TomAiello

Have you read Groundrush, by Simon Jakeman? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Consider doing a wrap around corner that hides the dynamic corner insert. I've had trouble with unprotected dynamic corners catching air (in sit fly on a skydiving rig) as well as the mesh of my vented PC (a much bigger worry for me). I personally think that a Perigee/Mirage wrap around style corner with a dynamic opening would be a great solution (Morpheus is already most of the way there, as they have a wrap around on their Gargoyles--I'm not sure about their other rigs). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Be careful. There was a serious BASE accident back when BASE jumpers were playing with ultra long bridles. The bridle actually wrapped around the deploying canopy and entangled the slider. I seem to recall reading that the bridle in that case as 12', as well. Obviously, you could just cut away if it happened to you, but I just thought you would want to know. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The Lonestar state is the home of BASE numbers. BASE #1 was from Texas. So is the current keeper of the BASE numbers. Texas, baby. It's all about Texas. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

No excuse Faber..... I'll get it tomorrow evening Damn, dude. First the wife is on your ass, then when you go gripe to your BASE buddies, they're on your ass. You just can't win. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Not at all. As far as I know Morpheus is the only BASE gear manufacturer that offers an open corner option on all their rigs. Some specific rigs (Vision, Merlin) have open corners, and the wingsuit rigs under development by others probably have some kind of open corner system. Morpheus has retrofit some other containers, but I'm not sure what their policy on this is. I have had my retrofits done by (a) Morpheus, and (b) two different skydiving riggers. The skydiving riggers were using dynamic corner inserts I had purchased from Morpheus, and either copying from other rigs of mine or contacting Morpheus for help/directions. One word of caution. Some rigs will require additional work to make a retrofit of some kind of open corner (the Prism is like this) because of the tension direction and container cut. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The first open cornered rig I owned was a Vision. Morpheus' Dynamic Corners are, in my opinion, a significant improvement on the open corner concept. Open (or better, Dynamic) corners are a good idea on all BASE jumps--tracking, wingsuit, or just flat and stable. I know several jumpers who blame closed corners for off-headings and accidents. While I do not believe this to be true, why take chances, especially when the Dynamic Corner offers the best of both worlds (a tightly closed wrap around corner, and a wide open container opening)? Yes. Yes. Opening with good forward speed (and good balanced track) should yield a better heading rate and an opening which uses fewer vertical feet (because it is taking place on a diagonal, rather than a straight line). Learning to dump directly out of a track will allow you to squeeze the last few moments out of your track, when you are moving the fastest, and therefore likely getting the best track. More separation is always a good thing, and sometimes it's a life saving thing. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Just be careful packing. If the colors are too close, it can be a pain. I'm a fan of mostly dark (black, dark purple, navy, etc) canopies with greyish center cells (good contrast with the outside, but not too bright). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The purpose is stealth. On a darkly colored canopy at night (assuming stealthy jumper clothing), the most visible thing is the big arc of white lines. It really does make a difference to canopy visibility at night, which is important for some jumps (buildings come to mind immediately). I've even seen a load where a jumper with white lines got spotted (and chased) and a jumper with black lines landed, stashed the gear, and strolled away. I have one canopy with black lines, and several with white lines. I generally prefer the dark lines for stealthy jumping. Note that if your canopy colors aren't stealthy, having black lines won't do you any good. It isn't exactly skydiving, is it? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

On the Shotgun Ray table, then, you ought to be jumping a 230 square foot canopy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You might also want to have a look at the Wingloading For Dummies thread here, and the linked thread on the New Jumpers Forum at BLiNC. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Have a look at the Extreme Bass Fishing helmet. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Hmmm. I wonder how they filmed that? I don't suppose they put a cameraman in a Skyflyer-4 prototype, and had him fly dirty so he could stay with Felix on his skyray? Nope, of course that's not possible... -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's the one. I'm pretty sure that Australia's most dangerous sport is Rock Fishing (more fatalities per year than BASE and Skydiving combined) as well. Now where is that Extreme Bass Fishing link? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think that most people would tend to categorize their "flight clothing" by another category entirely: how much it restricts them in their exit, landing and emergency procedures (in the "uninflated" state). I know several people who don't want to jump wingsuits (instead preferring some kind of inflatable tracking wear) because they feel that it may inhibit their ability to control their equipment (i.e. reach handles and risers) in the event of an emergency. Another consideration is the ability to run out a landing (or land in a bad landing area) after a low pull. I think that these "restriction of movement" considerations will be more important to most people than the aerodynamic ones, simply because they are the ones that will effect survival in an emergency. This will be even more true as jumps (or flights, if you prefer) are pushed to the edge of performance (i.e. jumpers are dumping low over a talus that they are barely out-tracking/flying). So, in that sense, the smoking pants and the tracking pants (and any kind of inflatable tracking suit, with or without miniature leg wings) are in one category (no or minimal restriction of movement when uninflated) and most designs of wingsuits are in another (emergency maneuvers restricted prior to disengaging the suit). Of course, this discussion leaves entirely aside the issue of price--which was the original motivating factor in the creation of the smoking pants. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

How would you grab the ball? You have to use your whole body to fly, so you'd either have to slide sideways to the ball (like docking with another wingsuit flyer), or you'd have to invent something (say, have the players helmets covered with hook velcro and the ball covered with pile so it'd stick to them). But, hey, I'd love to see the story when you're finished. If it sells well, maybe you can throw down a few million bucks and really build the arena. What's dangerous about it? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I use a Mac, so I had no problems. I had trouble with windows at first. I downloaded the K-Lite codec pack from Kazaa, installed it, and then it worked fine on windows. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

You certainly do live in Europe, don't you? I've probably made more night than day cliff jumps. Many of the U.S.'s best big walls are done primarily as night jumps, since they are on land where the government would prefer not to see us jumping. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Give me a bit to see if I can try it. I've got to go eat now, and I'm in the midst of another project, but I'll try to give it a shot tonight or tommorrow and let you know. I suspect you can, but I don't know for sure. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I got my absentee ballot today. I was thinking of selling the (six page) ballot on ebay. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I'm pretty sure that Quicktime Pro will do that. It's only $20, so it's not too expensive. I have a copy of it. If you're movie isn't too big (i.e. can be emailed, ftp'd or something) I could try to convert it for you. PM me if you want me to give it a try. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Laugh, and the greenies laugh with you. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

A la Bill Clinton: Look at it this way--would your SO consider it sex if you did it with someone else? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Grrr. Last month, I got a telemarking call on my cell phone. I was in Norway(!) where the local time was 3am, and the call was costing me a dollar a minute. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I used a Mac. I just tried it on a PC, and it didn't work. I chalk this up to the inferiority of the Wintel machines -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com