Parasailing for BASE training ?

[fligh 0]

I was hangin out with a friend today who parasails . These guys are really into the weather , winds and canopy control . Besides the canopy differences and them running off a hill instead of jumping off a cliff , it doesn't seem that different . I think the BASE community could benefit alot from learning some of what these guys know. What does everyone else think ?

[Geronimo509 0]

Check out Understanding the Sky. The book is for paragliding but is very useful for BASE.

[TomAiello 26]

I definitely think it's helpful.

However, the gear is so different that the application of the actual flights (i.e. canopy control, etc) is pretty limited. You would never launch a paraglider in conditions that are pretty acceptable for a BASE jump, largely due to the differences in canopies (radically high performance 50-some-odd cell ZP ellipticals v. 7 cell F-111 squares).

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I think the BASE community could benefit alot from learning some of what these guys know.

I might rephrase that:

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BASE jumpers have learned a lot from studying the techniques and knowledge of paragliders.

My copy of "Understanding the Sky" is pretty dog eared, at this point.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[yexotay 0]

I first want to say that parasailing is usually done behind a boat and doesn't require any real training to fly it. The ground crew does all of the work. Parapente or Paragliding is very helpful to flying a BASE setup. I have been Paragliding for Ten years or so and I tried Base about 50 times. A Paraglider is like a Lotus and a BASE canopy is like a Reliant K. Both canopies are very different but the ram air wing fundamentals apply to both. I can now do a negative spiral on my Paraglider where I really don't think a BASE canopy will ever(BOdy stays in the middle of the spiral and the wing spins around the pilot, it's great cause the wing takes all of the G's and you still dive.) It really helped because I didn't have to learn to land or spot land again. A little retraining has to happen but other than that it won't hurt you to do both.

On the back protector thing mine totally saved my life. Mine is filled with air and kevlar and it took a hard enough hit to splinter the kevlar. I prefer a front mounted reserve after that fall because it is closer and the handle isn't hard to find.

[donkeyboy 0]

I paraglide also. I've never heard of a negative spiral ( have heard of a negative spin ). Are you referring to a SAT manuever ? Anyway, Mad Mike Kung, the acromaniac , recently went skydiving and had the boys at the DZ freaking while he was pulling SAT's , Heli's and Loops on his skydive canopy.

[yexotay 0]

Yes, I was referring to a SAT but am not a fan of throwing out an acronym to peoples and stuff I figured it would be easier to just call it that. Negative spin in base is a 180:)