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Is there any way of getting to do a S/L or PCA jump from somewhere like the Perrine on a round chute, just as a one-off so I can experience a BASE jump without having 500 skydives?
I've done 6 skydives to date, I live in England and can't afford to spend £2000 + for finishing AFF + Consols + 300 solo's + FJC any time in the next two or three years for sure.
I do have, and have always had a huge respect and interest in the BASE community.
My offers of ground crew help were met with nothing but piss taking or lack of interest on the English BASE board. I've attended the latest UKProBASE events and met some great people, but it all seems so ridiculously out of reach. I hate the thought of something happening in my life that would prevent me from making a jump before I even had the chance to.
I'd be prepared to pay at least the equivalent of a Tandem skydive, and totally willing to sign whatever disclaimers, waivers etc. needed.
Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas?

ive known a few people whove PCA'd people off the Perrine and lake powell who had no skydive or parachute experience!

only for H2o landings of course!

hang around the Perrinee bridge long enough and some will PCA you off im sure! not me though!

lots of luck
in your quest

Thats not to say it wasnt incredibly reckless and stupid of them to do.

"hay guys how do i take the shortcut into base? I dont wanna bother getting the necessary experience needed not to kill myself, i just wanna have fun!"

So let me get this straight:

1. You can't afford to finish AFF and get some skyjumps under your belt.

2. You can't afford to take a BASE FJC.

But...............

You can afford a trip to the Potato all the way from England including airfare, ground transportation, lodging, food, beer, hookers, etc. AND pay someone the equivalent of a tandem skyjump to huck you off ONCE with a round into the H2O.







Am I correct???

Just show up during memorial day weekend. I'm sure there will be someone there willing to throw you off that bridge for the price of a tandem or less.

Thanks for the replies.

First, i'm not looking for a shortcut into BASE so I can skip the skill and experience needed. I'm looking to do ONE JUMP on a round because I, like everyone else, don't know what's waiting around the next corner.
Second, yes I am willing to pay someone to help me out if it can be done.
I like travelling in the US anyway, and want to spend time at 'The Potato' anyway getting some footage etc.

Sorry if it seems like i'm trying to find a quick and easy way in, but that's not the case.
I just don't have enough money or good weather to spend the forseeable future learning to skydive in this shit country.

I asked if it was possible, that's all.

"getting some footage etc."

"Sorry if it seems like i'm trying to find a quick and easy way in"

It seemslike you're trying to get some footage of yourself jumping off a bridge is what i think!

Dude! finish your AFF and have some fun skydiving! Whats the purpose of going through all that just to find that you hate it? You're seriously going to set the AFF aside to go all the way to the Perrine to do ONE friggin jump?

I've said it before and ill say it again, im at a mere 100 skydives. And seeing that i live where i do and i know as many basejumpers as i do. I could easily find someone to mentor me off a cliff. But im not there yet mentally! Besides i love skydiving so much, doing another 150 jumps will be a joy! And a journey! Im really looking forward to the day i get to jump Kjerag as a first timer! But im not about to cut corners with something that might kill me! Now a H20 jump at the Perrine won't kill you, but the hassle of getting there for ONE jump! Get real dude!

"huge respect and interest?"
"lack of interest on the English BASE board?"

as you know, most jumpers go through a lengthy process where the learn a ton of skills. most begin the process totally unaware of what they do NOT know. it let's people learn about themselves and how they react under stress. it builds muscle memory and judgment.

people recommend this process because it proved so valuable to themselves.

trying to shortcut this process implies you do NOT respect it. thus you do NOT respect what we have gone through.

it can be hard to find a mentor, and brutally difficult if you lack the proper attitude. BASE has some wickedly harsh realities. trips to the hospital or morgue are way too common. if you want to avoid the challenges, why should anyone trust you?

Also if you only have 6 skydives, you've had instructors hugging you all the way to 5k on every jump! Which makes it more or less a cakewalk compared to the amount of stress and information you would be having to procces trough jumping off a bridge!

Would you take a racecar to the track only having driven your fiesta? just to get the feeling of driving fast?

Get more freefall experience, meet people in the skydiving community that BASE jump, make it a part of your life. Make it a journey like im doing! The people i've met through the BASE and skydiving community are the most awesome people i've met my entire life! I love them all and they all have my utmost respect!

Also, i doubt you will find anyone willing to let you groundcrew for them! They will have to have 100% confidence in you! what if someone goes in? would you know how to handle it?

Right.

Again, I thank those of you who've replied for taking the time to do so.
I AM NOT TRYING TO SHORT CUT MY WAY INTO BECOMING A BASE JUMPER, NOR AM I TRYING TO DISRESPECT ANYONE.
Would you start digging at someone that wanted to do a tandem skydive? Probably not.
Given the nature of BASE, tandems aren't a realistic prospect. Therefore I merely wanted to enquire as to whether making a 'round' jump from a bridge would be something like an equivalent.
I'm taking everything that's being said onboard, truly...But making me out to be some kind of anti-BASE asshole that's gonna stick my middle finger up at the ethics, pain and effort people have gone through, just so I can get my own way seems a little harsh.
It was a question, an enquiry if you like.
I've learned now that it's not a great idea.
Maybe someday i'll have earned the right to jump for real, and maybe I won't. But I can assure you I hold the jumpers who've been kind enough to share some of their time with me in the highest regard.
I mentioned 'getting some footage'??
That would be footage of BASE jumpers doing their thing while I watch from the sidelines in awe - Not footage of me showboating, thinking i'm something i'm not.
I've tried to keep this real simple and friendly, but some of you need to chill the hell out and lighten up a bit.

Finally, my sincere thanks to those who took time to PM me, all that you have said has been taken onboard.

Skydiving is a poor comparison, tandem or otherwise. Most people live within a reasonable driving distance to a dropzone that will happily answer tremendously basic questions. Why? They desire to extract money from you! You will end up paying for the information. That is how you show them respect.

BASE jumping has no equivalent. It is NOT a commercial enterprise trying to lure people in. It is a loose knit group of like minded people.

So, you want to say all the time and effort we put in is really irrelevant to you? How does that demonstrate respect?

Remember, respect is not given, it is earned. If the UK jumpers have not shown you enough respect to answer your inquiry, ask yourself "why?"

If you put in some time and effort to lurk, search, and read old posts, you would not need to ask the question! You also would understand the community better, and know how to find acceptance.

Is desiring a little effort really asking too much?
Especially before you risk serious bodily injury?
Are you aware of all the fatalities at that bridge?

or do you simply not care?

Yes, I am aware of the unfortunate fatalities that have happened at Perrine and others.
Yes, I DO care, and i'm not trying to kill or injure myself.
I asked a question, the answer is no.
I'll be very careful which questions I ask in the future.

You dont need to be careful about the questions, just be prepared for an answer you dont like. The reason you were greeted with such hostility is because you got an answer you didnt expect or like and continued to argue your point. I understand you SAY you dont want to shortcut the process, but the very idea of what you are proposing IS IN FACT short cutting the process. It's not a huge deal, people have done it before. If you want to short cut it, ok, no big deal, people have done it before. What the people of this forum are trying to do is convince you not to do it and make sure you understand what you are proposing. Like several people have already mentioned if you are bent on doing it this way someone will help, it's just not recommended.

Ok let me put it delicately then, shall I?

There are some skydivers with high jump numbers out there who have waited years to find someone to teach them. Then there are others who are still looking for a good mentor out there. They earned it and are still having a hard time. The good mentors out there are picky as hell about who they take under their wing-- its a huge responsibility teaching someone how to not get killed in a risky sport.

So the question you have to ask yourself is this: If I do find a mentor or instructor who will throw me off the bridge with minimal skydiving experience, is that really a conservative approach to the sport? And if you deem it not, then would you really want someone that non conservative throwing you off a bridge?

Just think about it.

Like Rick P said...." I'd rather watch t.v. than d.b. !!" Hittin a rocky shoreline under a small round, very possible given you're open at 400' plus, would be femur city and three times the cost of an AFF course.

get with this guy, he'll put you off the potato with a round & then he'll know if it will work!
2 birds, 1 stone ! ! !

a perfect example why people dont post more on these forums....see above.

think everyone does need to lighten up, a lot.

Maybe you should change your screen name to 140ftnfallin, if you want people to take you seriously.

Thanks rsh01, PM received with gratitude!
Much as i'd love to change my name, I thought once you'd linked a name to an email address it couldn't be changed?
I kept it because it's the same one I used for dropzone.com when that had a seperate BASE section before this site was up and running.
I hope to hell that I do continue skydiving, and eventually get to do a FJC...The thing that I was trying to point out was that there's every chance that I could be hit by a bus (or anything for that matter!) in the next few minutes, and the thought of never having experienced a (hopefully) clean exit from an object and landing safely scares the sh** out of me almost as much as the thought of standing on an exit point with a rig on.
I honestly never meant to piss anyone off, but hey, sh** happens.

Well, that's not really true, is it? Trying to shortcut your way into making a BASE jump is exactly what you're trying to do.

Now, if that was it, you'd most likely be absolutely fine. But look at it from another point of view. you've already demonstrated that you're too impatient to wait until you have enough experience before making one BASE jump. Once you've made that one PCA/SL/whatever jump, which you will probably survive without any injury or problems, why should anyone believe that once you've had a taste of BASE you will suddenly revert to being sensible and respecting the reccomendations? Why should anyone believe that you won't do what most others in that situation would, which is to say "fuck it, that BASE jump wasn't that hard, I guess I'll just keep going"?

if your fear of surviving daily life seems so high, will you have a heart attack on the edge?

maybe you should do something to reduce that fear, rather than feed into it?

so much in life is the journey. road trip stories are everywhere. they don't simply focus on destinations. (I also would not recommend a glory hole and a money slot if you really, really want to lose your virginity... )

obviously, if you have some degenerative condition making the window of opportunity real tight... speak up and I bet you'll find a ton of sympathy.

lol. voice of experience?

Mr wwarped, I don't have a fear of everyday life...More of an understanding that bad things just HAPPEN on a daily basis.
As far as a degenerative condition goes, I only have crohn's to offer...and to be honest apart from the daily discomfort it probably just makes me more likely than most others to suffer from the aforementioned 'poop in pants' scenario.
Sympathy is the last thing I expected when I began this post.
I can't apologise anymore than I already have for seemingly ruffling some people's feathers, but my situation remains the same and probably will for the forseeable future =
1) Love to watch and admire BASE and its participants
2) Have a healthy curiosity about it, and ask what some people will see as 'dumb questions'
3) Skydive as much as financially possible
4) Keep reading the good old books and articles
5) Not take everything I read on here to heart...We're all only human after all.
For the most part i've had some sound advice and feedback from you folks here, and for that I thank you.
Hope we can all be chums now.

but you can afford a round and the flight over??? finish your courses and there are plenty of jumpers out in england. in the end, you can do what ever you want... i hear electrical tape works great for static line break cord if you cant afford the 80 lbs

Hhey you have been on here almost 3 years man, why the rush now?? Have you broke up with a chick or some shit

suck it up and pay your dues! why the fuck would anyone want to throw you off a bridge so you can experience base jumping without having the balls, tenacity, and attention span to get to that point on your own.

stupid stupid stupid.


boohoohoo. sucks for you. joker.

Great work, thanks for your feedback.
But do me a favour and kindly leave my balls out of this would you?
What did they ever do to you?!?!?