freefal

Here's a pic of me and my daughter checking out a "domestic BASE" exit point in our custom tandem domestic BASE rig. Ok, so maybe it's just me being a dork while my wife was out! Ya gotta get these kids started off on the right foot somehow though! 837 "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

I can only assume that 'The Man' would try to charge you with "public endangerment" if you jumped from your own balcony. I'm not really sure what that is, but I hear about BASE jumpers getting charged with it a lot. It always makes it sound like we're drunk degenerants leaping out over a crowd of nuns and babies or something! 837 "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

"Does anyone have info / links about the other information to parachute history that is not easily found?" I've read through a book called "Falling: How Our Greatest Fear Became Our Greatest Thrill--A History" which has a lot of cool history about the first parachute jumps and how they were made, including the first packed parachute jump (If I remember correctly, the first parachute jump was actually something like a McConkey!) It's a pretty interesting read with alot of neat historical info. Here's an Amazon link, but I picked up a copy at the local library, because I'm cheap! Falling: How Our Greatest Fear Became Our Greatest Thrill--A History Chris "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

I once slid the side of my face accross an airport taxi way during a skydiving swoop gone bad. Thanks to my Factory Diver I walked away without a scrath on my ugly face. Ever since then I've worn it on almost every skydive and BASE jump. It doesn't affect one's vision at all, it's comfortable and light weight. Although it's not as strong as something like a motorcycle helmet, the comfort makes up for that and makes it much easier to wear and haul around. After hearing horor stories about injuries involving open face helmets and their lack of protection (JG's wall strike in Moab this Thanksgiving comes to mind) I'm completely sold on wearing full face protection. Thanks for statrting this thread by the way. I'm interested in getting some body armor, but still have some questions that this has helped answer. THOR 837 "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

The localism used to be much more prevalent and I don't think it will ever go completely away because of the reasons you mentioned. (Some sites are just too perfect to share with every person that comes through town.) Of course there are quite a few legal sites, even in the US, so the overcrowding isn't quite as significant an issue as it might seem. For example, new exit points are being discovered all the time out in Moab. The main reason you've noticed the positive welcoming attitudes and all the helpful information is that the BASE community finally realized that its the best way to self-regulate and keep our sport alive and well. If every prospective new jumper got the cold shoulder from experienced BASE Gods two things would happen. Some of those potential jumpers would give up and walk away from BASE. This is great because it lessens the impact on our sites and reduces the overall visibility of our sport to the public. The problem is that some of them would get fed up with all the resistance and get the “If no one is going to help me I’ll just figure it out by myself” attitude. These are the people that often do things like climb 200’ up a local tower and jump slider up… with a skydiving rig… in the day time! This not only results in a messy crater at the bottom of the tower and burns it for any future BASE jumping, but it also raises the public’s awareness of our often otherwise covert activities. So you see, the main reason most BASE jumpers help other inexperienced newbies is really out of greed. We want to keep jumping no matter what the cost and most of us have figured out that it’s better to help those in need instead of letting them hurt or kill themselves and therefore giving our sport another black eye. Besides, one of the neatest things about BASE is traveling to new places and meeting all kinds of new people. 837 "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

I have a buddy who jumped his local A, but didn't get a chance to repack his rig for a few days. When he got around to it, there was actually a dead bird in one of his cells! Nice! 837 "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

Since we're submitting pictures, I figured I should share this one. After all the jumping that day I stopped by the mini hillbilly zoo in the parking lot as well. It wasn't the cats that caught my eye though. I guess I've always been a bit of an animal lover... 837 "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

Forgive me if I seem a bit skeptical about this, but while surfing around Ebay I saw this "skydiving parachute" for sale (see attached link) and it just seemed a little fishy. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=310&item=3643369513[url] There's no mention of what canopy is inside (if there even is one) and it looks like the seller just copied the description from CR's website. The shrivel flap tuck tab isn't even tucked in in the pictures. If this was legitimate, I can only assume this person would have tried to sell this on BLiNC or DZ.com. I just wanted to share this incase anyone has had a rig like this stolen recently. BASE 837 "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

I messed around with the sorority sister of a girl I was dating in college one time. I guess that's pretty low. Other than that, 162' PCA over pavement. "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

That's hilarious! Yeah, Digiorno is pretty nice, but "Freschetta is betta". Of course only the Red Barron knows the best exit points out there. Seriously though. Sorry I mentioned the "cliff out west that a lot of people have jumped" Consider my hand slapped. "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

A few of us from KC are coming up. Myself and Dan will get in Tuesday night, each with wife and kid, so we'll be out for an early morning flick on Wednesday. Some others are coming up later in the week. Some are staying at the "Donk Party Pad", but us family guys will be at the Ramada. "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

Jason, I think I've heard that story from someone else who was on the load. If it's the same one I'm thinking of then that's one of the best "No sh1t, there I was" tales I've probably ever heard. BASE 837 Donk anD BoneZ "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

Ok, Kramer's request for "What's your scariest base jump story" is appropriate for Halloween and everything but it got me wondering about other experiences. In the same vein as Kramer’s request, I’m curious as to what your most surreal jump story is. That time when you had to stop and take it all in because it finally hit you how perfectly simple the concept of BASE is or when you suddenly realized why you really jump in the first place. I know mine was when I looked down from about 400’ up our local tower at my pregnant wife, who was driving the getaway car. I was all set to jump but I stopped and looked at her then turned to my buddy standing next to me and we just smiled. The whole moment would probably seem completely absurd to someone else, but to us it just made sense and seemed like a mini celebration of life. I know some of you have been to wild places and made some terrific jumps so let's here it. It's starting get cold here in the midwest so my jumping is slowing down a bit and I need to get some adrenaline flowing somehow!

This isn't neccesarrily the scariest jump I've ever done, but it is one of the wildest trips to an exit point I've ever heard of. This is the story of how I got my "B" to qualify for my BASE number. Hope you like it... Chapter One:(Zoomee) So, Dan and I were just flipping some burgers on the grill Saturday night, and we noticed how pleasant the weather was. We planned on heading for a quick Tonetta run, but we took a little detour. Dan: "Maybe we should swing by the D.T. along the way" Zoom: "Sure, we could use our new laser range finder that we bought today to verify the height" Dan: "Maybe we should have our rigs and gear ready for "just in case"" Zoom: I'll bring the break chord, "just in case". Wouldn't it be cool if we actually make a jump? Dan: Yeah, cool. So we get downtown around 10pm. ####'s parking lot is totally empty, we got a full moon, and wind is out of the right direction. The hotel lobby is full, so walking in with our stash bags will be no problem. 28 floors later, we make it to the stairwell. We make it the roof access door. Dan and I look at each other with a grin, and nod at each other before we open the door. I grab the door knob....... (to be continued) Z ************************************** Chapter Two: (Dan) Shit. It's locked. So we wander around for a little bit looking for another door, but as usual in these scenarios, we're just wasting time. We go out and look at ****. But of course we can't get in. We punch a couple numbers in the keypad. No dice. Hmmm....what now. Zoom says let's go check out #-#-#. OK. We drive down there and check the plywood door. Of course it's locked. One difference we notice is some lights are on inside. Another difference is this window washing type platform on the south wall. Looks interesting. The fence into that area is a joke. So we go check it out. The power is on to the thing. The light on the up/down switch is flashing. After some fumbling around, we finally figure out you have to twist the e-stop button in addition to pulling it out. Once we do that, shazam! The thing moves! It can safely hold three people. Who do we call???? (to be continued) Dan ************************************** Chapter Three: (Me) The phone call: After a long lazy Saturday of not accomplishing much more than babysitting and running errands Kristin and I decide to sit out on the deck and have a few beers. After about 4 beers the phone rings. Zoomee says, "To B or not to B. That is the question." They tell me about the construction scaffold thing on the side of the building and I can't believe them. My building... The one I've driven slowly past and scoped out for months... The one I have detailed floor plans for showing the exit elevation... The one none of us could find a way into is now somehow accessible... and I'm packed! Thankfully, my BASE jumping brothers/mentors had the consideration to call me. They said the platform on the lift would only hold three people and I was the one who had gathered the most intel and done the most work on this one so it only seemed right to call me. I met them at Tanners in record time where we contemplated calling one more person. “I don't know if that thing will even hold the three of us,” one of them says. To which I reply, “I’m so nervous, I think I could puke.” We headed off on our covert mission with no ground crew because we figured something will probably fall through anyway and there’s no use dragging anyone else into the mix. We park Zoomee’s car about a block and a half away and decide to gear up in the shadows behind one of the dumpsters in the construction site at the base before getting on the scaffold. Once we get there I see the reason for the reservation about calling anyone else. This scaffold is small, maybe 7’x2 ½’, and it’s supported by one small metal cable that’s routed through a motor on the side. There are some other ropes, the power cord and two rollers that ride up the side of the building, but all the weight of us, gear, the coiled up ropes and power cord (and the huge load of crap I was about to dump in my pants!) was going to be supported by one small metal cable. No track or guides. No other support. Just the three of us dangling and bouncing up the building. I definitely think I could puke now! Once we were on our way up… at a breakneck speed of about ½ mph I realized how obvious and vulnerable we were. Anyone coming down the one-way street could look up and see us. We were at about 20’ up when we hit our first snag. I’m not being metaphorical here either. We actually had to back the scaffold back down and unhook the ropes and power cable from the concrete ledge they were snagged on. At about 50’ up two guys walked under and looked up but just kept walking as if it were normal for window washers to be working at night… in black helmets… with backpacks on! At about 100’ a cop drove right under us but didn’t notice anything because we were above his normal field of view. When we finally made it to the top we hit our second snag. The beam holding the scaffold cable out from the building wasn’t elevated above the lip of the building’s edge. So there we were standing on the platform dangling about 9 feet from the top of the building with no more cable to climb looking at each other like a bunch of retards. “I don’t know about jumping off this rickety platform”, I said. Zoom had the crazy idea of climbing up on top of the scaffold railing and frame to the beam and over the ledge to the roof. Fortunately, he had the balls to try this while Dan and I watched in awe. (Remember going to the circus as a kid and watching the tightrope walker? You held your breath the whole time just waiting for him to slip or something. Well, it was kinda like that, but Zoom was 360 feet above a construction site!) I was next, and after I got over the side I was shaking so hard I had to sit down for a minute and try to breathe. So there we were on top of the city. The view was awesome and even if this somehow didn’t work out we had still taken one of the juiciest trips to an exit point that I’ve ever heard of. This juice was completely different than any other I’d felt before. Take your first skydive, add in your first BASE jump, multiply that by 100 and you can begin to understand the kind of juice that was oozing out of every pore in my body. My mouth has never been that dry before. My stomach has never been that tight. Then we hit another snag. A cop/security car pulled up right next to the landing area and a one guy got out walked into the building down the street. Was he a cop or security guard? Was he coming back out or would he be in there for a while? Could he be in there all night? After deliberating for about 5 minutes we finally decided to go. Through a well-planned exit order analysis (rock/paper/scissors) it was decided that Zoom would go first followed by me then Dan. Before I knew it Zoomee had left the building. With no time for my traditional “air hump” I did the ol’ 321-c ya and was gone. I opened a little off heading to the left and headed straight for one building (bad) then risered too hard to the right and headed for another (worse). Then I released my toggles and let them up into full flight and found myself catapulted down the urban canyon of buildings way too fast (holy sh1t!) I wrestled my Mojo into control and did a stand up landing right past the intersection. I turned around to see Dan touch down a few feet away then watched in terror as Zoomee fumbled for what seemed like forever for his keys. Once we were in the car, we noticed the security guard and another security guy walking toward the car. Zoomee dug through canopy material to find the parking brake release (Go! Go! They’re coming right at us!) and we were off. We didn’t stop until we were back in his basement with some drinks in our hands and big grins on our faces. Since we couldn’t send the scaffold back down, it’s probably safe to say that this B is pretty well burned. It's ok though. We've got others toys in town and this one was one helluva hard one to do anyway. Even if we could have sent the scaffold back down, I don't know how anyone else could get back up there without getting busted. After an experience like that with the ride up, the climb over, the near misses under canopy and the brush with security I’ve got my B fix for quite a while though! Donk anD BoneZ in the Hizzzzouuuuse! "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

Also, when jumping any B your equipment choices are crucial. So make sure you wear a BASE related t-shirt (something in a bright red, yellow or white works well) and bring stickers for the exit point so you can "mark your turf"! "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

Jimmy, My wife and I will be getting into Moab from KC on Tuesday night. There should be at least 8 of us from KC coming up (including wives & sig. others). I not sure, but I assume Donk has already started practicing his contortionist positions for the fridge! Dan and I are pumped about taking him out to Welshman's Walk. At 210' it's tha shiznit! -Chris BASE 837 http://www.donkandbonez.com/donkandbonez/ "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

I've never been to Burning Man, but I have been to Couch Freaks. It's the one skydiving event I go to every year, no matter what. Where else can you stop by the beer truck on your way to the first load?! Unfortunately, I won't be able to head up there early this year with my buddies who will be making a flick or two along the way. If you do go, stop by Zoomeeland and ask for Thor. I'll try to have an extra balloon for ya Whaa Whaa Whaa..... And by the way, Moab isn't too bad in the summer. Some of us from the Donk anD BoneZ crew just went out there about 4 weeks ago and had a blast. The weather was perfect the whole time. "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

I use a 0.42 om my belly mount set-up. It captures a pretty wide field of view if you zoom it all the way out. As you can see from these pictures though, the vignetting (sp?) or round border around the outside is pretty apparant. You can zoom it in a little, but you lose some field of view. I almost got a 0.3 but was afraid the distortion would be too great. The 0.42 also works well for rear facing helmet cam shots as you can see from the last picture. Hope that helps Chris Team Donk anD Bone'Z "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

I was thinking about this a while back to. I thought it was a little weird that most of our local crew has careers in either engineering or computers. We're mostly married geeks with mortgages and somewhat "normal" lives. It's just that when all our other peers are out golfing or puttering around at home we're useually out flickin off something. It's good to know were not the only geeks who lead double lives! "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

I apologize if this sounds a little elementary, but do you flat pack left side down (nose of the canopy pointed to the left)? I had a few 30 to 60 degree left openings in a row because I packed like this and couldn't seem to get everything symmetrical. I kept having trouble with the left side because it was under everything else. Since I started pro packing and got an AV pilot chute from CR I haven’t had any other problems. If you do flat pack on one side, you might try packing on the other side and see what happens. Even if you do everything the same way and the opening is the same, just looking at it all from the other side might reveal some little nuance or something. It helped me, but then again, maybe that was just part of my learning curve with BASE specific packing. "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

In an effort to get back on track, I'll give you my thoughts on the landing area. It's actually a very good place to make a first jump. The river bank is soft and full of "cushiony" grass, but you need decent accuracy to hit it. There is another landling area I've heard others refer to as the "football field" up from the river bank on the other side of the tree line. This is probably where you'll be instructed to land, but I'm not sure since I didn't take a FJC. (Very good call on your part to take one). The "football field" is wide open, but you don't want to go too far up river because there is a ditch and then a field of boulders. You really don't want to go too far up or down river anyway and if you land anywhere in between, other that in the trees, you sould be ok. I would suggest taking a boat ride, or better yet a nice morning hike (it's really beautiful there), down to the landing area before. You should always inspect a proposed landing area before jumping into something anyway (pun intended). I would suggest you check out the Perrine pics and info on the BLinc page including this http://www.blincmagazine.com/cms/article_43.shtml Or look at the attached picture. Have Fun. P.S. Wear a helmet, but don't borrow a dorky red ProTech or you'll look as stupid as I do in this picture! "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

I'm sure she's already done this but if not, have her read Tom's article at: http://www.dropzone.com/columns/GettingIntoBASE.shtml Full of very good points and things to consider Tom. "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

Oh yeah. I forgot to mention the part about letting up on the toggles. If you keep yanking down on those things you're just slowing down your canopy and not letting it fly. Check out any picture or video of a nice swoop on a HP canopy and you'll see the toggles go back up halfway through to let that baby surf. This doesn't really apply to a rear riser swoops, but those are a whole different animal. C-Ya Chris "A ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not why ships are built." "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

I've got around 300 jumps (out of almost 1000 total) under my Stiletto 135 @ 1.55 wing loading. I don't make it out to the DZ as much as I'd like to so my currency (probably the most important variable in swooping) isn't that great. The best balance of swoop performance and safety I've found is a nice 180 left carve that steepens as I dive then pull both risers a bit toward the end and ease out of it into smooth toggle pressure. Also, once I've plained my canopy out I let up on the toggles to almost full flight through the middle of the swoop then pull them back down for the flare at the end. This method has a couple of advantages. First, I think a smooth carve will outperform a snappy hook any day in generating speed and with a carve you're never too far out from under the canopy so you're able to abort your approach and go another direction if something happens (like some dumba$$ under the Triathlon with blinders on didn't notice you!) Also, with a 180 you can see your entire approach and any conflicting traffic pretty well. A 270 will probably generate more speed, but since I'm just a weekend warrior who's not as current as I'd like, the 180 is fine for most of my jumps and still yeilds swoops typically in the 40+ yard range. If you end up a little low at the end you can adjust the amount and duration of the pressure on both toggles as well. Also, I always do a left carve. If you pick an approach and stay with it you'll get it dialed in easier and everyone you jump with will know what to expect if they're near you under canopy. That's my 2 cents. I'm sure some of the people jumping sub-100 sqft. canopies can probably give a little more insight though. -Chris D-19162 PS. I keep seing all these quotes after everyones' posts. If you want some good ones, check out the quotes on the Austrailian BASE Association's page at: http://www.basejump.org/. "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!

After getting a ton of info from friends and web sites like BLiNC I did ground crew for some buddies a few times... then I read some more and watched some videos... then when I thought I was ready to jump I watched a friend pack his Mojo and realized that I needed to learn even more! I had over 900 skydives on almost ten different kinds of canopies when I finally went out to our local A with our crew and climbed up to around 700'. That was less than a year ago and I've only made 17 more jumps off of 3 other objects since then but I will never be the same. I think the most important thing to realize if you're considering taking the BASE leap is that BASE jumping is NOT skydiving. You have to know more about your gear than some riggers. You will be more scared than you ever thought possible and will have to make some very difficult decisions. But if you choose to go down this road we call BASE you will feel emotions that rival some really good drugs and have a smile on your face that blows away that sh!t eating grin you had after your first skydive. Team Donk anD BoneZ kicks a$$! "Ignorance is bliss" and "Patience is a virtue"... So if you're stupid and don't mind waiting around for a while, I guess you can have a pretty good life!