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Hi guys,

I'm a novice who's thinking about seriously getting into BASE. I have 150 skydives and will be attending Bridge Day this October. I expressed interest to my friends and girlfriend in the sport and was met with an overwhelming plea for me not to proceed with the idea. Girlfriend cries and says she can't go to sleep with the idea. On top of it all, I'm most afraid of getting maimed and losing my active lifestyle. So I'm rethinking things, trying to gather statistics and assess my risk at becoming seriously injured. Hence the poll.

If you could, could you take the poll and optionally, if you have had any injuries, please specify them, the type of object you jumped from, what went wrong on the jump, and any wisdom you have for newcomers.

I realize such a poll probably already exists, but I did my earnest to search for it. The word "injury" appears way too many times for the Search function to be of any use. Besides, more people have gotten injured since then, and it would be beneficial for the forum to have an updated version of it.

Thanks a lot
Ecoli




attempted to edited the poll options per OP request. looks like a fail. -- wwarped

Hey dude,

Not trying to scare you away, and this might just be my opinion not shared by others, but in the BASE world I dont view broken bones as serious injuries....not when you are looking at the full spectrum of possibilities.

I compressed my spine on my 4th base jump from a 190ft bridge. I consider this my first "real" base jump as the previous 3 were from NRG at BD. I was using an unfamiliar canopy that has is known to stall if you look at it wrong and thats exactly what i did. I was inexperienced under vented canopies, had a low jump, was running long and going to hit the trees so i tried to sink. Unfortunately i didnt realize that while i was sinking i was right on the edge of stall. At about 20 ft i very quickly let my arms up then yanked them right back down but there was nothing to flare with and the canopy stalled and dropped me on my ass. I got no slide and my spine took the full impact.

I broke my foot about 6 months later on the same bridge. Night jump, no moon, foggy. It's only 190ft and I was the second jumper. As soon as the first jumper went we lost him in the fog. I went next, opened fine, couldnt see the ground. After a few seconds i knew i had to be close so i started flaring. I flew through 2 trees, got my body through, but the end cells caught bending the tree, i stood up the landing but the trees slowed my momentum and stretched me out and i landed with toes pointed on one foot.

If you're lucky you'll have a clean break. I wouldnt consider that a serious injury. If you're not lucky you can break all the bones in your ankle like my friend recently did. If you're really unlucky you could end up worse, and I sure those people will chime in with their experiences.

Check out the "is it worth it" thread.

Best of luck

Thanks man. Thanks for sharing. I'll change the definition of serious injury asap.

EDIT:: Never mind, I can't edit the poll now.

also remember, an injury can involve far more than one person.

healthy jumpers have risked arrest, loss of jobs, etc., to assist a broken jumper.




ps
if you want the poll edited, PM me the changes. I can do it.

ditch the girlfriend. if you fall in love with base, she will claim "you love that rig more than you love me." all you have to say is "well I'd look pretty stupid jumping out of a plane with just you on my back," or "well... how many times have *you* saved my life?

hah. it's funny, when I got my rig in the mail, I joked that "Jane" was gonna sleep with us tonight. We got into a tiff later that week and afterward she admitted that she got jealous of the rig and that that was what started the argument.

Paralyzed on my 1100th BASE jump
What went wrong? I fucked up, and in this sport that has huge consequences
Arrested a couple times
Too many friends lost to the sport.

Advice: Stick to skydiving till you get more jumps

check out this post I made a while back...

http://www.basejumper.com/...ooks%20like;#2896520

this poll isn't going to help you much if you don't already realize that there is a pretty good chance you're going to fuck yourself up eventually.

i've fucked myself up plenty.

i'll tell you all about it at bridge day. just look for the badass ninja chick, you'll know me when you see me. : P

Let me save you alot of time. Don't get into BASE.

If you have to make polls and get statistics to see the chances of getting injured, just stop right there and stick to skydiving.

Now, if you can't take that as an answer, I'll give you a statistic to live by. You WILL get hurt BASE jumping. You WILL lose your girlfriend, and you WILL have your whole family pissed off at you for a while.

Will you regret it? Absolutely not. The only regret I have in my life is not dumping the girlfriend sooner. I waited 2 years before getting into BASE because of her/my family's concern.

My wisdom for a newcomer? Watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDAxzlMqxrM

Watch it again because you will be too busy cracking up at Jeb's antics the first time to take it seriously, and if you are saying "FUCK YEAH!", move on over to the classifieds and find your rig, son.

Forget about your poll. There is one simple truth you need to accept and that is that BASE and carnage go hand in hand. If you get into BASE then sooner or later you or someone you know will be seriously injured and/or die while BASE jumping. The longer you stick with it and the more active you become then the more frequently you will see it happen and the more likely it will be one of your mates breaking themselves. Remember that BASE stands for Buddies Are Shattered Eventually.

 

this is a serious reality check. she's already jealous of an inanimate object (jane). it's all downhill from there.

I thought BASE stood for Bones And Shit Everywhere

But Jeb doesn't have to make a living due to the wealth of his family so I imagine he would think anyone who does is insane.

If you dont expect to get injured, you have no idea what your getting into...



Does that not that say something?

Enter this sport, you will get fucked up at some point....

+1

I was told BASE stood for Balls Are Significantly Enlarged?

Thanks for the advice, everybody. I've definitely made up my mind to do BD. I've been doing a lot of prep for it, including cliff diving to see how my body turns with no relative wind, hop n' pops with my Ace canopy, braked turns/pivots, half braked landings, deep braked landings, accuracy landings, also did water training and been talking to all the base jumpers at my DZ for advice. I feel confident in my preparation for my first. It's what comes after that that scares me...

the base jumpers i have been talking to are very experienced with 350-400 jumps a piece. one almost went in, after slamming into a building and then landing in a river unconscious. he's the most experienced guy I know of it when it comes to parachuting and base in general. when I asked him if BASE can be done safely, his response was yes, as long as you take it very slow, use your brain, listen, and stay away from macho idiots who'll pressure you into doing retarded things, and jump with only people you trust who aren't interested in testing how much of a man you are. similar response from the others. gives me some comfort, at least, in that the risk in the sport can be greatly minimized.

I think I'd phrase it as the risk penalty for acting stupid can be minimized.

BASE will still retain a serious potential for carnage.

The tone of your last post makes you sound conflicted and you are rationalizing. (I could be wrong.) That can be a dangerous practice. Instead of climbing down, rationalizing will tell you that you can get away with it just this once...

there are just too many ways to screw up.

" Instead of climbing down, rationalizing will tell you that you can get away with it just this once... "

I'd definitely not call that rationalising...

Rationalizing is not rational!
http://en.wikipedia.org/...ion_(making_excuses)

The more you know, eh?

Changes that you die are pretty much the same in your first jump as it's in your 1000th jump. Something can go wrong no matter who you are or how many jumps you have had. The truth is, something will happen. No one just knows when and how. Is it death or is it serious injury that takes you out of the sport, no one knows. Don't try to tell yourself "it's not going to happen to me", it will happen. If you don't die, can you live rest of your life injured, maybe paralyzed? Do you want to BASE jump so much that you can accept that? You have to decide.

go skydive more. learn to paraglide. BASE will be there when you are ready. 150 jumps is okay for BDay, kinda, but for MOST base jumps is underqualified.

Torn miniscus, Bruised heels, concussions, ankle sprain. 308 BASE jumps

Don't know what background you have for your opinions, but I see BASE the same way I see skiing and Skydiving,.....If I thought I would get hurt doing it I wouldn't bother. In spite of what folks like Tom A., and Jeb C., claim, getting hurt doesn't have to go with the territory.When I teach Skydiving or BASE the first thing I tell people is, "you don't have to get hurt, but these are great activities to get hurt doing if you want to push it.", I know a number of very experienced BASE jumpers who have been active for 10 to over 20 years, with cumulatively thousands of fixed object jumps, who have never had much more than a scratch or a bruise.Don't buy into that crap that being an active BASE jumper you are going to get broken, ....
I jump because it's the greatest experience I know, not to impress the "youtube" generation, read the BFL, with only a couple of exceptions everything can be explained away by inexperience or bad decision making. Laugh at me all you want for being a conservative jumper, I just hate pain.

the Basejump is dangerous. I do not think we are beginning this type of activity according to the statistics! By cons must bear in mind that there are accidents and that this can be you. Your behavior, your experience, your intelligence, your skills, your associates, your instinct, your patience will be well on important to avoid or get out healthy problems, but you should be aware that there is also the luck factor.

see that
http://jimstar.sportblog.fr/...tain-ca-arrive-vite/
and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb6C-QOo2xo

be safe
Jim