Basejumper.com - archive

I got in to wingsuit flying and BASE pretty much so I could combine the two - and last week I finally managed it with 6 jumps from the popular Italian terminal wall. I had so much fun I just have to spread the love!

First jump I just wanted to clear the wall and pull so I did about a 20 second delay. I didn't supress my natural 'starfish' exit style very well so the exit wasn't that graceful and I ended up quite head down but pulled out of it soon enough. Had a twist on opening but had bags of altitude to kick it out and made the main landing area no probs.
Second jump I got a much better exit but my forward speed seemed really lame, did maybe 25 seconds but got almost nowhere. A twist again on opening.
Third jump got a good exit again and this time really concentrated on keeping my head down and the speed up. Pulled above the main landing area at maybe 800 feet . Much better opening this time.
On the fourth jump we got a bit clagged in with cloud at the exit point and ended up waiting for about an hour for a gap. When one finally came I stood up and was shouting "James. James. Are you ready? James!" Yes, Uncle Charlie is so cool he'd fallen asleep on the exit point! Bit of a starfish exit again but a nice flight and flew to the landing area.
Fith and sixth jumps really concentrating on the speed. Pulled just short of the river so definately making progress. Better openings again.

Just from those 6 flights I learnt loads about flying the suit. Plane jumping has got me chasing numbers on the ProTrack but the jump I did in maximum de-arch / minimum fallrate was seriously lame in terms of distance. Who wants to float slowly straight down? I've got a parachute for that! The jumps I did concentrating on staying flatter and keeping my head down were a world away. The difference in glide is way, way more marked than I ever thought it would be.
I'm glad I used the leg pouch and did some plane jumps on it first. I'm also glad I was pulling high because I'm pretty sure the twists I had were down to having my right shoulder low. That seemed to be getting better on the last couple of jumps though.
What everyone has already said on here about the lack of groundrush and on target fixation is totally true. The ground just seems to slowly cruise up towards you. I think it will take quite a few more jumps before I can reliably read my altitude. And I can see how easy it would be to get in to the whole "I'm gonna make it. Gonna make it. Gonna make it. Not gonna make it! Pull pull pull!".

Wingsuit BASE rocks!

Gus

Nice one Gus! Hope you've got some nice pics & video to show us all soon.

Al

Welcome

Don't let me catch you low-pulling again!

Looking forward to seeing the flying starfish in action next month. James has already nixed my creative suggestions to go slider down off ITW.

 
To clarify - I wasn't asleep! I was just resting my eyes

Nice work Gus!

Hmm, resting them pretty enthusiastically!


None at all I'm afraid . If I ask him very nicely Skreamer might get some ground footage when we go in September .

Gus

Grabs from Gus' exit attached

Nice gus,

What WS were you jumping?

Dude, totally. One of my main ambitions in life is to get some of my footage used in one of James's PF vids. He is my hero.

My S3.

Gus

Nice one mate............. Glad you had fun with it..........

looking at coming to nearish your area soon for a bit of a 370fter power tower in that dirty horrible funny speaking provincial you have to pay to get into..... (those local pubs there are a high risk in itself!)

Will let you know............

Only six jumps! Gus you lazy bastard. I hope the weather was bad or something, as you should have done them in 3 days....

Anyway, glad you didnt die from heat exhaustion as i predicted. i bet it was still hot though, maybe thats why you went so slowly... See what i mean about line twists with leg pouch, i had them for about the first ten or so, but if you concentrate on moving your arms but maintaining shoulder symmetry during the pull i found they go away. My twists were always the same in number and the same in direction (two to the left) so i think it was most probably my shoulder drop that gave it. Well done for getting to the bar, the river is a serious distance for beginners like us!! I just made the river once, it was very surreal watching the traffic on the road go by 500 feet below as you cross the road eh? I am getting very stoked about the trip I have planned in Sept, are you going back too? if so when?????

As you so eliquentley put it :

WINGSUIT BASE ROCKS!!!!

It fookin rocks big.

Darren

Gday mate i also did my first 7 terminal jumps at kerag 1 month ago on my s3 with leg pouch ,i found you get better and longer and bigger smiles with every jump ye har well done mate ...