TomAiello

Have a look here: http://www.pro-tec.net/full_face_aceBMX.html -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Aside from the Album of Fluid Motion referenced above, consider bringing some talcum powder up top. You can trail it off in a stream and get a good picture of what's going on down below. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Who you callin' a troll? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Have you looked at the shrivel flap install document on FlyBirdman? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Try contacting Basic Research. They ought to be able to put you in touch with the local scene. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Nonsense. Standing on the rail after the police ask you not to is very original. So is jumping with waterskis, and surfboards. No one else has had the originality to give a big "up yours" to everyone else like that. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm pretty sure this happens to everyone. Some people spend longer (or shorter) times in "go" mode, but sooner or later everyone goes through "slow" times. I've known people who went through several years of "off" before coming back and jumping a whole bunch again. Heck, some never get back to a real big "go" mode again--and there's nothing wrong with that, either. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I had a friend pretty much felt the same way. Except that he was quite a bit nicer, and was unlikely to slap anyone. Instead he just ignored a large number of very experienced jumpers who told him that he was certain to be seriously injured. Where did it get him? A nice spot on Nick's list. When people express concern for your safety, slapping them in the mouth is an inappropriate response. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

When a topic is posted in a discussion forum, it is generally accepted that it is there for discussion and opinions from all participants in the forum. You are welcome to express your opinion--namely that everyone who isn't "in the know" just shut up. Personally, I'm glad that you're not in a position to enforce that opinion here. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can you elaborate on this? I'm not sure what point you are trying to make. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Actualy i follow you on that one,but i think mastering slider ups also should be consideret.. It's good to master as many skills as you can. However, the BASE numbers, as they exist, are an honored tradition, and an important link to our past. I believe they ought to stay the way they are. You have to jump from the four types of objects. Mostly, you get to decide if the objects qualify. You say you did it, and when, and you get a number. It's an honor system--and that's how I like it, personally. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Honestly, I think that the most important time to have a good mentor is _after_ the FJC, as you start to stretch your own wings, so to speak. Both before _and_ after, would, of course, be preferable. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'd take the vents. When things get that low, I'll take every little edge I can, even if it's only psychological. It's going to be very different for different people. When you're down to those heights, differences in altitude, jumper's weight, launch technique, and canopy type can start to look pretty significant. In particular, I think people tend to underestimate the influence of body weight (regardless of wingloading, it's just going to take longer to slow down a heavier person) and launch technique (a hard launch can leave you still doing a pendulum swing when you hit the ground). The absolute hard deck for a very light person, under ideal conditions, with perfect skills and a high risk tolerance? Maybe 60 feet? But for me, with my weight, my gear, and my skills? More like 100 feet. I guess my point is that you ought to work down to find your own personal hard deck. Just saying "well, I saw the video of a guy doing a 63 foot jump" does _not_ mean that I, under my gear, even under ideal conditions, could repeat the jump. There are some things that just aren't equal between jumpers. Good judgment means figuring out what those things are for you, and playing within your own personal limits. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You may be surprised at how low you can static line an unvented canopy. In my experience the vents make a much bigger difference on freefalls than static lines, for no reason I can explain. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You can also get Reason in print. Or you can just borrow my back issues... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Jumps are so different from each other that it's tough to generalize about altitude. Examples: I know one 150' cliff that is probably safer as a freefall than a static line. I know a 350' cliff with a 6000' canopy ride that no one has ever freefallen--but it's a fantastic PCA. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Um, did you mean to put that in a different thread? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Several years ago the big topic of debate was whether static lines counted as BASE jumps or not. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's not just you. We've got the same problem here, but waaaay more so. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The first time someone approached me to mentor them, I had around 190 jumps. I told them to wait until I had 200 jumps. Fortunately, at that point, that was only about a week later. My general thought for mentoring (which I followed in that case) was: if they are more likely to survive with you helping, then you ought to help. In that case, it came down to the fact that he was going to jump regardless, even if no one helped guide him. If my mentoring was going to cause someone to take up the sport (but if I didn't step in they'd stay on the dropzone) I'd stay away. If they were going to start jumping anyway, I'd step in. One of the problems with this situation is that the more ethical jumpers will often consider themselves unqualified as mentors. That means that the less ethical jumpers often become the teachers of the next generation, and we all stand around in shock as each successive generation strays farther form "our" ethical standards. A prime example of this is happening right now, out here. We're seeing second and third generation "deathcampers" (i.e. someone was put off with no jumps, so they put off their friend, who put off one of his friends). The "deathcamp" generations have almost no interaction with the larger BASE community, and zero knowledge of or respect for our community ethics and history. I'm not sure where I'm going with this. But what I can say is that if we stand around disapproving, but taking no action, in ten years we'll be surrounded by a bunch of jumpers who were "deathcamped" into the sport, and have lots of video, but few skills and fewer ethics. And we will have no one to blame but ourselves. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you tie a weight onto the end of about 15' of nylon webbing with knots in it, you can toss it over the block, and climb up it. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's pretty much black in moonlight. My first canopy was a blackberry/grey canopy with black lines (I still have it), and it's _very_ stealthy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In spite of all the danger, there comes a time when the animal inside says “let me be free.” And you must roll the dice and throw yourself into the unknown and see what happens because that—that is truly living. - Dwain Weston -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm Rick James, Bitch! -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Not really. But I think he's significantly more likely to be sympathetic to my position, on a broader range of issues, than is John Kerry. I also think that the political climate makes it less likely that a Republican government would be able to restrict freedom more than a democratic one. The Republicans, on many issues (Homeland Security being a notable exception, but I'm not sure the Democrats would be any better on that) want to restrict freedom in ways that are either obviously unconstitutional or widely unpopular. On the other hand, the Democrats tend to support infringements of liberty that are more slippery, more "palatable" and easier to implement. Of the two, I find the gradual encroachment more threatening to my long term happiness. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com