Should we require helmets at Bridge Day?

[BASE813 0]

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On an 876' object with no object strike potential and a 42" pc with appropriate bridle, you can put any canopy you like (ie BASE or accuracy, not pocketrocket) in there with as much or as little chance of anything going wrong as on a one-parachute system... Which system had risers release out West before landing? Which systems were other jumpers on the same object using when they went in? You configure or choose gear for the object you're doing, and on BD there is nothing wrong with skydiving gear properly configured.

So there are no landing incidents with the first timers at all???

My point was why take off a free stowed fury 220 in a racer when you could take off something "nicer"?!?!

yeah there is nothing wrong with skydiving configd right - but why bother when there is the gear to do it right is out there......???

lets go back to the 80's! - nick kershaw will save ya but he aint the right choice!

[JohnnyUtah 0]

Jason,

I vote that helmets should be recommended but NOT required. On gnarly jumps I definately like wearing a helmet, but at Bridge Day I would like to have the option to jump without one. People flailing and blasting in at BD are mainly busting up their bodies not their heads...except that dude who face planted the truck. Is that image still haunting you? People got to learn not to fly into hard metal objects. There is a river with boats waiting. If your canopy skills are lacking or you are struggling for any reason, then LAND IN THE WATER.

If you are new to the sport, then you probably want to wear a helmet. Some more experienced jumpers feel comfortable jumping without a helmet at certain objects. I can understand why, I do too.

Please keep Bridge Day the fun boogie it has always been.

Johnny Utah
Mandalay Bay #1

johnnyutah101@hotmail.com
johnnyutah.com

[czechbase 0]

I personally would wear a helmet, guess I'm too used to it ever since I started racing motocross bikes (before I took up skydiving/BASE). I just feel better with one on, don't want to be wishing I had one on when I do jump!!

But I think it should be the jumper's choice.

www.motavi.com

[vid666 0]

I've only done 3 BASE jumps - all at BD 2003. I wore a helmet jump 1 and jump 3. And I would of worn it on the 2nd jump too if I would of not forgotten it on the packing tarp :). I would say make it a choice, not a requirement. As far as skydiving gear though - I think more than just a 9' bridle should be required ( s/a no d-bags )

[skypuppy 1]

So there are no landing incidents with the first timers at all???

Maybe Jason could tell you for sure, but I figure very few of the accidents are actually first timers - more likely semi-experienced jumpers. Certainly I doubt they're any more likely to get hurt - a lot of them land in the water because of this...
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yeah there is nothing wrong with skydiving configd right - but why bother when there is the gear to do it right is out there......???

Maybe for one thing, cost. I have a hard time justifying making everyone buy base gear to jump a bridge simply to do base equipment manufacturers a favor when the the jumpers don't need it for any other objects, they're only doing this one day a year, and it's relatively easy to borrow compatible equipment. The wild card is a person's training and experience, not really his equipment...

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[TomAiello 26]

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yeah there is nothing wrong with skydiving configd right - but why bother when there is the gear to do it right is out there......???

Maybe for one thing, cost. I have a hard time justifying making everyone buy base gear to jump a bridge simply to do base equipment manufacturers a favor when the the jumpers don't need it for any other objects, they're only doing this one day a year, and it's relatively easy to borrow compatible equipment. The wild card is a person's training and experience, not really his equipment...

Also history. I don't want to tell ripcord man that he can no longer jump at Bridge Day. There's a rich history there, and I'd like to see it preserved.

-- Tom Aiello

Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com
SnakeRiverBASE.com

[Skinflicka 0]

Hey pup,

I agree that skydiving gear is safe when used properly. Given your experience level it's hardly surprising that you're comfortable with it. It just has more chance of not getting used properly (in general - I guess) and if it works at BD then maybe it'll work at the antenna down the street etc...Where is the line drawn?

As far as mandatory helmets, gear etc. I think that the BD organizers should get to do whatever it takes to hold the event and it's their call. You can jump if you want to abide by the rules. If not, be the rogue bandit that you are and jump something else illegally but equipped as you please...

I guess that's .04 now.

$kin.

Prizes to anyone who gets to read my posts before Mr Aiello's son, Tom deletes them.

[brits17 0]

I voted no... keep it a choice. Like the masses have said, recommended but not required

_______________________
aerialkinetics.com

[K763 0]

I would prefer to have helmets as "strongly recommended", with the exception being those intentionally landing in the water. I would vote to make them mandatory because some people have more balls than sense and would crack their skulls tripping up the beach on landing...but so many people have to opt out into the water, this isn't practical. Newer jumpers, especially, should be encouraged to use all available saftey gear, helmets, knee pads, elbow pads, and good ankle-supporting boots.

BD 2003 I did 2 intentional water landings. I was barefoot, helmetless, and wearing just a bikini with a wetsuit over, and I can't even describe the extra freedom I felt with the wind blowing in my hair and between my toes! Especially since I got to humm it (for me, that is.) I'd hate for mandatory rules to come along and ruin an otherwise amazingly fun jump.

Love Bridge Day!

Karen

[Faber 0]

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and wearing just a bikini with a wetsuit

why the wetsuit

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[steveo 0]

the guy that hit the back of truck is a friend of mine.Ididnt see him hit but I heard the crash from 20' away.he has over 100 BASE jumps +over 500 sky dives.he said plain and simple he screwed up.he was lucky to walk away from that one.2 days later his whole chest was black+blue. we have made a few jumps since then and he chooses to wear a helmet on every jump now.so do I.but I think it should be the jumpers choice.

[Faber 0]

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he said plain and simple he screwed up

most times its the pilot that screw up,even the experienced.

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[riggerrob 643]

How about "strongly recommending" a minimum of a half-shell Pro-Tec, then telling people
"no helmet=no raffle prizes."
Subtle economic pressure may work better.

[nicknitro71 0]

I'm all for safety although for the Bridge Day I decided not to go with the helmet for the following reasons: nothing to strike with an off-heading opening with a delay more than 3 sec. If I was not confident with my approach I would have gone for the water on landing. You guys though made the mandatory 42" and that IMHO solved tons of problems. Mandatory helmet? I don't see the need for the way I jump off the bridge but I have nothing against it.

Memento Audere Semper

903

[Spiderbaby 0]

Jason, crap on the helmet issue. A far more interesting question would be- Should we require BASE specific rigs for BD? Or should we allow Racer containers with D-Bags and only God knows what for a parachute inside. I bet you'll get different answers from the Dropzone.com newbie crowd than from the Blincmag gang. And by the way, was the dood who bounced his skull off the truck bumper a BASE jumper with BASE gear or not? Love and Kisses, Hank.....

"It takes a big man to cry, it takes an even bigger man to make that big man cry"

[K763 0]

Why the wetsuit? Because that water is friggin' COLD, that's why!

Besides, I wouldn't want over 200,000 spectators to see me in my bikini. It's not that great of a view.

K

[Faber 0]

cold water is good for your skinoh and by a new bekini if you dont like the oldhehe

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[K763 0]

I could be wrong on this, but in viewing Johnny Utah's BD Safety Video, it looked like the worst of the malfunctions occurred on skydiving gear. Again, I could be wrong, but I recall seeing several skydiving canopies twirling off into the trees or into the river.

Gear has come a long way since BASE first began, and in my humble opinion it's best to use the right tool for the job. I'm glad my ortho surgeon had his slotted hammer for removing my tibial nail and didn't use the ball peen hammer in the van's toolbox. With so much great BASE gear available for rent from various manufacturers, it only makes sense to me to properly equip yourself for the precise task at hand. But then, some people do this for the thrill of the risk involved, so using skydiving gear just adds to that risk/thrill factor.

I'm personally glad that Kjerag, for instance, now disallows skydiving gear. The two sports have evolved into two completely separate entities, with the exception that they both use parachutes as the means to decellerate and avoid high-speed impact.

K

[skypuppy 1]

I could be wrong on this, but in viewing Johnny Utah's BD Safety Video, it looked like the worst of the malfunctions occurred on skydiving gear. Again, I could be wrong, but I recall seeing several skydiving canopies twirling off into the trees or into the river.
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Any canopy will go twirling off into the trees if you have linetwists and do nothing about it... It would be interesting to know Johnny Utah's idea about the Safety Video - were there actually more linetwists on skydiving canopies, or was it just that there was more video of skydiving canopies from previous years (I realize he very well may agree with banning skydiving gear, I'm just asking about the footage)... Also notice they stopped allowing pocketrocket canopies this year (a good move, as far as I'm concerned) only allowing low aspect ratio canopies... That would also make a difference...

If some old guy can do it then obviously it can't be very extreme. Otherwise he'd already be dead.
Bruce McConkey 'I thought we were gonna die, and I couldn't think of anyone

[JohnnyUtah 0]

Here are my views on the skydiving gear vs. BASE gear at Bridge Day issue.

BASE gear is ideal.

Appropriate skydiving gear can be jumped safely at this bridge if configured and packed correctly for a BASE jump.

There were 100 first time BASE jumpers at BD this year and similar numbers at previous years. These first timers are just getting into BASE or trying it out. Bridge Day has definitely helped this sport grow through the many years by allowing first timers to jump. BD is the one place on earth where this works. The span, the altitude, the water, the boats, the rescue crews and the ambulances.

Many of the people jumping skydiving gear are first-timers or low-timers. A lot of the ugliness you see from skydiving gear is because of poor performance by the jumper either during the jump, while packing the chute, or both.

Here are some specifics on using skydiving gear for a BASE jump.
1. A 9 foot bridle and a BASE specific pilot chute are required because if you do not get the stuff out of the container in a timely manner, that would be bad. People have died in this sport by not having these basic essentials.

2. A docile 7-cell canopy is way safer than a 9-cell or high performance canopy. The higher the aspect ratio of the canopy the more chance there is of it spinning up on opening. I have noticed that 9-cells do go into line-twist more often than 7-cells. Also, it is nice to have a big 7-cell while landing in a tight area. Jumping a cross-braced or similar high performance canopy can be fatal because that thing will most likely line-twist up and one turn of that canopy (either intentional or not) can cause an enormous amount of altitude loss. Please DO NOT jump a high performance canopy at Bridge Day.

3. D-bags can be a problem. They increase the chance of line twist and a bag-lock malfunction is very possible. The main problem with d-bags are the rubber band stows. Anyone who has been skydiving for a while knows that bag-locks do happen. The rubber band stows hang-up (get tangled) sometimes, typically due to sloppy packing. Also, as the lines pull out of the stows, the d-bag gets jerked around and often results in off-headings and line-twist. There is such a thing as a BASE specific sleeve (Mark Hewitt was working on one a while back). The important difference is that the sleeve does not use rubber band stows. Instead you s-fold the lines into a pocket like you would on a reserve free-bag. If I were to jump a skydiving rig at BD I would free-pack it if I did not have a sleeve. If you are planning on jumping a d-bag, make sure the stows are NEAT and SMALL (not too much line-stow hanging out)(Like a rigger would do on the diaper of a round reserve). I recommend you find someone at the Holiday Inn before BD who knows how to show you the method of free-packing.

4. Packing! Do not pack like you are just going for another skydive. While skydiving I can trash pack with the best of them, but in BASE your main is your reserve and should be packed that way. Make sure there is NOT too much tension on the closing pin. The airspeeds involve at BD are much less than a skydive.

5. If you are jumping slider up, then use a mesh slider. You can die from sniveling into the water. Do not let it be you.

6. If you are jumping slider down, make sure you understand and use the line-mod and a tailgate. This takes only a few minutes to learn and set up and can definitely save your life.


Through the years, Bridge Day has been a cool situation where skydivers can go to dabble in our sport and often end up becoming full-blown BASE jumpers. Though there may be pros and cons to this, it has helped our sport grow in a positive way. We as a community need to continue to assist these saplings at BD and welcome them into our family so that they will listen, learn, and not get hurt.

If you are planning on making your first jump at BD, make sure you get some instruction. Also make sure your gear is totally dialed in. Nowadays there is no need or reason to learn the way I did. Scary stuff, let me tell you.

Have fun, don't die!
Johnny Utah


johnnyutah101@hotmail.com
johnnyutah.com

[460 0]

What defines a helmet? Possibly a package of eggs with a few strings to hold it to your head.

OK, I have my mandatory helmet. But no where did the question actually insist upon wearing this mandatory helmet.

Looks like a death sandwich without the bread - Steve Deadman Morrell, BASE 174

[NickDG 23]

Yes/No

Nick
BASE 194

[Skyrose7 0]

I would say that it should be mandatory for first time jumpers. I did my first at bd this year and I wore a helmet. I will wear one next year too. Although I didn't have any problems getting into the landing area safe, from what I saw standing in the landing area, a lot of people should be wearing helmets... I think that the first jump off the bridge can be very overwhelming, and most likely first jumpers aren't used to landing in a constricted area like that.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The mind is like a parachute--it works better when it is open. JUMP.
MaryRose

[tegro 0]

I was stowing my gear next to the cherrrypicker when that guy hit it. his problem began WAY before he got to it. I agree totally with 515 and 700!

this is supposed to be a big boy sport, no new laws needed

[Perche61 0]

hmmmmm.........