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Is there is an additional fee charged for landing in the water at bridge day? Do manf. charge extra if its rented gear (assuming no other damage).

also - what do people think of BD vs potato bridge for a first jump/first jump course (though I realize this might be another discussion)


sorry if this has been addressed, couldn't find anything with the search on the BD water landings

thanks

at BD...
Jason briefs jumpers the day before. he makes it clear the RIVER is the primary lz. landing there minimizes newbie injuries.

at the Potato...
the atmosphere lacks the carnival feel and more jumps are possible. done correctly, it should be a better learning environment.

If you're uncomfortable landing on the shore, then the river is pretty hard to miss. Looking at data from the past 5 years, approximately 70-75% of all jumpers land dry on the shore. There are no additional fees for jumpers landing in the river. However, if everyone landed on the shore, I would save $3000 in water rescue costs.

Both BD and the potato bridge are good for 1st timers. You can normally get 2-3 jumps at BD, but many more at the potato bridge. Both offer first time BASE jumper training. BD height is 876' and the potato bridge is 486'. BD has a faster paced carnival atmosphere while the potato bridge is much more calm. There are positives and negatives to each site, so it's up to you to evaluate your goals. Good luck.

Go to the potato to get in some relaxed first learning jumps.

Then go to Bridge Day to have fun and take slightly longer delays...

Having completed Tom Aiello's Bridge Day FJC in '06 and his Twin Falls FJC in '07, I would recommend making the trip out to Twin Falls.

Whilst both of his courses comprehensively cover all aspects of BASE, the BD FJC had twelve students whilst in Twin Falls there were only two of us. This allowed for more in depth one-on-one training covering packing/jumping/debriefs (incl. video) and enabled 21 jumps to be made during the course (4 days). Tom also allowed us to jump all of the rigs that he has in his collection (at least 15 from memory, correct me if I'm wrong Tom).

As has been mentioned, BD is more of a carnival atmosphere (albeit: fun none the less) but you won't get anywhere near as many jumps in as you would at the Potato Bridge. And I would hazard a guess that this year he will have a similar number of students under his instruction for both his 4 day and 1 day BD FJC’s.

To be fair to other groups that run courses from the Potato Bridge, from all accounts, Jimmy and Marta from Apex BASE run an awesome course. As do Miles D and Johnny Utah.

The choice is yours. Good Luck.
Stu W

wow, thanks everyone for the quick and informative replies. I will definately be taking a second look at twins falls!

What if everyone landed in the river, then how much money would it save?

I have heard about some people charging extra if the rental gear gets wet.

I'd recommend the potato for the ability to take your time at the exit, the large LZ, and the fact you can jump it year round and outside of a 6 hour window. BD is a lot of fun though and has the advantages of extra altitude, a diving board, a crowd of people if you're into that, rescue boats always ready, and more.

For some people I'm sure it also depends on where you live, travel costs, and how many jumps you want to make.

Come to Twin. I have better tequila.