Basejumper.com - archive

For BASE jumps, they recommend at least 200 skydives. Why is it for bridge day, they recommend only 100? Right now, it says that the first jump course is filled up at bridge day this year but may make additional room. Are they known to add on more slots for the course?

The minimum number of skydives to jump at Bridge Day is set by the Bridge Day jumping organizer (currently Jason Bell, who is on these forums as BASE428).

The number of skydives recommended by various BASE first jump instructors ranges from around 100 (the lowest--that's Apex) up to about 250 (the highest--that's Morpheus).

There is no monolithic "they" as you refer to in your post, to have ever standardized these numbers. Each group of people chooses what seems like a good set of pre-requisite experience for their event or program, and they go with it.

As an aside, BASE and Bridge Day only overlap--they are far from being the same thing. I'm totally comfortable with Bridge Day being something of an anachronism outside the general "rules" that the BASE training "industry" (such as it may be called that) has imposed upon itself. Bridge Day is a unique event, with a unique history and a unique culture. It takes great thought and good judgment to try to make those things come together, so if you see Jason at Bridge Day, shake his hand and buy him a beer.

Regarding the second part of your question, there is a "they" who is in charge of adding slots to the course, and it turns out that I am the "they" you seek. PM me if you really want me to try to add another spot into this already over-subscribed course.

I do recomend 500 skydives efore even starting with BASE. Starting with BASE includes enough new things for an experienced Skydiver.

For an unexperienced skydiver its even more.

And more important than that. I think it takes many jumps and some years skydiving before you can be mature enough to validate the risks.

If you start early, you have less of an idea of what kind of risk you are taking.

Im not a fan of 200 jumps and IM totally against the 100 rule.

/m

Good reply, Tom.

In years' past, the golden number was 100 for an experienced jumper or manufacturer to instruct you. We've seen this number slowly increase in recent years. When we started organizing Bridge Day, there was no official minimum number so we set it at 50. As Tom mentioned, Bridge Day is unique and we're comfortable with this number.

But we often overlook the "type" of person that wants to start BASE jumping. I've seen jumpers with 1000+ skydives that have no business leaping off a bridge. And conversely, I've seen people with no skydives who I'd be completely comfortable in throwing off my local bridge.

why is it?


why did i jump a vector?
why didnt i go hand held?
why am i on my back, looking at the steel?

that im stuck in this fucking tree?
that my legs are broken?
that i just frapped in?

why am i dead?
and why is it so goddammned hot?

i mean, i've done a hundred skydives, what could possibly go wrong..

im all whith Martin..

Too many sky jumps can wreck your chances of being a good fixed object jumper. If your over 100 then it probably too late for you and you should just continue sky jumping happily ever after.

Why did I forget my stash-bag??

hmmm, well, i agree with another poster here. me and my crew have PCAd people with no skydives or paraglider experience off Potato, and they standup their landings in the middle of the landing area, but i have also seen people with 1500 skydives fuck up every exit they do. and land in the water for their first 20 jumps.

to me, the kind of person it is starting to base is by far the most important factor in teaching someone. I have 2 freinds that i have given a 3 hour ground school to, and put a student siz rig on them, and we do a 3 way thier first jump from 8000. they even remember to turn around and "track" at 4500. but i have freinds that i wouldnt want to recomend anything but a tandem to.

when BASE was starting, the way i see it is most of those guys starting it were the people who caould do what i was talking about. now its a exponentialy growing sport, and every frat boy in the world wants to have their slice, and they can because its all proven now.

this is also why i dont agree with FJCs, they put together 3 to 10 people, some have no buisness in BASE, and some have no buisness in an FJC. and evry one of them is required to get PCAD their first jump, even if they are totaly able and comfortable going stowed. me and my boys all went stowed on our first jumps.

edited to add "s around track.

dude
I have LOST 2 stashbags. weird. i seriously dont know how it happens, always bandit airplane jumps though.

Is your avatar a picture of the dude being hanged from helicoptor in the movie Scarface?

PCA'd jumps are a good thing to have experience with, both giving and receiving, if you're really BASE jumping and not just jumping from the same object with the same exit over and over...And PCA or StaticLine are by far the safest exit you can do given there is no object to run into.

So requiring it in a FJC is not a bad idea no matter how good the fit...

negative, it is me doing backflips off my freinds schweizer 400' off the deck. yeah, base stuff. vid is cool

i dissagree somewhat. the first PCA i got was off my first B, 5th BASE jump. i asked what would be different, he said it would be softer and faster. i said ok. it was softer and faster. back to my whole thing about different people BASE jumping. some would freak out about their fist PCA, of course, those people would have done pcas on their first jumps anyway? aye?