Zennie

Stop it right there or I'm gonna have to come over and smack you. Everyone knows I'm the only one that's allowed to be unhappily single. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

The look on your face is priceless. They should use that shot for BD promos. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Raises hand.... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Yaaahooo! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

My first (and only, so far) true solo was in many respects one of the greatest personal achievements of my life. The only fear possibly greater than the fear of death is dying alone. That I was able to confront that fear is what makes that jump special to me. And even though you should prepare the same every single jump, I felt like I was just that little extra prepared and focused because I had no other distractions. I was purely in the moment. Congrats! - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Are tracking pantz legal? Now watch me get my butt kicked anyway. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Yo Levin, What format is the team competition going to take? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Hey Levin, is that a typo? If not can you provide a few more details on what all is included? - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I'm up in the air on that right now. My main rig has been a two-pin rig, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm distorting my pack job when I close the thing. I just put my primary main in in my Reactor and I'm going to put a few jumps on that to see if it has any impact on heading performance. I'll keep y'all posted. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Heh. Funny you should ask that. I'm seriously thinking of buying a new Vision. I have a first-generation Reactor that serves the purpose, but I think I'd like something a little newer. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I suppose part of it would be how one define's "safe". If you're talking about object strike potential, S's would, in general terms, present the least. However, many S's have sub-optimal landing areas, whereas A's are generally in level, open fields. 6 of one, half dozen of another I suppose. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I stand corrected. This is from John Starr.... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

As many jumpers like to say, we are "stealing altitude". - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Go back and re-read the article. It said "homemade". We're not talking about Anne Helliwell (sp?) here, just going off the article, we're talking about a home cooked parachute. It would have been equally stupid if the guy had been from the US or anywhere else. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Yeah, but I would like to think most BASE gear manufacturers do dummy drops on the prototypes first. Oh, wait, he did do a "dummy" drop. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Definitely go to Blinc and read as much as you can. Mick has a great KnowledgeBASE with many informative articles. Also read as much of the BASE Board, including the archives, as you can. That will be a good start. Basic Research & Consolidated Rigging also have some document archives that are worth perusing. Also check out the Australian BASE Association's website. Do you have many experienced BASE jumpers in the area? Pick their brains and gather as much information as you can. In any event, a lot of these questions are the types of things you should be asking your mentor. You do have a mentor don't you? To specifically address your questions... Yes, definitely. For example, I have 5 different pilot chutes, two containers (1 pin and 1 velcro) and two mains. And actually I'm thinking of replacing my current velcro setup with a newer one. As are probably the safest objects you can do. They're generally out in the middle of a wide open field, obstacles are far less prevalent and you can use a tailwind to your advantage. Bs, OTOH are about the most dangerous objects you can do... tight landing areas, lots of obstacles, wind rotors off of the B, generally low altitude with minimal to no margin for error. Oh, and generally high bust as well. Basic Research has some really nice height/delay/PC charts here. This should be enough to get you started. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Screw BASE Love to get that number. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Most of my jumps are slider-up, but none of my BASE openings, slider up or down, have been nearly as brutal as some of my FX slammers. Others here will be able to explain the "whys" better, but from what I understand, because the canopy is free packed, rather than bagged, you get some initial de-celleration from having the whole canopy in the air for those brief moments before it starts inflating. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

If you know of a single legal site in Texas I'd sure like to know where it is, because I haven't been able to find any. Not like that's stopped me from jumping. I'm in total agreement with Thomas. If you really want to be an active, experienced (and, though I hate to use the word, safe) BASE jumper in the US, you pretty much have to accept that you will need to do the vast majority of your jumps illegally. Knowing that, you also have to accept the very real possibility that you will be arrested or at the very least accosted by landowners or their security. I can't speak for anyone else, but part of the appeal of BASE for me is the sneaking around. Finding and assessing a site, getting in, making a jump & getting out (hopefully) undetected. I can't believe I'm actually reading this. Actually in some ways it is. If you read this forum or blinc, you'll find that the discussions are extremely detailed and technical. BASE jumpers, at least the ones I've met and corresponded with, are total gear-heads with a more thorough understanding of equipment and air dynamics than many riggers. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Thanks d-dog, that's the sort of response I was hoping to get. This question had come up in offline discussions we've been having and I was hoping to get some real-life examples. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but a lot of this site-naming discussion has raised a question for me. And before I ask it I'll add that I recently opened a site, so I have a personal stake in site preservation. Anyway, my question is this... how many sites have actually been closed/ruined by yahoo skydiver bandit jumpers? A well known illegal E in NPS land was once opened but subsequently closed, but that was due to (among other things) the misbehavior of some idiotic BASE jumpers, not skydivers (as far as I know). Again, this is an honest question... I'm not trying to be combative or belligerent. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

They are? Ooops.... - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

For the record, that "real jumper" was me. I can't tell if this is a swipe or not -- suffice it to say I'm not a skygod nor have I ever held myself out as one. However, everything else Levin said is correct. As with most things several mistakes were made. I used #6 steel shot, because that's all tat was available. I assumed this would not appreciably affect the fall rate of the ball. Mistake #1. Because I've been on a couple of ball jumps and maintained proximity with it, as well as being on several HD multiways where I keep and hold docks, I assumed I had the abilities to stay with, and retrieve the ball. Mistake #2. And, like Levin mentioned, when a ballmaster was unavailable to me, I decided to ballmaster myself and rely on the Vladiball's release mechanism (which I did not personally verify that day, though I did the next). Mistake #3. So that's what happened on the ground. Here's what happened in the air... I asked the pilot to let me out last over an open field. When I exited I was about in the center of the field. I exited the plane and spent about 10 seconds or so with the ball cupped in my hands with fingers spread to get an initial feel for the ball's fall rate. It felt a little "floaty" even in my hands. I decided to let it go (yet another mistake) and the ball immediately floated out on me. The remainder of my dive was spent trying to match fall rates with it. I managed to make two grabs at it but missed both times. Pro Track went off at 4K and I pulled (per Vladiball instructions). Last thing I saw before I pulled was the ball heading down toward a wooded area that had a couple houses interspersed. I had managed to drift a good half-mile or so during the jump and was no longer over the field. Did I overestimate my abilities? Yes. Was what I did boneheaded & reckless? Yes. And I kicked myself for about a week because of it. My point in all this is that I agree with Levin that if you've never jumped a Vladiball before, even if you've ballmastered yourself before, you should definitely have at least one other qualified ballmaster with you. For starters, fall rate with these things is pretty much trial and error, so you really need to have backup. But you really should have several jumps with a qualified ballmaster and retrieve it without difficulty each time before even thinking of going out with it alone. And Levin makes another good point. Even though their marketing says it's safe, and even though I'm personally pretty confident that the one I dropped did what it was supposed to do, you really shouldn't be relying on that to allow an otherwise unqualified ball jumper from going up. Do we recommend people to rely on their Cypres to save them if they screw up? No. You fly like it isn't there. Same deal with the Vladiball. The release mechanism is an insurance policy, but you should fly like it doen't have one. I have a second one and from now on I'll only be flying it if Bryan or Levin are with me. In fact, one of the local teams who has also gone up with a Vladiball only go up when another team member is present... and each of these guys is IMHO fully qualified to go at it solo. Food for thought. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

I'm using a Warlock. I do tend to tug a little to getthe grommets lined up so that could be a factor. But why would my slider down pack jobs open fine if I use the same technique? About 10 or so. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon

Following Tom's suggestion... And to answer Tom's question these are generally 5-10 second delays. The last one was a 5 second and I probably had a 90deg off. I had one from 1900 where I wound up with a 180. So yeah I'd like to hear some discussion on how people manage heading in a slider-up configuration. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon