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Ok, this post is in no way meant to bash base jumpers. I've never made a base jump, I recently got interested in skydiving and have made 18 jumps and am on my way to getting my A license. When I got interested in skydiving, I understood that it was a risk intensive sport, and i researched the risk and decide that the reward of the amazing feeling of freefall WAY surpassed the risk of injury or death. My question is, when you guys decided to start base jumping, what was your thought process that led to deciding the risk was worth the reward? Each and every one of my skydiving instructors have had multiple canopy malfunctions that forced them to cut away, and they are alive and in one piece because we carry two chutes and pull at an altitude that gives a person time to cutaway and pull the reserve. This safety cushion does not exist in base jumping, and it is the lack of it that leads me to believe that the risk of base jumping is not worth the reward. I am not looking down on you guys, tons of my friends and family think i'm out of my mind for skydiving, i'm just interested in what makes it worth the risk for each and every one of you.

Can't give you a meaningful answer. I've been drunk for several years now.

I seem to remember something about risk but don't remember what it was. I think I was high at the time. I do remember always insisting on using a safety cushion, though. Can't be too careful, eh?

As for reward, I was usually involved in some kind of heist during my jumps so I'd say they were lucrative except Dr James Tiberius Kensill always smoked the bounty. The rest of the crew just stood near him. That was enough to get you hammered.

I believe the new season of the O.C. will be on soon. Why not sit back, relax and grab a box of kleenex instead of worrying about all this foolishness?

Chin chin,

$.

There are 67361 registerd users on this site...

...good luck with that.

Obviously i don't expect every single person on this site to reply, i didn't mean the each and every one of you to be taken literally. What about you gauleyguide? What was your thought process leading up to your first base jump?

Your instructors were almost certainly flying parachutes that were meant more for fun than for functioning. Seriously -- if you had to choose one reliable parachute, would it be the one with a reputation for throwing itself into dozens of line twists, then spiralling so quickly that you had to cut away in seconds or pass out?

They also almost certainly took five or so minutes to pack that parachute -- or maybe they handed it off to the first sketchy-looking guy they could find who needed five bucks.

On the other hand, I generally take 30 minutes or so to pack my BASE rig (actually, who am I kidding, it's usually a 40 minute job anyway from start to finish). And I'm packing a canopy that bears much more resemblance to your reserve than to your main. And I had 500 skydives under my belt, maybe 300 of those CRW jumps, and a reputation as a technically-minded skydiver before I did my first jump.

As to risk vs. reward... My first two jumps in the BASE course I took, all I could remember was being terrified. I told myself I'd do ten of these (I mean, I'd driven all the way to California from Calgary to do the course), then if I wasn't enjoying myself, I'd be done. My third jump, I remembered the feeling that came right after the part where I was terrified, and I stuck around.

Imagine from the movie "Vacation" with Chevy Chase, when Christie Brinkley strips down and jumps in the pool and ask Clark "well, are you getting in?" and Clark strips down and is standing there waving his arms back and forth saying "this crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy" and then he jumps in then all of a sudden reality hits him in the face and he starts screaming and his wife comes out and his marriage is ruined, and those poor kids, not to mention Aunt Edna, please, dont get me started.

Thanks, you sound like a very safety-oriented jumper. I'd say it takes my instructors about ten to fifteen minutes to pack their chutes, at least when i've been watching. Obviously its less time than you take, i don't think my instructors pack irresponsibly, but i can see where even more care would makes a difference.

Out of my eighteen skydives, i've gotten mild line twists at least three times and an end closure once, I'm sure base rigs are less prone to these problems. What are the major differences between main skydiving canopies and base rigs?

huh?

do you drink Coke, Pepsi, or RC cola?
do you prefer redheads or blondes?

what's your thought process?

the reward is entirely personal. some folks want it so bad that we have trouble slowing them down. they rush so much they appear reckless. others struggle to do one jump at BD. then they are done.

there is a Food Network program where the host travels around eating stuff few of us want to eat.

only you can know what it means for YOU.

 

adam lanes? i heard you was dead? BANG

Legit questions. Base canopies are large and square, and are packed in a manner that is closer to the reserve pack job. They are not packed into a bag, and the packing method is designed to open straight forward more quicky instead of the more long snively skydiving openings you are used to that give more time for like twists and such. A base packjob takes a lot more time that a skydiving packjob because of the meticulous nature it is packed. I can pack my skydiving rig in about 5 minutes if i really want to make a call and it takes me about 20-25 for my base gear. Small elliptical canopies can spin up, and necessitate a cutaway.

Would you pack your main, jump, pull your reserve, cut it away and deploy your main?

No?

I would, if I packed my main like I would for BASE.

I have no idea why I do it. I was at the top of a tower just thirty minutes ago and all I had going through my head was "why the hell am I doing this?".

 Whew! Good to hear I'm not the only one that's had that thought.

You know you like it! Now you just need to start checking out those 1000 footers near by

I spent months debating the risk vs reward before I decided to buy gear and pursue the sport. Its hard to explain why I feel its worth it, I just did. And when I did my first jump I was even more convinced.

Sure its more risky than skydiving but its also a LOT more fun as well.

More risk=more reward. Unless you die.

Why I BASE:

Because sometimes I feel like jumping and do not
want to pay, or wait on anyone, or need to have 3
assholes and a pilot also in the mood, or deal with
a burned out, fat, schizophrenic DZO, or wait for a
weekend, or want to dodge dipshits on huge, slow
canopies spiraling right over the LZ, etc.

And to be honest, while skydiving is still fun it no
longer scares me. BASE jumping almost always
scares me, some more than others, solos hell yes,
buildings oh yeah, just watch the video, but the
18th in a weekend from the Perrine, not so much.

Just like every skydive from a new plane is novel
well every BASE jump from a new object is novel.

And Tomcat933, just an FYI - I when I first started
skydiving I swore I'd be happy with a large, safe
parachute and always pull high, but eventually I
pulled lower, learned to shoot video, freefly, and
swoop. At this point I strap 200 pounds of stupid
on the front of me and jump with a camera...

Right now you have 18 jumps, and that is awesome.
Have fun, go slow, and enjoy it. But the truth is at
some point missionary style will just not do it for you
and you will end up trying something new also

just as you'd be hard pressed to fully explain to a non-jumper what makes skydiving worth the risks for you. it's difficult to really explain what makes BASE worth the risks.

and that's not a blow off answer. it stems from what i've learned in my short time jumping- accepting the risks and rewards of BASE is a very personal thing. and the thought process is a very individual thing.

one of the main things in my thoughts leading to my first jump was curiosity. i had an intense desire to learn what it was like to BASE jump. and i wanted to answer the question within myself of whether i could make the decision to leave the edge.

another thought...

there are multiple decision points. you might struggle with the thought process and finally think you have decided to BASE.

all that can go straight out the window when you are standing on the edge...

Thanks guys, most of you have been very helpful. Obviously every person does what they do for different reasons, i just asked the question to find out what a few of your reasons might be.

I jump for the pot of gold at the bottom, of the object. And because my mom hates it.

My thoughts exactly. You never know for certain if you're ready till youre there.

stop jumping at skydive jacksonville.

The DZO in JAX is very thin.

I was referring to a previous DZ.

You gonna sell me that harness?

All of the stores must be sold out of bacon.

My knees all gimped up still (and I'm old and fat and out of shape...still).

We're all about quick and easy around here! (towers, not women.....ok, women too.)

check your email.
its yours if you want it