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On September first about 5:30pm I managed to break my right tibia & fibula below the top of my boot jumping off the potato bridge.

Having slacked off on BASE jumping for a couple years (herniated disc, moving, etc.) apart from a 370' S the previous weekend (with a tighter landing area) I had originally planned on landing in the wide open field and walking the river landing area which was covered in more brush than I'd seen.

Jay jumped first and landed on the river side of the trees perpendicular to them (north to south?) so I changed my mind on the landing area. Always making your own decisions and sticking with the plan is a good idea.

The winds were calm with a periodic light breeze towards the river; which made landing behind the trees a potentially bad idea.

While I'd only done one BASE jump recently I had been shooting classic accuracy approaches under the same Fox 245 every weekend for months. While fairly close, both the slider-off configuration and different harness change the control range some. Bad idea.

Historically there was always a nice path running along the river although it looked completely covered in brush that was much shorter than the trees. That was three years ago. Jumping into that brush without first checking it out was a bad idea.

I did a conservative 2.5 second delay as originally planned; did a ~3/4 brake accuracy approach in; decided to land in the brush instead of a grassier spot where Jay landed next to the trees to avoid over shooting; felt a slight downdraft (I don't think I was stalled); tagged a piece of brush/tree/something on the way in with my right foot (I think that broke it, and the Seattle doctors thought that there was a rotational component to my injury); got what felt a decent flare; and had what my left foot felt to be a soft landing as I was falling over. Once on the ground I found that my right leg had an extra bend in it between my ankle and the top of my Hanwag. Jay said the landing looked normal.

I propped my right leg on my left knee and held my foot at a more natural angle until Jay got there and relieved me. We radioed for the boat and an ambulance. The other jumpers moved me on a back board into the boat. Paramedics got me morphine+versed and a real splint before moving me into the ambulance.

I got surgery to install a titanium nail with four screws Saturday night; stayed at the hospital through Tuesday; a couple days in Twin falls recovering enough for my wife to move me home; and through next Saturday slowly getting there. While the broken pieces feel well enough with Vicodin, stretching/bruising/nicking a nerve is not uncommon, nerve pain is not as responsive to drugs, and nerve pain following too much time vertical or sitting has kept me in bed for another week. Getting approved to work from home and collect a full pay check has been an administrative hassle.

Bad judgment, a lack of currency, and complacency are painful. The potato bridge is still a BASE jump. I'll be more conservative next time.

My canopy was a Fox 245 with a 190 pound exit weight which is a bit higher than I like, although I've done the same approach on hard ground at 205 pounds.

If I'd been wearing sneakers instead of Han Wags I'd have a compound fracture. Lesser ankle support may have led to soft tissue damage which takes a lot longer to heal. Paragliding boots are good.

Radios got us out and an ambulance waiting sooner than we otherwise would have.

Hope you are doing well. It really appeared to be the average landing. I was dumbfounded when you yelled out in pain. Hopefully you can come play this March ....

I concur - your landing looked "normal" but slightly "in the woods" from above. I think I was the next jumper to jump, and would not have if I thought anything was wrong.

As I was stashing my stuff, Jay came thru the trees and said you hurt your ankle. I was shocked when he said it, to be honest. I saw you sunk it in, but the landing looked soft. Others agreed.

You were on quite a load of medicine, one which the EMT specifically said would make you not remember as much, so I don't know if you remember me riding the boat out with you and Jay, then eventually helping with seeming-less trivial things like holding the saline bag for the EMTs, or sitting between the bow of the boat and you to block the water splashes.... But I will say you kept your cool and managed the situation well.

One thing I will say - there was a small debate if to drive you to the hospital or have an ambulance meet you at the docks. You requested the ambulance, and after seeing the pain/injury - you made a great decision. No need to be a hero...

At the time of the incident, I assumed you got your foot stuck between two branches, or in a hole, close to the ground... You were in a wooded section 5 feet from the water. Now you post you broke it before landing. How high was the branch you think you broke it on?

The "real splint" you reference in your post was simply a pillow and tape, but it worked none the less. Make sure you are billed for a "pillow" and not a "splint". That should save you $1M on the hospital bills.

I agree about your comment about the radio. It was the radio I had that I used to contact the people on the bridge to get the ambulance, followed by the radio in the boat once we got underway.

I think jumping with a cell phone and/or radio is probably a damn fine idea - even for "simple" jumps at Twin... With 8 people jumping, others watching - it would be simple to assume "we can yell back up if we need to" or "someone will have a phone". In this case, there was a lot of data and logistics that the radios surely helped...

Also - those backboards on the Boat were priceless. We used them not only for you, but to make a "bridge" between the boat and shore to get you onboard. Thank the boat owner for that one - he saved you a lot of pain!

Travis

hey drew that sucks man. heal fast. and to think, you landed just fine in that tiny landing area on that 370' s. weird.

heal fast brotha

-e

Drew,
Heal fast man, sorry to read about your leg.
Blair

In two months you'll be up and running again!

I know many of you yellow jackets will take this the wrong way...because it's what Tom teaches...but this 3/4 brake approach to landing is the worst idea I've ever heard in canopy piloting, like the worst ever.

With large BASE tarps the very last 50-100' must be in full flight or faster than full flight.

SPEED=LIFT, we ain't got no engine!

3/4 brake approaches are great to have the canopy surge momentarily by gong into full flight to decrease the angle of attack prior to flaring. They are also great when the situation does not allow for front riser hook turns...3/4 into both front risers, into plane out and flare.

With our modern BASE tarps, if you generate enough airspeed you don't even need to flare or use the rear risers to make a tip-toe landing.

Fly like you have stolen that thing! If you got altitude, front riser hook the shit out of it. Tight areas? 3/4 into front risers. Really super tight? 3/4 into full flight for at least 50' into flare.

Ask Miles how many times he does not stand up a landing...and I have never seen him not hooking one way or the other.

SPEED = LIFT, NO SPEED = NO LIFT!

You're smoking dope Nick (again ). My fat ass can plop down in 3/4 brakes from 50' just fine under a 280 Mojo. I usually do feet-knees, but it's not bad, and much better than missing the target.

You're ass is under a Raven now anyway until you break into the evidence locker. You don't land - you arrive.

Drew's was more bad luck than bad technique.

Hope you heal fast bro...nice hardware.

It's a Super Raven! And Ravens are the BASE canopies of the 22nd century!

Hook it like you stole it!

I would like to see you do that. Please post some video of you doing that, it'll be good enough for all us non-believers.



apparently your idea of tight and super tight landing areas is not the same as most jumpers'.....

Next time you're in Twin ask Miles to show you so, he's a better tarper than me. It saddens me that a BASE god such as yourself does not understand basic aerodynamics principles


I also have the idea that BASE is the easiest thing there is, easier than swimming or walking, or popping zits.

After setting his record last year, Miles responsible clearing of the beach with a sling-blade slacked-off.

Drew, hope you heal fast & completely!

I agree with Nick (never thought I'd say that )
regarding more speed on final giving the pilot a
much better control/flair.

Plus in full flight a canopy is more rigid which
makes it less affected by turbulence.

However, I took Tom A.'s FJC and do NOT recall
any discussion about doing a braked approach
for landing.

Lastly, what's a "yellow jacket"?

A fucking wasp. Did I forget the green?

OK,

Vespula pensylvanica

Yes yellow jakets were invented in PA, go figure.

Yeah dude, I lived in PA when I was a kid
and have been stung by a bee...just never
heard anyone use it to refer to people.

Thanks! I remember the boat ride but wasn't too aware of anything but the paramedic's questions once they got me to the dock and shot me up with Versed & morphine.


I haven't figured out quite what happened. The ground I was lying on seemed relatively flat and solid and I didn't take any steps before falling over. The obstacle at most 5' off the ground felt more solid than the landing and I'd guess that I needed some forward speed to get the rotational component in my break so it's my number one suspect.


Thanks for the call!


Definately. It stinks when your leg has an extra bend in it.

I might just do that, as I have seen Miles land plenty of times and he has always needed to use the rears and or toggles to get a tip-toe landing on every landing I have seen.

It saddens me that someone who is supposedly as intelligent such as yourself (maybe they are just handing degrees out randomly at your university) keeps making ridiculous statements and expecting everyone to believe them as fact.

Then, when someone contradicts them with real fact/science/empirical evidence, the best you can do is come back with calling them a basegod or making juvenile sexual remarks.

and it is exactly because I do understand basic aerodynamic principles that I made that post...


that would explain why you almost killed your 'BASE soulmate' by totally fucking up an unpacked jump that Tom Aiello invented and why you are the first (and probably last) person in recorded history to leave the exit point with a lineGROUP over, or why you flew into a tree on a jump where it's pretty easy to calculate that by freefalling the way you did, you weren't going to clear them....

You must really suck if you can't even get something that easy right!!

is a lot to learn from yuo if ther is not so muhc ego and personalty problemch

old chines proverbe: always remember teh treee

Being in full-flight for even the last 50 feet comes in exchange for lower landing accuracy, head-wind increases or underestimation causing you to land short, and more forward speed on landing.

Glide ratio is somewhat better than 2:1 in full-flight so each one foot error in altitude estimation is going to move you over 2' from the target. If you're landing 5' from a river bank or atop a boulder 5' from the edge, being 30 inches off on your return to full flight is going to get you wet or run you into the rock. You can't estimate height that precisely especially when you're jumping different objects where the trees and other landmarks you use for references vary in size.

EIFF claims a forward speed of 22 MPH in full-flight for its accuracy canopy at BASE wing loadings which is 32 feet per second. With glide better than 2:1 you have a descent rate of 16 feet per second and at 50' you have at least 3 seconds left until you land. If you under estimate the wind by 2.5 MPH (not hard when there are limited indicators and the winds at the landing area are different than the exit point) you get the same 5 foot error.

From 2/3 brakes you have a glide ratio of about 1:1 which can be flattened or steepened so location and wind changes matter a lot less.

Classic accuracy competitors win by being less than a foot from the target. Total from 10 jumps. They use a 2/3 brake approach which gradually steepens into a sink below 100' to get there.

A flare from full-flight leaves either some forward speed and/or the canopy behind you so it will dump you on your back if you've flared high. With a classic accuracy approach you can transition to a sink where the canopy stops generating lift but leaves you with the drag of a 240+ square foot rectangle and the resulting slow acceleration towards the ground. That yields tolerable stand-up landings from at least 10' up. And since the canopy is no longer flying, you can decrease the forward speed all the way to zero. This is real nice when the landing area terminates in rock, trees, or a steep drop-off. Note that going beyond a sink has the canopy going backwards and dropping quickly which will hurt you. Practice at altitude and into soft landing areas like pea gravel.

EIFF quotes 11 MPH before stall/sink. If you have a sudden headwind decrease in excess of that you might fall out of the sky from a deep brake approach.

If you're jumping into a big area with turbulence or winds you need a full-flight approach.

If you're jumping into an area that's tight enough along the line of flight (IOW, not railroad tracks) you need a braked approach.

Otherwise you can pick and choose but practicing deep brake approaches under your BASE canopy with both slider configurations (the transition between sink and reverse occurs with less toggle deflection when you're rigged slider up) before you need them is a fine idea.

You definitely make some real good points
and obviously reference a credable source:
http://eiff.com/manuals/accuracy.html

My comment about being in full flight prior to
doing one's landing flare comes from my own
experience, which is only 7 BASE jumps but a
total of almost 1,900 parachute landings on
canopies from 117 to 420 square feet. In all
honesty only about 80 of those were 7 cells.

Yes, DZ landing areas are bigger and more
forgiving than almost all BASE landing areas,
but I have done a few demo jumps into football
fields and landed off in some real tight areas,
twice with a scared tandem passenger.

On tandem jumps with video you want to park it
right in front of your camera guy, on those jumps
I typically do approach with some brake input but
prior to actually landing I always go into full flight
then hit the flair.

I have no idea at what altitude I transition between
the two forms of flight, I just do it by feel and my
accuracy is solid. Of course being able to set up
above 500 feet definitely makes it easier than
doing the same thing from 200 feet.

Thanks for the advice, next time I get a chance
I will practice braked approaches on my Dagger.

Sam,

One of the tragedies of this world is that no one knows what he does not know and the less a man knows the more he thinks he knows.

Are you telling us that there's no situation where a braked approach/landing would be better than a full-flight or speed-induced landing?

If it's entirely possible to land comfortably, standing up, in 3/4 brakes, don't you think that might be a useful skill if you have to put it down in a confined space?

By 'confined space', I'm not talking about a landing that would allow you to plane out over jagged boulders and then touch down on the one square foot of flat ground available. Think of a small (bedroom-sized) area surrounded by elevated hazards like trees, a fence, powerlines, concrete walls, etc where you have to drop down in between these obstacles. Would you still hook it like you stole it?

One of the tragedies of this world is that some people attempt to use clever quotes to avoid actually making sense.

edit: I'm not saying that your theories are wrong.. everything you said about inducing speed before landing are correct and useful in many, if not most, situations. Just not all of them.

So many questions so little time...

Your ankles, your legs, your spine, do whatever you think it's necessary to save them. If for you it's 3/4 2/3 into flare then be it. I pass on it (and big time nonetheless), regardless the size of the target, I'm too fucking fragile for that and as Sam pointed out so eloquently I tend to fuck up the easiest things there are in life; 5 weeks ago I broke my left hand walking up the stairs in my house, just tripping Regan style (write that down Sam).

But just because you cannot do it/not willing to do it/or you just don't understand it, it does not necessary mean it's a bad idea. FYI the vast majority of the people out there think we are totally out of our fucking minds, bus hey they must be wrong, right?

Sam is one of those who thinks he knows it all and he generalizes his knowledge as truth and refuses to accept most other views as even remotely possible. He is a positivist. He's also gay but that's a different story. Truth is, we all access a very small part of reality and then reconstruct a distorted version of it. Some reconstructions are more distorted than others, none is wrong none is right, it's just this 3/4 brake into flare reconstruction it so does not do it for me, not even at the intuitive level.

I stick to hooking it, OK I mean "induced" speed approaches until I get over my lactose intolerance and start growing stronger bones.

Heal Fast Drew! Sorry to hear about the injury :-(

All the best to Tammy

-=Raistlin

there dude, I fixed it for you

the reality is that I know that I don't know it all, in fact, I know that I know only a little bit and that's why I take little steps into that which I don't know

that's why I do not make ridiculous statements that I am unable to back up

as for you wanting me to be gay, no matter how many times you plead, the answer is still no...

you should really try and get that chip off your shoulder, it's getting tired now

I totally agree 100% with you on this one. Anyone who even buys into this bullshit is a Moron. I am reading this shit and laughing my ass off. The art of the deep break approach is the backbone of mastering your BASE canopy for accuracy and also enables the pilot to do flat turns at low altitudes without sacrificing altitude by carving his wing with toggle stabs. If you can't pick your spot and ride the wire on approach in deep breaks then you do have much to learn and should stick to swooping-in and landing on football size LZ's. like PotatoVille Because anywhere else in the real world and you will be getting carried out.
The worst thing about reading this crap is there are up and coming learners who quite possibly take this BASE canopy swoop-it shit seriously. Leave the skydiveDZ canopy control shit where it belongs. You Toggle-Stabbing, turn your canopy, Swoop Fags like Nick should stay at home and blow the dust off you crutches because you will be needing them.
.

Nick, coming from somebody who is very serious about "tarps with holes are nonesense" (aka vented canopies) ... It's hard to take you seriously.

Personaly 3/4 brake approaches work great for me.

Watch it Ray . . .

Nick (has he a middle name we could use) will soon accuse you of being mean to newer jumpers.

NickD
BASE 194

Ray,

You read parts of my post then your part italian bood gets all boily and you burst.

Where do you read about toggle stabbing? Where do you read about swooping?

An approach is what it is, an approach. Going from 3/4 into flare is wrong in my eyes no matter the size of the target you're trying to hit. I always approach in 3/4 then either front riser hook it, straight in front risers, or just full flight, but I awalys have the tarp at least in full speed before flaring.

If you guys get great landings out of 3/4 into flare more power to you...if I did that I'll sure be needing a plaster.

I got to go practice this 3/4 into flare with tandems now...so if they go to shit it ain't my ankles that will need a plaster

I will not argue with you that with speed comes lift, and you can have very nice landings with a bit of a plane out. I have front risered a troll out of a plane, and my best landing at TF was after a speed inducing turn landing next to the flag. I even yelled to the guy next to me as I was about to touch down, "this dagger can swoop if you ask it too."

But - for the sake of our understanding, and my belief of your claims - can you please show us some video or photos or something of how to do a successful front riser landing into a hostel landing area, such as when you have a bush under you, a tree in front of you, a river to the left of you, and a tree to the right of you, plus a random assortment of rocks.

I just don't know how you can land on a coffee table sized patch of good ground with that much plane out and speed. I want to see it be done, if it can be done. The only way I know how to do it is to sink it in, and use minor corrections.

But - I have kept my mouth shut thus far about your opinions and other opinions... Since this is in a thread about an actual incident - that I witnessed and had plenty of time to inspect the landing area while waiting for the boat - my opinion is, no amount of hook or speed inducing maneuver would have made this landing any safer given the area in which the jumper landed. In fact, it would have likely made it worse.

The jump was so uneventful I don't remember anything other than watching the landing - so I cannot comment if the jumper had altitude or ability to choose a less hostile landing area - but if he did, I suspect that would have helped. 30 to 50 feet behind him, there was a big clearing where the boat normally parks. Just past that area the trail was more open.

I know, that was my favorite landing spot when I had to go for the beach. If the jumper would have done some sort of sashay or braked turn (or sunk it in), to land a bit shorter - I don't think this thread would have existed...

My "takeaway" from the incident - it is better to PLF hot into a clear open area, using whatever technique required, instead of a landing into a medium sized bush, as jambing any body part between two branches is enough to snap a human. I did not walk away thinking, "the sinking it in was the problem".

But that is my opinion, hind site, etc. It is easy to second guess, and on that very same jump I had to pull my feet up (or at least it felt like it and I did it) to clear a tree because of a poor canopy choice (going for the upper at full flight, because that was my plan with my two way partner, when I should have sunk it in to the beach and aborted the plan), so I am not one to judge anyone else's decisions, just trying to keep my mind, eyes and ears open to new learning opportunities. That being said, do you have some video or photo illustration of full flight landings into difficult landing areas?

Before I jumped I'd decided to follow jay's left-to-right landing in the small open area immediately left of the trees. Once under canopy I changed my mind about being current enough to comfortably land short of the trees; that everything looked uniformly brown from the bridge compared to when I last jumped it three years ago; and a little distance past the river bank (5') along the same line of flight would be as good as any other place and close to where I thought the path should be.

Having limited my delay I had enough altitude to make the main landing area and if I'd bothered to look to my right before breaking myself I'd have taken that option.


Walking the landing area first (after 3 years) to inspect the brush and choosing alternates like I'd do somewhere other than the potato bridge would have avoided the problem (the "visualize what happens when everything goes right, and what happens when you have a bad exit, hesitation, open 180 degrees off-heading, and canopy is on fire" approach to BASE jumping).

While uniformly brown-appearing to me from altitude it's not like that when you get up-close.

Definately a painful and embarassing mistake.

I learned that accuracy landings were a better idea than full-fllight in some situations and got serious four years prior after hugging a tree (over-shoot. I also watched a world champion with 10,000 skydives make the same mistake after the landing area had been enlarged a bit) and clinging to a steep pungee-stick covered slope (under-shoot) in a ~40' landing area.

I've even been using my Fox in my J7 in place of the usual 135 square on wingsuit jumps to be more serious.

Italian ? OHhhhhh you fuckwad.
Man you are getting it wrong with a narrow point of view. Flaring from a 3/4 deep break setting is not the most ideal of choices for a cool and tip-toe landing or a look at me swoop in a BASE world . But it is something that needs to be learned and practiced for real as BASE jumpers.
Seriously it needs to learned. BASE canopy front-riser swoop makes you appear like you actually know something but the proofs in the pudding buddy, Actual BASE canopy proficiency comes from being able to land on a postage stamp surrounded by objects, Or on a bolder covered talus when you recover from a 180 and got no where else to stick-it.
So go try to blow smoke up someone else's Ass with your 3/4 deep-break front-riser swooping. You fucking jackass.
.
OHhhhh. also dipshit.
quote : ..." I got to go practice this 3/4 into flare with tandems now...so if they go to shit it ain't my ankles that will need a plaster ."

Like I said, " Keep your Skydive DZ BullShit on the DZ where it belongs. Then Go spreed your BASE horseshit in your, 'Never Never Land' you created call egwingsuit.com.
.

No it does not and it will hurt you.


Seriously not.


ABSOLUTELY!


This is not about looking cool or swooping it's about not getting hurt you fuck-face half Italian fag


I will do that, I'm outa here for good, fuck face.

A canopy is a canopy it does not care if it spent the last few seconds close to a wall or close to nothing.

SPEED = LIFT, we ain't got no engine unless your farts are so potent that you get some jet thrust out of them, and that might be very well the case being as full of shit as you are

this is partially true...
standard Bernoulli states that lift is proportional to the square of the speed, the air density, and the lift coeffcient. changing airspeed has a huge effect on lift. as the speed doubles, the lift goes up by a factor of 4. the angle of attack governs the lift coefficient. obviously, the air density can not be controlled by the jumper.

the problem with speed is it reduces the time frame. reaction times must be increased (or the room for error). the brain must process information quicker, properly recognizing hazards, etc. any excess speed can help a jumper bail... or inflict damage if managed incorrectly.

a braked configuration increases the angle of attack and thus the lift coefficient. it permits creating the same lift generated by full flight at a slower speed. the slower speed expands the time frame available for a response. accuracy jumpers prefer the extra time to fine tune their landing spot. all energy gets spent. none is held "in reserve," but little excessive speed remains to injure.

both techniques are simply tools, available to each jumper. every jumper must choose if and when to use them. I don't believe in using either technique exclusively.

I would have prefered if Ray had not chosen to make it personal. I would have prefered if you had not responded in kind. you both offer thought out positions that get lost amid the arguing. we each must ask if we want to be known for our temper, or rather the quality of our opinions...

WHAT?

man, thats not good. thats how people break ankles and cant land on a talus.

it is MUCH MUCH better to come in a 1-2m/ sec verticle speed at a 45 degree angle into ANYTHING than at 8m/sec across the ground.

no offense, but that really seems like a skydiving approach. we are not flying airplanes, or swooping canopies, we are flying parachutes, Bad ass, big ol' slow as shit parachutes. and it is way better to 'parachute' into an LZ than fly into one.

OH come on now that is kind of short, This is the best you can offer for BASE discusion of BASE canopy safety ? You got more than that to say don't you ? You sound like that spoiled little fat-boy, Cartman. ..." screw you guy's, I'm goin home !" ....
OK lets talk about this. Speed and Lift only just shows how one dimensional you really are if you are really serious in your statements.(which I doubt) you have to be just playing around and causing trouble because no one lives by Speed + Lift for a steady diet in BASE and walks around talking about it. They usually just 'Limp' around talk shit while crying because they hurt.
Would you like for someone to teach and help you learn deep-break approach and landing ? Even to do it without staling and hurting yourself ?
Running deep brakes from the second you un-stow your BASE Canopy till touching down is a art buddy. Not that hard to learn either. Flying approach and flat turning while losing the least amount of altitude is a must. Grabbing your font risers and swooping is icing on the cake and playing when you are just fucking around having fun. To explain it a little easier for you. It Fluff, Superficial play and it makes you look and sound Sooooo Coooool.

Are you off to talk and Post safety for BASE when. ' your outa here ?' The only place I can figure out where are you going off to ? When you say your ..."Outta Here" ? is going over to egwingsuit BASE site to help in spreading the wealth of knowledge you have acquired ? I got 5-$ say's that BLINC will be around longer than your rancid BASE site and It will defiantly have earned respect and that is also something you will not get either. I have yet to see or read anything that even resembles a halfassed serious discussion involving information that will keep you alive in that cesspool of gibberish web-site of yours. Maybe Magot smearing shit will help teach you to land a BASE canopy ???
I am even going to have to say, BASEjumper.com is by far better and more 'BASE informative' that egwingsuit.. DZcom/BASEjumpercom Beat you the second you pasted your web-site up. You gave it validity by making it something to conquer with hate and the most vile trash that you could post while using BASE as a platform to carry it. My fault is mostly that I am a honest asshole and prick but you my friend need to grow the hell up actually Post here and there with some common sense that will help keep people from accidentally hurting themselves with a canopy over there heads.
also Nick, This kind of dribble that is coming out of your mouth is actually being read by people that are strapping on a BASE canopy for there first 50 BASE jumps and trying to live. We even got a few new punks local that are trying to BASE and are getting banged up. They read this shit you are spouting off on BASE canopy control and are grasping at any technique they can, to try and learn and You are really fucking pissing me off this week. You are NOT helping. You Are just a problem. So don't go away mad. Just go away.
Maybe you can Land a Tandem or fly a Wingsuit but what I read that is coming out of your mouth says to me. " You don't Know Jack " about being the master of your BASE tarp.
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totaly agree.

" ...both techniques are simply tools, available to each jumper. every jumper must choose if and when to use them. I don't believe in using either technique exclusively."
-
Neither one is a simple tool or you would not see so much carnage under a perfectly good wing. The last part of your statement has to do with choosing a game plan in which to live by in BASE. The faster you can figure out a working game plan in which to operate in. The longer you are going to live or not get fucked-up. I have also had the same working game plan under a BASE canopy for over a dozen years. so Nick can go, Suck My Big Balls.
I am also not taking this swoop landing shit to personal and am actually on my best behavior. I am just sick. Sick of seeing and hearing all the broken bones people are getting under a BIG FUCKING, B.A.S.E. CANOPY.
Sounds pretty safe don't it ??? , BIG FUCKING CANOPY, Ok say it again to yourself, ..." BIG FUCKING CANOPY ". sound any safer now ???
.

I have seen BASE landing areas that can be swooped. I have seen BASE landing areas that should NOT. some LOOK like they can be swooped from the top, but a walk of the landing area proves otherwise. the site should dictate the jump, not the jumper. the conditions should determine the appropriate technique, the best "approach."

canopy coaches stress knowing how your parachute functions in ALL flight modes. I agree. know your parachute. BASE canopies are designed for a different environment than skydiving canopies. knowing how it flies will prevent accidents.

landing fast in a hazard filled LZ without the skill to manage speed induced excess energy will lead to serious injury.

OK, this is my first technical post I have ever done. I did never post anything technical until now because I'm not qualified to do so (I only got 170 BASE Jumps) and I'm still not but I have made bad experience regarding this subject.
I am loading my canopy with 0.75. That is relatively high for a BASE Canopy. And I really suck in landing. Everybody who knows me can confirm this. But I would land my canopy in 3/4 breaks with a mini flare anytime. I had to do this on a couple of jumps because the landing zone does not permit anything else. And I managed to do this until today without hurting myself (with exeption of a little coughing caused to inability to breath ) And on low jumps there is not enough time to release the brakes without pounding in (I learned this in Zonders from a crane on my first (and last jump that day) the hard way.
So in my honest opinion, if you can’t land your canopy in 3/4 breaks then buy yourself a larger tarp or stick to jumping of the potato bridge.

"both techniques are simply tools, available to each jumper. every jumper must choose if and when to use them. I don't believe in using either technique exclusively"

Now that is a statement posted just before I wanted to make it. I second that.

And for all the injuries, IMHO it is not the technique as such, it is the technique applied in either the wrong way or at the wrong place. In short, human error.

Ronald

Out of curiosity Nick;
how long (in seconds) does it take your canopy to go from 3/4 brakes to full-flight with no additional inputs?

"But.. How could this happen!? I had so much LIFT!"

-Nick Nitro, someday, while lying on the operating table with two broken legs after flying into a boulder like he stole it

Doesn't this make you more likely to have a collapse especially with a low wing loading when jumping in turbulent/semiturbulent conditions?

um, maybe. but if conditions are going to be turbulant enough to collapse a fucking 2/1 aspect ration BASE canopy, why the hell are you jumping?

dont you know how to fly activly?

Well, yeah, however , is there much that needs to be said about this? The wing doesn't want to collapse all that easy and the conditions that will make it collapse, are pretty unfavorable to jumping off things you can hit. That means, don't be dumb and jump in really bad conditions. You will not simply use braked flying in those types of conditions, you will fly hoping you make it to the ground safely and swear you'll never do it again... and this time, you might mean it.

Edit: basically that's was calvin19 said

Hey Drew, just found out about your bone bust (been out of town), heal up fast man there's stuff out there to huck. Your injury is clearly a fluke, you handled the much more difficult landing just fine the week before at *********. As for your ability to sink in landings I"d like to have the skill I've seen you use, I'm working on it. And yeah paragliding boots are the shit.

Of course there are times that you let your canopy fly. Also all is relevant to the winds that you dealing with on flight and landing to the LZ. What the thing is that I don't care for is the limit set on a jumper from never understanding and practicing his 'Full Ranges' of BASE canopy flight and the fear of running in deep-break to landing and and even total canopy shut-down. Deep break in Flight to the LZ and landing is totally relevant knowledge as is deep-break settings and Rear-Riser/Toggle stale/collapse to the point of fly your BASE canopy in reverse.
Hey Swoop All You fucking want. That's not quite what's chapping my ass.
Playing with the girls and Learning to let the canopy fly and plain-out for a nice little LZ swoop is all fucking cotton candy and milkduds until shit hits the fan buddy and you reach in your Bag Of Tricks to pull something Out Your Ass to save it. Only to find, that you actually never bothered to practice and learn that one.
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