Re: [GravityL] Starting out
GravityL wrote:
I know I'd probably have to learn to sky dive first right? So I'm thinking to do an Accerlated Freefall course to learn aerodynamics and feel comfortable, then go on a BASE FJC? How many sky dives would you recommend?
Where are you located? There may be cheaper options than AFF. If you can find a local DZ with an old school static line program, you can save more money for later training to be better prepared for BASE.
If you are set on BASE as your objective, my suggestion would be to take a basic skydiving course (AFF or static line).
Then pick up a secondhand container and reserve large enough to fit a BASE canopy. Either buy an old 7 cell skydiving canopy, a used BASE canopy, or even your "real" modern BASE canopy, and put it in there.
Make as many jumps as possible on the canopy, focusing on improving your canopy skills and your reactions at opening.
Work through a set of BASE specific drills (attached below) until you have _mastered_ each skill. I'd assume you're going to need 5-10 jumps for each drill, but it might take quite a few more.
Dial your accuracy in until you can easily land standing up in a 20' x 20' area every time, from any wind direction.
If you can do some CRW on the canopy, that's very helpful, but you will need to do some introductory CRW jumps on another canopy first (you can often find loaner CRW rigs if you look for an organized CRW training program).
Skydiving is a lot of fun, so you may decide you want to spend some more time doing skydiving stuff along the way, which I think is a great idea. Just don't neglect to do the BASE preparation before you take a BASE course. Having X number of skydives and actually having a good set of BASE preparatory skills are two different things--don't forget that.
After that, give me a shout and we'll talk about BASE training.