DexterBase

I have an extra rig available. It's a BlackJack 240 canopy in a velcro container (or I can put it in a pin rig). Does anyone need me to bring them a rig so they can jump? I'm not lugging the rig to TF just so someone can have an extra rig, but if someone seriously needs a rig to jump I will bring it. Let me know. Edit: Oh yeah, I'll be in town from Friday afternoon until monday.

I watched that video a hundred times in a row (and I know a little about BASE jumping) so I'll venture a guess at what happened. That's so bad. The bridle should never run through anything on its way from the pin(s) to the pilot chute. Nothing. Any variation from this can lead to a PC in tow and your death. It's one thing to tuck a small fold of bridle into something close to your shoulder (it's a good idea to prevent the bridle from getting snagged under the corner of your container and causing a real PC in tow), but you should never actually route the bridle through anything. I disagree with this. At zero airspeed (when you pitched the PC) there is zero burble. It takes airspeed to create a burble, and that PC inflated before you were at a speed where a burble would have been of concern. BASE jumpers do hand-held, zero airspeed delays on a very regular basis. There is no history of burbles causing PC hesitations on go-n-throw BASE jumps. The purpose of nine foot bridles in short delay BASE jumping is not for the issue of burbles, so much as the issue of snatch force. A sudden increase in force is more effective at pulling a pin or peeling a shrivel flap than a gradual increase in tension. I think what you experienced was a simple pilot chute hesitation. It happens. Sometimes we can analyze video and find a reason, most times they "just happen" and we never know why. There's some contributing factors (which Tom A already discussed) but PC hesitations are pretty random and sometimes quite dramatic. I personally experienced a PC hesitation after a 3 second freefall. The PC toss was executed correctly but the PC just towed behind me at full bridle stretch for over a second. The PC was tossed into clean air. The PC packjob was the same I had used on a regular basis with no prior hesitations. The PC had been used before and was not damaged or otherwise compromised. The damn thing just hesitated. That's what I think happened to you. You had other factors working against you on that jump, factors that could have added up to a really bad outcome for that jump. I'm glad it worked out. (BTW, watch that video over and over and over and see how annoying that litle song gets.)

That is an interesting point. You'd have to either drag the canopy towards you while you stowed the lines, or move the container a bit at a time for each stow.

The raw footage is much longer than that and much more entertaining than the small clip on Beyond Extreme. If you eve have a chance to watch the whole video, DO IT!

I haven't "quit" skydiving, but I rarely ever go. If I do, it's usually to try something out for BASE. I do really enjoy it, I just haven't really gone in a while.

There's basically no restriction to the lines as theypay out of the tailpocket. The offheading that results from a dipped shoulder happend because one side is loaded first and that side of the canopy begins to inflate before the other side. In the time the canopy is travelling to linestretch, the biggest factor that will affect heading would be pilot chute oscillation or wind. If you dip a shoulder, it's not going to matter where the lines were stowed. Once you hit the end of the lines and load the risers unevenly, that's where the problems start. Added: You do not want the canopy to begin inflating before the lines are completely deployed!!! Especially on a slider down jump. Actually, ever. that's bad, bad, bad!

Wait! I'm guessing it was a... hmmm.... .270?

Whoa you guys! How many threads can we have going about the same person at one time? I've heard of splitting threads when the topics start to drift, but I've never seen so many threads about pretty much the same thing. Wouldn't this question fit just fine under the "John Agnos discussion" thread?

I think if anything, it would increase the chances of having linetwists.

I'm going to think this one over for awhile. At first glance, I don't think anything horrible is going to happen. Basically, you're talking about putting the slider up but having it collapsed so that there's little or no air resistance right? At low airspeed, there's very little air resistance working against the slider anyway, so little that the type of slider (large mesh/small mesh/sail) is almost irrelevant under two seconds. If you were to jump an otherwise properly configured rig with a collapsed sail slider, the only difference from a normal slider would be the aspect ratio. The left and right line groups will be the right distance apart, but the front and rear groups will be closer together than intended. This might give you some bad heading problems, but nothing catastrophic should happen. I don't see the reason why you'd need to do this. What are your thoughts 87SupraT? What made you ask this question? Like I said, this reply is not very thought out, I'll chew on this for awhile and see if I come up with any other ideas.

No way! hehe... I asked Joy what my number would have been if I would have applied when I qualified and it was pretty low. I might get one someday if I get around to it. We'll see when the next cool number comes along. Maybe 1234 would be cool. Or 3210, that would be cool too. Edit: Okay I dug up the email. My number would have been between 675 and 685. So the lesson to be learned, if you're qualified for BASE, GET YOUR # before another 1000 go by!

I never applied for a BASE # but I registered anyway.

Greg lougainis (or however you spell it) was a diver who hit the back of his head on the exit point during a dive during the 1988 olympics. He cut his head and got blood in the water. He returned to win a gold medal though. Later he tested positive for HIV Yeah.

Wow. Yeah, what he said.

Any word on legal action against him?

There was a big-ass rockslide on I-90 and the pass is closed indefinitely. I'm going to have to detour through Portland...

or here http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=366032#366032

Who?

Look at her profile. She's got about 10 jumps now but I'm pretty sure Tom has not been involved.

In Vietnam, a Marine sniper named Carlos Hathcock mounted a scope on an M-2 and killed several viet cong in a rice paddy about 2000 yards away. That's pretty damned accurate in my book. I was in one particular ambush where the M-2 was absolutely critical in the survival of my platoon. Hearing tha M-2 pumping those heavy rounds downrange is a very comforting sound.

I ordered the Crispi Airborne GTX from AIR CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, INC. $260 shipped. We'll see what happens

REI doesn't carry Crispi paraglider boots. I've seen everything they have and all models are coming up short of my requirements. (That's even considering that I get a heavy discount there)

Yeah, there's a store around here that puts you on a treadmill and shoots video of your stride so they can determine your running style and fit your shoes accordingly. Maybe I'll take in some BASE footage and they can tell me what boots to get. Seriously, I'm about 10 minutes of internet research away from ordering a pair of Crispis.

I've read the exact opposite on two paraglider forums.

Anybody know where I can score some of these? http://www.crispi.it/prodotto_uk.php Go to paragliding, then Paratec GTX Edit: Okay, I just got off the phone with these guys: AIR CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE, INC. 2800 TORREY PINES SCENIC DRIVE 92037 LA JOLLA, CA CALIFORNIA tel. +1 858 452 9858 (west coast Crispi distributor) Apparently, Crispis come in three basic models for paragliders. The Pegasus GTX is the bottom of the line. One step up would be the Paratec GTX ($199). The Top of the line model is the Airborne GTX ($245). I told the person on the phone what I would be using the boots for and that my requirements may be slightly different than for a paraglider pilot. The person I spoke to said the Airborne was slightly more durable than the Hanwag boot. His Hanwag boots did last four years or so though. He sells both Crispi and Hanwag so it's likely there's no real conflict of interest and I think he's giving straight information. He said one benefit of the Crispi boot over Hanwag is that the stiffener can be disengaged for hiking and then re-engaged when you need the full support of the boot. The Crispis are also a few ounces lighter than the Hanwags These are sounding pretty good.