Basejumper.com - archive

In a few weeks from now I will hopefully start with static line course in skydiving. As I'm interested in base my main focus will probably be training skills for base in skydiving after I completed my course.

This made me think how the relationship between skydiving and basejumping is for basejumpers. Did you start skydiving for basejumping, or did base find you only after you started skydiving. Do you skydive 'actively' or is skydiving only an environment to test techniques out or to train your skills in a safer environment?

If you did start skydiving with base as a clear goal in mind, what kind of reactions did you get at your dropzone?

I've always wanted to skydive, but there was no real hurry in the matter. 5 years or so ago, skydiving was something I wanted to do once or so after I got a job and was happely married or so. I knew what basejumping was, but had no intention to do it (it was just crazy for me, at that point).
My interest in base started something like little more then three years ago, after seeing a docu and when I started to search more about the sport.
Things and circumstances feeded my interest in skydiving and certainly in base. It defenitly went with ups and downs, times where I said 'I'm not going to do that', and time where if someone would have given me a rig and drove me to an object, I would have jumped off.

So, another question, how did you came in contact with base? And what were the reasons for you to start jumping, if there were any?

Thijs

I have no intention to bring up at my DZ, the fact that I plan to BASE in the distant future. When I start skydiving again I will just happen to practice tracking, accuracy and CRW a bit more than most. Plus someone got me hooked on the thought of CRW so I probably will be doing this more than I ever thought I would at sub 300 jumps. Eventually I will probably buy a BASE rig and practice jumps from height with this on my container, but until then BASE is a distant goal, but I will keep it in mind for my skydiving progression.

HI Thijs

Have you read TOM or Dwains articles about wanting to get into BASE?

First of all I'll say no need to rush, skydiving should be able to hold your attention for a fair while, I loved my 3 jumps

 Yes, until you know who's who and what's what on whatever drop zone you go to keep the desire to BASE jump to yourself. Think of it like your first lesson in BASE security and secret keeping. And, it's not for nothing. Chances are you'll have a non-BASE jumping skydiving Instructor who might lose enthusiasm after you mention, "I'm just getting this outta the way, so I can BASE jump!"

In the meantime you can talk about BASE jumping here with us. You might even meet someone from a local crew on this forum before you know them on your DZ. Many have done what you are doing, and some find skydiving cool enough and never make a BASE jump, some put BASE off for years, and some make X number of skydives, take a BASE course, and never set foot on a DZ again.

Point to Point, first skydive to first BASE jump, has always been variable depending on what sort you are and who you hook up with. If you haven't seen it yet, start educating yourself here. http://www.basefatalities.info/ You won't understand it all just yet, but sometimes in BASE jumping it's better to bring education to the experience rather than the other way around . . .

NickD
BASE 194

I'd agree. Until you are a comfortable solo skydiver don't mention it. The only BASE specific thing you could focus on, without mentioning it, is accuracy and riser-control.

Also, once you pack yourself and you're not jumping with an instructor anymore, nobody will stop you from packing intentional line-twist and toggle releases. Of course, I would never advocate actually doing these things. Caveat emptor.

Then, once you have about fourty to fifty jumps and you are still thinking about getting into BASE, you can drop the word. This will provide a background for discussions about doing some intentional downwinders, riser only landings and ultra low approaches. The kind of things you need to talk to others about first, otherwise the downwinder can turn into a collision and the riser landing can turn into panic when they see your steering lines dangle (on an LRM).

Admittedly, all of those techniques would be equally useful for non BASE jumpers, but it seems that the skydiving curriculum doesn't focus on these kind of things anymore given the number of landing incidents occuring these days.

Having said all that, forget everything about BASE for now, enjoy the course, approach it as a skydiver, suck up as much information as you possibly can, and then start thinking about BASE again when the time is right.

Hey Thijs, Leslie here :) Just saying that it's very helpful to read all this it gives me more insight on your point of view.

Hiya Thijs,

I'm in nearly exactly the same position as you. I've been lurking around for a while just absorbing information, reading/watching everything I can get my hands on, and saving the cash for my AFF, rigs, etc.

I'm starting skydiving for the purposes of to getting into BASE, but understand that I need to do it slowly and carefully. BASE will always be around, so there's no hurry, and no need to share your desires with those who may not be interested in helping you achieve your goals!

I'm from Sydney, not sure where abouts you're from, but i'm sure we'll meet some time soon in the Aussie Skydiving/BASE scene!

I fear that it might leak out or come to their attention pretty soon (if it already didn't). I have for the moment no real interest in RW or in Freefly, which are the most performed skydive disciplines right now. If I mainly focus on accuracy, canopy control and tracking, I think it will become pretty much obvious (at least for the basejumpers themself) what my real intentions are (gee, it sounds like I'm a criminel ) .

To L_M: Thanks, and congrats on your AFF-1. So you and eli, keep your mouths shut .

To Tyrion: I live in Belgium, quite far from Aussieland, but who knows, sometime...

I'll guess I'll find it out all along the way .
Thanks everyone for the replies.
Thijs

Both of those are great for developing spatial, relative and body awareness. Not to mention, they are a lot of fun too. Give them a try, you might just find out how much fun skydiving can be.

I definatley agree with jaap on this one. freeflying and even RW will help you in some ways if you funk and exit up... wouldnt want to have to learn those skills on a BASE jump...

I thaughed that base was subterminal, while freefly is at terminal? Can freefly techniques help to recover an fucked up exit? If we leave terminal walls out of it ofcourse.

Thijs

Granted, if you go headlow during the first three seconds of your exit, being a freefly headdown pro is not going to help you much, whereas being a platform diver might do you some good.

Nevertheless, any sort of exercise that makes your body more familiar with being relative in all three dimensions and randomly oriented around all three axis is not going to hurt your BASE jumping. Focus on canopy skills, but if you have some freefall time to play with, you might as well vary your time in the air beyond tracking jumps.

Every skydive, no matter the type and from the very first one, will add to your air awareness. To get air aware you'll need to go from flailing, groping, blind man to flying, dexterous, focused man. And yes . . . giggle . . . even RW will help . . .

NickD
BASE 194

I've heard it call "dead air skills." the best skydivers function well from the get go. they don't wait to accelerate to terminal velocity. and when you jump with others, you get visual cues to assess how well you are doing.

once you think you're good from a slow flying Cessna, try a balloon jump. then try a helicopter jump with the rotorwash hitting your back...

how can it not add to the safety of a BASE exit?

This is the scariest thread I've ever seen.

Can you also explain why? I don't really see how this thread can be scary?

With real interest in rw or in freefly, I meant more or less training in a team or so. I'm pretty sure I'll do some of both, if only to get some body awareness.

Thijs

One thing at a time,
Get into skydiving first dude

And then you'll know what you enjoy doing

Jul.

PS: Jamostar.. useless comment :)

Please elaborate...

Warning: Highly Opinionated Post

Getting into skydiving in order to do something else i.e. BASE, is an inherently flawed mindset. Skydive to experience skydiving. If you are "waiting" for some arbitrary jump number, skill sets, or experience level to make it o.k. to BASE then you haven't been 100% focused on learning the skill you're practicing. Becoming a very good skydiver who is well-rounded with lots and lots and lots and lots of jumps doesn't mean you should start BASE. If you are starting to think about base jumping around 50-60 jumps like so many other people then you are unfocused. If you can't completely immerse yourself in what your learning at the time, stay away from fixed objects. When people ask me the question "how many jumps do I need to BASE" I say when ever you feel ready+200+ an experience under canopy where you thought I better do something right now and it better be right or I'm definitely going to die. A good friend of mine asked if he could borrow my base rig to learn to BASE at the perrine. The person he was going with had less than 30 Base jumps off of 2 objects. Fucking Retard. Sure lots of people are saying "hey I started base when I only had X jumps and I'm alive" I sight Chris Rock " you can steer a car with your feet if you want to. . .that don't make it a good fucking idea!" My friend said "it was an opportunity, I couldn't pass up" Perhaps the worst mindset to get into base jumping. I'm not saying you're gonna go step off an object with only 300 skydives, but the general tone of this thread seemed to be encouraging a lack of discipline and "the fast track". To start saying what is the minimum level of preparedness or skill or whatever is the polar opposite of how good jumpers (sky or object) think. Move toward over-training, above and beyond the minimal. When you feel like you're way, way passed ready then you probably are ready. If you are completely immersed in skydiving then you will know when it's time and when you are ready. If you are not completely immersed in skydiving i.e. thinking what should I do to be ready for base, than you will never be ready.

edit for spelling

Hmm, I would have the tendence to disagree on this matter. If you are for example wanting to be good at riserscontrol, you will focus more on this then normal skydivers I guess.
If you need certain skills for base, and that is your goal, then you will focus more on those skills, not?


Agreed, but this is not the point here. I'm not stating that anyone who has the experience, should basejump.


So, anyone who has an interest in base during their early skydive should basejump? I don't get your point really
Is it possible that you mean that you shouldn't only focus on the things you can use, but also on useless things (in base then ofcourse)?


I don't see that where I encourage a lack of discipline or starting fast with base?
I started this thread just to see how frequently it happened that people started skydiving with the idea of ever doing fixed object jumping.

Skydiving will probably scare the shit out of me, so it will take a long time before I get a bit comfortable.

This thread seems to head a way I didn't intend it to go to .

Don't worry about it Thijs. There was a time when people had to make twenty mandatory jumps on round parachutes before they would be allowed on squares. Nowadays, everybody jumps squares.

Regardless of whether that is a good idea or not, sports change and the people coming into them change. With the changing image of skydiving, and the media coverage of BASE jumps from tall cliffs in beatiful scenery we will only see more people that start skydiving with a sole interest to become a BASE jumper.

In fact, I think that Tom Aiello started skydiving solely to get into BASE, and I think he turned out to be a moderately competent BASE jumper, haha.

Welcome to the world of flight. Enjoy all its aspects while you can. Have many safe jumps and remember that patience rarely kills.

Well. . . I guess Tom's o.k.

One cool thing about BASE jumping is we are always experimenting and probably will never get to a point when we aren't trying new things. We are still exploring all aspects of this sport and one of them, how to start BASE jumping, has always been in flux.

From 1978 to the late 1980s BASE jumping instruction is passed freely from person to person. Most BASE jumpers of the period are already fairly experienced skydivers before they start BASE jumping. There is no question about skydiving before BASE jumping. However, Bridge Day is open to anyone who wants to jump, and there are several cases of people making a first ever jump there. The wisdom of the day said skydiving before BASE backed up by folks like Ritchie S., who made a hundred BASE jumps before his first skydive, and he told people not to learn like he did. There are a few people building BASE rigs and pilot chutes, but these are still home and garage based operations. In 1987 large pilot chutes and longer bridles are being heavily suggested at Bridge Day after Steve Gyrsting towed his skydiving pilot chute to impact.

When 1990 rolled around there are a few people calling themselves BASE outfitters. In some cases these folks offered guided trips with BASE gear and instruction included. Keith Jones (now serving in Iraq, see the current issue of SKYDIVING) is an early outfitter and so was Moe Viletto. In the early nineties the garage riggers like the Todd, Adam, and Dennis became Basic Research, Consolidated Rigging, and Gravity Sports Ltd.

For the first time Todd found himself selling BASE rigs, and now BASE canopies, to people he didn’t know. Adam worried about it saying BASE rigs are loaded guns and soon all three are offering some form of basic BASE jumping instruction. By 1995 large pilot chutes and longer bridles are mandatory at Bridge Day and fifty previous parachute jumps are required. In 1996 Bill Von wrote the definitive Bridge Day FAQ and its here http://www.afn.org/...t/1996/aug/0520.html where he suggested 100 previous jumps were better. The BASE manufactures are using 150 before selling gear. In the late 90s the number starts to grow and 250 is heard a lot and some people are saying even more should be added.

So now here we are still in the infancy of BASE jumping instruction and still experimenting. The stand alone BASE courses are still few and far between. I do believe that the better we get at teaching BASE the more we can shave off the previous jump number. When they started teaching the three-hour first jump skydiving static line course it was called dangerous and mad as every one knew you had to attend weeks of Army training in order to jump.

When Ritchie said not to learn the way he did it was a different sport. I'm not saying I'm for Death Camp, but it could head closer to that if we taught BASE well enough. When Paragliding first appeared here in the United States I thought without skydiving experience those people aren't going to last long. I was thinking wuffos just flying around willy nilly. But, look at how good they got and all on their own.

I think we are closer to growing our own then we've ever been. All we need is a sympathetic DZ to let us offer a pre-BASE skydiving course. A seamless one on one course from first skydive to first BASE jump and all with the same instructor. A Perris/Potato course of instruction would sell like hotcakes. . . "Hey Tom, another batch coming in on the noon plane, watch out for the loud kid and the old guy, but the rest are good to go."

NickD
BASE 194

I am with jamostar on this one. Has anyone missed the fact this person has not even gone through the static line course and is hell bent on getting BASE? After reading your comments, what is your motivation why you want to get this?

I'm not trying to be a jerk but do a poll on the EXPERIENCED people who frequent this board and ask them how friends have been lost and bones broken in this sport. You have no experience, little or no training, and have no idea what kind of skydiver you will be let alone be able to take it to the next level such as BASE.

Don't trick yourself into thinking I have XX amount of jumps so now I can start trying a hand a BASE. That mindset is an accident waiting to happen.

...whatever happened to rational anarchy?

My question is this: What is that odd psychological quirk that allows us to make rules for others even as we declare our personal freedom from rules?

My next question is: And what's that bit about personal responsibility?

The way I figure, we all have the absolute right to choose our own path through life to death. But each and every time someone elects a road that deviates from the common wisdom, all hell breaks loose.

On this board, of all places.

It just boggles the imagination.

rl

Now, I'm sympathetic to the general idea that BASE is very dangerous, and that one should prepare carefully before that first jump. I also think it seems like a waste (to me) to spend a bunch of time skydiving without really wanting to skydive at all, so I understand the "skydive to skydive" comments.

But this... If a person starts BASE jumping without a bunch of skydives, they catch hell for not doing at least XX skydives. And now, if a person proactively researches things, then does XX skydives building skills for BASE, they catch hell for wanting to start BASE jumping after that?

Damn... My brain hurts. I'm glad I'm already jumping, 'cause all these rules are just too complicated for me.

I imagine it's the same as why many of use BASE jump. In the words of Carl Boenish: it's a celebration of the human spirit! What's not to like?


Which is probably why he is getting into skydiving at the moment. I'd say that's a great decision.


But we don't know how his mind works. Perhaps he already has the appropriate mindset, distilled through many days spent climbing, mountaineering, platform diving, non parachute based rigging-work, etcetera. I'm not saying that this is the case. For all we know, he could do ten skydives, decide it's too boring, buy a rig off of Ebay and go kill himself.

If he was getting into BASE, we should consider him cautiously, and measure his mindset downward for his own safety. Considering he is getting into skydiving, we ought to give him the benefit of the doubt and commend him for this approach.

Mindsets are not developed through skydiving alone. In fact, the general impression that I get is that the less skydives a person has, the more tactful and intelligent he is in his approach to base, both in execution as well as ethics and theory. There are many exceptions to this general observation.

I don't think it's the low-timers dedicating themselves to BASE that will become a problem. They are flying seven cells from early on in their career and focus strongly on BASE skills. A much bigger problem is the hardcore freeflyer and swooper who has never spend much time tracking, nor played with a canopy bigger than eighty square feet. After 400 jumps he suddenly realizes that BASE might be cool and thinks he can take a few shortcuts because he already has many (quote unquote) jumps anyway. He'll end up borrowing a rig from a friend and run headlong into BASE. He is the person that start jumps the slider-down cliff without tuning his brake settings.

For the record, Thijs and I have talked a little offline. While I am in no position to give any sort of BASE related advice, I would like to argue that he seems an intelligent and heads-up person that, for somebody with a desire to go straight into BASE, approaches the sport in a great way.

Just don't poop your pants on your first skydive, ok?

Edited to add: with only 220 jumps, I am in no position to write what I did above. Please take my words with a grain of salt. I'd delete the post, but somebody with more than 1000 jumps specifically asked me not to.

If you really want to know how to make it easier, think about the rigging aspect.

Probably the most overlooked part of learning to BASE is rigging skills. If you learn how to assemble complete rigs and pack reserves ... neatly... parachutes begin to make more sense.

Another cool thing about it is when you put holes in your canopy you can patch them yourself. If you put your canopy over a light pole and use your hook knife to cut the lines so you can get away, you can fix it yourself.

I can't say enough about learning how to rig. You don't have to become a rigger, but get the knowledge. Buy a decent sewing machine and make stuff. It comes in handy. Don't tell your friends though because they'll want you to fix their jumpsuits.

Get a large 7 cell canopy and learn to fly the canopy backwards, do back spins. Swoop it, land around corners. Just wring the heck out of it.

Do CRW, Accuracy, and as many skydives as you can afford. They help more than you know.

During skydives, learn how to be relaxed and symmetrical during deployment. Learn to track. Race your friends on tracking dives so you can track really fast.

And simply … don't be in a hurry.

Good luck

It doesn't really boggle the mind...


We're just sick of watching our freinds go in.


Good luck on the journey. But please make it a LONG journey.

-smd7

I have a friend that was into climbing, saw some BASE jumpers, and thought he'd like to do that. So he started skydiving.

He is now both a skydiver and a BASE jumper, and pretty happy about it.

-To the people that are concerned about someone interested in base this early on, do you not have future goals in anything else you do in life? Just wondering. I'd like to do some big-ways some day. Am I now dangerous because I shouldn't be doing it yet? I think this argument sounds silly directed at someone that seems to be willing to go through appropriate training (and not his version of appropriate, but what others with experience would recommend) to get there.

I get what was being talked about above regarding focusing on the task at hand whole-heartedly...but I am going to fly jets some day. Does that make me a 'dangerous thinker' because I'm still working on little Pipers right now? I have future goals, but when I'm in my little bird, I'm all about the business at hand.

-I just offered because I know of someone that fit the original poster's question. I'll go play somewhere else now...

I started skydiving wanting to get into base. I don't see how having a goal is bad. Right now I'm having fun in the sky and working on my canopy skills (Giant 7-cell canopy), and reading as much as I can.
You'll have lots of fun in the sky.

I can't really explain (in decent words) what attracts me into basejumping. The fear/danger/adrenaline are defintly factors in that, but I'm also keen on the factor of traveling around the world to jump (and to combine it with other activities).

Edit: I do not really feal the need to 'justify' my actions to anyone, weather it is concerning caving, diving, skydiving or basejumping. I just want to have fun. Isn't that what it is all about?

I have read that basejumping and skydiving are quite different (I don't see basejumping as a consequence of skydiving anymore, I don't see it anymore as a natural progression as I used to).
Maybe an analogy for example: if someone wants to drive bit truck, he first has to learn to drive in a safer environment, meaning driving a normal car. Later he will then progress to driving big trucks. He might not even like driving the car, but will do so to fullfill his dream. But not everyone who is able to drive a car, is able to (and wants to) drive a big truck.


I am aware that people die in basejumping and get injured doing it (as Tom A. once said: I basicly lose a friend every six months (or something like it)). Death itself is a big stranger to me. I've never lost someone close to me because of death, but I have to admit that I don't really have a lot of close persons, so that is also a factor. Never had broken bones (and do not intend to ever have any ) so I know nothing about that either.

Thanks for the advice. Since I will not be able to jump very much (money related) I can spend time doing that (and maybe make some money ).

I'm a beginning caver and have some experience in high diving (both good and bad). I feel that weather it is rockclimbing, caving, canyoning or basejumping have a lot incommen, on the level of mindset approaches. I see people who are lacks with safety, urge students to do things fast, ect Something I also noticed is that for most people at our club, the caving isn't really the thing. The drinking and parties for them is more important, something that I find less important.
I do a lot of plateform diving. As there is no club at our pool, I'm forced to jump during public hours. Well, there are always these guys with a big ego that jump to show off (atleast, that is what I feel). They say to each other: 'ha, if you don't do that your a pussy' or they see someone doing something and say 'I have to do that too', they laugh with people who make mistakes. I guess you (to Jaap) would call that an inapropriate mindset? They also seem not to learn from bad experiences.
I don't like to jump when there are a lot of people around, don't talk to people about the jumps (unless they ask something about it). I feel I became a lot more carefull after an accident at the pool.

I'll try not to offcourse.

I heard someone say once, "AT first you will come for the skydives... Then you will come for the people..."

No matter how hard you try, you will get involved in the interpersonal side with people at the DZ or BASE. One needs to embrace BOTH the personal side and the learning side.

I started out wanting to get into BASE jumping, I got in contact with Thijs and some other people and they’ve helped me a lot. The next logical step was skydiving of course and I looked at it as a pre training stage thinking to spend not to much time in this stage. But that all changed after my first jump just recently. I want to become an experienced skydiver before even thinking about getting into BASE. Not because I could be a better BASE jumper if I do but because I know skydiving and all its aspects are going to keep me busy for a long time not to mention that I love skydiving. And it can’t hurt to first become an experienced skydiver, with that said I’m not saying that a less experienced skydiver couldn’t be an excellent BASE jumper.

Simply put into one sentence I’d say people have different ways to approach BASE jumping and that approach can change throughout there journey.

And the key phrase for me personally is “no need to rush it”

Bingo. And I think it's important that we respect (even celebrate) those differences, even when it's made difficult by the knowledge that, sometimes, people die around here.

Well said!

I started skydiving solely to BASE jump...skydiving as I was aware of it wasn't really appealing to me.(I only knew of belly RW work or skysurfing). But I'll tell you what, every time I would see Jeb's "A Year in the Life Of" or whatever it is called, I'd get chills up and down my spine.

My friend Bill Stampfle, who was once one of BR's FJC instructors, reccomended I have a minimum of 150 skydives. So I drove my ass out to Perris and Jim Wallace, who Bill happened to also once work for. This was Jan 31st of this year.

I was upfront with Jim Wallace from the day I set foot in his school. I told him my sole reason for skydiving was to BASE. Apparently I said it with enough conviction, because what he did was give me lists of canopy skills to work on and drills to perform during every skydive. Now, being that this is Perris and all, I'm sure the attitude towards BASE jumping is much warmer than some other DZ's.

All that being said, I now have ~110 jumps. I would love to say that the magical number 150 is coming up soon and I'm off to Apex...but the fact is I don't think I'd be comfortable enough @ 150 jumps. I'm shooting for 300. And I'm also awfully glad that I found freeflying...because I still think turning points is boring...but flying your body in a multitude of positions and angles is pretty cool.

In the meantime I lurk this forum. I haven't bothered stopping by Apex yet...who knows, maybe this winter I'll be hitting Tom up on his FJC.

My point is starting skydiving solely to BASE isn't that far fetched...

Seems pretty crazy to me that the starter of this thread already has their mind made up about skydiving... which they've apparently never even tried.

If he goes out the door for the first time thinking it will be just a casual skydive he'll get a shock

HydroGuy:
..." I now have ~110 jumps. I would love to say that the magical number 150 is coming up soon and I'm off to Apex...but the fact is I don't think I'd be comfortable enough @ 150 jumps. I'm shooting for 300."
-
" My point is starting skydiving solely to BASE isn't that far fetched... "
-

Very honest and understandable statements.
I think there are a lot of people like you who think they want to start Skydiving in order to BASE jump.
When they actually start to learn to Skydive and start to take care of themselves and start to become
Altitude Aware.
They see that what little they have learned about Taking care of themselves when doing that 1 Minute of Free-Fall and pulling @ 2000 feet, also to the mechanics of an open Canopy and the skills of flying and Landing.
When the Beginning goal of skydive jumps / maybe 200 for example, Starts to appear on the horizon.
Most I think realize that the learned skills of those 1-Minute skydive. Will now be reduced to 10 seconds or less from begining to end in some cases when making a BASE jump.

The Big-Picture sometimes becomes a Little More Clear @ that point to most enthusiastic Wana-Be, BASEers.
Then they start setting a more realistic Learning Path to the Dark-Side...........
.
.
HydroGuy:
"The Dark Side Already Owns Me... "
.

edit to add:
Your intelligent statement for your ending of Post should be.
.
I Will Not be in such a hurry to be -Consumed, Overpowered and Owned- by the Dark-Side of BASE jumping to soon.
Most of the Jumpable Objects in the world will still be there along with a few new ones when I start.
.
.

I don't think I have done this.
I want to skydive, already for a long time (as long as I can remember), it is only that fixed object jumping gets more of my attention now and in fact is a factor why I now start skydiving. Without the dream of basejumping insight, skydive would have probably waited some more years.

I don't find skydiving stupid, or for pussies, or something to look down on. It's a beautiful sport and I think (and hope) it will be fun. It is just that I will probably focus on things that most skydivers not really focus on, and vice versa, for preparing me the best for base. But, I will also do things skydivers do.

Right now the plan is to start jumping, complete the course, train canopy skills and tracking skills and rigging, start wingsuit, and only after that starting base. That's it for now, that plan can change anytime.

I'm not really setting a number in my mind. I'm not saying that I will only jump after 200 jumps. I will jump when I feel ready, and other basejumpers (mentor(s)) say I'm ready. That could be after 200 jumps, that could easly be only after 500 jumps. Focussing yourself on a number is pointless, and most of all, dangerous.

If skydiving didn't interesed me at all, why would I waste (in that case) thousands of dollars on it? I could just buy a base rig, fly to the US and give that ski-dude a call. Lot's faster and lot's cheaper. (but not really a good plan, so I won't do it )

Two weeks left, looking forward to it.
Thijs

Thijs"
..." I could just buy a base rig, fly to the US and give that ski-dude a call."
-

He's a smart-ass. I like him already.
.
.

Three weeks here, can't wait

My Dark Side sig refers to freeflying...not BASE...maybe I'm using it wrong. BASE already owns me too, but I'm not going to put that in a sig line being that I've never jumped an object.

I'm definately not in a rush. If there is one thing I have learned in my 100 or so jumps...it's that I have lots to learn, and will ALWAYS have more to learn.

One day though, I look forward to opening a bunch of new local objects with some members from this board...

Hydro
"My Dark Side sig refers to freeflying...not BASE...maybe I'm using it wrong."
-

Excuse me for misunderstanding your dark-side as being Free-flying.
"I forget sometimes that the BASE Zone is mostly Skydivers.
.

Hydro
"I'm definately not in a rush. If there is one thing I have learned in my 100 or so jumps...it's that I have lots to learn, and will ALWAYS have more to learn."
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Dude I still learn something New every time I make a skydive or a BASE Jump.
& I cant Wait to learn something new on the NEXT ONE..........
Sunny Cal. is not to far away from where I live, when ya start BASE jumping give me a call..
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I finally made my two first static line skydives yesterday (I was the first person to jump out of the plane that day )
Appart from my exits, and landings (oh yeah, 8 second flare on landing on first jump, woeps ) everything went well .
Still alive with no injuries. It was fun, I want some more The more I think of it, the more I enjoy it;
See you up there!