Basejumper.com - archive

on the triax web page.
As always, some sphincter-puckering close calls, crazy stunts, but mostly a lot of BASE folk having a blast!
Check it out at http://www.triaxproductions.com/trailers.htm

adios,
pope

awesome trailers!!!

You said it best that night when you called it miracle bridge to some.

who is greg louganis? a diver? why would the dude that almost "knocked" his head be trying to be like greg. sorry

Greg lougainis (or however you spell it) was a diver who hit the back of his head on the exit point during a dive during the 1988 olympics. He cut his head and got blood in the water. He returned to win a gold medal though.

Later he tested positive for HIV

Yeah.

I've got to laugh... you just called the diving platform an exit point.

You know your a BASE jumper when....

No, he had already tested positive and was aware of this. He chose to keep this quiet, including from the medics who treated him.

yeehaw... that first trailer is right after a 3way me steve-p, and chino did... thats steve getting his nose broke by some dude totally not paying attention... target fiaxation is can be a bitch...;

Thats pretty freakin nasty!!

Greg's positive test was also after a 3 way.

Trust this helps.

First name basis Skin??

I'm trying to learn from other people's mistakes and this clip has brought a lot of questions to mind (http://www.triaxproductions.com/BD04_spot_03.wmv)

1)Is the guy using a collapsible pilot chute or is he holding it incorrectly?

2)Does he chuck the PC too soon or was it a wuss toss?

3)Is the bridle too short? PC too small? (i guess a better question would be Is this guy using sucky gear?)

I don't think he's using a collapsible. Bridge Day requires a minimum 42" PC, and although some collapsible PC's that size have been made, they are very rare. At this point, I doubt you'd make it through the gear check with a collapsible PC.

It looks to me like he's holding it in a mushroom. I personally think that handheld mushroom packs are prone to hesitation, but opinions vary.

It's also very possible that the PC was wet, and that had something to do with it. The weather was not so nice that year.



Neither. He does toss very early, and he does experience some hesitation, but I don't think you could say he pitched "too early" or that the hesitation was clearly a result of the short delay. The toss is plenty strong enough--it gets the PC out to bridle extension. A too strong pitch is more likely to cause orbiting than too weak. But in this case, I don't think his pitch is causing that orbiting, because you can see the orbiting damp out briefly, and then return.



The bridle has to be 9', and the PC has to be at least 42", or he wouldn't make it through the gear checks.

But he's definitely using sucky gear. He's got a bag on that thing.


The interesting questions is "why is his PC orbiting so violently?"

My best theories on that are;

(a) that it's very wet in one particular spot, causing radical differences in inflation and weight, or;
(b) it's got a tear somewhere on the bottom skin that's allowing the top skin be uneven (it's hard to tell from the video, but it kind of looks like one sector of the PC is riding up higher than the others), or;
(c) the PC was attached asymmetrically, or;
(d) the PC was manufactured asymmetrically (in other word's it's defective, or sucky, gear).

Of those theories, I think the most likely is (c) Asymmetric attachment, followed by (a) wet PC.

i suppose i could have asked that single question rather than three...

Here it is straight from the horses mouth...

No it wasn't collapsible...it was regulation 42" w/ 9' bridle. No I wasn't holding it incorrectly.

Yes I threw way to soon...several jumpers previous to me went head low and I was concentrating so much on nailing my first exit that as soon as I hit it and thought "that was perfect", I threw. As soon as I threw I thought "aww shit that was too soon". Since then I have seen people throw just as quick without problems.

Yes I was using a gutter container. An old Warp 3 that three other jumpers have used for their first jumps in the past three years. The whole problem lies in what was done with my bridle. While gearing up I was told by someone (I can't remember who) that since the velcro on the riser cover was so worn and loose that I could/should route my bridle through it. During pre-jump gear check it was eye-balled and ok'd. If I hadn't thrown early it never would have been a problem. Because I threw early the bridle was now too short and my pc effectively stayed in my burble until enough airspeed closed the burble enough to pull it out. Then the orbiting pc gave my canopy 3 line twists one way then reversed and 2 come back out leaving me with only one line twist to kick out of and headed for the rappel lines. I kicked out of that in just enough time to turn back up stream and steer away from the big rock so that I landed in the calm water to the right rear of it. The p/u boat driver gave me kudos for controlling my landing point. I can't tell you what caused the orbiting p/c (it was brand new, attached symetrically as best I remember, and slightly wet from the rain), but my second jump I nailed the exit again, waited 3 seconds and had a beautifal opening. I landed within a few feet of the cross.

I watched that video a hundred times in a row (and I know a little about BASE jumping) so I'll venture a guess at what happened.


That's so bad. The bridle should never run through anything on its way from the pin(s) to the pilot chute.
Nothing. Any variation from this can lead to a PC in tow and your death. It's one thing to tuck a small fold of bridle into something close to your shoulder (it's a good idea to prevent the bridle from getting snagged under the corner of your container and causing a real PC in tow), but you should never actually route the bridle through anything.


I disagree with this. At zero airspeed (when you pitched the PC) there is zero burble. It takes airspeed to create a burble, and that PC inflated before you were at a speed where a burble would have been of concern.

BASE jumpers do hand-held, zero airspeed delays on a very regular basis. There is no history of burbles causing PC hesitations on go-n-throw BASE jumps.

The purpose of nine foot bridles in short delay BASE jumping is not for the issue of burbles, so much as the issue of snatch force. A sudden increase in force is more effective at pulling a pin or peeling a shrivel flap than a gradual increase in tension.

I think what you experienced was a simple pilot chute hesitation. It happens. Sometimes we can analyze video and find a reason, most times they "just happen" and we never know why. There's some contributing factors (which Tom A already discussed) but PC hesitations are pretty random and sometimes quite dramatic.

I personally experienced a PC hesitation after a 3 second freefall. The PC toss was executed correctly but the PC just towed behind me at full bridle stretch for over a second. The PC was tossed into clean air. The PC packjob was the same I had used on a regular basis with no prior hesitations. The PC had been used before and was not damaged or otherwise compromised. The damn thing just hesitated.

That's what I think happened to you. You had other factors working against you on that jump, factors that could have added up to a really bad outcome for that jump. I'm glad it worked out.

(BTW, watch that video over and over and over and see how annoying that litle song gets.)

Ah geez man, that PC's cursed. I used it this year and it snagged the cargo pocket on my pants resulting in me opening on my side.

Of course if I hadn't thrown while unstable, it would have never had the chance to snag. Guess that's why there's propbably about a 110% that I will make it into the fuck up section of the video this year.

-Blind

Yes I know......and thanks for the input Dex.