mickknutson

It really bothers me to hear people say this. 2-300 skydives is a GUIDELINE--and a liberal one at that. You should tink about BASE when you are a competent canopy pilot, have your own gear, have served as ground crew for a few (or more) jumps, etc (there is more written on this topic around the boards). My point is, 300 skydives is NOTHING. I know people with twice that who couldn't hit a LZ the size of Manhattan. See Dick jump. See Dick hit the wall. See Dick die. don't be a Dick. I totally agree. of my almost 500 BASE jumps, there have been countless times I have landed in a streets, alleys, footpaths, 5 meter openings...etc.. AND crosswinded, downwinded. I never had enough training after just 300 skydives. I learned 1,000 more about how much I DIDN?T know about flying a conopy once I started BASE. Then I went back to the DZ and just worked on Accuracy for about 6 months. That only got me started. Things still happen all the time that are just strange. Now with 800 Skydives and around 500 BASE jumps, I still learn things when I go to new/old objects. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

This is very personal. I have met a few people that tried BASE, and just did not like it at all. Simple as that. Others do not even want to skydive anymore because they love it so much. This is not skydiving! The skills are different. I do not think the rick is MUCH greater. But that depends mostly on the person and their skills. For a skilled person, the rick is just slightly greater. For a unskilled person, the rick can be monumental. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

THIS IS THE BIGGEST MISCONCEPTION BY INSTRUCTORS!!!!! The student does NOT know what they are getting into. Just like AFF, the student is relying on the instructor for most everything. Or they rely on the AAD. A student is assuming that the instructor knows best and would tell them if there is something they really need to know. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

http://www.blincmagazine.com/cms/article_31.shtml Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

I sell all of the available ones on BLiNC Magazine. I have also seen everyone of them. 1st BASE is my favorite, but currently no shipping. Beyond extreme is also great, but NTSC is not shipping until we get back to the USA. Fixed2 is a very good video and Jason Bell has done an amazing job. You also have fist full of f1-11..., Rage, and BASE Climb. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

WOW. Tom where did you get this from? I really miss many of Earls postings.... Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

I think you have to have rig on and ready to jump, but then decide NOT to.... Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

With or without those flaps closed, the pins can still pop if you tug on them. It takes far less tension to pop pins than to tear off the whole shrivel flap. Of coarse I have seen a "Velcro Supprise" rig with 80 year old velcro that was not the case... Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

Tom, I also wrote something here in another thread to add to this about women: Women have a disadvantage as they do not have the phsyical strength Men do, for things like rear riser turns, 'Man'-Handling these large parachutes etc... A woman wanting to get into BASE should consider a weight training program, as well as trying to achieve simple things like 10+ pull up with your full body weight. This may sound trivial to a Man, but most woman can not do it. Please do not take my post as a flame or anything. If a Woman that can do these things is reading this....CUDOS to you for having a great body. But this is important in BASE. It is a must I feel. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

This way, and many other ways exist to fold a PC. There is one thing I would say is golden: Make the whole thing very neat!!!!! When you EVER cram a PC into a pouch, or into your hand, you are asking for trouble. It is the lifeline. PERIOD. Another thing about Zennies post, when mentiond about folding bridal until the slack is gone and your arm being extended has a direct route to the bridal attachment of the container.... If you have a shrivel flap rig, there is very little chance of opening the container by tugging on the PC and bridal before jumping. But on a pin rig, the chance goes way up to accidentally pop the pin(s) before jumping. Just keep that in mind. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

Tom, you never mentioned this JJ mod on any of these other threads. I think you should as little insights like this are quite useful, and not obvious. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

This is what happend to Nathan. The rig he had was mesh slider up with a 42" PC at Bridge day. Then field packed incorrectly. Daisy chained slider up. PC crammed into the BOC. He pulled the PC out, wnet hand-held with the 42"er, and streamered into the talus below (400'). Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

A simple quote I live by: "The object is NOT going anywhere". It will be there tomorrow, and the next day, next month..... In the 1980's, there was even a special BASE number created, that has not really stuck, but I think is a great thing: The Chicken BASE number. Chicken off all 4 objects.... Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

CrazyThomas, you obviously have not been to BLiNC lately. If you had, you would not be seeing the type of postings you are refereing to. Not only that, this posting you have made sounds like the same type of posting you are ragging about. The fact about this posting, is that Faber is looking for opions from BASE jumpers about why "Skydivers" are giving him a hard time at the DZ just because he has other activities outside of the DZ. But Faber, you are asking "Skydivers" why they are hassling you at the DZ and what to do. You are mostly going to get snyde remarks like this from "Skydivers". When a BASE jumper replies to you, you will get the true opion. Liek TOm has replied, the cold truth. You are an outcast to Skydivers for the most part. The DZ just thinks you are too over the edge, and does not want to even know about BASE. They are easy to forget that Skydiving in the 60's to 80's was just as outlawish as BASE still is. The USPA has come around, but other countries still have not. I personally choose not to tell them anything they do not need to know. And when I leave the DZ, they don't need to know anything about my life. I would suggest that you try to post this same question on BLiNC, as you will get thousands of BASE jumpers giving you BASE-Jumper opinion about their experience at the DZ. And the comments made by CrazyThomas are not prevelant as I have made great strides to stop it. Works very well also. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

Consolidated Rigging created a great article on BLiNC about this: http://www.blincmagazine.com/cms/article_70.shtml Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

One thing to add about messing things up, if the Object is not legal, then trespassing is the minimum you can get and this is a misdomeanor only. If you cut/break or alter anything, it can go directly to a felony! This is not a joke at all. When you go anywhere, try to leave as few footprints as possible. The fewer the better. The more footprints, the more likely employees/cops will know you have been there. They will use this in court as well. But the world just turns against you when you break something. The legal system is very paranoid these days about security, and you are assumed to be a terrorist no matter what! Even though all you deal s steal a little altitude. ;-) Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

I have the velcro tabs as well. They were made years ago. But.... I do have 2 rigs, but even if I didn't, here is my thought on slider issues: If you mostly jump slider down, take the slider OFF. This is because when you pack, there is less fabric in the pack tray and less mess to worry about getting screwed up. Much cleaner. And then those few times you go to jump slider up, it takes all of 10 minutes to put it back on. Not to mention the canopy flies much better with no slider as the canopy is not restricting the risers. The inverse for mostly slider up jumping. I know it sounds like a pain when you are doing it, but try going to the Perrine and slamming 7+ jumps in 1 day. When you take the slider off, I find it makes the packjob cleaner and faster as I am not messing with it because of the un-nessecary slider in the way. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

Here is a review of the BR Norway trip: http://www.blincmagazine.com/reviews/Training/ I have seen it for 3 years, and they do a TOP NOTCH job there. This is definatly the way to go! Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

One of the above quotes is from the forum on BLiNC that Rick and Joy moderate: http://www.blincmagazine.com/cgi-bin/forum/dcboard.cgi?az=list&forum=base_numbers&conf=blinc There are dozens of different questions/answers that they have clarified over the past few years since they took over issuing BASE numbers. They are both awsome people! Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

Reviews for the cave: http://www.blincmagazine.com/reviews/Training/ Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

That forum actually does not even allow postings. So the information is just the best-of-breed questions from all of the BASE forums. Thanks Tom. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

http://www.blincmagazine.com/reviews/Gear/Containers/ Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

http://www.blincmagazine.com/cms/parachute.shtml http://www.blincmagazine.com/reviews/Gear/Parachutes/ Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

Leading edge BASE is in the BLiNC reviews section: http://www.blincmagazine.com/reviews/Gear/Containers/more2.html Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."

I have had the unfortunate luck to see someone ride a streamer into a talus with a previously packed rig. I spent several hours getting him off the talus for heli-rescue. Unless I plan to jump the rig within the next week, with the same jump as I packed for, I just filed pack to keep the parachute tidy. Then I close it with the PC inside where I can't access it. I also tend to turn the srivel flap upside down. Anything I can do to make sure neither I aor anyone elase can/will jump it before repacking it. Mick Knutson * BLiNC Magazine "Everything you ever wanted to know about Parachuting, but didn't know whom to ask."