Basejumper.com - archive

Hi,

You hear a lot of talk about skydivers getting into BASE and the recommended experience, but what about a BASE jumper doing more technical jumps? What is the simple progression recommended?

Example for starting with good landing area:
1) PCA's from a bridge at least 350 ft.
2) Hand held free fall from at least 400 ft

At what point should a jumper think he's ready for a building with sketchy or average landing area?

The point of this post is I've seen a lot of people way over their head and seem to have no idea about evaluating an object and determining whether or not they are ready.

 

Progression is simple, if your in tune with your ego.That can be a crux for many ,including myself at times.The Base jumpers i have met around the world all seem to have a unique story of their progression.The downside for many is jumping the gun to keep up with others, but that shit is every were in life.Base is unique because our learning curve happens in a serious playground, most activities have a more forgiving arena when learning.Our paths in BASE will all be unique, just like our story outside BASE.RISK AND REWARD,what is it worth too you!Hard to be humble when your HUGE, but remember this one can humble you real fast.Have fun enjoy the ride!
GARY BEGLEY

what I noticed is more and more is the "new meat" that .... just has no clue.

People who saw BASE vid, have the skydives (or think have the skydives). and just get into it. Do the potato, do the Bridge Day.. And then just go for it. They may be smart people, but they are lazy and complacent enough to just no care to realize the risk they are putting themselves into. People who don't care to train prior to BASE are getting easier and easier to come by. A dude making his first jumps at this years Bridge Day asked a very simple quesiton "How come most of these people don't flare ?" :)

so my suggestions for progression - READ READ READ. Watch and ANALYZE the carnage video. Then watch it again. And then ask yourself how badly you want to make the next edit ?

patience, to the people starting up. There's no glory, no money, no women, (ok maybe a few) in base jumping. Take your time, jump for fun, not for your ego.

>>what I noticed is more and more is the "new meat" that .... just has no clue.<<

>>BASE jumping is only as dangerous as you make it<<

I was talking with another old timer the other night about this and we came to the conclusion new BASE jumpers, of any age or time, don't have a clue. It's just the way of it.

But, on the other hand, when I read things like "BASE is as dangerous as you make it," I'm not so sure. Maybe it's only a pot stirrer from NorCal (why do most of them seem to be from there?) or maybe it's a serious error in judgment.

There are a lot of sharp BASE jumpers residing on the BASE Fatality List. And I'm pretty confident most of them were on top of their game and not looking to die.

Looking past the obvious, I know I have some degree of control over the outcome of my BASE jumps, but not total control. And what power I do have comes only after 28 years of experience. I don't see BASE jumping as the total crap shoot I did when I first started. But the sense in telling a brand new jumper "BASE is as only dangerous as you make it," when he doesn't have the background to even know the mistakes possible, never mind being able to prevent them, just eludes me . . .

NickD
BASE 194

You're freaking me out, Nick. I think I actually agreed with everything you said in that post.

Michael

well posted.

I'm still a 'new jumper' and I really never liked the 'as dangerous as you make it' line.

You're probably right, although there's probably 2 camps: those that realise this from the start (and so seek out mentors and advice to keep themselves out of trouble) and those that don't

I just hope I was/still am in the former.

Hi Everyone,

Part of why I created the BaseR is so new clueless wanna be base jumpers(Like Myself) could learn what I beleive to be the most important part of base jumping and that's your canopy. Correct Gang? So by learning that canopy in the safest envirement, by jumping it from a plane with your actual base gear, would be the best way. Train all the skills, so you are prepared better.

I still don't know why people think i'm an idiot. Well, Ok I'm an idiot.

Hey Sonic,

Just got home from doing my 11th BASE jump,
a 300 foot freestander, and once the canopy
was open and flying away from the object I
was cool...BUT while there was only about
2 seconds of real time between exit and
a flyable canopy that was a lifetime.

I don't think you are an idiot, you come
highly recommend by Max Cohn a good
guy, but there is more to BASE than just
being able to land your wing, and that is
coming from a BASE Tourist with 1900+
parachute landings

By the way, Happy Thanksgiving!

Ok now I need to know the answer or "my family will die" etc.

Why do most of the people not flare?

Sounds like you had a great time, wish I could have been there...Glad everything went well!

All,

I have removed several posts from this thread. Please keep in mind that this is a technical forum. Posts of a non-technical nature, including one line jokes, are not appropriate here.

Posts that violate the forum rules (such as personal attacks) are not appropriate anywhere on this site.

In order to remove those posts, I was forced to also remove a number of reasonably on-topic posts from this thread. Here they are:

Yes, I think that if your main focus is BASE, buying a BASE canopy (even an old used one) is going to help. If you can buy your actual intended BASE canopy and make all your skydives on it henceforth (and preferably do a fair number of accuracy, CRW and canopy drill jumps) you're going to be way ahead of the curve.

Well, if I might present an idea which challenges your infinite wisdom Tom. (no sarcasm intended)

I too wanted to follow this strategy. After all, no need to wander off the path t'wards the inevitable goal that is BASE right? Hell, if you're wasting about 7000 bucks on the required skydives which will help you survive in BASE then why would you add to the cost by downsizing or doing anything other than preparing to BASE. Just buy a cheap ass belly down rig and stick a BASE canopy in it and:
PRACTICE ACCURACY
CRW
DRILLDRILLDRILL

But then I started thinking and a number of good arguments spoke against the plan.
1. While rewarding at first, the plan will feel like a chore pretty damn soon, and it will suck the life out of skydiving, unless you're REALLY hung up on accuracy or CRW. But you're not really...you just want the skills to help you survive.
2. If you really are hung up on CRW, shouldn't you get a lightning/triathlon instead?
3. There is no guarantee that I will want to BASE in two to three years. Wives, kids, mortgages do not mix with spinal injuries and exotic holidays. There's plenty to do during your first 300 jumps.

So why not have fun skydiving and focus on the BASE when the time has come? You can still do those drills when you buy your first BASE canopy. At least, that's my new attitude towards it.

Edited to add: Make that wife instead of wives

I think it is also beneficial for skydivers to travel around and jump at many different dropzones, whether or not you are interested in BASE. Going alone to a new dropzone may be intimidating, but you will probably get more out of the experience.

I believe that the most important step toward progressing in BASE, after the initial training and first jumps from a "safe" object, is to get your brake settings personalized and dialed in.

could you please describe this in greater detail.

Check out this link:

http://www.crmojo.com/adobepdf/dbsinsert.pdf

The article was written for the Mojo, but the information is relevant to other BASE canopies as well.

(edited for semantics)

If you are skydiving just to BASE jump but you're not even sure that you want to BASE jump then why are you skydiving at all?

Very good question. I asked myself the very same thing not too long ago. And I could not come up with an answer. So I decided to forget about the BASE for a while and just enjoy skydiving.

it sounds like you are picking on him. people progress at their own pace. let him ask questions. let him talk. who cares.

by the way how many jumps do you have? it has your objects but no jumps? makes me wonder?

have a nice day

I have always wondered about
people who say they only want
to learn skydiving to BASE.

In my personal opinion, it is
good to just enjoy skydiving
for a while. Then after you
have the proper skill set &
need more then look for it.

I am in the same sort of position, I started skydiving because I wanted to base jump. Since starting Skydiving I am not going to give it up as soon as I start basejumping, I really enjoy skydiving for the variety of disciplines, the fun and the people.

Someone said earlier that you could get sick of practising crw, canopy drills and accuracy, I don't know if it is just me but, I am a perfectionist, and I enjoy working on my accuracy trying to constantly better myself and get it perfect, or doing crew and having a talk with your mate while doing a side by side enjoying the view, and I can't wait to do some down planes.
I still have a hell of alot to learn before I make it over the edge, and if you want something bad enough the journey there should only be boring if you let it be. So think outside of the box and make the practice fun, If it is a chore, is it really what you want? From what I have learnt so far, there is so much more to base than just jumping, although it is dangerous and is going to take alot of time to get there, the rewards seem to be worth it.

My progression was:

Watch Napoleon Dynamite at Super 8 (Potato valley) in a windy day, with a norwegian friend.

It helped a lot.

Later,
Andre.

I encourage you to use your imagination, of course BASE is only as dangerous as you make it.
As soon as both feet are off the edge, well, then you've made it deadly.
Deal with it accordingly.
Death is not such a bad thing either, in fact it's in both our futures.
Your ego may be shocked at that moment, but your spirit, which is everlasting, will just continue it's journey.
Enjoy it.

This thread sure is indicative of BASE progression,
humans got involved and now it's all fuksted up.

Well said.