Basejumper.com - archive

I'm sure there are people out there who have read the advice of "go get several hundred skydives", "find a mentor", and "take a First Jump Course" who are wondering what the big deal is about a FJC.

Having recently taken a FJC, here is an overview of things I learned:

Equipment:
Packing Principles
Critical vs. Cosmetic
Slider Up & Slider Down
Brake Settings

Pilot Chutes
Styles
Symmetry
Installation
Important Performance Characteristics

Classroom:
The Deployment Process
Post Opening Procedures
Malfunctions
Turbulence
Pilot Chutes & Toggles
Influence of Wind on PC & Canopy
Site Analysis - Object Evaluation
Base Ethics - Legal Considerations - Culture

Skills Training:
Performing a Gear Check
Exit Practice
PCA, Static Line, Handheld, Stowed
Object Avoidance Drills
Tuning DBS

Looking back, the difference between reading all the available material -books-forum conversations-etc (I would highly recommend that anyone interested in this activity read all of these) and attending a FJC is like the difference between reading the drivers ed manual and attending Skip Barber Racing School. The first activity may lead to the next, but is no substitute for it.

Did I come out of my FJC as a fully prepared, know everything base jumper? Far from it. But, I can distinguish between jumps that are attainable for me (with a little local advice-mentoring) vs. those which would be bad news for someone at my skill level. Getting to this point with a supportive mentor I am sure is possible, but strikes me as a considerable challenge that most potential mentors would not want to take on unless you were already very close friends. Trying to become a base jumper by reading books and watching videos alone...suicidal at best.

Great post,

But i would say , the young bloods today are thinking

" I dont need a mentor or a fjc

My mentor is Youtube and 3 go pros...

Thats enough ahhaha

I crack myself up

What FJC did you take? PM me if you want. i have a theory about fjc students which im trying to validate to myself.

An FJC is scheduled, planned, organized, and
takes place for several days, usually at a legal
site with day light jumping.

This allows/lends extended focus, observation,
and repetittion to help with the learning curve.

The first jump each day for a student/newbie
is often fraught with fear while subsequent
jumps are usually a little easier/better.

The instructors at a FJC will have experience at evaluating students before they make mistakes. A mentor might only have that one apprentice that year, and they might be such good friends that it becomes hard to say "stop". FJCs take the stress and responsibility off the shoulders of your friends. I'm glad I did the FJC.

Nice post! I think the fjc is a great thing, but i went with the mentor route and learned everything at a great pace and on a really personal level so i feel like i got the best of the situation. It takes someone who has experience with teaching and knows how to introduce you to new topics or actions that youre ready for!

Old School - There was no BASE First Jump Course.

New School - Die.

NickD

old school like 1993

Nick, would you mind expanding on that? I don't get it.


Edit: Close the quote tag

When you're hungry (for BASE), you can go to Kentucky Fried Chicken (FJC) with many strangers or cook at home (Old school) with friends.

Home cooking :
More risk to get burn, cook shit meal. Take time too, have to do research by your own on things to cook and how to do it.
But, even if you cook like shit, always good to eat your own slow cooking food with friends. Taste is never the same, sometime better, sometime worst ... but you made it, so you like it !

KFC (look like FJC no )
No risk (except becoming huge & Fat) in the kitchen for you. Always the same taste. many people around you that you don't know ... easy way.

Cook at home ! takes more time, more risk but then you really know how to do it

Learn BASE with friends, (maybe) more risk at the begining, but more rewards, more fun and you still learn from your friends after years .. and i think less risk on a long time period because you never leave your first jump course, you keep jumping with your teacher year after year ...

PS: It's hard to describe feelings with another language ... but i hope you understand what i mean ... no disrespect for FJC, just prefer the love & BASE sharing with friends

Anyway, comming from FJC, KFC, friends or McDonalds, good jumps everybody

you make the FJC sound like its some impersonal activity that you will not make any friends doing.

of course folks can make friends at a FJC. but none may live nearby. that can be wonderful for folks who like to travel.

after a FJC, the newbie still needs to break into the local crew, or jump alone (when not traveling).

when a wannabee gets the cold shoulder from the local crew, a FJC can bypass them to get basic knowledge, but may not earn any invites to jump.

or a local crew may ask the wannabee to start with a FJC...

social dynamics are like jump dynamics - they vary. everyone should evaluate for themselves.

i literally have no clue what the fuck you just said, maybe i misunderstood what you said.........

how bout a combination of good solid mentorship for the first 6 months of a BASE career, then a FJC, then surrounding yourself with people who are solid, heads up jumpers by being a decent noobie? you can stick to the old school style but times are changing, and in my opinion a mix of the kentucky fried chicken slowly roasted with some home cooking can help people become decent BASE jumpers

I agree totally.... I met my mentor through skydiving. We became awesome friends, after about 12 months, he knew my BASE aspirations, and a further 12 months later, he told me he wanted to mentor me. He did a fucking awesome job, took me to some awesome spots and I enjoyed it so much more than my friends who did an FJC. I did my first hand held off a 600ft smoke stack at night, on a two way, which was my first night jump and pulled it off perfrectly, and just last week I did my first stowed jump, off my first A, which is right by my house. It was a much more full on learning curve than an FJC, but I was always confident in my own ability, as was my mentor. I definitely think it made the my learning experince to this point so much more intense and rewaarding.

I talked to a guy the other day who did his first AFF jump. He said he had eight tandems and one BASE jump. He said he learned everything off of YouTube! He also said he was lucky to be alive.

When I did my FJC at Kjerag, we cooked meals together in the evening. (Not because we had to.) Am I some sort of hybrid, then???

I don't speak for Nick but I think I get what he is saying. Back in the day, there were no FJCs for BASE. Some of us were lucky enough to learn from jumpers who had a lot of skill and experience but that was not the case for everyone.

Today, there is a better way and that way is the FJC. It is a lot smarter to learn from the past rather than repeat it.

Seems like there are a lot of BASE newbies who want to shortcut the process and, in effect, do it "old school", even though there is a far better way easily available to them.

"Old school" jumpers did not take a FJC because none existed. The result? Fatalities.

The "new school" jumpers who take the same path get the same result, only they seem to be doing it at a more alarming rate.

Walt

I think that it's very important to recognize two things:

1) There are vast differences between various FJC's.
2) There are vast differences between various mentors.

I have seen a "FJC"s which basically meant "you pay me a thousand bucks and I'll throw you off a bridge 5 times in 2 says.

I have seen "mentors" who basically threw someone off a bridge three times for free, and then said "poof, now you're a BASE jumper, good luck out there."

Either of these situations has done a disservice to both the new jumper and to the idea of FJC/mentorship/training.

When a new jumper is evaluating a path forward, they should critically compare the available options, asking themselves what they will learn, how long it will take, how much it will cost, and what experiences they will have along the way. All of these things are important considerations.

 I'm a technician and a detail oriented person. I find confidence and comfort in understanding the details of anything I'm interested in doing. That's a basic part of my personality. For me, it's the way I have to do things.
I am in no way qualified to give advice in this sport. I can however comment on my own recent experience. I made my first three BASE jumps at Bridge Day 2012. And, I packed all three. I had no exposure prior to the week of BD outside of a few conversations with a couple of people I know who BASE jump and YouTube videos. I have a little over a thousand skydives and jump almost every weekend.
I took the Apex 2 Day FJC in Fayetteville just prior to BD. I thought the time and expense were totally worth it. I loved every bit of the two days. I felt I was as prepared as a first time jumper could reasonably be standing on the exit ramp. It made the experience less stressful and immensely enjoyable for me. That's my personal take on doing an FJC.

Not to be a dick, but you didnt take an FJC, you took a First Bridge Day Jump Course. BD is a semi controlled environment with one very specific semi controlled object with many people looking out for your safety. It's a good course, and I took it myself years ago before my first BD jumps, but it is not meant to be a full FJC.

Congrats on your first 3 jumps and good job packing for yourself. Very very few people making their first jumps pack unassisted or at all.

 Well, to be more specific, I packed the first jump with assistance, the second I had someone confirm my progress a couple of times and the third I did unassisted.
I do have tentative plans to do a few days in Twin Falls with Apex in late May 2013. Maybe that will fill in what I didn't get for BD.

I've had the best of both worlds.. did a couple death camp jumps, then did the Aussie BASE Course (2 week FJC, a week at Perrine then a week in Moab, with about 10 of us and a few great instructors that we then went on to jump with back home, each of us getting about 35-50 jumps done in that time).
I felt that it gave me a really good base of skills and prepared me well for the easier jumps in Oz.
I then had an excellent mentor when I got back that helped me through my progression to the more technical jumps.
Some of my friends killed it straight off the bat, whereas I took a few jumps to really get solid and that 2 weeks gave me the chance to work on my weaknesses and lock away skills that would have taken me much longer to nail if I'd only had a more traditional mentorship. I can't speak for the shorter FJC's, but I have a few friends who have done Tom's course and I think it's a really solid course, but would love to see him offer an additional week at Moab as an additional stepping stone for Aussies and other slider down junkies.
I feel that was a really good way for me to do it & I highly recommend it but as Tom says there is a huge difference between different FJC's and mentors... so really, have a look at your own jumping goals and your personal abilities/learning style, then really put a lot of time and thought into finding a high quality AND appropriate course &/or mentor.

Tom does offer a object avoidance course that includes more than just the bridge and also fine tunes your DBS. Setting your DBS with rented or borrowed gear, then jumping moab would be kinda pointless in my opinion.

The first of the three Safety Skills courses is Object Avoidance, which is probably what you are looking for. The curriculum includes:

Object Avoidance Strategies
Running Exits
Unpacked Jumps
Customizing DBS
Object Avoidance Drills
Cliff Jumps

Since we have a good selection of slider down cliff jumps much closer than Moab, I don't think it's necessary to drive the 16 hour roundtrip from Twin Falls to do this training.

The last Object Avoidance course was November 20-25. The next one will be January 2-5.

At the moment, I have openings in the following courses on the schedule for 2013:




I had an Aussie student here last week, who completed the FJC and Object Avoidance back to back. When he left I believe he'd done around 40 jumps from multiple objects and exit points.


I've attached the syllabus for the Object Avoidance course, as .pdf file.

 

I definitely agree that way too many people like to take folks with a handful of jumps out to jump cliffs.

But I'm not sure you're familiar with all the exits I use for this training, because there are several that are a lot less technical than what you're describing.

In the interests of preventing another "let's take the new guy for a cliff jump" exit like the Jawbone has become, I'm not really willing to give any more specifics.