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Jason and the crew do a phenominal job on BD. I spoke with some staff and they said they had more trains this year than ever which helped slow things down. However, the wait in line seemed a bit extreme and I heard lots of grumbling among those who attended in line. Just curious if anyone else was a bit frustrated? I wonder if having only one ramp could have had something to do with it. Please keep in mind this is far from a slam. I had a great time at BD, Jason and the staff do a great job. Just wondering if wait time could be improved?

well, making my first base jump, I was pretty nervous standing in line with my gear for a long time, but after waiting 4 hours to jump, I was DEFINITELY ready to go!
We basically got up at 4:00am, got on the truck at 7:00am, and since I was in the 4th group I got to jump around 1pm. However, the line went by a lot quicker the second time

I'm definitely gonna try and make the first group next year, and I heard the lines were pretty slow this year. ( I'm just glad I got 2 in! )

It sucked. I was ready to give up after my 1st jump.

One problem, the trains.

Second, too much time between jumpers.

Solution: derail all the trains , reinstall two platforms and keep the jumpers moving.

I will second that it seemed like there was alot bigger pause between jumpers this year the 2 previous years I attended.

Trains - not much can be done, so no comment.

I made 1st jump at 9.30, 2nd at 2.20 and 3rd and 3.10 - and trust me I wasn't packing for the almost 4 hours inbetween 1st and 2nd - I was bitching while standing in line ...

Definately not intended as a slam - I think the job Jason and Co did is great - but I hope it can be improved to finally break the 1K jump mark.

P.S. LOVED the floormat at the Holiday Inn.

I agree with everything you say. Less yacking more hucking and two ramps!! Gotta love the floor mat at holiday I think Jason has had enough and it is ON!!!! Had a great time and perfect weather!!!!

There are a few things that affected the wait time. First, the trains as has already been mentioned, Second, we stopped for those who landed in trees which were about 4 people? I bet we lost close to an hour of jumping for those two things alone.
Yes there was lag time between jumpers, but this was to ensure that noone in freefall hit someone who was already open under canopy.
Glad you had a great time, I know I did too!

Hey windcatcher.........

glad to hear u made your first base jump.......


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thank you! I am so happy I experienced BD. WOw this stuff is addicting! ...I made a 2nd jump shortly after.

How do you guys manage to get jumps in?

long waits occur because of the number of people in line and the jump rate.

as many believe it felt slower, I wonder what the data suggests? (Kramer talked about 1 jumper every 20 seconds in the pre-jump briefing.)

more importantly, what can we do to make next year better? sure we can flood Jason with ideas. but I'm betting he considered most of them. I'd like to suggest that people volunteer their time and ask to help. give Jason the luxury of being massively overstaffed and I bet he can improve the jump rate.

It all depends on where you live, if you're willing to travel and what you want to jump. Here in the Pacific Northwest we have sites available nearby. You'll need to hook up with a mentor in your area.

thank you!!!
I know about finding a mentor. taking the FJC for BASE,etc. If I seriously pursue this, I will be learning as much as possible as I can about BASE, after weighing the risks, and I will only do legal stuff.

haha, let me know when you find that legal A...congratulations by the way, did you jump a BASE or a skydiving rig?

I jumped a skydiving rig successfully used at past BD events! It worked for me, but hopefully next year I can have base-specific gear.

BD was awesome, I did my first two jumps and had myself a wicked time. That Harry guy was awesome on radio. The only thing that suck where the people cutting in line late in the day.

Thanks to everyone who put on the event

KC

I only got 1 jump in off the big bridge, but it was still worth the trip. Thanks to everybody who made it happen.

Special thanks to Jaap for bumming me a sweet base rig. You rock dude!

Tony

All,

I'm still recovering from BD. Yesterday, I traveled back to Fayetteville for a Bridge Day Commission meeting and today I took an extra day off work today just to get back to normal.

Anyway, to address the "long lines" issue, I would first like to mention that the lines were the same "length" as last year (450 jumpers). I think that some of you meant to say they were "slower" this year. We did have some minor glitches, but everyone got to jump - many got 2 or 3.

However, the following also must be factored:

1) A record number of jumpers rode the boom truck onto the bridge at 7am, resulting in more time standing around waiting to jump - long before the 9am start.
2) We didn't get started until 9:20am due to the rappellers, who were raising an American flag with Jon Dragan's ashes. Thanks to Bill Bird, who asked Governor Manchin for an extension, were were able to jump until 3:30pm.
3) There were 9 trains that probably ate up nearly an hour of jumping. Normal is 4 trains.
4) Many jumpers landed in trees near the bullseye and jumping was stopped.
5) Many jumpers were getting injured due to the high winds and their inexperience. Injuries in the main landing area resulted in jump stoppages.
6) High winds resulted in higher than normal water landings. If all four boats are full, then we must stop jumping.
7) Everyone made their first jump by 1:15pm.
8) Between 3:00-3:30 there were hardly any jumpers in line. I begged for jumpers to come to the exit ramps from 3:15 to 3:30 and no one was around. It embarassed me that we asked for an extention and then nobody wanted to jump. Fortunately, two jumpers emerged at 3:25pm just in time for another train hold. The last two jumpers left the ramps at 3:35pm.

So, we will make some improvements in future years. I believe raising the jump requirement from 50 to 100 (or 150) might help with injuries, tree, and water landings. Maybe I'll even have some locals park their cars on the RR tracks about a mile upstream to slow down RR traffic.

I do value all of your comments and greatly appreciate any feedback, positive or negative. I had a great BD05 and met many new friends. Once my mind clears up in the next few days, I'll probably begin to remember you all.

We rely on a (mostly) volunteer staff that works very hard to pull this event off. My sincere thanks go out to all volunteers.

Until we meet again at the exit point.......

 third problem- the wind, at the end of the day when the wind got bad, alot of people where landing in the water, so the boats were full, and jumping was put on a hold. (so I heard)

winds were not good at the end of the day for sure, they did though quite down as soon as the jumping stopped...

About having very few jumpers between 3 and 3.30 pm. We landed at 2.30 and decided not to pack, as with the time it would take to do so (30 minutes) and the time to get back to the exit point (at least 20 minutes) it would not give enough time, with the lines in mind. We watched all the water landings, and some were spectacular.

Of course it was our own decision but it feels a bit sad now. Next time better. Maybe some communication about expected waiting times from top to bottom would help?
Another suggestion: seperate jumpers into first-timers, singles, 2 and multiple ways, specials? Regardsless of the registration order. Surely, this would speed up things.

Just my 2 cents. Any, a big hands for Jason organising this. I really liked it.

Ronald Overdijk

Hey Jason, I say you did an EXTREMELY great job and I don't think alot of people realize how much time and hassel is involved. Nobody should bitch as if you planned extra trains and crazy winds like a conspiracy alright. You ,Harry the mouth, Avery the crazyhead, Johnny the hype, your wife the great, and everyone else involved totally rocked. All jumpers should be grateful to get one in at all "without getting arressted" DUEY to the DUMSKIES. I dare any compaining MOUTH to do it better. Cheers youz guyz.Loved the D Board...

yeah this will sound like kissin ass but i felt the organizers did a great job and i was able to get off four (4) jumps (the last at around 3:05) starting from group 2.

so if you only jumped 2 or 3 times and you are complaining stop your whining, buy another rig, hire packers and start jumping more.

bms

If you look at everyones posts including mine we all said Jason does an incredible job as well as all the staff. Its a difficult event to pull off expecially this year with the jackasses from the NPS pulling stuff at the last minute. This was also the first year in at least the last 4 that there was not more than one ramp. I was curious if this might have been part of the reason the wait in line was alot longer than in previous years. Obviously trains, and wind lots of water landings made a difference as well. Once again Jason is a GREAT guy and does and INCREDIBLE job. I am glad you got 4 jumps in. That does not mean we cant learn something new from each event. Hell I did not make one jump last year and had a great time and would have done it again in a heart beat. So if I am a bitchy whiney ass I will get over and am sure Jason was not bothered or offended by anyone comments.

The same ramp was used in 2004 and 2005. It is wider than the two ramps used in 2003 or the bus ramp used in 2002. There are two lines on the current ramp, so I don't think having two separate ramps is any different.

Cya.

Have you considered a line for "simple solo" jumps, and a separate line you have to go into if you want to do a multiway, or something requiring extra setup time?

That way the solos wouldn't have to wait around while a 3 way got ready, or you flaked a canopy out for an unpacked jump, or whatever.

that landing area felt a lot tighter because of other canopies. my busiest landing followed a solo jump!

I'm guessing that ramp can accomodate a furious pace.

question:
I thought I heard 1 empty boat must be available. jumping will wait until that time. but what if the next group is a 3-way?

were all 4 boats empty for the 4-way birdman jump?