TomAiello

TJ, You may find that you have applicable gynmastics/diving skills that 99% of other wingsuit pilots simply do not possess. And that's not to leave out current fitness to perform those techniques. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The minimum number of skydives to jump at Bridge Day is set by the Bridge Day jumping organizer (currently Jason Bell, who is on these forums as BASE428). The number of skydives recommended by various BASE first jump instructors ranges from around 100 (the lowest--that's Apex) up to about 250 (the highest--that's Morpheus). There is no monolithic "they" as you refer to in your post, to have ever standardized these numbers. Each group of people chooses what seems like a good set of pre-requisite experience for their event or program, and they go with it. As an aside, BASE and Bridge Day only overlap--they are far from being the same thing. I'm totally comfortable with Bridge Day being something of an anachronism outside the general "rules" that the BASE training "industry" (such as it may be called that) has imposed upon itself. Bridge Day is a unique event, with a unique history and a unique culture. It takes great thought and good judgment to try to make those things come together, so if you see Jason at Bridge Day, shake his hand and buy him a beer. Regarding the second part of your question, there is a "they" who is in charge of adding slots to the course, and it turns out that I am the "they" you seek. PM me if you really want me to try to add another spot into this already over-subscribed course. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

if skymonkey wasnt a moderator, i would be making fun of him for bragging about his jump numbers at least twice in this thread. oh.... wait.... Honestly, I read it as him trying to give the reader an honest background to judge his post by (same as stating up front that Birdman is his primary wingsuit sponsor, so that you know where he's coming from). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I made a night jump several years ago in Lodi with a wingsuit on the plane. This was at a time when Lodi was much less wingsuit friendly, so I can't imagine they've gone backward in that regard. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Please read this announcement regarding multiple accounts. If you want to stir things up, please do it under your own name. I'm going to ban the huckandfuel login from this forum, and will ask Sangiro to disable it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hydroguy's primary discipline is BASE. Stealth is a big consideration, and if you cut away in flight, finding the canopy is going to be the least of your worries. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The slider grommet can slide down too far, and trap the top of the toggle stub, jamming the toggle. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yeah, and Mikki learned German long before English. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The technique that Gregor described is, in my opinion, far superior to this modification. I have had a snap fail in use (pop open) and result in my slider coming up a few feet during opening. I've also seen a slider that had been tied down with a pull up cord come up more than halfway (and result in an accident). I've not yet seen the "under the bumpers" technique release the slider. As an added bonus, it requires no extra loops on your risers (which could be confused for toggles or dive loops in a critical situation--no, I haven't but I've seen it done) and keeps things a bit more streamlined. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

PM sent. Walrus has a "sensitive" job. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've split this discussion of tension knots off the original thread about a specific jumper's accident. It seems like it is a separate discussion. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's for the month of October only, for Flik and FOX canopies. I know that Apex sent out a notification to all their dealers. I'm not sure if you have to order through a dealer to get the special or not. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

First, let me express my condolences on your family situation. Being related to Chuck isn't something to be wished lightly upon the average 17 year old. When I was in college, I had to read a ton of scholarship application essays (some genius in the scholarship office thought it was a good idea to have current scholarship students review the applications, so I got roped into spending way to much of the time I should have been chasing girls and getting drunk sitting at a desk reading essays). Any essay that isn't about "overcoming obstacles" and doesn't sound like 95% of the other crap that gets generated by people who listen to their high school guidance counselors automatically scored extra points. Anything that sounded like the person writing it wasn't a pasty faced nerd chained to a desk behind the principals office was even better. I think the best one I read was by a guy who wrote about leading the narrows pitch on Steck-Salathe (it's a nasty bit of rock climbing several hundred feet off the deck with minimal protection). Definitely write about skydiving. Don't neuter your essay by throwing in too much of the meaningless drivel that fills everyone elses'. If you find yourself using the phrase "overcoming obstacles" immediately throw away that draft, go for a skydive, and start over. Try to capture the beauty of what you are doing, and it's meaning to you. Don't try to use it as yet another cover plate for the same damn essay I had to read a thousand times. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

For what it's worth, I say go with the 322. I've almost never found myself wishing for less nylon over my head (not counting that dodgy alley in San Francisco where the end cells were clipping both walls), but I've frequently found myself wishing for more nylon (especially when I was looking at an out landing on broken ground). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No. I own and jump a ridiculous spread of gear at the moment, and I can tell you that the riser reponse is not correlated to canopy size very closely. Within one model, there is a slight difference (slower at bigger sizes) but the difference is much greater from one canopy model to another. If you're going larger, definitely get the Vtec (which, this month isn't going to be much of a problem, is it?) to help with inflation, for sure. Gotta love that free Vtec deal on the Flik this month, eh? I'm trying to decide if I should break down and replace 5 or 6 of my student canopies with new Flik Vtecs, and sell off other gear at Bridge Day. My experience has been that the Ace/BJ have the fastest (in time) riser responsiveness, and also appear to lose the most altitude during the riser correction. I hypothesize that these are related phenomenon, but I have yet to do any empirical testing, so my theories are based on subject observation, not statistical data. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm going to cue Nick DG here, with the story about Carl B. seeing that ride (actually riding it, I think) as a kid, and beginning his BASE dream. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've seen that setup quite a few times. Adam Filipino called it the "captive loop" when he put it on a rig for a friend of mine about 6 years ago. As noted, the downside is the bump you feel going through the guide rings slider up. Slider down there isn't really any downside, in my opinion. I've never heard of a case of the loop hanging up in the ring in actual practice, but I can definitely see the possibility. I do know that it's a weird feeling when you start flying it, so you have to sort of re-train yourself to ignore that little bump in the middle of your flare. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's on my desktop, so I look at it every day. Hey, if you win, do you get to go around and piss on the graves of everyone else? Ray, care to weigh in on this? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Generally, canopy manufacturers have a recommended slider for each canopy. Your best bet is to stick with whatever they made for your canopy. What canopy are you jumping, and what does the manufacturer say to use with it? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

i would figure in this sport that's not really the type of thing you say to someone. even as a decent human you shouldn't ever put that stuff out in to the universe. In all truth, that's exactly the kind of thing you'll hear said in this sport. Death is such an ever-present reality in BASE that you pretty much have to be able to joke around about it, because if you actually stopped to consider it in all seriousness, you'd likely go insane. Have a look at the photo here and learn the history behind it (you can find a good bit of it digging around old threads in this forum. That'll start you on the way to understanding some of the relationship between BASE jumpers and death. If you read through all the stuff you can find before posting questions about the photo, you'll get extra points in my book. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There's nothing wrong with a 32. Back in the day, CR used to recommend a 32 for terminal, and BR used to recommend a 36. The CR 32 was made with large hole mesh, and the BR 36 with small hole mesh. The two PC's had different designs, so they performed the same functions (terminal deployments) despite the difference in sizing. The number associated with a particular manufacturers PC ought to be viewed as a "model name" not a "size measurement". So, two different PC's from two different manufacturers may, in fact, work for the same purpose, despite the fact that they have two different names. Your best bet is to check the chart put out by the manufacturer of your specific PC, to see what delay range they intended that PC to work in. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Have you been up to Taft and seen Corky's setup? He's done quite a few cutaways from his paraglider (cutting away the wing in flight and then deploying a BASE canopy as his reserve to land under). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm saying it doesn't matter much. Any combination of the PC's and sliders you mentioned is likely to result in a reasonable parachute over your head a reasonable time after you pitch. If it were me, I'd use the large mesh slider and a 32". Most people nowadays would probably use the small mesh slider. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've used large mesh on many terminal jumps with no issue. If it's just one jump a day, I think it's unlikely to be a problem for you. I'd probably use a 32" PC though. In my opinion, the larger PC will increase your chance of a weird malfunction (because it will distort the pack job more as it yanks it out of the container) with no real benefit to you in terms of a faster opening (and not much downside in terms of making the opening harder, either). Short answer: You'll be fine, and so will your friends. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Read this logbook, and take heart. Surf around the rest of the page and you'll see that taking a long time to finish your student progression isn't going to prevent you becoming a world class skydiver. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com