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Hi all,

I've been wanting to get into base for a while now and have been lurking here and blinc for some time.

Given that the UK has such great weather i'm thinking of doing all the preparation skydives in the US and then going straight to a base FJC.

I've started trampolining and diving in preparation, not for aerials but just to improve my spacial awareness / gymnastic ability in dead air.

If i went to the states and did say 400 skydives including packing / crw / accuracy / wingsuit, and then an FJC, would this be a sensible way into base, or is time needed for the critical skills to soak in?

thanks for any comments

arachnoid

If you did all that, you would be way ahead of MOST BASE jumpers.

Remember its not about the amount of numbers, its the quality behind those numbers. Learn the skills whilst skydiving.

see if you can line up a BASE mentor in the US who will take you through your skydiving prep as well...This is the fastest way to making you a safe BASE jumper. Skip the wingsuits though...focus on the essential skills...once you have become a master of the basics, get a w/s and head back to the plane for awhile.
mh

Are you able to give any info on you current experience & what sort of time-frame your looking at ?

I have no advice to offer myself... I'm just curious.

Balloons are a pretty cool for still air training if you can find one.

i did up to my first freefall via the static line route about 10 years ago, so enough experience to know that i enjoyed skydiving, but that's where it ends.

I've wanted to fly for many years, and over the last 15 years i've tried fixed / rotary, sailplane hangliding and paragliding, but none of them seemed like real flight. when i say tried, i have solod each of the above and spent a summer tug flying for a glider club.

I saw a film a couple of years ago with some vid of (i think adrian nicholas) doing w/s from that famous cliff in southern Norway and knew instantly that this was something that i had to try. 2 years from then and the desire hasn't gone away, it's time to get out there and prepare.

Timeframe wise i'm thinking of next year and i reckon 6 months pretty much dedicated to the project.

MH, w/s plan duly dropped, was a kinda half hearted addition to the initial plan anyway.

Honestly, if you aren't getting into skydiving, I think this is the way to go.

It keeps you current, it keeps you focussed on what you want to do, and it makes it less likely you'll make mistakes due to uncurrency.

I pretty much did the same thing, several years ago (made my first 300 skydives in around 3 months to prep for BASE). While I do feel that I missed out on a lot of fun skydiving, I think that you've got the right idea if that's your goal.

Stop by Twin Falls while you're here, and say "hi". I'd love to see how it's going for you.

thanks tom,

was 300 full time jumping?

I'd better start organising things, next year doesn't seem very far away anymore.

i wasn't sure if there was a time in sport consideration as well as a jump number, some things just seem to take time to sink in and i don't want this to become a literal crash course.

I'm sure i'll be stopping by twin falls for quite a while after the FJC.

Thanks everyone for both public and private responses.

arachnoid

I actually had a "full time" job at the time, but it was pretty lax, so I spent a whole lot of my "work" time focussed on other things.