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Hahahahahaha!!!

Rather try find an out of service tandem rig and convert that into a base rig. That way you can take your friend with you!

Hey Bruiser!

yes it can be done, in the early days of base thats what people jumped.

1. Remove the deployment bag (the bag where the main chute is stuffed in). Connect the bridle straight from the pilot chute to the canopy. Pilot chute is the small round chute that yanks out the main chute. There's no need for a deployment bag in base (safety issue).
2. When you pack the Sabre2, pull the slider (rectangular piece of fabric with 4 rings that the lines go through) down the lines to the container end, resting against the risers (seat belts that connect the lines to the container). Do this ONLY IF you plan to jump under 300m objects. If higher, pack the slider up resting at the canopy-end of the lines.

3. Make sure reserve is packed correctly.

4. If you want to be extra careful, switch the pilot chute to a 42 inch one (it now has a 28-30 inch one).

I hope this advice helps. However, this advice is not very good advice if you plan to stay alive to make more jumps. A Sabre2 is not made for basejumping and it will perform poorly. Jumping modified skydiving gear has been done, mostly when base gear did not yet exist. Many jumpers died because they jumped skydiving gear. Modifying this set of gear and jumping it of something solid would be russian roulette with much worse odds than 1 out of 6.

But it definately could be done. Atleast once.

Kerkko
BASE1184

Your friend is lying.
You don't have to modify anything, just look at all the old video from the '80 and early '90s.
"BASE specific gear" is just a conspiracy to make you buy stuff you don't really need.

Is the popcorn good?

I will go out on a limb here and assume that you are serious and will give you a serious answer.

My first BASE jumps in 1988 were on a Racer and a PD-190 main from the New River Gorge Bridge (876 ft.). I made more BASE jumps with that and another Racer, so yes, a Racer *can* be used for BASE jumps. For most BASE jumps, there are FAR better choices these days.

"Freefly-Friendly" labels and rhetoric aside, it is well established that a Racer is a reliable skydiving rig and a Sabre 2 170 is a reliable skydiving canopy. If you limited yourself to BASE jumps that would duplicate the conditions you encounter on skydives, then the gear would be fine. Unfortunately, there are very few objects you can do that with.

The vast majority of BASE objects have exits well under 1000 ft. and involve delays of fewer than 5 seconds. With the exception of Spans, that means you are opening close enough to the object that it is absolutely critical to have a fast, on-heading opening and your gear and you *must* be able to make that happen at subterminal airspeed. The Sabre 170 is a very poor choice for that.

Even the canopy were a good choice, the container would not be. When compared to the longer single-parachute containers typically used for BASE jumping, the Racer is at a disadvantage for BASE because the smaller main container on the Racer forces you to put more folds in your canopy than would be required by the longer BASE container. The result is that your pack job is more distorted by the smaller container.

I could tell you how to configure your equipment for BASE jumping the way we did it 20 years ago but the sport has come a very long way since then and you would be quite foolish not to take advantage of the advances in gear and technique.

I am going to ask that you carefully consider the consequences of making the wrong choices in BASE, whether it is the wrong gear choice, jumping in the wrong conditions, or making a jump that is above your skill level. There are worse things than death that can happen to you, so there is very good reason to stack the odds in your favor as much as possible. BASE jumping with a Racer and a Sabre will put you at a very unnecessary level of risk.

The best advice I can give you is to make a bunch of skydives. Learn as much as you can about the gear and how to deploy, fly, and land a canopy in all sorts of conditions. Revisit your thoughts about BASE after making 200-300 skydives. Study the gear choices and what is involved in making a safe BASE jump. Your skydiving experience will put you in a position to get a solid grasp on the wealth of information that is out there on BASE.

Consider ground crewing also. I don't know where you live, but chances are very good that you can meet one or more BASE jumpers at the nearest drop zone.

BASE is often an "underground" thing, so don't expect to be accepted immediately. Give the jumpers time to get to know you.

Don't be in a hurry and don't get discouraged.

Walt

1.) You probably won't see anyone anywhere.
2.) No one that I know of would go BASE jumping with you, or even teach you with only a "couple" of skydives.
3.) Join the skydiving community and gain experience with canopy control. Enjoy skydiving for a bit and research BASE jumping alot more. There are folks at the DZ who base jump, and after you get to know them and befriend them. Chances are they will mentor you. Only as long as they know what there doing. Lol.
4.) Be prepared for what your going to read on this thread, most likely you might not like some of it and think some folks are dickheads. This isn't a community you want to enter into if you don't have thick skin and the experience with skydiving first.

Good Luck to ya!

If you really want to learn, go SKY jump for a while.

If you do not care to learn and are willing to take
even greater risks by being under-prepared then
the shortest route is to sell that SKYDIVING rig
and SKYDIVING canopy to someone who wants
to jump out AIRPLANES.

Take the money and buy yourself a BASE rig and
BASE canopy so you can BASE jump, or a revolver,
a bullet, and some alcohol/drugs. Have Fun.

or better yet you could sell it to me and make some money how much do you want for it?

Here is one of the most widely distributed BASE photos of all time and guess what I'm jumping?



However, instead of a Racer with a 170sf Sabre it was a Racer with a 375sf Strong Wizard.

And this was 1984, not 2012. I was jumping a Racer because: a) it was in fact one of the best SKYDIVING rigs for BASE jumping because of the flap configuration; and BASE-specific rigs were very few and far between back then.

Next, jokesters and sarcasmnistas notwithstanding, you've gotten a lot of great advice in this thread, to which I'll add my own .02:

1. SKYDIVING with this rig is fine, even at your low jump numbers, if you don't load it too much past 1:1. Roger Nelson proved years ago that Sabre I 170s are excellent beginner canopies; Skydive Chicago logged more than 14,000 newby jumps against only two broken-lower-limb ambulance rides when it switched from bigger F-111 canopies to the ZP Sabres -- a way, way lower injury rate than they got with the bigger F-111 canopies. Your Sabre II is a superior canopy to the Sabre I so, again, as long as you don't load it much past 1:1, you're good to go (as long as you get the right instruction on flaring that puppy).

2. DO NOT MODIFY IT. Don't ruin a perfectly good skydiving rig by turning it into a totally half-assed BASE rig -- especially since, unlike 1984, there are many great used BASE rigs on the market at some pretty reasonable prices.

3. TAKE YOUR TIME. Skydiving is a very cool and fun thing to do, so do that for a while before you get into BASE jumping. Learn your craft, learn your "air craft," learn about yourself and how you deal with stuff happening.

Do these things and you'll make your dad proud. Follow your proposed path and all you'll do is make him cry at your bedside or graveside.

You've already made him proud one way: Good on ya for seeking advice and guidance before plunging into the BASE abyss.

44

You, skydiving?! Nonsense!

best post in a long time

haha someday