Basejumper.com - archive

 

just questioning, and playing devil's advocate a bit, but what about places where the only spans are 300ft and "high trespass spans" like motorways, when you have "not as easy as they seem" legal 1000 ft cliffs ?

If travel won't violate your parole conditions, you're not a known football hooligan who had their passport revoked, etc. you fly someplace with a more suitable object.

If you can afford to skydive you can afford the airfare to the legal span in Idaho, USA. Or perhaps someplace closer.

I think that Tall antennas, with a strong wind bisecting the downwind sector through FF and landing are the safest because of alleviating the possiblity of an object strike. There has been floater exits with openings facing the tower done a few times. On the otherhand, These conditions are not very common. What´s others opinion on this?
take care,
space

I would think that one would have to make a choice of which is better. Being a lawbreaker or bonebreaker.
take care,
space

I can't help but reiterate what a great location the Perrine Bridge in Twin Falls Idaho is for not only doing one's first 'X' number of BASE jumps from, but also what a great training location it is for even the experienced. I know I am still very much a newbie to BASE and still have much to learn and experience, but my 36 jumps to date at the Perrine helped prepare myself for my first 4 cliff jumps in Moab. Without those day time (lower stress) jumps at the Perrine, I would not have had the time to make specific jumps geared towards working on off-heading openings and gear towards general canopy control (not to mention nailing down some stable exits). In fact we should think of the Perrine in a similar manner than what the skydiving freefall people think of with their wind tunnels.

>>I dunno man. I know a couple well respected, long time BASE jumpers who take first-timer's off non-guyed A's in the right wind. To me it depends what object you're talking about...on some A's with the right wind it's about impossible to hit the object and the landing area is bigger than most DZ's

Yeah, I think the right A under the right conditions is just fine for a first BASE jump. Likewise, some Ss, even ones with easy daytime access (though illegal), are not good for a first jump. Nothing beats a daytime, legal span with easy access and landing area, but I wouldn't rule out all As for a first BASE jump. The mentor and wind direction and speed can alleviate a lot of issues.

I was unclear that bridges where the best objects to do a first jump. I was also unaware that people never make mistakes or errors in judgement that cost them lives, or lots of other grief. This is a revelation in BASE jumping.


The jumper in the CNN thread has been around BASE and ground crewed off and on for over 2 years. He knew the only way to get into BASE safely was to go to a bridge. He also realized in that time that he didn't actually want to get into BASE. He was looking for an amusement park ride and unfortunatly the situation arose at the wrong time for him.

I disagree due to possibility of overload and too low or no deployment. I think if it's an antenna there should be no guide wires and static line or pca setup.

Tall ones also run the risk of pulling @ 2 seconds and resulting in object strike.

What do guy wires have to do with the safety of the jump if there is no way they will interfere with the jump because of the winds? I am not understanding your statement of pushing SL and PCA but kinda dissing a 2sec delay. Does not compute. Please explain.
take care,
space

I'm mainly referring to lack of winds.

I concur with Justin, my humble opinion is that terminal A's even with the BEST winds, are not the BEST choice for a 1st BASE jump. What if they blow the exit, pitch at 3 seconds unstable, then they're open with line twists and _several_ sets of wires to play with. Unstable or botched exit is just one scenario,
The way I was taught was from low stuff first, get open on heading, and land, then progressed to handheld, etc. So whenever we take a newbie off a guyed tower, we always have them exit for an assisted deployment, but so that when they open, they are BELOW the last wire set...usually around 150' or so. Then the only object left to hit is the tower itself, and if they can't get a 180 all the way back around, there are some other 'outs'.
Plus...around here, you HAVE to earn your right to the big sticks, they are few and far.
But what do I know, my mentor took me off a 220'B for my first jump, and second....
Later
Blair

Bryan was open below the 2nd wire, and with the wind later reencountered it (the glide ratio was greater than the descent of the wire). Though the safest method of putting a first timer off an A it's certainly not a good idea.

I did specifically state strong winds bisecting the downwind sector with the winds alleviating the chance of an object strike. Sorry I couldn´t be more clear.
take care,
space

 I did specifically state strong winds bisecting the downwind sector with the winds alleviating the chance of an object strike. Sorry I couldn´t be more clear.
take care,
space

iseemed to rember you calling me crazy
hope your all good mate

In a nut shell, he opened lower than the wire he hit. Had he opened below the 1st he'd have still hit it. The glide ratio of the canopy exceeded the descent rate of the wire.

I was on a tower jump once with a jumper on his first base jump. The winds were perfect. We had climbed almost 1000'. Way beyond what I wanted to climb that day. Winds were perfect. He was slider up. So here is how the jump went. He was very nervous. Botched the exit. He went head down right on exit. Panicked and pitched immediately. When he went head down his legs rotated over so that he was on his back. Then he rolled onto his belly facing the tower just as he got opening shock. He opened facing away from the tower. So everything worked out. There is an example of plenty of altitude great winds and things still went wrong. Things could have went much worse. So I would tend to agree that a pca might be a better substitute but I think its just a bad idea in general also.

By the way I was not a mentor on that jump nor would I even consider myself a mentor.

How about that popular big wall in southwestern Norway where they organise training and FJC's ? I made my first BASEjump there and felt pretty good with it. From my personal experience I would say that 3000 foot, well overhung cliff to a person who is relatively experienced and current skydiver (I know, BASE is different than skydiving but still, especially on that cliff, I feel that skydiving experience does count) is quite doable place to make first basejump. This summer when we were jumping that cliff we had very interesting discussions indeed with other jumpers about suitability of that cliff for FJC's. It has pro's and con's, I agree, but I still feel that that cliff is way better than a guyed A for example for ones first BASE.


There is a particular instructor from down under holding FJC's on that popular big wall in Norway and I definately feel that he has a tons of business on teaching everything about base to me. But hey, that's just me.

Dont forget to pull/chuck/throw

In my opinion, a bridge is a better first jump object.

It may also be important to consider the prior skills of the student. A student who has tons of skydiving experience (unfortunately these are rarer every day, it seems) may have more success with a terminal object (where their terminal air skills will have time to kick in and save them). A student with limited skydiving experience (say, less than 500 jumps) is almost always going to be safer off a bridge.

I totally agree that a bridge is way better object for ones first basejump, I never ment to say that for example that popular big wall in Norway would be better than a bridge with good LZ. I wrote about that big wall: "relatively experienced and current skydiver is quite doable place to make first basejump." So I totally agree with Tom on that matter.