outrager

Yo ! An obvious offtopic, but 2 close base jumping friends had it done recently and called it "the best thing they've done in their entire life". The fact that they've done many other amazing things that apparently didn't even stand close has finally convinced me. Yesterday i had Wavefront/CustomVue/Intralase LASIK done by Dr. Clinch at Chevy Chase, Maryland. My originl vision was OD: -2.25 sphere, +0.50 cylinder, OS -3.00 sphere, +1.75 cylinder, with about 7% higher aberrations on both eyes. Today i felt totally comfortable driving for an hour to the check-up appointment, and my vision is 20/15 on both eyes. It is likely to stay the same or improve even more in the next weeks. I have thought for a long time about LASIK but was scared shitless. A couple of mental tricks made it easier: first, imagine it's just another jump. Most likely it'll be fine, but there's a chance to go in. Oh well, that i can take any day. Second, and it's funny - Intralase laser replaced the knife during the first stage of LASIK, and somehow it made me feel much more comfortable. The entire procedure was completely painless and there wasn't even any real discomfort. First stage you cannot see anyway, i just had a countdown from the Doc (50sec left, 45sec left...). Second stage is simply looking at the light for about 20sec. I was out of the room in less then 15 minutes. Feel like i was born again... and waisted many years by doing it so late! I can jump in 2 weeks, maybe less, but will take a month to be sure. The whole thing run about $4k, but you definitely get what you pay for here. I will join my friends: "This is the best thing i've done in my entire life". If you're thinking about LASIK and worry as much as i did, feel free to PM or call. My biggest problem was choosing the best Doc. At this point i know of 3 good ones that worked on my friends and myself. They are in DC, CA and FL areas. bsbd! Yuri. P.S. Any advice and experience on ACL reconstruction is greatly appreciated via PM. Will have to do it in the fall... Team Old and Brittle!

That's right, girls don't f**k crazy people. Guys do, because girls are crazy by definition bsbd! Yuri.

If you can make it under canopy, you should definitely make it in an advanced suit. With a good pilot S3 will match base canopy's glide ratio, and V1 will outglide it. bsbd! Yuri.

Jeez man, then get high first! bsbd! Yuri. P.S. You just missed Lika and Gven at the Wall

This glide, if your numbers are correct, should put you over LZ at Italian terminal wall bsbd! Yuri.

Wish i could be there... 200m is PLENTY enough to get a good flight going Video from the ground should be awesome! bsbd! Yuri.

The following resource can be really helpful when looking for new cliffs. It has pretty much everything you might wish for

Yo ! For some of the most hardcore tower action, check this out: http://sniff.photofile.ru The top three albums are from the last two weekends at 1200' antenna somewhere North of Moscow. How many of you ever climbed 1200' two or three times in a row, back to back, when it's -10C and snowing, landing in waist-deep snow every time ? A quick disclaimer: i've only made a total of two jumps while i were there... spoiled by 'vators! But the local crew is unstopable! Oh, and the tower is square, meaning 4 sets of guy wires... if anybody really cared

No need to wonder. Both addictions compliment each other very well bsbd! Yuri.

Johnny, you rule! P.S. We can discuss "growing up" in detail over a few lines sometime this summer bsbd! Yuri.

Sorry, i don't know who might have it. There's a couple of shots of the usual suspects here, but without Anne: http://maxf.net/~outrager/tr00-01.jpg http://maxf.net/~outrager/tr00-02.jpg 386, long time no see! We MUST meet at you know where as Tree has suggested

Oh no, you're going soft again! Did my naked cliff with nothing but the rig on, barefoot and all Well, just wanted to see ya really naked bsbd! Yuri.

We always do. None backed out yet, but they enter with a hell of a lot more respect. bsbd! Yuri.

Then why do you ask ? Even if you count rollovers etc as base jumps (which many people don't) it still puts him behind about a hundred people worldwide. Definitely experienced, but far from "one of the most experienced". These little details make all the difference between life and death - here on the board even more than in real life bsbd! Yuri.

Why ? This is how kids and base jumpers express their love bsbd! Yuri.

I agree with you, most base jumpers (in US at least) are in poor physical shape and really cannot be called "athletes". Now if you substitute physical for "mental", the picture is very different. BASE is very easy both technicaly and physicaly, but from a mental perspective it is something most ordinary people cannot even imagine. This is where it may deserve the "extreme" label. I believe BASE is as far from being a "sport" as, let's say, yoga. bsbd! Yuri.

Just watched it. Wow. By far the best BASE piece i've ever seen on TV. bsbd! Yuri. P.S. Hey birdbabe

A lot of publicity, of any kind, will bring more customers and more sales, just like skydiving fatalities bring more students to DZs. Red Bull would feel happy. bsbd! Yuri.

Notice Nick DG's comment about quietly walking away at Bridge Day ? I've done the same It may have been a mistake and once again i hope you are right. This is the key: Miles may be nice but his image is hopelessly arrogant and that, the image, needs to be fixed. I know a bit about this because i have created my own arrogant image in the good old days of rec.skydiving. It was fun while it lasted, but took some effort to get rid of later in life. That is correct. Jeb is respected because he makes a lot of money by doing what he does without selling out or being sponsored. He does not work as a clown but rather runs his own show. This is a true skill and something to be jealous about bsbd! Yuri.

Actualy a lot of jumpers care, a majority perhaps. The key word here is "arrogant". There are different ways to present yourself on TV. Some get a lot of respect, take Jeb for example. Others do not. When somebody lowers himself down to a clown level and makes a fool of himself in front of an audience and especially in front of other jumpers, he is treated as such. Look at Felix. Miles is closing up on the same image. I doubt that jealosity is a major player here. Many of the jumpers critisizing Miles make a better living that he does, and some are arguably better and more experienced base jumpers Speaking of PR: there is a common and well-supported opinion that Red Bull encourages ethically questionable stunts to gather maximum attention. This brings another whole issue of "selling out". bsbd! Yuri.

In this thread i can see that there are a few close friends defending Miles at all cost, and everybody else biting him hard. This brings an obvious observation: I hope you are right and Miles is a nice person in real life. If that is the case, the image he chooses to project outside is grossly mismatched. It comes out very arrogant, and for people who don't know him personaly a lasting impression is very unpleasant. He will continue to take $hit if such image does not get adjusted, and it sucks even more if it happens for artificial reasons. I doubt that competing base schools have anything to do with it. The whole issue started long before that. bsbd! Yuri. P.S. I cannot recall any world-famous base jumpers ever advertising themselves as such

There are two issues: Miles behaves like a dick and showes no respect to the sport. Therefore he is shown no respect and is being called a dick. That seems to be fine and fair and can be left as it is. There is no harm in him being a fool and a clown. However, some of his actions cause actual damage, especialy the one now being discussed in this thread. I understand that many people have tried to talk to Miles without any results. BASE is a small self-policing community of people who generaly follow common sense but disregard the law, and where violence had been used before to correct the most outrageous ethic violations. I really hope it does not come to that point, but it sure looks like it is getting close. On a side note, just being a dick does have its disadvantages. Miles was not welcome at Royal Gorge event, and at this rate will be banned from a lot of others. bsbd! Yuri.

A correct action in BASE is often counterintuitive. Most skydivers have a reflex to pull when things look low or crappy. Reflexes takes over logic under stressful conditions. Most BASE jumps create such conditions before they even begin, hence a common but very dangerous practice of dirty high pulls. As Tom pointed out, safest delays depend on a particular site, but more often than not it will be close to the maximum delay possible. Object strike is a leading cause of death, so maximizing your distance from an object by taking the longest delay possible is often the best course of action. It also looks damn cool Choosing the safest delay for a specific site is a perfect example of risk management, where conflicting considerations need to be balanced: object separation vs. altitude required for canopy opening, turning an off-heading and making LZ. Now thinking about it, this is really funny: i usually take it lower when i'm scared. My reflexes have been completly reprogrammed over the years... bsbd! Yuri.

Well put! Our decisions are usualy based on incomplete and unreliable information. At best we are managing risks, at worst we are rolling the dice. It is a lot of fun, but having crooked dice really helps in the end bsbd! Yuri.

I'm with Jason on this one. Multi sucks. Specificaly, the very real inconvenience and potential dangers of multi outweigh theoretical advantages. Multi has been around for many years and yet no statisticaly important improvements (compared to a non-multi canopy) have been proven or even seen. Black rubber bands are black death - an easy guess at the very first look bsbd! Yuri.