base689

> Does anyone know the horizontal distance between exit point and grassy landing area at ITW ? Yes indeed, Gus is right. At ITW, there are 1700 m of horizontal distance between exit and (designated) landing, while there are 1200 m of height difference between exit and landing, making a 2000 m (diagonal) straight distance bewtween exit and landing. The 2 km straight doistance between exit and landing is good to know for those interested in videoing the wingsuit flying directly from landing. I would say that a videocamera with 20X optical zoom (plus the digital zoom) can video the jump pretty well. A 20X optical zoom is attainable with a 2X lens put on a "standard" 10X optical videocamera. Once I took a video of a wingsuit flight from landing, but in that event I didn't have my 2X lens on, so I videoed with 10X optical+(what-needed) digital, and the jumper on exit was decently "visible". Shooting a video from landing with at least a 20X optical zoom should yield a very nice video of all flight. Supposing you are fully flying wirth a wingsuit 300 m below exit point, now you are 900 m above landing level with still 1700 m of horizontal distance to go, with an efficiency of 2 you can barely make it, any efficiency above 2 you can make it very well. In fact, the best wingsuit jumpers pass the landing, reach the river, do a 180°, come back a while and then open over the landing. I know that the best wingsuit jumpers can reach an efficiency of about 2.5. So, with any efficiency between 2 and 2.5 you can make it to the landing, being careful that being too close to just 2 you could not make it to the landing, if there is a slight cross wind, or if you cannot keep your best position for all flight long, or because of any other small "if". Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> Well, you need 3-ring only when jumping: 4) Any time there is a possibility to be hanged up onto a tree, a street lamp, any other vertical structure in country or urban environment (pretty much all the jumps). IMHO, the cases in which there is NO NEED of cutaway are a very limited number. Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

Hookitt, I am with you in ALL your points about having and keeping the cutaway possibility. Probably Fido was talking about TEMPORARILY eliminating the cutaway possibility, possibly in some particular jumps... Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> #23 was a 180 from a direct bag being dropped. Yes indeed, but before commenting this issue I have to say something. There are certain deployment methods that work pretty well (high percentage of onheading opening and possible offheadings are minimal) when worked properly. Said the above, the story of poor #23 (I read it somewhere on the net some time ago...so take it as I report it...) is that the unlucky jumper exited sort of head low and ended in kicking his own bag/paracute/lines, the outcome of this, obviously, is outside the reliability of DB deployment. I am not an expert of DB (having done only 2 jumps myself, and about 15-16 jumps 2 of my mates), but definetely I can say that DB is the fastest deployment method and the most reliable (=high percentage of onheading (and in case of offheading, such is minimal)) deployment method available today, provided that: 1) parachute has been packed very carefully and very symmetrically into DB 2) jumper exits very well and very symmetrical and with even shoulders 3) DB holder holds it very firmly and very symmetrically all deployment long If you do a gross mistake (no offence t anybody), you cannot expect that DB works (=onheading opening). My group still thinks that DB is a fantastic deployment method for fu(king low jumps (immediate onheading opening) but can hardly be used because (weak points): 1) you have to take the DB holder with you at exit point (not an easy task most of times) or 2) in case of multiple jumpers, last one either doesn't jump or uses another method (SL, for example, but doing so the last one loses the "goodness" of DB) 3) you trust your life to someone else Just my 0.02€ Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> "Don't jump cause we'll catch ya!" - They caught none of us . . . You know you are one of my heroes, Nick, don't you? Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> It's in a gut gear rig so don’t bother asking if you don’t know what gut gear is . . . I know what gut gear rig is. A gut gear rig is a rig that requires serious guts to jump it!!!!!!!! It's an old and teared off beaten rig that you can jump only if you have got serious guts!!!! Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> Anyone think that bent right leg in the last picture could have contributed to my off heading opening 90 degrees left? Not the leg (a bent leg in itself does not do much to opening...) but the left shoulder deeper than right one did contribute to offheading. Left shoulder deeper, left risers gets charged before right one, left side of parachute starts having lift before right side, you start turning left. > My heading was consistently off the last few jumps and it was speculated that it could be packing (2-pin rig) or that I was pitching too hard, this seems like another possibility since body position is so critical in BASE Yes, indeed, there is DEFINITELY NOT one single (significant) issue that definitely can cause off heading every time it appears, but for sure there are lots of issues that can, from time to time, cause a significant effect on offheading, and when several of them become significant in the same jump, here you are that you get a 180°.... The great D.W. (RIP) had this statement: "There are two categories of BASE jumpers: 1) BASE jumpers that got a 180° 2) BASE jumpers that haven't yet got a 180°" Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> I did notice that with the camera (weight) being higher on your head, there is a longer lever arm and harder openings will transfer more energy to your neck. (I think, I'm not too up to speed on the actual physics involved but intuitively, this is what I think) Yes, it is indeed true: camera on top has got a longer lever than having camera sideway. But, because nothing is perfect, we must note the following. Camera on top has got a longer lever (=higher forces) but it exerts higher forces exactly along the spine axis (our spine is quite robust to bear forces along its axis). Camera sideway has got a shorter lever (=lower forces) but it exerts lower forces on an axis that is NOT the spine axis (there are two levers, now: lever 1 is for camera not being at center of mass of your own head; lever 2 is for camera being "outside" the proper spine axis). Yes, I know I did not give an "answer": simply put, mounting camera top or sideway depends on how single jumper can bear axial/non-axial forces on his/her neck. Personally, I solved this problem jumping a bullet camera (overall 170 g - 6 oz mounted 45° sideway my FD), yes, it way more complicate to build up a proper aligned cradle and a little bit of fuss setting up camera in a fanny bag on your stomach, but I end up jumping with no noticeable weight on my head. Just my 0.02€. Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> I feel humbled and very lucky and somewhat stupid No, my friend, you are not humble and you are stupid: you are still one single piece!!!!!!

> but i'm looking for some feedback from the people who've been using Slinks for a while now and what they feel their benefitting I used (reserve) S-Links on my Fox for, let's say, 10 skydives while I was skydiving my Fox (deployed from my Javelin) learning how to fly it. The idea of using S-Links was that they are stronger than steel rapide links and they can disassembled/assembled quickly by hand, not using any mechanical tool (=wrench): this aspect of "quick assembly/disassembly" was (I thought) a big positive issue when you have to switch form slider off to slider up and back to slider off, once started to BASE jump. That, in theory, holds true. In real life, I was wrong. Yes, they are sligthly superior to steel rapid link as far breaking load is concerned (due to the much higher elasticity S-Links have got with respect to steel rapid link), but this is a non-issue because myself too have never heard of a failure of a type 5 steel rapid link properly assembled/tightned and maintained/checked. What made me convince that S-Links are not such a good tool in real life (for BASE) is the fact that, actually, it takes WAY LONGER to disassemble a closed S-Link; furthermore, everytime you have to disassemble the S-Links, you must "attack" them quite aggressively with your fingers/nails, taking same S-Links to a rapid wear and tear, granted that you do a frequent change between no slider and slider up. Steel rapid link, on the opposite, are very fast to disassemble (even if you are using a wrench) and are "eternal", provided that you tighten them "the right amount" every time you close them down ("right amount" of tightening being a bare 1/4 turn beyond the point you reached tightning them by hand). The above are my practical reasons why I use only steel rapid links. Another good reason for using steel rapid link is (as 736 noted) that they keep slider ABOVE links and make same slider NOT to come down to say hello to toggles. Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> It's also good to keep in mind that the fatality list doesn't include all those who are permanently disabled or otherwise horrifically injured I absolutely agree with this statement, Dexter. And I would humbly add the following one. It's also good to keep in mind that the fatality list doesn't include all those who (according to the malfunction/evolution of the jump/whatever they did) were supposed to be going in (or so) by the gravity of what they were incurring into BUT, because of a huge dose of BIG LUCK they got that day, they got away with it either without any injury of any sort or with very few and minor scratches. They DID (generically speaking) a big mistake which would have certainly taken the "doers" to certain death but because of huge luck they got away with it uneventfully: this (=the mistake) does NOT mean that same (mistake) is something to be done again, by himself/herself or by others. You cannot count (only) on LUCK along your BASE career A friend of ours (Italy BASE #18) few years ago, jumping our subterminal wall in windy conditions (possibly NOT doing a hell of a delay and possibly NOT doing a hell of a track, no offence but just a (=our) guess...), got a 180°, hit the wall, broke several bones, luckily remained stuck on the wall, after 6 h they rescued him in very bad physical conditions, after few years he recovered and couple of years ago he was back to BASE jump. Few months ago, a low timer (7 or 8 off our terminal wall) taken to jump same subterminal wall by a "REPUTABLE" (to be read ironically) and famous (this is true... sadly true...) Italian BASE jump instructor, got a 180°, got stuck on the wall, was rescued with only few minor scratches. What is the difference between Italy BASE #18 and this low timer? Apart from near death experience and months of recovering (sorry if I semplify too much...), NONE. There is no difference in terms of things NOT TO BE DONE. What is the teaching of these 2 accidents (one being a near-death experience)? The teaching that can be drawn by these two accidents is: do not jump Italian subterminal wall: 1) if you are a low timer; 2) if it's windy and/or gusty; 3) if you don't do the right delay; 4) if you don't do the right delay caring to do a good track away from wall/protruding talus. Walking away after a mistake in a certain BASE jump once (or twice...) doesn't mean that that sort of jump behaviour must be repeated or must be taught to beginners/students. Other 10 people doing same mistake could go in the 10 of them all. Just my 0.02€. Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> But the main reason for the insane tumble-fall was that neither had considered one very important factor... the air is EXTREMELY thin at that altitude Yes, but I would add that their VERY POOR exit was due to the fact that they NEVER trained to do exits with high mountain boots, which high mountain boots are very rigid and stiff, where your ankle is completely trapped, so your (standard) exit is going to be completely upset by this "new" condition of your ankles/legs. Furthermore, they exited off of nothing, there was no proper exit point, their mountain crew had to cut off the ice a small horizontal platform facing the vertical drop. Imagine: to do for the first time ever an exit off a slippery ice platform with something that constrains completely your ankle and your leg up to mid-calf, add to that that both chaps had kg's and kg's of video equipment on their helmets... > They no real air to work with even as they gained airspeed Indeed, but if you exit good there is no need to have any "air". When you are flat and stable, sooner or later you will have some air speed with which you can work and do some good track. > I haven't seen Marta's BASE Climb 2. Did she also jump Trango? After Glenn and Nick jump off Trango, NOBODY jumped again. In the expedition of BASE climb 2 NOBODY jumped. Marta stopped somewhere at the last camp on the side of the mountain (I think she was stopped by the too thin air (=lack of oxygen)). Who continued the climb were: Glenn, Glenn's wife and 2 mountaineers. When they were about to reach the "exit", Glenn and Glenn's wife rested and the 2 mountaineers went (tried to go...) up and fix ropes, prepair exit etc etc, when a lumpsum of snow/ice/whatever detached and the 2 mountaineers were very, very lucky to survive, no injuries but they lost all their equipment, and when they came back to Glenn and Glenn's wife announcing that the attempt was to be declared failed, no jump could have been done anymore, poor Glenn's wife bursted out in tears because the so long prepaired jump could not be done any more (without giving a flying fùck to the 2 poor mountaineers that came out harmless with great, great luck, poor girl, she was only thinking for herself and her sensational jump). Nice behaviour, eh? > I'm not too concerned with site-naming in this particular instance because it requires an incredibly technical climb to get to... Yes indeed, nobody can go and simply jump Trango, unless you organize a mountain expedition with money, permits, whatever, nothing that can be done "by chance" or simply because "you want". Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

Up today, I have done 170 jumps off 41 different objects, of which 41 objects I opened myself 8 and actually few weeks ago I closed the word B.A.S.E. of objects opened by the good myself (I opened (in order): 1 S, 5 A's, 1 E and 1 B) Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> What will fit Flik 322? Probably a Flik 322 WON'T stick into a J5, but consider that a Flik 322 is a parachute few BASE jumpers in the world possess. In case of a Flik 322, just borrow a student rig form the DZ (a rig where they are used to stick a 300ish for students) and off you go (=off yoy skydive). Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> Just keep an old Javelin J-5 around. Almost everything fits in that . . . Yes, indeed. Into my Javelin J4 I did something like 40 jumps with (BASE packed) my Fox 245 (only Vtec-ed at the time). And, for helping as student of mine, I packed his (valved Vtec) Flik 266 into my J4, it was jolly tight indeed, but it worked nicely!!! He managed to do 5 or 6 skydives. Keep into account that X-size Flik packs slightly smaller than X-size Fox, I think that a 265 Fox (valved Vtec) wouldn't have fit into my J4. But, anyway, I too think that with a J5 you can stick any (reasonably) large BASE parachute in it!!! Up to at least a 280÷285ish!!! Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> I am intrested also as to which the masses suggest as a first big wall jump Several terminal walls CAN be suitable for a first terminal jump. NO TERMINAL WALL is easy for a first terminal jump. Do you get the point? A terminal wall is on a big mountain, there are a lot of rocks underneath, sometimes the landing is close (to vertical of exit), sometimes not, there can be pieces of rock/pillars/towers "popping out" in freefall if you do not know where you are going, there can be winds that (if you jump on your own) can be fatal to you. Shall I have to continue? Together with experienced (of the site) jumpers, a first terminal jumper can find himself/herslef at his/her own ease jumping there, but the right meteo conditions can be evaluated suitable for a first jump off there only by the experienced. We had quite a number of close calls here at our terminal wall because jumpers (even experienced ones) jumped in the wrong conditions, so, Italian terminal wall can be easy, Italian terminal wall can be terrible, depends on how you approach it. Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> I'm a bit tired and might be getting this wrong but are we talking about the same terminal wall in italy ? Well said indeed. Italian terminal wall can be "easy", provided you go and jump there with the following conditons: 1) under proper meteo/wind conditions (=jump with a local) 2) don't do "stupid" things (no offence to the fallen, "stupid" here means "something you are not trained/not prepared/not fit to do (yet)) 3) be prepared to do a good 45° exit in an "empty" environment (when on "designated" exit point, you have no close reference, only very far mountains on the skyline overthere) 4) properly consider that the close landing area is jolly frightening indeed (you know rocks/boulders/pleasant stuff all over the place/nearby the place.....?) and the (far) designated landing area has got not other "alternate landing area" in between (if you don't consider few square meters of gap between the forest trees here and there) 5) consider again that even if you are a foreigner and you end up with the "Oh, yes, I travelled so many km's that a small wind is NOT going to stop me" attitude, Italian terminal wall can bite your àss very, very badly Few notes: don't think that you go to a terminal wall and you do your best track at the very first jump, the scene is quite intimidating and only about only 50% of first time jumpers there succeeded in doing a hell of a track, the remaining 50% either did just a decent track or just a box. Even if there is "light" wind but if you go jolly low on opening, if you don't make it to the designated landing area, and you discover it mid way, they become bitter c o c k s, as we say in our country, few jumpers has left few bones breakage there (myself included, even if very, very minor). Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> It's the same pack job I use slider up and down no matter what the delay. Nose control is the only change depending on the delay. I use a variation of it, half way between "your" pack job and "standard" pack job. I start packing as usual. Then, when it's time to reduce the bundle in half width, I fold individually each of the A-B, B-C and C-D folds towards the front (towards the ground when packing), NOT the three together, just one by one (just be careful when folding frontward the A-B to NOT cover the nose!). Then, when it's time to wrap the tail, I wrap the center tail around the tail bundle only, then I keep everything net and tidy with clamps. This way, the A-B, B-C, C-D and tail portions of pack job come simultanesously free to "enlarge", indipendently, without tail portion to slightly refrain the front portion as per standard pack job. This is the pack job that I jump for every jump of mine (I have been using it for years, now), both with and without slider (variations for slider on/off and very short/short/subterminal/terminal delays apply on nose folds). Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

No, I didn't do my 100th BASE jump naked. But I closed the NAKED word at my 60th BASE jump (Sep 2002) NIGHT BASE #124 NAKED BASE #14 Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> "Trespass" is intentionally entering the property of another without permission of the owner (or person with possessory right) or legal authority. I know that the definition and the legal ramifications of trespassing in US is quite different from definition and legal ramifications in Europe/Italy, for example, but just to know... Has this "intentionally entering the property of another without permission of the owner" anything to do with the fact that you can do so (=intentionally entering the property of another) freely or you did break some lock/whatever-else-anti-intrusion-system? Asked differently: is it still "TRESPASSING" if you CAN enter into the property (even if not invited by owner) FREELY, simply because there are no closed gates, no locked doors, simply because there is NO PHYSICAL CONSTRAINT to the entrance? Or is it TRESPASSING only if you break some lock/gate/door to get the access. I am not an expert of law in my country, but I know that if you want to be able to sue somebody for entering your property, you MUST physically "segregate" your own property with a fence, a net, a gate, a door, and to put a plate where it says: "PRIVATE PROPERTY, DO NOT TRESPASS". I can think the case here in my country in which landowners can refrain hunters from entering their property (and "having" their intrusion considered as illegal) only if they put a net sorrounding ALL their land and place a plate where it says it is private property: if you break/jump over the net, you trespassed and you are liable of being denounced to police. Otherwise, if you are a landowner NOT having your property delimited by fence/net and declared so by a plate, once you catch "someone" onto your property, of course you can tell him/her to leave but you cannot sue him/her because there was no physical barrier he/she entered into, nor there was any information that that was your own private property. Another question: is it still trespassing if you enter into a building that is privately owned (but not owned by a single person, let's say 20 flats owned by 20 different people) and which building has got its bottom gate/door open and you can get into WITHOUT breaking anything? Can you be denounced for trespassing if you enter by chance into an "open" building or "open" property that has got no physical constraint to the entrance itself? Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

In the photos you can see the setup for my bullet camera. It is mounted 45° on top left because exactly on top of my FD I have a "permanent" light very useful for my night action. What cannot be seen because covered by duct tape is a fiberglass cradle I made myself with a built in alignment. Note: my FD has got no moving parts, so it is OK to mount bullet camera everywhere on it; with a Z1, having the visor that is liftable, you could mount your bullet still everywhere, but you cannot open up your visor, unless you invent some smart trick to place it... Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> sorry for my ignorance, but is jumping in switzerland legal? Here comes the usual, old misunderstanding that American folks ALWAYS fall into....... Let's state in advance few definitions: LEGAL: activity acknowledged by law and ruled by law; anyone has the RIGHT to pursue such a legal activity, provided he/she sticks to the rules/laws NOT ILLEGAL: activity not expressely forbidden by the law; anyone CAN pursue such an activity, provided he/she doesn't screw something else; there is NO RIGHT to purse such an activity, rather such an activiyt is "tolerated" by law/authorities ILLEGAL: activity clearly forbidden by law; anybody caught doing such an activity can be chaased by law/authorities In Switzerland/Italy/France BASE is simply NOT ILLEGAL, you can do BASE off mountains, provided you don't screw other aspects of jumping activity (=land in wrong sites, annoy local population, other...). In Switzerland/Italy/France BASE done objects other than mountains is generally ILLEGAL (= due to the absence of legal accessibility to exit point), unless there are "special" objects whose access on exit is allowed to general public and landing is clear of structures/buildings/people (generally speaking, state owned land with no human activity underneath). Hope to have cleared once forever the story of "legal" BASE here in Europe. Very often the fact that European (latin countries...) authorities do not (strictly) chase for BASE jumpers who do BASE off objects (other than mountains), that is, sometimes BASE is TOLERATED, is wrongly mistaken by Americans/Anglosaxons by: "Ohhh, it's legal". Just my 0.02€ Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

I wish you all the best, my friend. Heal soon Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

Thanks mate. BTW, did you manage to buy a 10 AA battery holder yet? Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com

> is this similar to the atmonauti way of flying? Not at all. Sorry, I do not know how to make URL's clicky, but I am sure you get to their website anyway: http://www.atmonauti.com/ first, choose English language, then click on ATMONAUTI, then on ATMONAUTI?, then on TECHNIQUE, there it is explained very well the technique, the angles they claim they get and, moreover, there are pictures of body position, that is quite different from a "standard" track position (standard track position being (more or less): body stretched, legs a little bit apart, stretched arms along your body and a little bit apart from body itself, you know better than me how to get a MAX TRACK position). Stay safe out there Blue Skies and Soft Walls BASE #689 - base_689AT_NO_123_SPAMyahoo.com