved. Invariably, if something goes wrong, the public IS involved. Hence, every jump could potentially become a public affair and we should maintain ethics wherever we go. But then again, we are human.
-
I can't belive they are actually trying that? Its unheard of. Wow! I hope the Gendermes don't get them. Stay Safe Have Fun Good Luck Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
Hi SBCmac I absolutely agree with you. We should all discover where our limitations lie. Each one of us is different. Each one of us sits somewhere between pathetic - average - to genius BASE jumpers. No individual should be forced into a certain category / level based on the skill sets / psychology etc of others. We should all be allowed to broaden our horizons and achieve at our individual highest potential. However, the reverse is also true too. You should not live in the genius range if you in fact are, average. By definition, around average is where most of us lie. The good news is, it is through the hard work, courage, and daring of the genius that the average is improving. So we all have the opportunity to be swept along with them. You should listen to people who tell you not to do something. They may have a valid point that you may not have considered. They may also just be "ultra conservative stick in the muds". If you have listened, you have the opportunity to decide. If you have ignored, then there is no choice to make. Those that listen learn more than those that talk. See, I am not learning anything now!!! You mentioned that you have lost a friend recently and that you are struggling with the loss. You also mention that you pick and choose who you jump with. One of the considerations or factors in determining whether to proceed with higher complexity jumps is just that. Is death possible? What affect will your death have on others? Others includes the BASE community in general, your BASE jumping buddies, your family, your wife and kids, etc. I personally beleive that it is extremely selfish to not factor this consideration in your risk management for BASE jumping. Hard work is a VERY necessary component of high levels of success in any aspect of life. You know, "1% inspiration and 99% perspiration". A success is someone who can acheive a goal in a controlled manner. What does this mean in BASE? It means that by all means you should be allowed the opportunity to attempt complex jumps, but only after going through the process of learning, developing, and "perfecting (as much as we can), the fundamental skills in a logical / sequential manner. Many people do not do that nowadays. Mny people still do. It is their choice to short cut, but I do not believe it is their "BASE given" right. p.s. when I say you or your - I mean any jumper not you in particular. p.s.s. you are right, there are too many bitches and narrow minded people in a sport that prides itself in being open minded. Some people believe that if others don't agree with them, they are closed minded. Its kind of like skydiving is. But there are still heaps of awesome jumpers out there too.
-
This is my response from years ago. Don't forget, Its tongue in cheek. Why B.A.S.E. Jump? By Tom Begic The following was extracted from the B.A.S.E. Board Internet site: Skydiving Whuffo: "Why would anyone want to jump from a small building or antenna, when you get a lot more freefall jumping at 14K ?" Reply by Tom: WHY? Because we can. Because we want to. Because we choose to. Just to annoy whuffo's have them ask silly questions like "Why for you jumping off them perfectly good cliffs?". So we can have more fun than 99.9999% of the worlds population. So we can incorporate other activities like exercise, hiking and seeing the outdoors. Because everyone can jump from 14K but only a few thousand can jump from 0.14K. Because sometimes in life a few seconds of absolute pleasure is better than a minute of good pleasure. Because we need something more challenging and visually stimulating than skydiving. To pad out the resume. To pick up chicks. To promote world peace. To keep Annie, Todd, Adam, et al employed. Because we can't afford jump tickets. Because some of us probably broke rules in skydiving and aren't allowed to jump out of planes anymore. To keep park rangers employed and busy. So we don't have to set up scaffolding to do external multi story building inspections or to suss out climbing routes on cliffs. It was a failed suicide attempt, damned parachute saves me everytime (so far) - do other jumpers have this same problem? Because it annoys the hell out of loved ones. Due to undersupply and addiction to encephalins and endorphins. Because we're too lazy to walk both up and down an object. University studies have proven that B.A.S.E. jumping improves libido, helps in weight loss, speeds up the metabolism, cures sexual problems such as premature ejaculation, prevents hair loss, adds body and bounce to your hair, makes your skin supple and smooth, gives you shining white teeth, cures cancer (unless you jump from antennas), cures AIDS etc, etc..... Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
You are referring to the manouvre commonly known as "Drop the Bomb". It was also done at Picton DZ a few years ago for a British TV show. I was the Bomb. The guy who I climbed upon had never had a cutaway before. Whilst we were in a loving embrace (sic), I asked him if he could pull my cutaway handle when I gave him the signal so that I could have both hands free to hold on tighter. I also told him that if he dropped it, it would be $50. When he pulled the handle, . . . . . . . . I told him he owed us all a carton of beer for . . . . his FIRST cutaway. Procedure we used: - Build a 4 plane. - 2nd person climbs down to the third (i.e. 3rd person pulls the second one down). - 2nd person gets best possible grip (don't just hang off the front as your weight will pull the third person down when you cutaway). - Pilot puts feet in risers of 2nd person at the front / rear riser join. This bit is real important. A poor foot grip will cause the cutaway canopy to possibly fly off one riser at a time and potentially cause a wrap for the thrid guy OR it will be real hard for the pilot to get his feet out for landing. You have two options for the ghost plane. One is to make it a 2 stack that you intend to land. The pilot must lock his feet into the risers and somehow get their weight forward. The idea is to keep the cutaway canopy loaded so that it does not fly backwards with your feet caught in the risers. The second option is to allow the cutaway canopy to fly up so that the pilot is parallel to the ground (lying horizontal) and the cutaway canopy trails the pilots canopy. This one looks real cool. I'll try to dig up some photo's of this if I can. I THINK THE PILOT HAS THE MOST DANGEROUS PART IN THIS MANOUVRE. - 2nd Quickly gets on the 3rd persons back after the cutaway and takes a good grip. - 3rd & 4th then form a downplane. - make it more interesting by performing 360 downplane / horizontal turns and see if you can make no.2 dizzy. - when the downplane is broken off, 2nd falls off and deploys reserve. OR - 2nd can jump off, deploy reserve and 3 & 4 can downplane past no.2. Dangers: - cutaway canopy tangling with no.3 and 1 to a lessor extent - pilot losing control of ghost plane - the bomb falling too early and hitting someone below -dislodging handles etc whilst clmbing around - having too much fun
-
Yep - Tom B (me ) did 24 in 24 hours on Ed Tricks B'day - 4th july in the late nineties off a span. I packed myself, sort of. WAD jumps mainly. Its amazing what people will do for a free t-shirt. Thanks Ed. Ed Trick beat this at KL Tower in 2002 I think. Ed had packers and lots of rigs. Gary C I am not sure about. If he hasn't beaten it yet, he will. And knowing Gary, it will be self packed with only one rig. Whatever you try 428, Gazza will beat it.
-
I had a very interesting learning experience a number of years ago that may help you out. I trvelled Europe in 1998 and wanted to meet ZOO (JM - a very well known BASE jumper in France). When I came to his house he was outside with his 17yo son inspecting a paraglider. Apparently he had landed in a tree earlier that day. Later I asked Zoo about his children and BASE jumping. At the time, Zoo had about 1000 BASE jumps and no real accidents. Zoo told me that his son had not made a BASE jump at that stage. He also said that his son was a bit over confident in some respects and had a typical youthful sense of immortality. He would not let his son do any BASE jumps until he showed maturity, respect, and a total understanding of the sport. He said he would "kill his son" if he caught him jumping before Zoo gave permission. His son told me later that he had not jumped and will not go against his fathers will because he was very passionate about the right attitude in BASE jumping. Zoo was about 40yo at the time and his family lived near Chamonix. I went to make a jump with him at one of the local sites. We looked over the edge for a few minutes and Zoo said "No, I will not make a jump here today. It is not right", Being Australian, I looked over the edge and wondered what the hell he was on about. THe conditions looked fine to me. Zoo replied that if he did not feel 110% confident in his equipment, his mental state, his physical state, and in the prevailing conditions, he would not jump. Don't forget that he had about 1000 jumps in 1998 - which was rare at the time. We walked away to jump another day. I have great respect for Zoo. He is an excellent practioner of the sport, skilled, mild mannered & humble, and an all round nice guy. I learned a lot about the respect one should have for the sport in those few days with him. It is something all people should learn. So, if your daughter has the right attitude, etc. Let her go. If not?????????????? THe only flip side is BASE education could be like sex education. You are damned if you do, and damned if you don't. If you ban her from the sport, will she go do it anyway under poorer learning conditions. Or will she be better off with your support and encouragement in going about it the right way. p.s. Show her the JJ training tapes, that gives it a sense of reality!!!!!!! p.s.s. my kids are 1.5 and 3.5 - I am not lookign forward to the day when they want to behave like me... Stay Safe Good Luck - and I really mean that. Have Fun Tom Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
My company is chucking in $2M and is supplying steel for temporary housing and future permanent construction projects. We have had family members of employees killed &/or missing too as we have operations in a number of the places affected. It is hard to imagine our entire government only started with a $5M funding input. And what about the USA - luckily a lot of these govts were embarrassed into giving more. Condolences to one and all. Everyone should dig deep for this one. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
For the macho man passenger: - just as you exit a slower aircraft with not much airspeed or noise, whisper into their ear - "Sorry - I forgot to connect you to me". Just get ready for some instability!!!! - whilst on the ride to height - hey dude isn't that your car heading down the freeway? - whilst doing 360 spins - "how do you stop this?" - after the parachute opens - "where the hell are we" or if it is a windy day with long spot - "we are not going to make it back" - or tell them you are not feeling too well after you have handed then the toggles, then go limp in your harness. - or tell them you are gay and will land away from the target to make %^&^ to them. - During opening - "Oh no, not again?" If you are taking one part of a couple and you've jumped out first -> prior to deployment, line yourself up facing the next tandem pair, open a little higher, whilst deploying point the other tandem pair out and start screaming, "their parachute is not opening properly", "they're too low", "oh my God". etc. Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.
-
For a web based map / direction info source: http://www.viamichelin.com ViaMichelin - I have found the times to be reasonably accurate if driving at the speed limit... Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.