Basejumper.com - archive

This one goes out to Yoshi. As I told you, I have seen people with over one hundred jumps that didn't nail it as well as you. Took a solid three from 800ish. You are a natural bro! Glad I was there to share that awesome moment with ya. First Ira, now Yoshi. 2 people that have thousands of skydives, that will be a great addition to our sport. Glad you finally made it out!!

Gotcha beat on that one. I put off twenty-two students on their first jumps last night!

Wuffo you jump of them there objects Joshi?

Hijack> Hey Dave! HOw the the hell are ya?

Crud, my spelling... I mean to say I put off a twenty-year old student yesterday.

you crack me up man..

was absolutely a blast.. I cant beleive that it was so intense. I cant wait to get into some urban shit... thanks for taking me up dave. I really appreciate it, and I am glad I got to do my first with you. I was getting kindof nevous on the climb... almost threw up either from the climb or the nerves or combination of the two, but I held my own and didnt hesitate once I had my toes over the edge. until next time!...

-yoshi

ok heres the deal..so I call a few people to see whats happening in the BASE scene.. I talk to a few people about it.. did a handfull of research etc. then on monday night I talk with DAVE. he is on his way to go make a jump... he calls about an hour later (and I am a dave and busters playing some video games) and he says he will be back in houston in about 30 min if I want to go make a jump.. so what was my reaction.. I hopped on my bike and got up to about 125mph on my way home (got lights flassed at me by a cop but he didnt pull me over) and I grabbed my equippment and made a change of clothes... we then headed to the site and started our just over and hour climb. I almost got sick at about 600 feet and I told dave maybe I should go there (since I was packed slider down) He told me he was packed slider up so he had to go higher and I didnt want him to climb alone so I kept pushing on. once we got the the exit point (about 780 feet) we took about 5 minuted to chill and think about what I was getting ready to do. I went over and over in my head everything that could go right or wrong and what I would do in every situation. I kept visualizing every situation I could think of and tried to build the muscle memory on what to do. .....the time comes. we call down to the ground crew and give them a 2 min warning... dave helped set me up with my pilot chute in hand and got my bridal all fixed up for the jump. he said" take as long as you need man. we can sit here for 30 min if you want" I said "call down and tell them i am going in about 10 seconds! :):):) he made the call I climbed up on the railing and looked down (HOLY SHIT!) oddly I wasnt nervouse really at this point...I wad full balance and I felt as if I was just standing on a curb or something... hell I was going to jump anyways so why did it matter if I fell right? about 5 seconds pass and I look out at the horizon..."3.2.1 c-ya!" out I go. I jsut thought about my body position and kept my chin up, knees kinda bent, chest out, and away I went... I felt like I was floating.. then the noise.. I counted one thousand one, one thousand two then took another split second and flicked the pilot chute. "POOF" theres the canopy "ohh thanks god there it is" I look up to see my left toggle on the riser but my right one is trailing behind me.. I am in a very slow left turn so I grabbed the left toggle, released it and threw it behind me so it could be closer to its friend (mr. right toggle) I then grabbed my rear risers and turned myself into the wind as I was spotting my landing area. we had a little breeze so I didnt have a ton of penetration so I practiced a few rear riser flares and kept my eyes on the prize...a nice little spot to land. I came in and at about 30 feet let the canopy fly...10-15 feet a nice slow rear riser flare and almost stood up the landing! just barely took a knee as I landed....then I jumped up and down trying my best not to scream at the top of my lungs! it took everything I had to not yell... I took off my helmet and looked up to see dave open and he came in for a nice stand up landing right next to me. I ran over and gave him a hug and was like "hell f-n yeah!" .... the climb was amazing..the view was spectacular, the jump was intense, everything about that night was really cool.. hope everyone elses first experience is as good as mine was. cant wait to do a day jump and some urban stuff!...

-yoshi

ps thanks again dave.. you helped me hold my own and kept me in the right frame of mind the entire time!

[Mr. Miagi Voice]

Patience, Daniel son. Patience.

[/Mr. Miagi Voice]




Glad ya had a good time.


Dave....So who's next?


lol

Nice

2 things

1) Keep the other toggle you'll have more control. You have riser experience which is good but in a tight area, that extra tail deflection can save you.

2) Toggles don't release unless something breaks or it's mis-rigged. My vote is for mis-rigged.

Figure out why it was mis-rigged and don't let it occur again. Chances are you had the loop through the guide ring, then the brake setting over the loop and then the toggle through the loop. That is wrong.

It goes Brake setting over the loop, then loop through the guide ring then toggle through the loop ... on top of the guide ring.

Stay safe. Your skydiving and swooping skills just saved you.

Congratulations on your first BASE jump.

yeah.. I dont plan on doing a "B" really soon... in fact I prob wont do another BASE really soon... I want to let this one sink in...then think about another.

good point. I never even thought to keep the left toggle.. I jsut though to get rid of it so the tail would be even. I had plenty of alti (well I guess thats a matter of perspective) I was open at about 450 and I knew I could hit my landing area so I just ditched it. landing on rears wasnt that bad at all.. I almost stood it up, but the toggles would have been a nice addition given I needed to hit a tighter landing area or land on rough terrain.


-yoshi

I'm next!!

NAWT!!

you guys ahave lost your minds. I feel like such a whuffo...

LOL!!

Congrats Toshi. Welcome to Houston.

Agreed. I learned that one the hard way when I lost a toggle on a building and had no outs but an apartment roof. I instinctively dropped the other toggle but realize I would have had more control had I kept at least one.

Congrats dude, and lets be safe

for some reason I kept going over in my mind (before the jump) if I lost one to ditch the other one so I would be even. I thought if I had it in my hand for some reason when I flared on rears it would flare more on that side.. I didnt think about the brake setting and that I wouldnt fully flare on rears, so if it happens again Ill hang on to it. glad to hear you did another jump brit. hopefully I will be with ya sometime and we can do one together.

-yoshi

This has not been my experience. I've seen well maintained and properly set toggles fire on opening. In every instance that I've seen this happen, they have been pin toggles (closed off with a pin rather than the cloth stub at the top of the toggle).

Yoshi, what kind of toggles are you using?

they were cloth tabs... not pins. with velcro..

I dont really know what happened.. all I know is that I am glad I didnt have an off heading opening and once the canopy was open it wasnt turning fast...jsut a slow left hand turn... it didnt seem to effect the opening because it was on heading... I felt really good about it, and dave said my body position looked picture perfect.. so that I am sure helped from it getting out of hand.

-yoshi

Welcome to the dark side...