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Please don’t flame me if i seem ignorant here, its just something I’ve been thinking about.

I've seen various different recommended jump numbers to start BASE ranging from i believe 50 at bridge day to 250 on other web sites.

What skills do you take directly from skydiving into BASE?

With forward speed of the aircraft i cant for the life of me see how it could remotely help you practice your exit for a BASE jump, so is this number suggested in the hope that the person has acquired knowledge/practice of a few off landings and a good grasp on basic canopy control?

Also with BASE it seems to me that a terminal object is rare, how would you learn to manoeuvre your body and make that perfect exit? Wouldn’t it be an idea to suggest a few video'd balloon jumps? (i know it would be a huge inconvenient pain in the arse but what better way of seeing someone jump into still air)

I’m thinking that having lots of jumps can help only so much but when it comes to the crunch you have to learn right there and then. I think when it comes down to it I’m asking what do you hope that person has achieved in 250 jumps and if you could set rules in stone what would they be?

think canopy control skills

Don't forget the importance of a mindset. What you learn in 250 jumps versus only 50 goes far beyond the things your body learns. It's about maturing in a stressful environment that can be hazardous to your health.

There are other complementary ways to get this experience, but skydivings works great. And it gives you plenty of canopy experience too.

Read BASE WIKI's skydiving preparations for BASE.

 
If you cannot see the value in having more skydiving experience to start BASE, you do not have enough skydiving experience yet.

it's that simple

You've interpreted me wrong. I see the value in it, if i didnt id be a moron. But im asking if there is anything else you'd like to see people do, anything else that could be more beneficial (hence balloon for exit practice.)

Balloon exits are good if you just drop off as they will give you an idea of what a BASE jump is like. But I don't think those crazy balloon pilots like it when you push off and on virtually every BASE object, it's a good idea to push off to put some horizontal distance between you and the object.

Have you read Tom's getting into BASE articles? If not I'd start there.

There's no harm in you wanting to become a BASE jumper. Just make sure you're doing it for the right reasons and make sure you've done your homework. Now where did I put that "BASE for Dummies" book. Oh that's right ... Jaap has it.

Canopy control is the biggie. Fly lightly loaded 7-cell canopies and learn everything you can about them. Many buy BASE canopies and the appropriately sized skydiving rig to use them [in the sky]. A sail slider would be in order.

why is that?

A sail slider is made of canopy material instead of mesh. It helps to control the opening but good packing techniques are still required.

Come talk to me when you get your canopy and I'll show you how to pack it for a tolerable terminal opening with the mesh slider that comes with it.

All my terminal jumps, including those 2 you saw from the airplane, were with a Black Jack, a mesh slider and a 34 inch pilot chute. They were both very tolerable openings.

try doing another 481 jumps on a big 7 cell (220 square feet or bigger)...in those 481 jumps do some balloon jumps.CRW and accuracy...whilst doing all this do a top rope and abseil course as well as a first aid course (look on www.basejumper.org for details on first aid)

read the BASE fatality list....read it again...and again...

make a will...talk to your freinds/family

talk to other UK jumpers specifically ones near you...book a course...buy your rig then talk to other UK jumpers when you are done on the course...(www.basejumper.org)

that should do for starters

OK people are jumping the gun here... I havnt asked how to get into BASE, i've asked what skills you take from skydiving into it and would you recommend nything else to help (Like seans abseil suggestion.)

Do a lot of skydiving. Try to land as accurate you can on every Skydive.
In my opinion you don’t need to do 500 jumps with a 7 cell canopy (but my guess is that Sean621 is a little sensible on this matter, do to machinegun like posting of a dangerous guy… )
But it wont hurt to do at least a bunch of 7 cell skydives before experiencing this type of canopyflight of an object.
A very important skill that you can take from skydiving is tracking.
Good tracking skills will keep you away from walls.
Something that you can not learn in skydiving (from airplanes) are the exits.
It is completely different exiting from a plane then exiting from a fixed object with initially no relative wind. And this is a very important point in BASE Jumping and can pretty much fu(k up your day.
Also something that can help you is how you learn to handle a situation under stress if you have experienced a skydiving malfunction or any kind of problems where you have to react in a very short time.
To sum it up, what you can take from skydiving (this is only my opinion) is:
- Canopy piloting
- Tracking
- Landing accuracy
- React under stress

i would say 200 skydives as a bare minimum.. mostlikely more.. actualy i personaly would move that upward to the 4-500skydives..

the 200jumps would be for the person using alot of time practice accurasyskills etc

no matter what # of jumps you think of its not the # that will save you but the skills you have from thouse jumps...

Learn rigging. Not as in you need to become a skydiving rigger (it couldn't help of course), but be comfortable with attaching your lines to your risers and taking off and/or adding your slider. That sort of thing. Plus if possible, get your hands on a BASE rig to practice packing.

Go to the Consolidated Rigging Technical Library and start reading on canopy drills while on a skydive. Read, read, read... everything in the technical library.

From skydiving:

a) Canopy control: Especially if you are a CRW or Accuracy jumper, and hence have experience maneuvering a canopy in close quarters, or jumping a large 7 cell canopy similar to a BASE canopy. Recommendation: take up both CRW and Accuracy early in your skydiving career for maximum benefit.

b) Tracking skills: Just because you aren't terminal (yet) on a BASE jump doesn't mean that you can't track. Learning to track from an airplane will help you to dial in a subterminal track, too.

c) Airflow "reflexes": Get used to using terminal airflow to recover stability, or to hold heading, or whatever--basically to make your body move where you want. Remember that these skills, also, will have some transfer value to subterminal situations. Having good reflexes like this can really save you on a "just-terminal" or "not-quite-terminal" jump, where you have only a few seconds of good air speed to work with in regaining stability after a problem.

d) Familiarity with parachute openings: BASE openings are kind of like skydiving openings at 10x speed. Understanding, and feeling, many skydiving openings will help give you a feel for what's going on during a BASE opening, and also transfer some skill in controlling the opening, giving you some chance (no matter how small, it's still better than none) of controlling an opening to counteract a problem. Familiarity will also make you more alert, and better able to begin controlling the parachute immediately after opening.


Other skills:

a) Knowledge of wind and micro-climate: Paragliding and Ground launching are good sources for this kind of thing. Understanding the basics of how air generally flows over irregular surfaces is very helpful to a BASE jumper. You can also find reference books with this information, both from a practical perspective (for paragliding pilots, mostly), and from an academic one (look for fluid dynamics texts).

b) Rope rescue skills: There are courses available in this, and taking one is a very good idea. To establish familiarity and currency, though, definitely do some roped climbing so that you are very comfortable with using ropes, belaying, rapelling, etc. If you have a chance, go out and just mess around with the rope in unusual contexts, climbing water towers, rappelling off bridges, etc.

c) First Aid skills: I think it's obvious why these are desirable. Courses at many different levels are available.

d) "Stealth" skills: I won't discuss these here, but consider what you may need to do to access various objects, and what skills might come in handy.

CRW: as Tom says I think CRW is very important to base. It teaches you not only how to fly your canopy, but will also give you a lot of skills and confidence when you have all just pulled low off your multi way and now you have too many canopies converging on too small a landing area. Being able to fly canopies relative is very important in base.

Water training: If you are intending to fly your wing suit in Norway get fully strapped in (with your rig on) and learn how to get out of it in the water. Having done it in the pool will take away the fear and help you relax when you swim for real.

First Aid: If you are going to play dangerous games you need to know how to deal with the consequences. You are being very selfish to your friends (and family) if you don't take the time to learn at least the basics

Greeny