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There are currently three Base jumpers here in Kenya and we have all now achieved BASE by going outside of Kenya. Having gained some experience (two of us are self taught) we are now looking to see if we can achieve BASE within Kenya. We just need an “S”.

A 104 ft railway bridge over 5ft of water has been discovered and we have a couple of Direct Bags which we have never used.

We have downloaded a couple of low jump videos, have searched and read all that we can find and although we feel reasonably good about this jump are really not sure about the typical average altitude taken to realise complete deceleration when using a Direct Bag.

Can anyone confirm the viability of this project or offer any guidance whatsoever please.

Thanks in advance

John

PM'd

I have absolute 0 experience when it comes to DBagging but I have some personal experience on jumps in that range. I have personally jumped (and seen maybe 10 other jumps) from 31m (102ft) object, over solid ground but with LOTS of snow (talk about 1m). Also I have couple of jumps from 33m (108ft) object (and have witnessed plenty more) also over solid ground with snow on it. All those jumps were done PCA'd so based on that I cannot comment on the DBagging aspect of your project but I would say the jump itself sounds very much doable.

33m E : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJHi8V7BSHU

I've DB'd others from a 100' bridge over water and have personally been PCA'd from the same bridge. Been there, did that once. You'll likely have about 2-3 seconds from full canopy to landing (just enough time to flare if you don't miss your toggles). Regardless, it's definitely do-able.

In the mid-1990's, we convinced Steve Ball (the 63' cliff guy on one of my videos) to jump the 100' bridge using a round parachute. I DB'd him and he got enough line stretch to keep his body upright during the "impact" with the water. He lost a shoe and was a little bruised, but was able to walk away.

Thanks to all who responded here and the many PM's received.

Jordan found the bridge so we are chucking him of first. If he lives then Mark & I will do it.

I'll let you know.

John

let us know with video please

Sounds good to me. Will tomorrow or the next day work for you? I accidentally just posted on this topic. Didn't realize you had written this already. Anyone morally opposed to an unpacked jump to complete kenya base? All things considered? :)

unpacked jumps don't count

..and maybe not the best idea, considering what my tard heading-performance was like in S.A... 180 line twist, anyone?

 
My take is this (and its based on a very limited experience on ultra-low, but a few jumps nonetheless):

Its always a trade-off (we're talking jumps over hard ground).

If there are multiple jumpers on the load, chances are someone is going to pound in fairly hard. So, the question you need to ask yourself, as there will be video, is am I going to be the one looking all nerdy because I look ridiculous with all this protective gear like spine protector, knee pads, tough boots, impact shorts and even a helmet for heaven's sake,

OR

will I look super hot on the video with sneakers, shorts and t-shirt (or no shirt, which is even hotter, especially in Kenya), and count on my canopy inflation time, the PCA guy (well, that you need to do in either case), toggle reaction and canopy skills so that I can narrow my chances of being "that dude we had to carry out of the wilderness."

So as I said, which is it? Super cool, or slightly gay?


Because we all know, it only counts if its on video, and do you really want to look like a pussy on that video?

But what ever happens, remember to smile for the camera. No one likes a base video with grumpy looking jumpers in it.

Well maybe if they're girls. But in general. Good luck on the jumps!

We all survived it... video to come. And it's actually unbelievable how cool we all look....Heh heh.

Awesome, well done man
can't wait to see the super cool video

I have S/L 90ft over deep water. It was from under the "S" off of the cat walk/ structure. the actuall anchor point was about even with my head and the bridle was long enough to put the B.A.P. about even with the bottom of he "S" I wore bike shorts under my jeans and it still stung a bit.

Have someone in the water just incase your feet sink into the mud and you get stuck under water

NIce one, congrats! Looking forward to seeing the video, and the other video too. Are you going to start giving out Kenya BASE numbers now?

yeah!

congrats.

Nice one!

nice one guys

well, it's safe to say that next time you're out here we'll have a better selection of objects to keep us busy. :)
KB4, anyone?

Can I be KB42 please

How much were your flights down to SA? I'll try find a cheap flight up for a BASE trip

vid:

The video is not working for me (see attached) - all other videos are fine, this one wont appear, and it wont allow me to DL either....

I'm confused. the video does not pop up for me, but I was able to download it.

unfortunately, I have no special authority regarding videos. the best I can offer is contact xmesox.

Hey, I remember actually seeing this issue and wanting to investigate further but then forgetting... The possible reasons are likely either compression codecs used, file type or some random issue when the video was uploaded/approved.

Regardless, I'll have a look into it immediately to see what can be done, as only having the option to download is quite a bitch.

Update: It appears we have some gremlins causing problems in the video plugin in the conversion to flash format. It's being looked into though and will be functional again as soon as possible.

http://www.basejumper.com/...t_Flip_FAIL_434.html

Hookitt and I both noticed that the player does not show up
automatically anymore and mused that it might be as a result
of the most recent system upgrade.

FYI - my flick is 4 MB & John's is 217 MB so it is not size related.

Congratulations Guys!!

Cool video, thank you for sharing it

How much higher would the bridge have to be
for you to feel comfortable landing on ground?

The download is pretty big. 207 megs... If you Right Click the download link and save link as, it will download to your hard drive.

The on-site player stopped right when the site maintenance occurred.

We regularly jump an 145ft "A" and personally that is low enough for me

But then I'm a BOF

I bring good news, the video player on the site is back up and running after a slaughtering of previously mentioned gremlins.
http://www.basejumper.com/...e_with_DBag_435.html

We're just working on the aspect ratio now, so it should all be 100% shortly.

Congrats!

Congrats guys on Kenya base.


2 of us did a 108ft bridge (static line) over solid ground. We both got toggles off and just about flared.

http://www.basejumper.com/videos/Miscellaneous/108ft_448.html

1st part is low res due to the footage being emailed to me, rest is ok.

http://www.basejumper.com/...neous/108ft_448.html

classic!
well done.

John, hats off, Jules & Mac (another one), hats off....

Hey, and all Brits too! Nice!

Beautiful jump! Takes some balls to s/l that. I want to be like you when I grow up. :)

thinking of jumping this again over hard ground on the side. (putting it at about 99ft) I had time to flare (just) and our water was only about 2ft deep. Should be a do-able.