TomAiello

I strongly suggest you find Lonnie and/or Sparky. The area has an active local crew, and you're going to be way better off if you are part of that crew, rather than outside it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Johnny's moved to Portland. He stopped in here on his relocation trek a few weeks ago. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've observed most of the FJC's in action over the last couple years. I also teach FJC's, and I've given a fair bit of thought to what I think works best for teaching. Obviously, my top choice would be my course. I like to think that I've put in all the things I've learned/seen/stolen from other courses, to make mine the best I can. But, let's leave that aside for a moment, and consider only other courses for the original poster. I think my top choice for him would be Morpheus. There are 2 reasons for this: (a) There are many people in his area (the UK) jumping their gear, and (b) there are several other folks around there who took their FJC from Morpheus. (a) means that when he returns home he'll likely have gear that is familiar to more experienced jumpers in his area. That means it will be easier to get instant feedback on small gear matters, and personal input on what has worked for them. (b) means that they will likely best be able to put him in touch with more experienced jumpers in his area (their previous students). I think these are pretty big advantages. In a sense, the UK is "Morpheus territory" for obvious reasons (i.e. Rob is from the UK). My second choice would be Apex. My reasons for this are (a) Apex has by far the most experience teaching FJC's, and (b) they teach the most courses, so they have the best availability and scheduling when trying to fit a class into the original poster's schedule. I think that the first part of that is pretty important. Since Jimmy, in particular, sees a huge range of students, he's very effective in adjusting his teaching style to his current students. When he encounters a problem a student is having, he has probably already seen it 6 times this season, and knows several different ways to explain it, and can try using each of them to see which clicks the best with that particular student. So, there's my 2 cents. Hope that helps. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes. You frequently see parts of the structure while in free fall (antenna guy wires are a good example). Many jumpers also look back on tower jump, to judge pull altitude using visual referents (usually the lights on the tower at night). You also see the structure on pretty much anything that's underhung, or even vertical. Since by pull time you are usually looking straight down, it's fairly common to see the object at the bottom (relatively speaking) of your field of vision. On very short delays (i.e. go and throws) you usually have very limited reference to the object, because you are still pretty head high when you deploy, and end up under canopyy. Short answer: every object is different, and you see parts of them on many jumps. Random aside: I've always wanted to do a full floater off a glass (i.e. reflective) building. I once did a rollover off one of those, and the visual was pretty spectacular. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There's a BASE gear manufacturer raffling off gear for donations to hurricane relief. Thread in the BASE forum here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Glenn Singlemann, who organized the jump expedition, was very inexperienced at jumping. Nic Feteris, the guy you see speaking in that clip, was actually very experienced. He was freefalling 200' or so with a skydiving rig (successfully, and repeatedly) before that jump, and was known to many jumpers around the world. He was especially celebrated in the US for his novel approach to getting a free plane ticket home. As noted above, it's generally thought that the thin air made freefall control very difficult for them on those jumps. I agree, though, that it looks pretty scary, and I'm happy it was them discovering those issues, rather than me. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Next course, you want to come out and teach the packing? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I actually looked at that several times, and we tried changing the closing technique, without much success. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Marty left here this afternoon. He ought to be back in the shop, and able to answer questions about this sometime tomorrow. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm going to unstick this now. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

All, Don't expect Anitaflick to respond in this forum. The username was disabled after the poster had the bad manners to go a few rounds with the owner of this web site. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Weather is very warm right now. I'd pack good hot weather clothes (shorts and short sleeves) and bring along a couple sets of "morning and evening" clothes (long pants and long sleeves, with maybe a pull over or light jacket). Maybe throw in a fleece jacket for late nights. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Martin Tilley at Asylum Designs will be raffling off a BASE rig to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. Tickets for the raffle are $60, with proceeds to be donated to hurricane relief. Contact Martin at Asylum (530 823-5222) to buy a raffle ticket, make a donation, or for more details. I'll post more details in a few days, but I just wanted to get this out there and let people know. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The full video can be purchased on Amazon, and in several other places. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Um, one can? It's in the advanced user search, which is a premier feature. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I can think of several places that are much safer for a first BASE jump than Bridge Day. Bridge Day has a huge amount of distractions, a fairly pressured exit timing, and a landing area which isn't exactly beginner friendly. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Jumping from the corner (when possible) is pretty much standard practice. Often, though, you won't have a choice, because the exit will be dictated by location of landing area, wind, ability to access the exit itself, or other factors. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I've removed portions of this thread and moved them to Speakers' Corner. You can find those posts here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This is not always true. On many spans, for example, you have limited nearby reference during the freefall. You do still have things like canyon walls and the like, but they are reasonably distant. It sounds like you have a much better understanding of the differences between skydiving and BASE than most folks in your shoes, though. The presence of the object is almost always a bigger consideration than the overall altitude. edit to add: In all seriousness, there's no reason you ought to BASE jump if you don't want to. It's really a personal choice, and if it doesn't call to you, then there are many other fun, rewarding, and interesting things to do. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Me either. That's crazy stuff. I just can't figure out whuffo they want to jump off them cliffs fo'. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The Sorcerer is not TSO'd, so you wouldn't be able to legally jump it out of a plane in the U.S. If you're looking for something with crossover potential, and a reserve, try checking out the Vectors with the Skyhook. The Skyhook is essentially a modern, streamlined version of the Sorcerer system. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Perigee, I believe. I'd imagine that Adam F. would be the right guy to ask about the process. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I believe I've seen other people posting that they've done this legally in Canada. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This has already been posted. Let's try to keep the discussion in one thread. Here is the original thread. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com