TomAiello

Do you know where the product appears on the Paragear on-line catalog? Maybe have a link? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Why would someone be doing a background check without talking to the subject? I can't think of a situation in which this would actually happen. Can you? It's impossible to be totally unbiased about your own capabilities and experiences. Talking to someone about their own background is very useful (and is always the first step, because they've contacted you directly, right?), but it's also very valuable to check things with more objective 3rd parties, and also with other people who have an interest in things in their area (like site preservation). It's not like people are running around writing up supersecret dossiers on new BASE jumpers. We're talking about a very straightforward process in which a new or prospective jumper initiates contact with an experienced jumper seeking to purchase gear (or get instruction or whatever). The experienced jumper talks to them about their background and preparation, then verifies that information with 3rd parties, and at the same time gets other feedback from those same 3rd parties. If all you do is take someone at their word, I am afraid that you are likely to (a) do them a huge disservice if their self-assessments aren't totally objective (and how could they be?), and (b) get taken advantage of with some frequency. When they tell you "I'll pay you for that rig as soon as I get it in the mail" do you take them at their word? Or do you try for some kind of assurances (a deposit, an intermediary, a physical meeting)? It sounds like you are either (a) phenomenally lucky, or (b) an insanely good judge of the character of people, even people you may never have physically met. While I am very impressed at your abilities, I must admit, with some sadness, that I am not nearly as lucky and capable as you in this regard. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Checking into someone's preparation is part of helping them. It allows you to know what they've done, to suggest areas they might want to work on, and to tailor instruction to their specific needs. It also gives you the opportunity to guide them to more complete preparation (if they aren't quite ready), and also to guide them to experienced jumpers local to them, who can help them as they progress. Background checks aren't a "win-lose" situation. They're a "win-win" situation. They benefit the new jumper (who gets help with preparation, connections with locals, and better tailored training), they benefit the locals (who get to meet new guys coming into BASE in their area), and they benefit the instructor (who gets a better idea of a student's preparation and experience). Talking to as many people as possible is one of the most effective ways to gather information about anything (including people). It's a little absurd to suggest that we ought to all be helping everyone in the world without bothering to find out more about them. It seems like a limited perspective might lead you to that conclusion, but unfortunately people who actually are currently engaged in helping new jumpers learn quickly learn that there are so many prospective new jumpers that some kind of system is necessary to provide quality instruction to anyone, rather than just giving everyone a quick shove and hoping for the best. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Who are these new guys that you and Seth have differences of opinion about? Has anyone tried to teach and help them? Has anyone opened their home to them, or given them any instruction at all? Have they been charged for that instruction? I'm sure that it's you that have been doing all those things, right? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Who put your friend off for that jump? Was there any background checking before the jump? Do you think that the guy who PCA'd him learned anything? Whoever PCA'd him should have sat there with him for a couple hours afterward, facing the enormity of his mistake, learning all about your friend's life, and how it was going to be changed, trying to deal with the bleeding. He should have held his hand and tried to talk him through the shock and panic. Perhaps that experience could teach him a valuable lesson or two. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

http://www.ChrisBazil.com -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I suggest that you guys take your personal differences off line. They aren't really on topic for this subject, and it's silly to bring this kind of disagreement out in public for the world to watch, anyway. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My beer stock builds up over the summer, with visiting jumpers coming over, and then runs down during the winter. My wife and I counted in October last year and found that we had around 100 bottles of beer on hand, none of them cheap beers, and none of them that we had actually purchased (I did buy the 2 cases of Sam Adams to start this year, but it looks like I'm not going to have to make a beer run for a while now). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

It is. New Belgium Brewing is a midsize brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado that has a good line of not-crap American beers. Fat Tire is their largest seller, but I've had most of them, and they're all fairly decent. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

The very best beer I've ever had (and I've drunk a lot of beer in a lot of places) was at a run down looking little brewpub in the blue collar town of Cortez, Colorado (Main Street Brewery). -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There's plenty of good beer here. It's just that we Americans still have our old cheap beer for no apparent reason. My fridge right now has a good selection of Sam Adams (I bought 2 variety 24 packs at Costco), with a case each of Black Butte Porter, Fire Boat Amber and Golden Brigade Blonde, and about a 12 pack of Fat Tire, with various other miscellaneous beers mixed in. That usually happens in the summer, because visiting jumpers keep stocking me up (did I mention that we have a rather large refrigerator?) with 12 packs of good beer. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I actually once threw a case of Bud Light out of my house. Not the jumper who showed up with it, just the Bud Light. I made him take it back outside, and gave him real beer to drink instead. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Funyuns aren't really onion rings. They're part of the mysterious 5th food group, along with Circus Peanuts. Oh, and if you come to Twin Falls, you'll need to lose the Bud. We have a strict "no cheap beer" policy. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I think that my comments are being misinterpreted. I did not say that freeflying had zero value, or that swooping had zero value, or that making more skydives had zero value, to learning BASE. Here's what I said, in a nutshell: Jump for jump, CRW, Accuracy and Max Tracking have, on average, a higher value as BASE preparation than Freeflying or Swooping. That means that a freeflyer with 10000 jumps is still likely going to be better prepared than a CRW jumper with 100. My point is that when evaluating the value of any specific skydive as BASE preparation (when considered by it's opportunity cost--that being any other specific skydive), I wish someone had pointed out to me that doing a CRW jump (for example) would better prepare me for BASE than doing a freefly jump (on any specific jump). I repeat: I am not saying that any skydive has zero value as BASE preparation, merely that some are more valuable than others, when considered one by one. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

My advice is here. I had about 300 skydives when I started BASE jumping. I wish someone had pointed out to me that freeflying and high performance canopies didn't have much skill translation, and had steered me toward CRW, Accuracy, and (max) tracking, instead. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

And actually I have just thought, this is obviously only relevant to the USA....... so I dont actually care what you guys do.. Actually, the first person to log into the test version listed their location as London, UK. As of now, I doubt this will be included in the initial BASEjumper.com platform. I think the idea I like the best so far is BrianFry's idea of basically creating a set of "mailing lists" for various areas, where you can "transmit" to the entire list without knowing who is on the list, or how many of them there are. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

If you don't want to jump, don't force yourself. If you really want to jump, but something inside you is stopping you, I'd recommend taking a break. Go skydiving, or scuba diving, or hiking, for a while. Clear your head, get away from BASE jumping, then come back in a year or so for a fresh start. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

This will be one of the bigger issues. It's a non-issue. This forum, and that one, have never been hosted in the US. The forums are owned by a corporate entity in Dubai and headquartered in South Africa. The servers are located in Canada. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Why? This would seem like it would create politics, since if two locals had disagreements, they'd be racing to respond first. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

We're considering adding some functionality on the new site. I'm wondering what people think of this idea: We are considering creating a database system that catalogs BASE locals in various areas. Participation would, of course, be entirely voluntary (you'd need to separately register for participation in that database). Basically, it would work like this: 1) You can log in and register as a "local" for a particular area. This puts you in a searchable database for people looking for local contacts. The only data you need to enter is a username and area you'd like to be a contact for. 2) If someone finds your entry in the database, the system allows them to send you a message (while still hiding your actual contact details from them). 3) You decide if you are going to reply to them. It's been suggested that we need various checks and balances to prevent abuse such as non-jumping groupies who just want to meet jumpers, press inquiries, or law enforcement using the system to investigate jumpers. While we're looking into various ways to do that, it's unlikely we'll be able to actually implement much aside from what I described above in the immediate future. So, is this a good idea? Bad idea? Has potential, but needs more re-working? Thoughts? -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

I wouldn't do it intentionally. I've landed a wingsuit in water twice. Once I had flotation, and once I didn't. It wasn't exactly a near death experience, but I'm actually a very strong swimmer (I was a competitive swimmer in college, and taught swimming and worked as a lifeguard for about 8 years putting myself through school). With the flotation, I pretty much just hung on and waited for the pick up boat. Without the flotation, I was able to tread water fairly well with the wings cut away, but I doubt there would have been any way I could deal with both the wingsuit and the canopy without a good pickup boat. Bottom line? Don't do it on purpose. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

There are definitely different kinds of velcro, made by different manufacturers ("velcro" is a trademark of one of the manufacturers). I'm sure there are variations in strength and durability, but I'm not familiar with the various different kinds, or which is stronger/weaker or longer lasting. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Try this (I stole it from a manufacturer who ships them this way). Buy some pile velcro in 1/2" width. Cut two strips the length of your shrivel flap. Use them to cover the inside half inch or so of your velcro, placing the shrivel flap over them (and mating it to the remaining, exposed, half inch or so). What kind of jumps are you doing with the rig. Velcro usually "feels" like it takes much more force than pins to open in a table test, but it's also usually not something to worry about very much on an average jump. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

That's a question for Sangiro. I really don't know. The user data is going to be imported across to the new forums, as is the actual forum data (posts and threads), so if that data is part of the user profile, it'll probably come as well. But I don't know the mechanics of how it's stored, so I can't say. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com

Both features are active on the new forums, as they are being tested. There are, at this point, no plans to change them, so they'll pretty much appear in the same form they exist on Rockclimbing.com. -- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com