base311

yeah I have to concur... there's nothing quite like having a big ol' fat-daddy striper slam a top water lure, then to have it drag out almost all of the line on your reel - and having to use two hands to hold it up for the camera after you've landed it. It's all about variety and quality. Gardner p.s. the GaDNR has recently begun a program to re-establish lake sturgeon in Georgia - probably will be a couple of decades before they're ready for serious sportfishing, but I'm looking forward to it for sure. The last documented lake sturgeon caught in Georgia was circa 1960.

active noise reduction... output to an amp and carry a big bank of speakers on your chest mount d-rings. works for me. Gardner

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316992#34

same here for sure.. gardner

reminds me of roadkill BASE. LOL

well it's generally a free for all: from throw and goes - to humming it into the water with the slider barely on the stops, if at all. More than anything I think the determining factor in freefall delays is the jumper's willingness to get wet. Second determining factor is probably weather, which can only be assessed on the morning of, and throughout, BD. Much more than 4.5 sec delays with the wrong wind and you may not make the designated lz. YMMV. I don't think you'll necessarily see anyone pulling higher just because they're doing the accuracy comp. Perhaps you might see the serious accuracy competitors jumping slider off for better canopy performance (I DUNNO), which will result in no more than 3- to deep 3 second delays, but I don't think that the effect of the competition on the general flow of jumps will even be noticeable to the avg. joe. gardner

Low points scoring system... competitor with the greater number of low scores (i.e. dead centers, 1 cm, etc.) wins. for this to work you have to have a certain minimum number of jumps scored. I don't know how many rounds you think we'll be able to get in, though. The fewer the rounds, the more difficult it will be to distinguish the winners given at least more than two folks get a dead center. You could do it like they do in competition sailing and reward dead centers by giving it a special points-score. In sailing (same low points scoring system), if you get a first place finish you are scored .75 pts. if you finish second, you get scored 2 pts. that way a dead center (first place finish) is rewarded. As with the above-mentioned tie-breaker, in any situation where 1st and 2nd are tied, the sailor with the greatest number of low-points finishes wins the tie. (Actually I think those rules were recently changed in sailing - now there's low points scoring and bonus points scoring) In bonus points scoring, a 1st place finish = 0, 2nd = 3, 3rd = 5.7, etc. That may make life difficult for the judges, though... but you could just have them record the distances and then assign points to those distances later on via spreadsheet. see the style and accuracy rules at: http://www.fai.org/parachuting/documents/sa_2003.pdf anyway... just food for thought. I'm looking forward to the accuracy comp. hope all is well. Gardner

Dude where's my phonecall??? Some sort of mental lapse. LOL we've already accounted for you and C. If you and/or she need it, we've gotcha covered. your favorite redneck

So the insurance companies confirm what we've known all along: BASE jumping is the original 'Extreme Sport' 311 edit to add: I see that bowling and croquet are covered... and hang gliding is listed as category 2 activity. Shaking head... insurance companies... gotta love 'em

I'm gonna hijack this thread because it relates to winds/updrafts/turbulence... I got a copy of a promotional cd from a magazine called "hooked on the outdoors". It's a salomon gear promotional, i guess. Anyway, the cd title is _Adrenaline Hunters_. Has anyone seen this? I won't mention the names of the folks in it, but there's one sequence where they're jumping a really nice piece of african sandstone - the freefall and deployment is uneventful, but one of the guys' canopy, during the long descent, collapses when the whole right front side of the canopy rolls under and the canopy bowties. The thing is the video fades out at that point without showing the rest. Now, I'm not necessarily interested in seeing the outcome of that event, but damn my heart skipped a beat when I saw it. Hope he was OK! From the video it appears that there is a very strong x-wind left to right at the exit pt and opening alti.. and it also appears that there are probably very strong thermals in the area as the canopies are holding alti (and perhaps gaining some) during the flight portion. It appears that the canopy that bowties first rises impressively (no way of knowing for sure..), then appears to suddenly begin sinking out and that is when the right 3.5 cells roll under. This collapse was nearly violent enough to throw the pilot into the center of the bottomskin from above. I don't think that quite happened but shit it was scary-close. It is known that there can be strong sink on the edges of thermals... guess that's what he flew into. BUT DAMN this was a strong sink with a sharply defined edge! Wish I could post it, but I guess I had better not for copyright reasons. it says on the cd jacket visit them at http://www.salomonsports.com/ (dunno if you can d/l the vid there as I haven't been and likely won't). Anyway, food for thought. Gardner If anyone knows the outcome of this I'm now curious to know after having seen it. p.s. edit to add: damn, I thought this was in the BASE forum...

werd to muh homie... Gardner

Tom, Let's see... when did you start? Voracious comes to mind - and quite impressive. I remember Earl once commenting that he didn't believe there would be more than 300 base numbers issued in this sport. Of course many others have proved him wrong. There was a time when 50 jump jumpers were masters. What a long way this sport has come. Congratulations on breaking a grand! Going for two?Hope all is well with you; come see us. Gardner

No. Clearly, there should be more effective tomato control legislation adopted to prevent the likelihood of tomatoes falling into the hands of would-be tomato antagonists. Tomato buy-back programs would help get illegally-owned tomatoes off the streets, while tomato growers manage to find ways to increase the general safety of tomatoes. Currently, the Bureau of American Tomatoes' Focus group is researching ways to allow only the bona fide, qualified purchaser of a tomato to actually be able to throw that particular tomato. The first wave of tomato reform MUST BE the reigning-in of tomato sales at roadside stands, where tomatoes may be purchased inexpensively by the thousands without so much as a driver license check. This scourge of tomato assaults, left unchecked, will soon sweep the country; the sooner tomato control legislation is adopted, the sooner the public's fear of crimes by tomato will pass. Remember: People don't kill people; tomatoes kill people. ...and don't call me Shirley... Gardner

I think the kids in that area - and around the country - will think twice about throwing shit at cars next time. I also think that someone who has no self-control will be locked up for a long time, too. Gardner Wasn't there a movie about this? I think in the case of the movie, the victim was Amish, and the perp was a cutter (and threw rocks); it appears in this case that at least there was some inter-communal horseplay going on (for lack of a better descriptor).

get a key... jam the door... ensure your future access gardner

LMFAO! Hell I'll jump it - bring it with you to the bridge... it'll be fun. does it have a belly band? lol Gardner

yeah no doubt... and collapsable pc's, and rsl's, and cyprii, and... and.... gardner

If I'm not mistaken, digdog has already purchased some gear, but the canopy size is too small. he is searching for something larger, but my take on this is that he is developing plan B, which is to make an intentional water ldg in his currently-owned canopy - unless his bigger canopy shows up b4 BD. In that case I would assume he plans to jump IT, and land it ashore (barring any unforeseen circumstances). Gardner

How deep depends on where you land. From ankle-breaking shallow right next to the lz to well well over your head toward the channel. try to stick it close to shore so you won't have to hinder the boats (leaving them free to deal with the folks who land way out there. There are rescue peeps on the shore with throwables to pick up people who are close enough to the shore that they don't need a boat. highly advised to walk the landing area the day before so you can see what you're dealing with. you'll hear plenty of information during the FJC courses at the bridge the day(s) before. wet rigs get jumped all the time. might wanna dry your pc some, though it's not necessary from this alt. have fun Gardner

I concur. The tether is the determining factor. "O" On a similar note, does anyone have knowledge of (or can anyone point me to) the FAA's jurisdiction over such matters? Is a tethered balloon (of any construction) regulated by the FAA? I suppose if it is over 200' then it would fall under the obstruction marking and lighting requirements, but provided that is covered... what are the rules? I have a bunch of mylar and an iron... Gardner

no doubt. man how'd you like to date the daughter of a BASE jumper? I pity the poor fool... "Boy, throw this over your shoulders and go over there and start climbing and call me for further instructions when you get to the top."

No Match for this Parent FAC ID in the ULS Database! "123456" not found in ULS Databases Gardner p.s. to the original poster: if you're interested in reading some anecdotal evidence relating to radio frequency exposure, join the yahoo group "Tower Pro" and search the message database for radiation or RF exposure. You'll need a yahoo ID to join. You might also check the OSHA site about RF and, as well, sites of companies that deal with rf safety(with obvious bias on its dangers). I think generally it's not that big of a concern under most circumstances. I would stay away from dopplar radar (or any other radar) towers, as those are generally pretty high power. For the most part I'd just use common sense: don't linger any longer than necessary, climb quickly past any dishes or aerials, don't stare into waveguides, don't touch coax, etc. I know it sounds crazy, but I'll touch all the metal hardware on my rig from time to time to make sure it isn't heating up. The only time I've ever actually experienced a side-effect of being on an antenna was when I parked my foot next to a coax cable for a while during a rest and I was startled by a burning sensation on my foot. My shoe was very hot at the point of contact. I've heard rumors (totally unconfirmed) of hardware heating up while on towers (hence my tendancy to check the temp of harware from time to time). If you're so inclined (and anal), you can search the FCC databases and get info on all the aerials on a given structure; these files give info on radiation centers of aerials on the structure (HAAT - height above ambient terrain), as well as power output. Stay away from the high power ones if you're really worried about it, and/or climb past them like the gingerbread man (as fast as you can) YMMV As a side-note, I have two daughters who appear, so far, to be without any genetic birth defect. I wonder sometimes, though... because of the way my 9 y.o. acts. I'm payin' for my raisin'.

Now -THAT- is a nugget! Gardner

FWIW: This came out not too long ago: http://heraldsun.news.com.au/printpage/0,5481,6741856,00.html This is what they were fishing for: http://xvella.free.fr/photos-eng.php?size=0&menu=1 This gives new meaning to the term 'catfishing'. Enjoy! Gardner

Dwain, Thanks for your thoughtful response; I do think that the first two lzs are totally doable, but it is the third (and furthest) that is primo and the one I'd most like to make. Regardless of which I ultimately choose, thanks for your thoughts. I learned a long time ago not to try to stretch distance in an unpowered craft. Huck, I'm on it. Been waiting on bird bans, man... What I really need are ten guys with ten chainsaws and about 5 minutes on sun. morning at sunrise. Hope y'all are doing well. Gardner