JaapSuter

About as wide as the building itself. Yeah, PCA sounds like a better option too. The PCAer could even tie himself off to the railing to make sure he doesn't fall. The people that I'll let PCA me would like to jump it themselves too though, so unless I find some groundcrew I can trust to PCA, I'm still going to research the static line option.

Oh trust me, I've taken the roofdeck and the 150 feet issue well into account. That wasn't really the point of the original post though. My question was about the edge of the building and it creating an extra point of contact between my pins and the bridle attachment point. Only when people suggested that I freefall it, was it necessary to bring up the 150 foot issue. I very much agree that it creates an extra set of issues I have to deal with.

Fair enough. If I jump a 600ft cliff with a 1400 foot talus and canopy ride, I don't call it a 2000ft jump either. So you have a point. Oh well...

Didn't I just say that I was skeptical, that I don't see the idea being useful for slider-down and subterminal jumps, and that even for long delays I don't see how it can work? Did you read my post? I'm with you man. I'm a big fan of brain and eyes. However, where we might differ in opinions is that I do think that most ideas in BASE are worth pursuing, even if 9 out of 10 people will tell you it's crazy. Especially as BASE jumpers, we should be open minded to ideas, even if we ourselves don't believe in them. For every idea that will make BASE safer, nine other ideas will be shot down. Worst case scenario, we'll learn a lesson. To quote what has been attributed to Voltaire, despite it not appearing in any of his works; "I disapprove of the idea, but I will defend to the death 460's right to try and develop a BASE dytter."

I'm a huge believer in technology and I strongly encourage you to experiment with this and keep us updated. However, at this point I'm skeptical. I don't see it being useful for slider-down or subterminal jumps. The only jumps it is really useful for is those that have long delays. The problem there is that the difference between a good track and a shitty track in terms of altitude lost and delay can be significant, not just between people, but even between jumps done by the same person. One day you'll do a 12 second flight from exit 7 and the next day you'll do 20 seconds. A slightly different configuration of your clothing, a slightly different body position, etcetera, small parameters could significantly change your delay. So that means it's really only useful for the person that jumps many many times from the same exit and is very consistent in his flights. One could argue it could be used as a conservative warning device. You set it at a conservative delay, and when it starts beeping you know you need to start paying attention and get ready to pull. I don't think this will help much though. Most low-pullers are very aware how low they are, they just misjudge the their altitude and speed occasionally. Measuring your delay is not going to help you. Measuring your actual height is, but no sensor is accurate enough for BASE purposes. One use I see might be for backflyers. Maybe it could have prevented some of the back-to-earth incidents. Now while I am not convinced of its use as a warning device, I am very intruigided by its use as a post-jump analysis device, given you add the accelerometer. But again, don't let these comments discourage you (not that you would let me do that anyway ), I think the idea is exciting.

My apologies if I made it seem that way. I fully agree with you that big-grab or stiffy toggles are easier to grab than the flat ones. If anything, you took my original post out of contest. I wrote: "I found Slims video to be the most convincing in the toggle versus riser debate", thereby implying that I also have taken other factors into account, and that Slim's incident was merely the most convincing one. Then you replied and argued that I made my decision on just this one video ("i think its pretty bad logic to base one video on you choice in toggles vs risers"). Ah heck, fuck the semantics. I apologize I quoted your post without including the surrounding sentences. For what it's worth, I've personally missed big-grab toggles on at least one jump at the Perrine, doing floaters trying to go for toggles instead of risers.

I thought so to, but wasn't entire sure, so I lowballed it. I consider everybody with over a 1000 jumps a world-class jumper. That number will change eventually, but right now 1000 jumps is where my bar is. 200 makes you experienced. 500 makes you a survivor. 1000 makes you world-class. 1100 makes you a raging lunatic.

Very interesting. I was aware that the differences between a 42 and 46 were neglectible in that a 46 takes longer to inflate but then pulls faster, so the two effects cancel each other out. The last time this got brought up was in the context of a 300 feet jump, where most people argued that the 46 was their default for hand-held, but they'd happily take a 42. I've taken both 46 and 42 from 300 feet. Stowed, I would prefer the 42, but I rarely go stowed from that altitude anyway, so my default was always 46. Have we now gotten to the point where some people recommend doing away with the 46 all together unless for ultra ultra low freefall (the type where you pitch the pilotchute upwards), static-line backups, and PCAs? Is the 42 really versatile enough to work from 200 feet upwards to 4 second slider down delays? I'd love for other experienced jumpers to chime in on this one. It's a bit of a thread-drift, but very interesting. What a difference with five years ago. Just look at the BR delay chart to see how time has changed.

Yeah, that's why I have a middle brake setting. I've experimented with both the middle and the deepest one from the 180 foot span, and I liked the inflation and flight characteristics on the middle one better. My shallow slider-up setting is definitely too shallow. I wear my battle gear regardless. 42 inch from 240 feet? I would argue that 46 is the default choice. 42 will probably work, but I'd never recommend it. Anyway, aside from having a personal harddeck for not freefalling below 250 (currently tested up to 270), this particular object has an extra problem. 150 feet below the exit point is an extra roofdeck extending out. So free-falling is not an option. I need to be open relatively high to make sure I clear this roofdeck and land below on the streets.

A video of a person that, by that point, had over 800 base jumps without getting hurt, and was considered by many experienced jumpers to be a world-class jumpers. That, to me, means something. I'm not sure if you can find video of someone using risers and missing them. That's the point here, he missed the toggles. What you do after grabbing either toggles or risers is another discussion. Aside from possible pendulum and forward surge effects, I think most people agree that toggle turns can be quicker. The problem is that they are easier to miss when you grab them.

This argument comes up everytime in this discussion, but I don't believe in it very much. Yes, in certain very specific situations like very underhung and low cliffs, perhaps using your risers could cause you to lose altitude too quickly and hit the slanted cliff face below you. I would argue that is still better than wasting time missing a toggle and hitting the vertical cliff face higher up. Caveat; there are some people that believe they are excellent toggle grabbers and will always go for toggles. Most of them are highly experienced and are well entitled to have this opinion based on their skill. Given a choice between hitting the object and then the ground, or hitting just the ground, I'd take the latter any day. Besides, with proper body armour and good boots, I don't think stalling a canopy backwards into the ground is that big of a deal. Just PLF like a motherfucker and you might femur some shit or brake a tailbone, but overall you have a pretty good chance of living.

Landing area is intermediate by my standards. Onheading opening makes it easy as cake. Slight offheadings make it a heads-up flight pattern. Gross offheadings make it rather interesting but survivable. I'm not worried about my container not opening. Imagine what happens when you stand on the edge and you have a bridle dangling in lose air between you and the attachment point. Now you jump. The bridle is freely moving through the air, and all of a sudden it slaps onto the corner of the building, sending a shockwave in both directions. I'm not too worried about the bridle braking, but wondering if my breakcord could prematurely fuck something up, or if the shockwave could pop my pins too violently, creating an uneven extraction of the canopy. Perhaps I'm just being too paranoid, but better safe than sorry.

This has been discussed many times before on this forum. If you do a search, you'll find plenty of discussion. This thread is good, among others. Personally, I found Slims video to be the most convincing in the toggle versus riser debate. If Slim can miss a toggle, I certainly can. Try to get a copy of it, it's probably on Skydivingmovies.com. I'm a riser guy.

Hi, I'm planning a new jump and I need some advice. It's a 220 foot building that I would like to static line. The first question is about backsurge and having a solid object behind me. On my deepest brake-setting doing static line jumps from our 180 foot bridge, I occasionally have a backsurge that puts me halfway underneath the bridge. Obviously on a building jump that could wake up some people when you smash into their windows. I'm planning on jumping in zero winds, which will avoid the headwind pushback. I'm also planning on using my middle brake settings which will give me a bit more forward speed. Finally, I launch very head high and don't pop my toggles until well clear from the building, to avoid a pendulum effect. Does anybody have any other thoughts on how to avoid hitting the building, even when you do have a perfect on heading opening? Secondly, I'd like some thoughts on the static-line attachment point. I attached a cross section of the exit point. I can leave gear on the building and retrieve it later no problem. I have free and legal access to the roof. So the green line is the direction of the jump. The red is a railing. The railing is approximately seven feet away from the edge of the building. I can attach a static line, an extra bridle, or something else at either one of the two blue crosses. My worry is where the yellow cross is. My original plan was to attach a second short bridle to gain the distance to the edge. Then attach a static line to that and to my own bridle. Now imagine a person jumps, the bridle will be hovering above the edge, then suddenly catch on the edge and create a heavy shockload. I'm not sure what this is going to do with the static-line or the general predictability of the opening. I am considering to drape a few towels over the edge where the bridle can slap on to soften the blow. Sounds like a sub-ideal solution to me though. Does anybody else have better ideas? I could use a longer bridle and make sure it is already draped over the edge (in contact with) before I jump, so the shockload is less. This will put my canopy opening a lot lower though. Anyway, I hope this message makes sense. Cheers, Jaap

Emailed.

Abbie a.k.a. Cornishe is your man. Totally fits your description.

Only if you jumped before the first jumper landed. Just kidding...

Congratulations to both!

Ha, funny that. I just crafted up a similar post earlier today but decided not to post it after all. I would really like to see ratios. Number of jumps versus number of objects versus number of objects opened. 57 jumps (30ish potato), 12 objects, 5 opened by myself. Edited to add a momentary lapse of honesty; 3 jumps on which I relied on an above average amount of luck, went beyond what my skillset at that time should have allowed, and in hindsight realized I had stepped beyond my risk-comfort level. Granted, that's just from my point of view. There are others that see my luck-jump number in the high fifties.

Get video of your next terminal jump

Dude, do you have any idea how much more useful it is to read how women think about how man think than to read about how women think that we think about how they think?

To add to Tom's post; you can get PCA'd at the Perrine, whereas I'm not sure if doing a PCA from Bridge Day is a good idea. I think it would give you more canopy time than is ideal for that landing area. Given the choice between an experienced jumper PCAing a beginner, or that beginner going handheld and taking 2 or 3 seconds, I know that the former is much safer. I've seen plenty of first-timers go handheld and try really hard to wrap their bridle around their body fifteen times, miraculously not dying in the process. Also, while the water is always a good option at both sites, the Perrine has a huge landing area that is substantially easier than the one at Bridge Day.

Sorry, my previous post came off a little harsh. I guess I'm trying to make two points. In skydiving you can get away with being lazy. Even if you don't put in any effort at all, you can still stay alive. In BASE staying alive takes hard work. One of the major reasons that BASE is such a beautiful sport is because so many of its participants try hard to give back to the sport and invest time and energy to keep it such a rewarding activity. So before you get into it make sure that, in time, you can be more than a BASE jumper. There are many ways you can give back to the sport. Only when new jumpers realize that our sport's beauty thrives by the grace of our energy can we avoid BASE going in the direction that skydiving went a long time ago.

While I agree that Bridge Day is a relatively safe way to get into the sport, I would argue that taking a FJC at the Perrine is significantly safer.