Basejumper.com - archive

Hi there,

I would like to ask your guys opinions on a few things. I have no BASE experience thus far.
I have a couple of thousand skydives and am as current as i can be.
I have wanted to get into BASE for a long time but i live in an area where there aren't any of what i would call "safe" beginner sites. There are low cliffs and low bridges - a couple to a few hundred feet.
I am currently thinking about going over to Europe next year and doing a FJC (Gotta save up first).

I have the possibility here of jumping off a paraglider in the meantime.
It seems to me,it would be a good way to get canopy time at a safe altitude with the added safety of off-headings being less of a worry (There are people here who can teach me to pack. I have some experience packing BASE gear already).

Do you think this is a sensible thing to do? Or should i save the pennies, do nothing and start from scratch in Europe?

I have a ton of other questions but i'll leave it at that for now. Thanks for your input.

With thousands of skydives you
should be plenty comfortable
doing 1 lowish jump from your
experienced friend's glider...
provided you and him both
agree on an exit method.

You get to have a cool jump,
he gets a cool new story, you
get to feel a dead-air exit,
and if takes too long to open
you know your rigging skills
may need some work

FYI - I have not yet jumped
a glider but have done a few
different ultralights and the
exit is usually just falling off
Not pushing off, which is the
normal approach to get max
object seperation.

Assess the risks. You will be the jumpmaster on every jump you do.
Take care,
space.

Aint that the shit?
sorry for the bad word. But I didnt know how to explain it better.
Take care,
space
ps is my previous having nugget potential?

Just head for Fjordland. I hear you can track into the ledges there and will only need to replace your boots

Thanks for the advice guys,
I did the first jump two days ago.
Still buzzing from it!
The pilot estimated about 1300ft exit point.
It looked a lot less alien than i thought it would. But i guess it wasn't that low.
Aimed for 4 second delay with a couple extra if solid stable.
Used a 38"PC with small mesh slider.
Solid exit into stable and 5 second delay in the end. Felt like 6!but i guess i counted out the first second too quickly (which was funny cos my mate said he could hear me counting out the delay and i didn't even realise i was vocalising it. thought i was just thinking it! haha).
Felt like i remained stable during deployment but had a 90 right off heading.
Although, there was a light to moderate crosswind from my left.
Its possible i might've looked up and to the right during deployment as i remember the opening being not anywhere near as slammy as i expected it to be and might've glanced up to see what was going on.
Landing left something to be desired. blackjacks don't flare like xaos 27s, haha.
Not a PLFer but a bit of a stumble.
In hindsight i should've asked my mate to line me up better into wind and further upwind as the spot was a bit off, but at the time i was thinking about the exit,the harness and my pilotchute.

So, yea, i guess there are a few extra things to think about when going off a paraglider but it seems like an awesome alternative in the absence of high bridges.

Congratulations!!

Nothing like a good jump
with some new element to
put a smile on one's face.