Zennie

I really hope you're not trying to cast blame on event staff. Yes there were gear checks, no they were not performed 100% of the time. I think I had checks on 3 out of my 4 jumps. The understanding from the beginning was that we were all experienced, mature jumpers who would exercise good judgment. They were not there to babysit us nor should they have been expected to. There comes a point in every endeavor where you reach a level of experience and professionalism that good judgment is expected. Robin, as BASE 44, has been in the sport (and an outspoken advocate of safety) for years. No one should have to verify that he (or any of the other jumpers there... all of whom had more than 100 BASE jumps) was using proper equipment. It's just expected at that level. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Ya know I love both you guys & I'm happy for ya, even if marriage is evil. I really wish it would have happened that way, cuz I would have loved to have seen & filmed it (we were all waiting on the tram as the winds got worse & worse ). I still say y'all should have gotten hitched on the spot by Redeye. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I think a lot of us had been witholding comment on the gear setup in order to avoid rubbing salt into the wound. I'm sure Robin has suffered a pretty severe ego-toma from all of this already. He should have known better, and I'm sure he knows that in retrospect. Again, I hope he heals quickly. Newbies... PLEASE don't use skydiving gear on BASE jumps. Bad things happen when you do. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

My personal take is that it sounds good in theory, but unless you're already programmed to think that way (like having that scheme for a skydiving parachute) it probably won't wind working out that way in practice. I can pretty much immediately figure out which direction my canopy is flying by the nose cells... which I tend to be looking at during inflation anyway. But hey, it can't hurt. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Best of wishes for a swift recovery! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Amen Avery. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I believe JV said almost the exact same words after burning a site. And we all know what happened next. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

This sucks. Heal fast Slim! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I voted "Yes" just to be a jerk. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

That's one of the funnier BASE stories I've heard in a while! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

You know, this is an excellent observation and something which is probably overlooked an awful lot but is very important. We are pretty much our own riggers, and we are constantly changing configurations to adapt to different types of objects. Line checks are a must-know in this sport. I can't tell you how many step-throughs I've had. Land... canopy drapes over head... try to gather up lines... get back and notice tangled up lines. I spent some time with a local rigger leaning some of the basics when I knew I was going to take BASE seriously. As an exercise, he'd make me turn my back, he'd put all sorts of ridiculous step-throughs on the rig and then have me untangle it without removing the risers. It was good training and I still use that stuff to date. Glad to see Tom had you practicing that! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

No that would be specially constructed helmet. I think XL is as high as they go in head sizes these days. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Houston Breakfast Club took Bronze in Freestyle. Congrats to Heims and Ramon! I know firsthand how hard they worked this year to get ready. Glad to see their work paid off. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I've had one. It was pretty much one of those "Your proctologist called, he found your head" manuevers, but I managed to clip the lowest guy while setting up a sub-optimal landing. It was dark out, I wasn't really paying attention to where I was quadrant-wise, and I never saw it until it was too late to avoid. In my case I was lucky, the cells clipped the wire, I swung forward, the cells let go and surged in a stall. I hit the rears as hard as I could the instant before I hit the ground and rolled it out w/o injury. If you jump As enough, particularly big ones, you'll wind up dancing with the wires at one point or another. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Sounds like Edinburgh has a very bored Constable. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

And sounds like we're making some progress on that front. I'd also request that those of us going to Bridge Day show the attending NPS staff respect and gratitude. Bridge Day is always a great opportunity to meet NPS folks in a non-hostile, non-confrontational atmosphere. Whenever I'm there I make it a point to say "thank you" to the rangers who I see. Every one I talked to really appreciated it and loved watching us jump. In fact, with about 45 minutes to go last year I landed and one of the female rangers smiled and said "Hurry up & pack! You can get another one in!" - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

There might be a lot of legal wrangling over it, but I believe that yes you would be entitled to it (after all legal proceedings requiring it as eveidence were completed). It is your property, it was wrongfully taken from you and used without your consent. If someone steals your gun and then uses it to commit, say, armed robbery, I'm pretty sure you are legally entitled to get it back. The main thing would be proving that the rig was indeed stolen. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

That does bring up a question I've had for some time now. Does anybody know exactly what NPS does with forfeited gear? Do they just store it forever? Burn it? Sell it at auction? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Dang how was he able to swallow that much rope? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Drop me a PM and I'll see what I can hook ya up with - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I ordered mine with a large & small mesh slider, though I'll be picking up the small in Colorado. I'm going to start off with some slider off jumps and then progress to longer delays. Unless there's something really unique about the design, it shouldn't be much different from other vented canopies. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Yup. I'd really like to finally meet you Avery.

I'll say this to my grave... mark it. But BASE has less to do with death and more to do with life than anything I've encountered thus far. Peace my bro. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Just to reiterate sum1's thoughts, but I agree that this year's Warlock is a really, really great container. This is my second Warlock, and Vertigo has obviously added some very nice enhancements to an already great container. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Christmas came early for me this year... complete with a package in a bow. Just got my brand spanking new Rock Dragon & Warlock. No I have not jumped it yet, but I have looked it over & rigged it up and have some initial thoughts. First off, on the Warlock. Vertigo obviously has added some nice enhancements to the container since I bought my first one two years ago. I basically ordered the same container (albeit slightly larger with cookie pockets) but noticed some nice improvements off the bat. Last time, same as this time, I ordered the wingsuit mod... not because I fly wingsuits, but because I like the open corners concept. Since my last Warlock, Vertigo has done away with velcro on the shoulder flap and gone to tuck tabs (TY TY TY TY TY TY TY), but the one that really grabbed my attention was the design of the open corners. I can't describe it, but the old open corners were very loosy-goosey. The new ones are a little more reinforced and basically give you a pack tray to work with during packing... but obviously give you open corners during deployment. Good job guys! True to their individual customer service form, my container pretty much came gift wrapped like an X-Mas present. I opened the shipping box only to see the container. Pulled the main flap back and saw a pullup cord through the two closing loops like a christmas bow. Undid it and got my goodies. I was like a kid in a candy store.