LouDiamond 1 #26 January 4, 2005 QuoteBut I am hung like a "Fosters" can..........want a drink??? Arvel you are one funny MoFo my brutha from a different mother Stay safe and tell everyone I said WHADUP"It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BlueSBDeath 2 #27 January 4, 2005 Scott, I live to make people happy Be safe, come home soon, and PULL MF, Pull!! Arvel BSBD...........Its all about Respect, USPA#-7062, FB-2197, Outlaw 499 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skypuppy 1 #28 January 4, 2005 Its hard to imagine how many more jumps could have been made in the last 2 days To compete at any skydiving meet you must be at least 18 years old. At least USPA and world meets. __________________________________________________ Not true. USPA maybe.... Irregardless of the age for competition my point is that an 18 year old doesn't just show up at a world meet having done thousands of jumps since their last birthday. In many Eastern European countries and those such as China, etc., people start skydiving and training (and certainly national competition) at the ages of 16 or even 14 on a regular basis. With proper coaching they are totally able to focus and perform at a championship level... They aren't just given a first jump course and then told to go of on their own and train... Thus I believe with proper coaching some teenagers can be, physically and mentally, good candidates... As to the first part of your rebuttal, it wouldn't be unusual to do 10 jumps over a 2-day weekend... That would be an increase of over 15%... Irregardless, it's not like she'd be making the decision to BASE jump and then going out on her lunch break to do it... Presumably there would be some period of preparation... This would allow an open-ended, to-be-determined # of jumpsin order to prepare for the FJC.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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zennie 0 #29 January 4, 2005 QuoteI think it depends on the perticular youngster we are talking about. Absolutely. QuoteIf dad has 4400 jumps I bet he could tell if she could handle it better that anyone. To a degree that's true, though it would be preferable to have a non-relative with 4400 jumps who is familiar with her (and BASE) to make an assessment as well. QuoteYou could teach a monky to jump a bridge and throw. This is a very dangerous, and false, statement. BASE ain't that simple. QuoteIt really comes down to one question: Are you at "one" with your parachute? Again, there's a lot more to the sport than just flying a parachute. QuoteJust because one guy with 500 jumps can't fly his canopy sensibly does not mean some one with 100 jumps is subject to suck just as bad. Absolutely agree there. - Z "Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skypuppy 1 #30 January 4, 2005 You could teach a monky to jump a bridge and throw. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a very dangerous, and false, statement. BASE ain't that simple. __________________________________________________ I believe this first statement is true (as long as you can keep the monkey from trying to climb back up the lines and collapwsing the parachute on the way down). I actually made this statement about 18 years ago on the way to the bridge. It's all in what you're planning to do after. If you're planning to do a few jumps and then turn them loose on the world, that;s bad, but if the goal is to do a bunch of jumps off one or two or three relatively safe bridges with easy landing areas, then maybe going on to controlled (coached/supervised) jumps off other relatively open objects after proving your skills on the bridge jumps, it is relatively safe. Of course it has to be the right student, but I think we;re being a bit elitist here, assuming we're the only ones that are 'up to the job'. It may be a job for Ray and Spence's BOUNCE-PROOF BASEJUMPING SCHOOL.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 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Faber 0 #31 January 4, 2005 QuoteQuote -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You could teach a monky to jump a bridge and throw. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a very dangerous, and false, statement. BASE ain't that simple. did you try??? Stay safe Stefan Faber Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 26 #32 January 4, 2005 QuoteYou could teach a monky to jump a bridge and throw. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a very dangerous, and false, statement. BASE ain't that simple. __________________________________________________ ... I think we're being a bit elitist here, assuming we're the only ones that are 'up to the job'. I don't think it's a matter of being physically up to the job. The truth is, I don't think it's a matter of being mentally up to the job, either. I can think of plenty of 16 year olds who would qualify in both these regards. The issue that concerns me is being emotionally up to the job. That means not wanting to bring all your friends along, not needing to have video of yourself on every jump, not being primarily motivated by a desire to be in magazines, and a bunch of other stuff that I'd worry about with most 16 year olds. But most of all it means being able to withstand the psychological impact of witnessing major, sometimes fatal, trauma. Repeatedly. I wouldn't want my 16 year old daughter to have to deal with that. "Scarred for life" is an overused term, but that's my worry, here. I think that if you put almost any 16 year old (myself included) through say, a high accident summer in Southern Norway, they'd come out an emotional wreck, and the consequences would stick around for a long time. I've seen plenty of 25 year olds have problems with these issues. I doubt that any 16 year old is going to be able to cope. If it was my child, I sure wouldn't want her to go through that kind of thing at that age. And don't even get me started on the idea of throwing a 16 year old girl into the feeding frenzy that is the (vastly male, mid 20's single, and macho) BASE scene.-- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
craddock 0 #33 January 5, 2005 QuoteI disagree. Very strongly. Nascar, for example, has gained a lot of speed--without 16 year old drivers, or drivers who've only just gotten a license. Quite wrong Tom. There are plenty of 16 and 17 year olds that race in NASCAR series. They are racing inches from other drivers at high speeds where a mistake on their part can affect much more than their own lives. That spot isn't bad at all, the winds were strong and that was the issue! It was just on the downwind side. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jasmin 0 #34 January 10, 2005 This sounds familiar... I did my first tandem at 14 Did my first AFF and started skydiving at 16 and was dating a BASE jumper at the time. To cut to the chase, I don't think its a great idea just yet... PM sent. [Edited to add that am not currently single]xj "I wouldn't recommend picking a fight with the earth...but then I wouldn't recommend picking a fight with a car either, and that's having tried both." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites