freeatlast

I've met Mikki and he's definately very SPECIAL !!! lol

Nice one Russell Sorry i missed seeing it "live" ... You truly are an inspiration for us all ... See you soon James

Hey Faber we superhero's prefer the low profile approach You had better get ready for my visit - after both you and Nickolaj have invited me, i guess it's going to be BOOGIE TIME in Denmark soon !!!! Especially now i KNOW that you can use a slider !!! As for the Kayaks - anytime you fancy it ...As you know - my house is yours (but no having sex with my rig - It's just wrong !!!) James

copycats - Not Really

Hi Everyone I too would like to thank Tom for all his hard work and input which was clearly evident in the course we received - it was great fun and very comprehensive. I would reccomend it to anyone. Also thanks to Eric, Micky , Kate and Theresa for all the fun, laughs and good times - it was a blast and i couldn't have picked a better bunch of people to share the week with. The 5-way was awesome - and a fitting conclusion to an awesome week. Well worth the 11000 mile round trip plus 1700 mile drive !!!! I am just about awake now and remembering all the great moments. If any of you find yourtself in Europe, then my house is yours ... As for the T-shirts i think we'll keep the originals just for our group - but i'll make a bunch of similar "Death Camp" shirts if there's a demand so if anyone wants one let me know. James

Hey Jules / Avery / Ed and all the gang .... see you next monday / tuesday - so long as British Airways feeds me and i can find the way (as i'll be driving) then i should make it to Lodi for monday pm /eve ... I will be jumping til thurs and then i'm off to TF for a week or so ... James

I'm sorry to read about this - Mark was booked on the same course next week and we had been chatting via email recently. I'm sorry that i won't get to meet him next week in TF ... From everything that's been said it sounds like he was a great guy ... Fly Free Mark ... And the first one in TF's for you ...

So far ... 12 jumps from 7 objects in 3 countries ... 1 Object opened (if being 3rd on the 1st load counts) which was this week

Hi Avery I'm happy not to have been in a plane crash too

When an aircraft emergency occurs what is your minimum height where you would exit the plane and be happy to pull if you are wearing a winguit ??? I ask this because we had such an event today and i remained in the (smallish) plane whilst nine people exited the plane at 1500' and pulled. I rode the plane down (thankfully) to a smooth landing ... But if the situation arises what are peoples thoughts on heights and exits? Obviously it is possible to pull the cut-aways and jump but are you more likely to be unstable or not? Would you have also exited at 1500 feet or would you have exited at 2000 or more? Do you generally suit up before boarding a small plane or do you wait until some people have exited and then put booties etc on? I have only 19 wingsuit jumps and was happy in this instance to stay with the plane - if we could have got more height then i would have exited because i would have had more time to deal with any potential problems but in this instance time was short and i was inexperienced plus the exit height was low, so i was happy to ride down but what are your thoughts ??? BTW The pilot did a fantastic job of putting us on the ground !!!

Bingo ... the crux of the question isn't how we analyse the statistics and which numbers we actually crunch but more of a question about whether we percieve one sport to be less dangerous than the other and if it really is ... Leroy you hit the nail on the head and you are right ... it is a different discussion - in fact it's the one that i was trying to have !!! I am well aware after studying statistics during college that a tiny specific sample can prove meaningless so i didn't expect a discussion about methodology - i was more interested about whether people perceive swooping to be dangerous in the same way that BASE jumpers perceive BASE to be dangerous ... And I can reassure CanuckinUSA that I DO NOT PERCEIVE BASE TO BE LESS DANGEROUS THAN SWOOPING ... A fact that anyone who has seen me BASE can probably assure you of ... i said in my original post "please understand that i am not saying that base is a low risk sport" ... I think BASE is a high risk sport with some variables that can be managed and some that will always be random ... But that's probably what i love about it too ...

I guess i was looking for a "best guess" average based on the number of injuries or deaths in both sports vs the number of people practising either sport ... I wasn't looking for an exact number mainly because, as you've so rightly pointed out, there are many variables ... It just seemed to us that BASE is percieved as "High Risk" compared to the risks of swooping and we wondered whether the perception was justified ... I am not looking for such a specific number that it becomes meaningless but more of a broader approximation based on approx numbers and gut feeling - I was simply looking to see what other people's opinion was ... As for why ... because you really don't want to know what the other discussion was in the car on the way back from the object last night ... - You'd have to ask MAC about that one !!! lol !!!!

After a conversation the other day with a relatively experienced BASE jumper we wondered how much more dangerous is BASE now than say Swooping ??? Obviously there are different risks to different jumps and we were in agreement that Wing-Suit BASE seemd to be one of the most dangerous types of jump statistically but we see more and more instances of low hook turns leading to severe injuries and fatalities. We were also aware that most BASE jumpers still accept that there is a high risk to BASE and so treat it with the respect that it deserves, whilst many low-timers at DZ's around the world seem to be rushing out to by the latest tiny pocket rocket in order to look cool and end up hurting themselves. So we wondered if any of the number crunchers out there could give us their best approximation of the relative risk levels between BASE jumping and flying high performance canopies - particularly whilst being relatively inexperienced ... NB PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT I AM NOT SAYING THAT BASE IS A LOW RISK SPORT !!! I am just interested in how we perceive the risks of these two disciplines vs the (approximate) truth ...

Quote..............which is not bad for someone that ends up limping with a lump on his leg plate everytime he jumps! Quote So that's your excuse for me beating you to the top of the last one !!! Btw thanks for a sweet jump once again .... Also thanks to Roger for driving and fixing the tyre after it blew ... How could we have possibly timed it so we were outside the only bar that was open late within about 40 miles !!! So roger fixed the tyre and we all had a brew ....

How about also making it a charity jump ??? I'd like to see how the NPS or judge could generate negative publicity about a large event which also raised money for a good cause !!!!

Nice jump ... looks good on camera - and as you said "that's all that counts!!"

Hi David How's life treating you - it's been a while since i ran into you in Zephyr Hills a year or so back (you had a student with you doing AFF if i remember correctly) ... But don't worry if you can't remember me - i was passing through the DZ and was only there a day or two ... i have spoken to Lamorna - she emailed me about the Dz and the places to stay in the area - i'm hoping to bring my wingsuit with me and it looks like there'll be a couple of us now going so we may be able to split the cost of a car and accomodation. But i will drop her a line to see if there's anyone else arriving at the same time ... Do you still have accomodation available ?? - i have a vague memory of you saying that you had some houses that you were letting out to students etc ... Anyhow thanks for all your help ... James Edited to remove a stupid question !!!

Cheers Max Did you book the car through the DZ or was the website working before?? I'm definately looking forward to the trip ... The DZ looks nice and pretty much everyone i've spoken with who's been there has said it's a friendly place ... I'll take a look at the hotel that you reccomended ... james

"spain" - a country outside of the US ....

Not yet ... but i've sold about a third already ...

I'm going to be in town for a week in july .... just wondering if there's anything suitable for a low-timer ??? Cheers

Ok i've checked the previous posts and i've spoken to the nice people at the dropzone ... But a couple of questions to those that have been there already ... As i'm on a budget ... 1.What's the best / cheapest way to the DZ - I saw a thing about smartcar rental (www.pepecar.com) but the site must be down ... 2.If car hire is too expensive (I'd rather spend £120 on jumps or accomodation) ... Whats the easiest way to the Dz - (train I'm guessing) and what's the likely journey time - I couldn't get the spanish rail site to tell me !!! 3.Any personal reccomendations for places to stay (good food / comfy beds / hospitable staff) ... 4. And Finally, - anyone else likely to be visiting between 20 - 26th July??? lol ... Cheers James

Congrats mate ... I'm glad it's all ok now I know you'll find true happiness together ... So when's the stag-jump ???

I BASE because my mother told me to .... She said "if xxx jumped off a cliff would you?" Mother - the answer is YES ....

That looks like fun !!! How easy was it to borrow the crane?? When's the crane boogie ???