JaapSuter

For you? Business baby, all the way. But you'll have to bring the goods...

Sweet bro, sweet! I might have some surprise wrapped up in a ribbon when you come visit here. Yeah, that's a good observation.

There really aren't that many areas where there are more jumpers than the number of objects can accomodate. It's a myth. Take your local area for example. It does seem crowded, doesn't it? Yet, I think if some of the existing experienced jumpers would follow established protocol when jumping a certain B, that object could accomodate more jumpers. Yet, I think if some of the existing experienced jumpers would spend more energy on opening new objects instead of jump-whoring the same AB all the time, that area could accomodate more jumpers. Sorry, I'm not trying to take a stab at you here, but recent incidents are ironic in this light. I'll admit that I live in a luxurious area with only three active jumpers and very little interest from the skydiving influx. But you'll have a hard time convincing me a certain area is crowded. Better management can ease the pain a lot.

Tom, can you clean this thread up please? I'm trying to say something meaningful here, and it's hard enough without BASE jumpers bickering over unrelated things. 980 and Leroy; let it go. When our toes are curled around the edge, we forget it all anyway. Gravity is more important.

I keep hearing horror stories from people that have a hard time finding a mentor in their area. Apparently their local scene consists of a bunch of old arrogant stuck-ups who have been in BASE so long that beginners are not worthy of their presence. I call bullshit; total and utter bullshit. If there are active jumpers in your neighbourhood, you will be able to find a mentor; no problem. The real problem is your own attitude. This is not directed at anyone in particular, but I've heard similar versions of this story at different locations... Whatever... We're protective of our sport because we don't like it when people get hurt. It hurts the injured, it hurts their families, it hurts us, and it hurts the sport as a whole. But we love meeting excited beginners that show common sense, solid judgement and good preparation. Sharing the passion is a huge part of our sport and we need new blood in the sport to share it with. Here's an offer I'll throw out to all the prospective jumpers in North America. If there is an active jumping scene in your neighbourhood, you've done thirty accuracy skydives using your own BASE canopy at your local dropzone, taken a first aid course, and you still can't find somebody to groundcrew for.... Drop me an email; I'll pay for your airfare to my city, take you on as groundcrew for several days and then pay for airfare to the Perrine where I'll teach you all I know about BASE over several days. After that, I'll makes sure you find a mentor. Offer expires at the end of 2006 or when the first qualiying person emails me. P.S. I'm well aware there are several incredibly experienced and good BASE jumpers that started out as jumper X and still act like one.

Sorry, I just wasn't entirely sure. English isn't my first language, so sometimes my irony and sarcasm detectors don't work as sophisticated as I'd like. I hear ya about the cold man, winter sucks...

Hey, Abbie and I owe Skyflyingbecca an apology. Her post in isolation was not a bad post perse. The reason we overreacted was because it was the umptieth time we see BASE jumpers make poor decisions when it comes to protection. I don't care if somebody with several hundred BASE jumps and a double digit number of objects decides to jump without a helmet. They have paid their dues... However, as low-timers we have a duty to try and stay injury free for as long as possible. Remember that when you're just starting out in the sport (like I am today) we're only guests in territory of the long time jumpers that have gone before us. We owe it to them to play the game as safe as we can. Every time one of us gets hurt, the image of the sport gets hurt. We complain that our family members don't understand. We bitch that we can't jump illegally in the National Parks. We weep when our brethren break a leg of fracture a skull. We bring it on ourselves. Protection is no silver bullet, but it does help. And it doesn't just help you, it helps the sport. And; when somebody ends up breaking his leg or hurting his face despite wearing protection, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. When somebody doesn't break his leg or doesn't hurt his face despite wearing protection, you just don't hear about it! This bridge day I was standing in line for my first jump. I was wearing my shin- and knee-guards, body-armor and full-face helmet. Several people started laughing at me in a joking kind of way; asking if I was headed to a jousting contest later. I was about to do my 76th BASE jump of my 15th object. They were about to do their first. Who can laugh now? Skyflyingbecca; sorry for being a jerk. I hope you'll get some proper boots, and I'm looking forward to jumping with you some day...

I'm sure you are well aware of this, but I wanted to point it out anyway; that's pretty poor reasoning...

Dude, I'm totally here man! Just give me a call. Cellphone: vancouver area code + 313 + first name

It's actually pretty hard to flex, plus even partial protection could still be better than no protection. I'll admit that I'd love to see people do more PLFing just for the fuck of it. In fact, I remember one incident where Abbie himself slid on his ass and hurt his tailbone instead of just doing a PLF. Funny that... But to say that reacting, rolling and running is your only protection is taking it too far. Than we might as well take of our helmets and dodge, dip, duck, dive and dodge. Helmets, body-armor, tailbone and knee protection, proper boots; they all help. There is no doubt in my mind. I've done some fucked up shit on a snowboard, mountainbike, motorcycle and other stupid shit. I've never broken a bone in my body. That's 80 percent luck, 2 percent skills and the other 18 percent is the protection I was wearing. I'll gladly sweat a little more as a trade-off. Woah, you start your post by saying that you don't agree with Abbie and me, and then you say this. Like you say; there's more to proper boots than ankle protection, like there is more to your foot than your ankle. It's a sturdy sole, lateral support, toe protection, etcetera.

I'm an avid scrambler and alpinist myself and I've gone through the same transition. I now consider myself an ultra-lighter, and you'll find me running over boulder fields wearing only sneakers. However, the trade-off here isn't just because people think that you can roll your ankles better with less support. The real trade-off in mountaineering is that less weight on your feet makes the hike more comfortable. This justifies the risk to some, but it also alleviates some of it because you'll have more energy to spend on proper foot-placement and ground-contact.

Pff, whatever. I'm not an old timer, I'm still a newbie. And always will be. But even when I had zero jumps, I still had common sense, knew how to use the friggin' search button, and always errored on the side of having too much protection instead of less. Heck, I asked Vertigo if it was wise to buy body-armor for my FJC at the Perrine. Overkill? Maybe... How many more BASE jumpers do I need to see wearing Teva's and a skydiving helmet? I'm getting sick and tired of it to be honest. They're going to break their legs, tailbones and skulls and it's me who has to face the image of BASE being a dangerous sport. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying my medieval knight's armor will keep me from dying, but it does a pretty good job keeping me intact most of the time. If you can't see the difference between the shoes posted and the Hanwag, Crispis and other 'proper' boots out there, that says a whole lot about the rest of your approach to BASE. Call my cynical and piss on my grave. Furthermore, I can't remember any occasions where I got ridiculed for asking beginner questions. The only thing I've ever been ridiculed for was my excitement, and to be honest; they were always spot on. That said, I still enjoy seeing excitement on these forums. So keep it coming guys; I'll join ya! Just remember; everytime somebody brakes an ankle in Moab because we weren't wearing proper shoes, legalized Yosemite is thrown back a couple of months. Wise up people, use a condom!

I never wear underwear. That way, if I shit my pants I won't have to clean 'm.

Good or Bad? I'm mostly concerned about the ears sticking out, but it seems so much more slimline than others. Do you think it would still catch? What about cutting off the ears and tucking them underneath? Should be fine I would think.......

No.

Porting a game to Mac can easily take six man months. I'd say it's a much better idea to spend that energy on adding new features or assuring the game gets shipped in the first place. Remember, for every game you see on store-shelves or download online, there are at least twenty projects that started with much enthusiasm yet ended prematurely. I'd say these guys have better things to do than cater to a negligible market. Let's not dissolve into a Mac versus Windows discussion here. I'm a huge fan of Mac and it's an elegant platform. But the reality of the situation is that it's not a viable platform from an economic perspective.

Do you guys have a publisher yet? What's your intended distribution mechanism? I'm stoked to see somebody make a BASE game, I hope you'll ship it! Jaap

Pfff, whatever...

Start here...

I'll agree that she's certainly not the most talented writer that has ever walked the surface of the planet. She did write some thought provoking stuff though. Just out of curiosity, how do you feel about the money speech in isolation? Ignore the rest of the book, ignore the website it is hosted at, ignore Rand's objectivistm and ignore the author and her personal life; just tell me what you think of the speech's content. Thanks, Jaap

Cunt. Like NYC is better than Vancouver...

I use a very simple formula; If you need math to clear the object, it's too dangerous. And that's coming from a mathematician.

Don't correct yourself, you identified him perfectly...

The very fact that jumping buildings is in a grey area legally is a huge factor in their appeal. If everything was legal I'd live near cliffs, the other objects I'd travel for. Oh wait, we can already do that...

Awesome, I'm glad to hear it.