Basejumper.com - archive

Hello, all

I've been trying to get into the BASE world for a while now. although i have relativelly low jump numbers, I got into skydiving to BASE. I've put an emphasis on accuracy and canopy control.

My main problem seems to be where I live. Kansas is a fairly flat state with nothing for inexperienced newbie jumpers.

secondly almost every BASE jumper i've been in contact with in my area has either quit due to family obligations or too busy (most live about 2 hours away) to entertain my newbie antics.

any suggestions for a wanna be BASE jumper in kansas?

thanks, andrew

dude, there is no jumping in kansas. i dont think anyone has ever even base jumped in that state before.

Finish your studies, move to another state, make some money, get more skydives, get more technical knowledge.

Just one word, "Antennas"

So? Every other weekend (sometimes every weekend) in the winter I'll travel 10+ hours round trip to jump somewhere.

just be thankful that you dont have a flat COUNTRY.

No dude.

Your main problem is you are lazy and want it all on a platter. You are two (count them) states away from idaho and a perfect training ground for the new BASE jumper. You live in a country with cheap gas (which equates to cheap skydiving jump tickets), with skydiving facilities which are second to none, with more BASE jumpers per capita than any other country in the world, and still you're not satisfied.

No wonder the locals are avoiding you. Show some commitment. Put in some effort.

If you did some homework and made even a vague effort, you'd realise that a flat state isn't a set back, it's a blessing.

In hilly regions companies use the naturally available altitude (hills and mountains) to plonk small antennas on in order to transmit far and wide. (ask a swiss jumper about antennas). In flat areas they have to create that altitude by building tall towers. And short of a very ,very, very safe bridge (which you have a very ,very, very short drive away) towers with the right winds, right equipment and config, right training and right approach are about as suitable a BASE jump for newbies as you can get.

It's all there on your doorstep. You obviously just don't want it as much as you say you do.

ian

Andrew-

Have you talked to Chris A or Little Joe about BASE jumping? Those guys will be able to give you more information about local jumping then you will be able to get on here.

Also are you really going to Bridge Day and jumping as stated on your website?

I'll see you on Saturday at the boogie. I'll probably be the only guy jumping a wingsuit so stop by and say hi.

Later.

A user search for Primary Discipline: BASE Jumping, and Location: North America/United States/Kansas returns 5 hits. I can think of several more Kansas jumpers right off the top of my head.

Here's some help to get you started:

bps
Donk (web site with contact info (in Kansas))
BASE864
Zoomee (also has a Kansas BASE web site, reading, in large, flaming letters "BASE Hot Line")

I recommend doing a little more searching before giving up.

If a 2 hour drive seems like too much commitment to you, I'd seriously reconsider your desire to BASE jump. Literally hundreds of active jumpers drive more than that distance for the their regular fix.

Dude-

I just did a search for A's in Kansas between 80 and 700 meters and got 1294 matches.

If you flik one of them every day, you should be busy for a little more than 3 1/2 years...

Have fun...

Hey Kurt,

Can you please send me a link to the website where you did that search? Thanks bro.

yes--
man up and show some real interest. No-one will want to mentor you if you don't care enough to do what it takes.

Take this opportunity to REALLY think about if BASE jumping is right for you...no bullshit.

haha funny

there is a 1800ft cliff that no1 has gave the time/commitment/balls yet to jump

I'm sure there would be a country out there with no cliff over 1000ft

also if oz base crew would invest in a few million tonnes of TNT I'm sure they could turn planty of hills into cliffs

I just want to clarify that those on the BASE Hotline are not "flaming". However, we are willing to learn.

Is this the same Andrew who puked and passed out at in our camp at Couch Freaks??? Send me a PM.

Kansas: There's is no place like home.

Yeah... Laugh as much as you want... But our highest cliff is 38m (about 124 feet). As Iiro once put it, Finland is flat as a transvestite. :)

I agree with you my friend !! guys, find me flatter country than Finland? really...

Holland?

Kuwait?

Do you have a mentor and modern BASE gear?

j/k PM sent

Maldives...highest point is 8'MSL

*post removed, i said things that may have been misunderstood*

Patience young Andrew - only then will you learn the secrets of the Dark Side.

You're getting ready to make the first step - Bridge Day. However, you will need to make a bigger step - and that is to buy gear. Bridge Day will be a great opportunity to find something that suits your needs and see if BASE is your thing.

Keep skydiving all you can and keeping working on your accuracy. Those skills are invaluable.

As for BASE in Kansas - it's available. However, it's not avalable to a newbie skydiver with no BASE experience or even gear. You have to put in your time and prove that you are worthy.

If you don't take to heart anything else that was said here - just remember this - DON'T STRIKE OUT ON YOUR OWN. You're only asking for trouble if you do. We're here to help you - just be patient. Ask in person....

his modern BASE gear is being drooled on by my filthy animal right now. now, where did i put that white widow??? oh ya! right next to my swizzler! YAY!

Andrew - not that it's anyone's business, but does my 6 month medical hiatus from jumping have anything to do with your comment? There was a reason I missed the greatest skydiving boogie of the year.

I also won't excuse the fact that my "laid-back roll" means that I have other obligations besides jumping all the time. If you never have to juggle a career, mortgage, family, and other duties, then good for you.

so ian,
looks like you jumped the gun on being such an asshole...
appears he has looked into it.
keep your friggin hostility to yourself.
once again, let the tom's & nick's and friendly people respond to the newbies
you hostile people keep to yourself.

 
<post removed - local BS taken off-line>

Donk

For all involved in this thread. I know Andrew personally and don't believe he meant any harm with his postings, he was asking questions I could not answer for him.

I will speak with him personally this evening.

Andrew sent me a PM - I dig the tenacity...kind of We'll have a face-to-face and get this all squared away; the KSU BASE FJC thing we talked about.

All other "potential" first timers - Try to be patient and understand that BASE jumping is not like skydiving, in that you can't just show up at your local BASE site, pay few hundred $$$ and jump... you can only do that at Perrine and NRGB.

BASE will open the doors to amazing places (Malaysia, Thailand, all over Europe and Norway, and some cool spots in the US) and the people are the best (well most of them ). It is a great world and I would encourage anybody with the right skill set and mentality to join it...but knowing the risks. I have had a few friends die and many more busted up. BASE can be dangerous game but with the right tools and attitude you can enjoy a long adventurous BASE ride...but it starts out slow. Ground crew a few jumps, watch, listen, and learn. And if you are not close to a BASE Mecca then talk with the BASE manufactures and sign up for a FJCs.

Bridge Day is a great place to do that first jump (though I think the 50 skydive minimum is to low) and/or Perrine with a FJC or experienced crew. I highly recommend Tom A or APEX BASE's FJC. Great people with a ton on knowledge but finding qualified mentors and have the right baseline skill set is critical to long term knowledge transfer.

Play safe,

Donk

bmsbase

Looks like i jumped the gun??? Did I? Re-read the thread. Still seems lazy and impatient, still seems unwilling to make any effort and do any research. But hey, that's just cos i'm an asshole.

Oh and Blaine, this is a forum for discussion/debate, not a hippy love in commune, so if i want to be critical then i will be.

And you've just defeated your own argument by being hostile to me, which you should have kept to yourself.....dumb asshole!

ian

Well said Donk and I couldn't agree more.

you haven't missed it yet! moab starts 28 september.
booyah,
RJ$$

No wonder it took me so long to get a rig. I thought somebody told me to "buy beer".

 Andrew
I have made plenty of base jumps here int his flat state and for the life of me can't see what the problem is.
You have to make efforts and understand that things just don't happen because you want them to.
Buy gear and beer. ask to ground crew a few times and learn as much as possible.
people like Donk, JJ and Zoom all helped me along the way, but I did not expect them to and it was on thier time and I never asked fro anything more then that.
If things are not moving fast enough for you then perhaps you should look into a first base course and go from there.
good luck.
Joe

Damn them Kansas dudes are mean!!!

AR Kansas too!

You should see what happens when they leave the state........... oh wait.... you have......

I drove 1578 miles non-stop('cept for gas) to be entertained by Abbie.

Hmmm, I do see a problem. People don't want to sell you gear without a mentor and a course of action.

Your locals seem to be telling you to buy gear so they'll know your serious.

These views are conflicting, to say the least.

a plane ticket to TF can't be that much if you don't feel like driving there.

. . . .BASE is not free man. If you're not willing to put in the money or set aside the time necessary to get er done, then perhaps you need to reconsider. You're going to need to commit alot of time to this sport if you want to do it as safely as possible.

I can tell you I'd have plenty more BASE jumps under my belt if I was willing to commit the time required to the sport. But right now, I've got other stuff I'm more interested in pursuing. Fortunately, BASE is going nowhere. Maybe you need to remind yourself of that.

Cheers,

JP

Ok I'd like to speak on Andrew's behalf before this gets taking any more out of context and turns into a bit bitch fest.

First off, he's not lazy in any way shape or form, so we can cut that out of the post already. He pursued his riggers ticket to help better understand gear, canopies and packing.

Is it considered lazy to own every BASE video you can get your hand on, download every BASE video from skydivingmovies.com, view them and see if they were slider up, down, how the toggles were set, how long of a dealy, head low, head high, shoulder dropped, offer heading etc?????

Before many of you made your first jump, did you spend every day at the local pool during the summer practicing exits off the diving boards for an hour practicing stable exits?

Pictures hang on his walls of the brdige and landing area for NRGB, he knows how each off heading opening will effect him off the bridge, how long of a delay, where he'll land etc.

He's dedicated all his landings to practicing approaches and on large f111 canopies instead of zp.

He's printed out BASEwiki and read everything else he can get his hands on about BASE jumping.

His reason for this post was to ask for MORE advice, not to be dogged by those he looked up to as his mentors. I understand how the community is, there are lots of people who want to jump who shouldn't or that could damage the repuation of the sport, but before hounding the poor kid and calling him lazy because he was actually ASKING for advice as to other ways he could get into the sport and finding humor in that Kansas was a flat state, not that there wasn't jumping in Kansas.

That's my rant, I've known him since he was a student, I was his instructor, I took him out of the plane a number of times, trained him in the tunnel, in the air and have watched him progress through skydiving and observed his dedication towards BASE. He's the furthest thing from lazy, he just seaks information.

That is all.

Something that every new BASE jumper has to understand, and that most have trouble grappling with:

Those old guys can actually find themselves wanting to go do other things aside from BASE jump. As a new jumper, we all wanted to jump every night, and we all hounded every older jumper we could find to take us out constantly. And, we were all disappointed that they didn't seem to jump as much as we wanted to.

That's normal, and natural. When you're new, you have a lot of enthusiasm. But, unlike skydiving, you can't just show up at the DZ and have loads going. So, you get frustrated. Some people start to take it personally (what's wrong with me? how come none of those guys want to jump with me?), not realizing that it's just that those older guys have wives, children, careers, and heck, beer drinking, that may come before climbing a tower at 2 in the morning.

We've all been there, and we all know how it feels. Don't take it personally when someone with hundreds of jumps just doesn't feel like going out tonight. In a couple of hundred jumps, you're going to be that guy, too.

Pissing myself at this gem. It's just twisted.

I do understand where you're coming from though. I've been knocked back in my attempts at a new career as a trauma surgeon. I'm deadly serious about it too. Watched all the episodes of ER i could get my hands on, taken notes on all the important life saving precedures, but still the medical community won't take me seriously. I have a plan though. Just ordered SCRUBS off amazon. I'll show them.

ian

Wow... You reall nailed that one RIGHT on the head. ***cough cough bullsh*t cough cough***

hey... a little off topic, but can i borrow those when you're done... i have a slight interest in surgery as well...

Nothing against Andrew, but good one. That was witty.

Personally, I figure if you think he isn't putting in enough effort, why would you tell him? If he's not willing to put in the effort, let him give up.

Tom, I think you're stereotyping. Most experienced BASE jumpers are younger than me. 'Cept for Nick DG and Johnny Gates.

I hear what you're saying man. I think the whole "2 hour drive comment" though is what made me get the vibe of laziness and lack of motivation to some degree.

. . . .Believe me I should not be one to criticize anyone. I've got my handful of BASE jumps (all from bridges) and I could have definately gone after more jumps if I had the proper motivation. But right now I don't I am more focused on a big climb up Denali next year. It's a big trip. AK is a long way from California. A trip like this requires a great deal of training and planning. Kind of like BASE does if you're going to really go after it.

My reason for harping on Andrew a bit was meant to be constructive. For alot of us, BASE is about timing. Those that really want it make the time. After reading your comments, sounds like Andrew is definately on the right track. But hopefully a 2 hour car ride won't stand in the way with making it happen.

If I offended Andrew I apologize.

Cheers,

JP

I'm incrediblly hard to offend. and I know none of you mean any real harm by it.


and when i do get my drivers license back... oh boy.

DENMARK....

Ha ha your greate mate dont let them soft Americans get you.im here to back you up

Andrew,get more jumps under your belt,arrenge whith local BASEjumpers that you can GC,when your ready for gear im sure they will step forward and tell the manufactors that they will mentor you so you can get gear.

Listen to Ian,he tells you somthing right here even as it appers that he is abit harsh to you.But theres a reasson..
He think of you and your safety,and following the things he said will help you,He had his reassons..

The surgery thing is so he can fix himself each time he hurt himself,dont worry his from UK he can take it

Ray, I really hope the AR part did not mean Arkansas! We are the good guys
BTW, Andrew, Arkansas is a fairly flat state as well!

Andrew, a lot of these posts remind me why I almost never post on dz.com....so don't get discouraged.

We met at couch freaks. Let's see how your bridge day goes and we can go from there. There are at least two objects between us and you, so we've got options.

Tom hit the nail on the head. Many of our local crew (including me) are married with children and so our pace may be slower than some, but we still get out for some flicks, so no worries. We'll cya at bridge day!

dglangstraat is completely correct..... DZ.com is full of bitches... They are fun to prod and watch them bark and moan, but most of them aren't worth a shit for knowledge. the folks that told you to hang in there are correct. it took me almost 2 years to find someone to teach me. and then I drove 8hrs round trip for each jump. here I am now just over a hundred later..... still calling everyone I know just to get a flick in when I'm not with the kid. BASE is free(till your busted) but it requires patience and perseverence. You can make it happen, the folks listed as your locals are great people.... scratch their backs and enjoy the ride.