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How do you tell a fellow BASE jumper when to double check their actions?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. How do you tell someone that you know you are concerned about what they are doing without lecturing or pissing them off? Especially if they are more experienced than you in one particular facet of parachuting.

Do you nag? Do you threaten? Do you ignore them?

What techniques do you use to show the proper amount of concern?

You calmly, and in civil terms, but without mincing words or sugar coating anything tell them they are fucking up, and why it concerns you. Express that your motive is their well being.

Great question and I'm very interested in what advice other people have. I've run into multiple occasions lately where I wanted to have a 'chat' with a person. Unfortunately my lack of experience greatly limits my credibility. So I usually just shut the fuck up.

I'm worried that with the growth of our sport we'll see an increased need for being able to deal with situations like this effectively. So I hope this will be a constructive discussion.

I believe SOP is a tar and feathering is it not?

You just tell them that they are fucking up and are going to die. Verbatim, like so:

"You are fucking up and you are going to die if you continue to pull shit like that."

It got my attention early on. Now I'm a good boy.

Do what ever it takes. You don't want to live with the fact that you might have saved a friend if you had only said something sooner.

 

And if that doesn't work, knock'em the fuck out.
A good friend will then understand your seriously concerned for their safety.



Be safe
Ed

Most BASE Jumpers are adults.

A real BASE jumper is someone who includes perspective, the need for and ability to understand feedback (constructive criticism), a desire to improve, a zest for life in a way that keeps them in control, etc.

If a person does not understand your concern, or does not want to listen, or thinks they can do no wrong, they have made a (sub) conscious decision to be like that. They are adults, they will live and die by their actions. You should try to articulate your concerns no matter what. A person who is offended by feedback is better than a dead person. Even if they did not listen and ended up dead anyway. Because they had the opportunity to incorporate the feedback into their jumping.

And if they don't listen and end up dead. . . . .steal their rig and kick dirt on them...

I agree with diablopilot!!!!

you gain their respect so they seek your advice

This in conjunction with peer pressure can be a great tool in intervention.

Tell them to stop taking the calculation out of the risk. Unless that is what they are going for, then see how much he wants to do it after an ass beating. It might be your ass getting beat but it will at least drive the point home.

The important thing to remember, I think, is that (as somebody else said above) we're all adults here. If you want to tell a friend that you think something he's doing is reckless, then that's absolutely fine. Don't talk around it -- just tell him.

... And if, at the end of the day, he chooses to disregard your thoughtful advice, then that's just the way it is. You're his peer, and you've helped to make his decision (because, in the end, he chooses his own path) better informed. My experience has been that you'll save yourself a lot of grief if you remember that.

Jeez...this really is deja vous- a la skydiving; eg: wingloading/jump a camera at 30 J. etc. As JP said. And then you could take a page from Ron-as they lie there bleeding " I told ya so".......