base698

How safe is this? I current jump a PD143r reserve and stiletto 120. What happens in a two out situation? Is it worse to have a setup like this? What if I was to downsize to a 96-103 of some sort? Would it immediatly spin up?

It took me over 50 BASE jumps to get my first cliff. Be careful and practice off a friendly span or antenna to get dialed in before you do it again :)

There has been talk about the tunnels now supporting vRW. Does this mean freeflying? Can semi-competent freeflyers now hone their skills like the rw people are doing? If so I think skydiving as a whole is going to see the bar significantly raised in the next few years.

I have seen large PD reservers used, but off of a 280 ft object the thing was still pressurizing on landing. Super Ravens are decent for BASE but I still feel much more comfortable with a BASE specific canopy with reinforced bridle attachments and all that. About the size question, as any chick will tell you "size matters a lot". Do you want to be screaming in downtown between buildings with cars, light poles, parking decks, etc? Or screaming at the rock wall you just jumped off of? An impact with a wall on even a lightly loaded canopy can mess you up badly, so it stands to reason to get a larger one to slow you down as much as possible. PS I'm selling a complete base rig with no risers or pilot chutes for $600. Its a super raven 240 with 80 jumps and a vision container with about the same jumps.

Wrong... We jump without a main not without a reserve. :)

I was much more nervous. The "This is the stupidest thing I've ever done" comment is pretty much right on. I remember I used to say I"ll never do hook turns. Then it became I'll never BASE jump. Then I'll never do a gainer. Then I'll never do a gainer under 500 ft. All in what you are comfortable with :) I've just been to popular places like Moab. Only 300-500 ft cliffs for me so far. I did a 170 ft B last weekend. 5 Second canopy ride. I've kind of grown tired of those types of jumps though. No bag (instead the lines are stowed on a tail pocket, no slider (massively fast bottom skin inflation), for higher jumps even terminal you use a mesh slider. Larger pilot chutes too. http://www.blincmagazine.com/forum Read everything on that site. Even the bickering. After that get a packing video and learn to pack. Then go hang out with local jumpers and drive hours to sites to ground crew (read sit around for a while). If they see you have dedication to do that they may take you. Or just take a 1st jump course like http://www.basicresearch.com or http://www.crmojo.com offer.

As usual we are depicted as injury laden yahoos. You can't trust the media for shit...

That really really sucks. How is it going to effect her school schedule? Hope she gets better soon.

I have my float gear, and a group of us have a hotel room. Where do you register and all that? Our hotel is at the resort. Anyone else going, or anything else to consider? I'm psyched.

I unfortunatly live on the non-dz side of Raleigh, but only 5 minutes from school. I would definitly recommend moving to North Raleigh to get near CSS, but if not there are lots of spaces open anywhere around in apartments. Most giving 1-2 months free rent.

No shit there I was... Horseshoe malfunction. I through out the pilot chute only to watch it go into a bag lock configuration. I said fuck it and pulled my red handle. The bag flies off. Pulled silver and had an uneventful landing. Come thirty minutes later... A car with a destroyed windshield and passenger window. The bag had hit the car and caused the damage! They had the canopy with them too. $1600 in auto damage of which the USPA paid with no questions asked. Basically if I bought my lifetime memebership it would be for free. See it is good for something.

Amen. Despite the 3500 ft altitude this is not another skydive. Make sure you have BASE gear lined and up and at least have a knowledge of BASE. Quite a few skygods have gone in on similar jumps because of their refusal for instruction.

420 isn't the police code for marijuana. It had something to do with old school Grateful Dead stuff, and I think it even predates them a bit. If I recall it was when they all met together to smoke up and they made a song about it.

*cough* http://www.anonymizer.com

610 jumps 210lbs out door Skymaster and Manta 280s (19 jumps) PD 260 (3 jumps) Raider 220 (7 jumps) PD 170 (300 jumps) Triathlon 160 (1 jump) (borrowed) Stiletto 150 (110 jumps) Stiletto 135 (40 jumps) (borrowed) Stiletto 120 (120 jumps)

I just got rid of my reserve and got a new one. I realized that iffy during a headdown deployment was not good enough. When I was a student I didn't understand the need for a lot of things. I saw lots of problems with my rig I was jumping early on so I replaced that. When I saw how the reserve was contructed when I packed it myself the first time a few months back I was shocked because I'd seen the construction on BASE canopies and always thought a reserve should be comparable. Shortly after that I sent that reserve on its way and got one much more suitable for what kind of skydiving I was doing.

Way to go Chuck. I think every birdman has had a birdman experience at least partially similar. I did the same damn thing but I was spun. I blew through 2000 after pulling at 4500 before I got out of them. I felt stupid as well for not pulling the handles immediatly. When I do Birdman jumps from now on I make sure I go over that in the plane many times. They are exceptional skydives that deserve to be treated as such. Glad to see ya made it out alright.

Here are the first two chapters I've rewritten from the Tao Te Ching: One * The skydiving that can be told is not the eternal freeflying. The skydive that can only be named is the eternal freefly. The sit is the beginning of heaven and Earth. The headdown is the mother of true skydiving. Even on belly, one can see the mystery. Even bellyless, one sees the manifestations. Belly and freefly spring from the same source but differ in name; freefly appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery. Two * Under heaven and above earth all can see beauty All can know freefly as freefly only because there is belly. Therefore headdown and belly arise together. Difficult and easy complement each other. Fast and slow contrast each other: Headdown and sit harmonize each other; Belly to headdown follow one another. Therefore the freeflyer goes about doing nothing, teaching no-talking. The fourteen thousand feet rise and fall without cease, Creating, yet not. Flying, yet not corking. Docking is done, then forgotten. Therefore it lasts forever.

You NEVER choose to be hetero nor homo. Everyone here remember that time around 12 years old when you start thinking about the other sex in the shower or bed :) I had no choice in the matter that I was definitly going to sleep with women later in life--just turned out that way. Even if you are a virgin you are still one of the other. The act does not make you hetero or homo. The desire must be there for both. I've also equated telling the family about skydiving (and ahem base) to coming out. It was a extremely hard thing to do because of their worries about safety.

--C. S. Lewis

When should you shift your weight to get a carve going in a swoop--on the plane out or after? I can't see why you'd want to start it before, but perhaps there too.

3 prior to jump number 100. Now at about 100 base jumps and 600 skydives. 1) horseshoe on exit. very nasty but cool video. threw pilot chute shook arm and chopped. (main was still in bag and hit a moving car causing 1600 in damages--how's that for accuracy :) 2) spinning due to something wrong with the stowing of the brakes (i didn't do it). Never figured out why exactly. 3) Total due to pilot chute monkey fisting. Went right to reserve at about 1300 ft never cutting away because I knew it was in. Lesson 1: Always pack yourself Lesson 2: Learn to do it right :)

At 200 lbs with tshirt/shorts I hit 97 mph avg on my belly. I'm 190 now and will try again soon. I do a whole lot of tracking dives.

Letting it up slow would help. On a big seven cell it is relatively easy to land in deep brakes and flare standing up. Letting up the toggles on a big seven cell may surge you into the ground so keeping them down is better. On a highly loaded stiletto I'd let them up slow and reflare. I did a 180 on a Stiletto 135 about a year and a half ago and half way down saw a canopy i was on a crash course with (he was hooking the same way as me and i was following the pattern :) ). I went half brakes flat turn away let up and flared standing up. Would have been a good swoop too. It was also only my 5th jump or so on the canopy, so make sure you practice that a lot early on. Even though I've had that happen the thought of it still scares me...

What would be something good to work on in the tunnel? I'm going to the tunnel at some point shortly and wanted to know some specifecs I could work on there. Thanks