Basejumper.com - archive

I am planning a vacation next summer to make a few base jumps in the US, most likely at the potato bridge. Due to job issues, the site/jumps must be legal. I'm an uncurrent (2 or 3 years) D licensed skydiver. This is intended to be a one time event to cross off another item on my bucket list, but who knows. I thought that about skydiving originally.

I've been searching the forums but still have a few questions.

Several of the websites offering FJC's have outdated info, so besides Apex who is currently offering a potato bridge FJC?

Cost isn't a major issue, but I do need to budget for it. Approximately what should I expect for cost of a quality FJC?

I know that I need to get current, so how many skydives is recommended? I was thinking at least 10-20 and possibly more if I can't land in the peas at least 90-95% of those under varying conditions. I was thinking that I would spend 2 or 3 weekends doing hop and pops.

My weight varys, but I tend to be on the heavy side. This has obviously been an issue with my skydiving. My highest wingloading was on a ZP 9-cell at approximately 1.25:1. This was ok at the time(though I did upsize later to a larger ZP 7-cell), but obviously isn't appropriate for base jumping with little currency. I do have at least 50 jumps on F111 at 1:1 or greater, but that was over 15 years ago.

What is the max recommended wingloading for beginning base jumping? Would 1:1 be ok for the potato bridge site?

No, 1 to 1 is too high. You CAN do it but I'd suggest not using that high of a wingload. You'll want to be around .7 to 1.

What do you weigh without gear? The heavy side is a bit too vague to make a proper suggestion.

contact tomaiello here

I avoided explicitly stating my actual weight because I wanted to avoid the usual comments that come with it. Heck, even I have told some people that they are just too damn heavy to skydive.

I tend to gain during the winter and lose during spring/summer. I expect that I would weigh between 250 and 275 by vacation time. This is a cycle that I've repeated more than I should have.

I understand that 1:1 is high in general for basejumping, but what about for this specific site?

It is my understanding that the landing area is approximately the size of a football field. Is this correct?

Snake River BASE Academy
Post Office Box 2493
Twin Falls, ID 83303
United States of America

+1.208.420.2602
www.SnakeRiverBASE.com
info@SnakeRiverBASE.com

That is one of the websites that I mentioned as being out of date. The calendar shows 2006 events.

http://tinyurl.com/286ax4t

No it's not appropriate for that site either. If you keep asking eventually someone (maybe ThePirate or CheekyBastard) may tell you it's ok.

At 275lbs without gear you want a canopy of 380 ish. I'm not aware of anyone making anything that big, but you may get away with a 354, but get bigger if you can find it, or get down to 250lbs before your trip.

Actually, that is what I wanted to hear. I've seen those on DZ.com that ask the question over and over hoping to see someone tell them that something is "OK". I'm not asking for anyone to "approve" my actions, only asking for enough info to make an informed decision. I've made many decisions in my skydiving career. The informed ones usually didn't hurt.

Summer before last I got down to 235 before the end of the summer, but last summer I only made it to about 275. It just varys with my activity level and of course how much junk I eat and drink. I'm really good at losing the weight, just lousy at keeping it off. Been going through these cycles since I started skydiving in 94.

I would like to know more about the reasoning in general for lower wing loadings in base and for this specific site how those factors do or do not apply.

Obviously, lower wing loadings are going to be lower performance and therefore more forgiving in many aspects such as landing, turns, speed of impact to the crash site, etc.

My mostly uninformed thought process was that the landing area is relatively large and the chances of an object strike are relatively low at this site.

What about the outs for this site? Of course there is the water and wingloading isn't going to make much difference there, but are the other outs few and far between, littered with large rocks, ??????

Are the winds generally the same or do they vary significantly?

there are plenty of threads that discuss wingloading. I bet the Articles section does as well.

my pet peeve is how you used the word "performance." what do you value to get "performance?" some car fiends love excess power while others brag about fuel efficiency. they will define "performance" differently.

sure, the dz has fans of sub 100 sq ft speed demons discussing "performance" landings.

in BASE, most jumpers prefer traits like ability to sink, flare strength, landable when damaged, reliable opening, etc.

a lightly loaded, vented, valved, BASE parachute is the HIGHEST performing parachute, in a BASE setting.

IMHO

 

You're correct, performance can be defined in many different ways. I guess that I could have said that lower wing loadings are more docile.

I tend to over word smith my writing and should have caught that one.

You are also correct about the information on this site and in the articles related to wing loading. A search for the term yields numerous results.

At your direction, I did another search. There are almost 600 posts on the subject. I was able to find 1 article by Sangiro and several postings by Tom Aiello that have answered my questions about wing loading. I'm sure that there are many more, but the answer is "it depends".

The key items that Tom highlighted in his posting are:
1. Object type
2. Landing area
3. Winds
4. Object height
5. Experience level

In that same thread Tom quotes Shotgun Ray's Rule of Thumb which is:

Take your naked body weight in pounds and add 100 to it. This is your ideal mid-range canopy size. Add 20 if you are going to be doing lots of objects where you land in really bad landing areas or if you prefer landing in deep brake approaches. Subtract 20 if you are going to be doing lots of jumping in high winds (eg. antennas or big walls) with good landing areas.

Following that rule of thumb I would need to lose to at least 250 and find a FLIK 354 to jump as stated in one of the previous postings.

Dang, I'd never heard of tandem base jumping. Do you happen to know what size/make canopies they use?

it's always good to see someone learning how to research!

A common trap to fall into is just considering the outcome should everything go broadly to plan.

So you aren't open super low, you don't have a line over, you are in a good position for your intended landing area, you are facing into wind, you can steer your canopy, you are able to flare.

Try considering what the outcome might be if one or more of those aren't the case. How do you feel about heavily loading your canopy in that situation?

Being on the heavy side you are probably more prone to injury, and you aren't particularly current under canopy.

And apart from all of that, why would you limit yourself to one site because of your canopy choice. If the jumps go well you will want to jump other places.
If you are so disciplined to not do that, then you cut out the junk food for a few months and make sure your activity level is increased... problem solved.

Lots of people get away with poor decisions, that doesn't turn them into good decisions. It's your choice to stack the odds in your favor or not.

What dates are you thinking of being here?

A new web site is under construction, but I don't have dates on it yet either.

The phone number and email are still valid.

The next two courses are Jan 4-7 and Feb 17-20.

If you'd like a study package, drop me an email at tom@snakeriverbase.com and let me know your postal address (and t-shirt size).

Thanks.