TomAiello

It just bums me out to see hotties ruling out BASE jumpers, just for our hobby. But hey, everyone has to make their own choices... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Life is like that. We all only get one chance at it. Not to digress too much, but you only have one chance, too. You are counting 100% on the reserve working properly, same as I'm counting 100% on my reserve/only parachute. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I dunno. How about Skratch Garrison (skr)? edit to add: Looks like Skratch lists 41 years in sport, and Bill lists 42. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hmmm. Skydivers in glass airplanes ought not to throw stones. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hey, what's that supposed to mean? Plenty of BASE jumpers are in long term, stable, happy relationships. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Seriously? Don't you think you ought to at least hear what the criminal record is, first? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'd be curious what your score is on the Libertarian Party's on-line Quiz. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It might be more helpful to look at the votes by issue. I'd guess that the vast majority of those "anti-US" votes were actually anti-Israel votes, where the US and Israel were the only two votes on one side of an issue. I wonder what percentage of total UN resolutions have concerned Israel? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

In my opinion, legal sites are the most sensitive, since they are the ones that can actually _be_ "burnt" (i.e. made illegal). You might check out Toni's (from Switzerland) post in this thread. Some parts that are relevant: I'm really not making this stuff up. When jumping has been banned at a site, it has _never_ become legal again--ever, anywhere in the world. The legal sites are the most sensitive ones. The legal sites in Southern Europe in particular have been very troublesome over the past few years, with various authorities stepping in to regulate or ban jumping, and local jumpers having to donate huge amounts of their own time and money to negotiate with those authorities. Personally, I'm grateful for the locals who care enough to try to keep the sites open for all of us BASE tourists. I try to show this by respecting their wishes. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Can you elaborate on this? I'm generally of the opinion that forward speed can always be eliminated by flying in deeper brakes. For this reason, I've always seen more available forward speed as always positive, since it just means a wider performance range that I can choose not to use. So long as the canopy flies well slow (i.e. in deep brakes) I haven't seen a situation where I thought having forward speed available if I chose to use it was a bad thing. Back to the original question: If Aussie jumping conditions favor less available forward speed, consider the BR canopy. Both the Ace/BJ and Troll have very good (by which I mean high) available forward speed. I haven't clocked a Flik, but the Ace and BJ that I clocked had full drive speeds about 8-10 mph faster than my FOX, while the Troll was about 5-7 mph faster. Interestingly, the slowest canopy in full drive was consistently my Mojo. So if that's the consideration, maybe you ought to look around for a used Mojo. Still, my original comment is, I think, the most salient. As a beginner, you are going to need guidance from the experienced jumpers in your area. In Australia, you'll be able to get more help with BR gear, because so many of the Aussies are using BR gear almost exclusively. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

OK. Maybe a little language barrier there. You're definitely right on, then. More delay = better heading, when all else is equal. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

While that's a good generalization, it's not always true. It also depends on how the canopy is configured. For example, I'd say that a 3 second slider up delay will have worse heading than a 2 second slider down delay. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Interesting how you assume the point you are trying to make as the basis for your argument. Isn't that some kind of logical fallacy? Just curious...Is Belfast in the UK, by your definition? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There's a post in the BASE forum from a Swiss jumper specifically asking that those sites not be named. I'm not empowered to moderate in this forum, though. So all I can do is point out that it's kind of rude to disregard the requests of the locals. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Note that those comments are for the unvented Troll. In my opinion, the addition of the MDV's greatly improved the Troll's slider down openings. (I still prefer the BJ's openings at low altitude, though.) -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Get a small mesh (marquisette) slider, or even a sail slider with a hole cut in it. Playing with the slider and dumping high (by BASE standards) ought to work that out for you. In general, that's probably true. Have you considered posting to the ABA forum? I've made many jumps, both low and terminal, on both. If you're wanting snappy slider down openings at low altitude, and soft slider up openings at terminal, I'd go with the Blackjack. I think it opens slightly cleaner at low airspeed, and noticeably slower with a large mesh slider at terminal, than the Troll MDV. Your results may vary. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Short slider up delay = unpredictable openings. That's been my experience. How high was the wind at opening? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

How do you know which way, or even if, her hand is moving? I didn't detect any motion at all in the photo. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Yes, you are right. I'm only on line about 5 minutes a day this week, as I am travelling, so my responses are rather brief. I wasn't describing it as a complete FJC. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The info is all given on the BASEKjerag web site. The instruction is first rate. The full time instructor is both a top notch BASE jumper and a good teacher. The teaching facilities (mainly the pendulator) are probably the best in the world. Accomodations are not included, you purchase them separately from the campground. I'd tend to prefer a bridge to a cliff for a first jump, but that's the only negative I see to learning there. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The other site is a bit more up to date. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It's not the measurements, it's the build of the canopy. The FOX, in particular is very beefy, and can take tons of abuse, so it has a larger pack volume at a given size. The CR canopies tend to have smaller pack volumes. The differences on the current generation of canopies (Flik and Ace/BJ) are not nearly as pronounced as on the last generation (FOX/Mojo) since BR eased down on the reinforcements to reduce pack volume on the Flik, and CR beefed the Ace up a bit more than the Mojo. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My best advice would be to get the 266 for your first jumps, and put it in a Soft Cock for the local stuff. Then, get a WS Xtreme for the wingsuit stuff. You're an advanced enough wingsuit pilot that you probably ought to consider buying a smaller WS Xtreme, and buying/begging/borrowing/stealing a smaller canopy for your wingsuit jumps. If that's not an option, get Morpheus to build you a WS Xtreme in the big size and go with that. With a small mesh slider, you'll be fine with the Flik Vtec at wingsuit terminal, in my opinion. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

As long as the center cell and center stabilizer are easy to pick out (i.e. an off color), that's the main thing. It can also be handy to have the outside cells an off color, but it's not nearly as essential as the center cell. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com