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Having a course and no rig is a much safer route than a rig and no course.

Go take an FJC. Then you can always rent/borrow gear until you save up enough to get your own.

A course will also give you an opportunity to learn about gear, try out different gear, and get some knowledge on which to base gear buying decisions on.

No brainer.

Worth reading the first post in this thread:

http://www.basejumper.com/...20to%20base;#2145113

Snake river BASE has A LOT of rigs to try out and see what you like to fly. they also have a deal if you buy a rig through them they will let you borrow a rig til yours comes. this may be irrelevant now but may help with a decision later. I definitely agree with having the course and no rig is better than having a rig and no course. the second way is how you die.

Yeah dude - what has already been said is valid. Take the course - worry about the rig later.

I took a FJC at Snake River BASE last May and just got my rig last week. Yea, I wish I could have had the rig sooner, but now I know some good people who I feel comfortable hitting a low key A with, and I feel like I have the knowledge to stay (generally) safe. Take it slow - it will keep you alive

I taught myself to sail, in the sea of Cortez, by way of YouTube. Couldn't afford my own boat though.

I think it's good to consider the fact that you will be uncurrent if you go take the course and then wait months for a rig. While all the knowledge presented has been sound, (try before you buy, get experience before you are on your own), I would suggest taking a course, then ordering gear, then making another pilgrimage back to Twin to become more current and train more. Of course this would cost you far more money, and require far more planning, but that is essentially what I am doing.

Of course if you have a pretty good idea that you know what you want to be doing early (wingsuits, getting dirty low) buy away. You can familiarize yourself better with your gear while learning. However, you should still take a course before you ever make your first jump. Try not to allow the factor of money make your decisions for you or influence the level of risk you are willing to accept.

This is the route I took, and I recommend it. I took a course, and learned a ton, but found out that BASE scared me much more than I thought it would, mostly because my canopy skills were not solid enough.

So I went home, without BASE gear, and just kept sky-jumping for another year, not sure if I was ever going to pursue BASE. But as I did more and more skydives, and became a more proficient canopy pilot, I found myself still thinking about BASE a lot. Eventually I bought some BASE gear and went back to the bridge.

Go slowly, assess yourself constantly, and be honest with yourself. And have fun!

~ Chris

"Of course this would cost you far more money"

With all due respect, this doesn't seem very helpful. He's asking what to do because money is limited and your answer is to spend more money than he has.

"Of course if you have a pretty good idea that you know what you want to be doing early (wingsuits, getting dirty low) buy away."

I'd also caution against guessing what your drug of choice will be before you even do a single jump. It's much better to sample a little bit of everything before deciding what you'd like to OD on.

"Try not to allow the factor of money...influence the level of risk you are willing to accept."

Spot on. I've known people who may still be alive had they saved up a little longer in order to be a little safer.

The only legit excuse for not taking an fjc is that you have a worthy mentor. And when I say worthy, I not only mean someone with adequate experience (a few years in the sport and at least a few hundred jumps), but also someone responsible enough to take the job seriously. Making a quick trip to the bridge with a couple buddies and a relaxed attitude will not prepare you for the steep learning curve of jumping on your own (bridge or no bridge).
Spending all your money on a rig when you have no instruction sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
If you do find a mentor, you should have no problem borrowing gear for a bit and getting sound advice on what to buy.
If you can't find a mentor now, you'll have an easier time borrowing gear and getting shown around after taking an fjc.

...just say'n.

Honestly, Ian is getting into BASE in a measured, careful fashion on a college student's budget. He's got a really good approach to doing it well, but also on a shoestring. The key is being patient enough to build up both the funds and the skills you need.

Dont be a PuSsIe, buy the rig. The only thing they teach you at a FJC is hand holding. I guess they teach you how to pay out the ass for learning things like s folding a bridal. Hell i still dont know what the fuck i am doing and people think ive been jumping for years now and try to copy my shit. Im like hey dawg i learned how to pack from digital Jesse Hall, and im pretty sure he was high as fuck in the video. How do I fold my PC, i dont fucking know, i just cram it in the damn pouch. Stop being such a meow asking all these useless questions and go jump!!! Figure that shit out.

Luckily I don't have to take out student loans, haha. Thank you for your tax dollars.

Strongly disagree. The first time I asked Tom if I was good to jump (EDIT: I was already over the rail, for context), he basically told me that I was the one jumping and I have to figure this shit out on my own.

I can't speak to the other FJC's (I've just never seen them), but I know Tom puts a lot of focus on turning you into an independent jumper who has the knowledge to go out and do stuff on your own. By the time I was done with his course, I stayed in Twin and effectively continued jumping independently. I was able to make my own informed decisions, only because of the knowledge I had gained from the course. Choosing to not learn from those with experience is practically suicidal. Read (or watch) Into the Wild and you'll get an idea of the willful ignorance I'm talking about.

So you are validating my point basically, see he didnt hold your hand per se but you bet your ass he made sure your gear was good, and just having him there for support was basically like handholding. I encourage FJC's by the way. Just like i encourage all of you, to jump!

It sounds like you may have had experience with some FJC that wasn't very useful.

I'd be interested to see what you thought of the material we are teaching.

I'll pay you $100/day to sit in on one of our Fundamentals classes and give me your feedback on what you already knew, what was new to you, and how we could improve it.

What do you say?

Fixed to improve chances of successful negotiation.

Tom I would be interested to sit in one day for free.
Coming from not taking an fjc I could let you know what I have learned along my path that is the same or different.

Sure. Any time your schedule matches up. Let me know.

Does that cover wingsuit BASE?? because my suit is on the way!!!!!

Offer open to me?

yoUrE a GianT PUsSie!

are you the guy that wingsuited of the Perrine?

That would be me. Yup it was retarded. But so is a lot of shit I do. Good learning experience.

https://m.youtube.com/...amp;feature=youtu.be

Lucid, this is the beginners forum, please take your non-beginner, not helpful boobtube videos elsewhere.
Good try killing yourself. Seems you are working hard at it.

I was asked a question and i responded. At least im enjoying life, keep sitting behind your keyboard, maybe you will be the one human who escapes death. Im not going out like a scared cunt. I materialize my dreams into reality while you sunday quarterback other peoples lives and tremble at the thought of death. Everyone tells me the samething, guess what, i am still here. And until i am not you better believe i will be fucking BASE jumping my ass off! I have not begun to defile myself, but i'll be your huckleberry ;) youre no daisy.

And I can post whatever I please in the beginner forum, I created the internet!

I asked because of the opinions you have been sharing on here and people should know they come from somebody that jumps a wingsuit of the perrine

lol, if anyone listens to my posts or interprets them as anything besides sarcasm they need more help than I do. No wonder people need governments to babysit them!!!

Oh wow futurama, way to add originality to your brainless response. You must be D-dogs apprentice. What does he have you studying? Gerbals or hamsters.

WOW!

What did you learn?

You're funny!
You act like such a bad ass yet it's painfully obvious that you are another empty soul fueled by the ego, searching/yearning for approval and/or recognition. You put on the persona that you are the only one living life and enjoying it, you act as though you are beyond posting on this forum yet here you are making fun of everyone, you think others are armchair quarterbacking when you yourself tell people what to do at every turn. You think the government doesn't babysit you just as much as everyone else... You got them figured out, huh? I'd love to learn more on which method you used to correctly cancel the contracts binding you to them.

My jumps aren't as rad and edgy as your circus stunts I guess. I mean my last 25 or so jumps were pretty boring and all... with 10 new sites including 4 virgin buildings, a virgin crane, a virgin smokestack, a windmill and a RR bridge. Nope, no sir, not fun at all compared to the 20 super cool Perrine stunts you did last week.

I'm not sure why you are so angry, maybe you weren't loved as a child but risking your life acting like a dumb ass in BASE won't make it any better and 'going out' acting like a bad ass is still 'going out' just like a scared cunt so what exactly do you think you are proving with all your machismo?

Dont you get it? Its all one big joke. Im glad im at least funny! You better slow down, i dont know if those old bones can keep up with all that activity. I never act like a bad ass, i just am. I def dont need any approval, never said i was enjoying it, im stuck here with all you imbecile humans.. Panspermia. I actually hijacked this empty soul, im a viral entity inflating his ego. Since you want to comment on how i jump and add your negativity about dieing i just figured id do the same to you. but judging by how many years youve been jumping/have left i dont need to, just figured someone with such an asinine comment would be one of the skygod bridgeday jumpers. What did I learn? It was the experience. Line twists, quick decision on where to land, what its like to swim in a wingsuit, good reason for 3 rings, that its good to jump with food in your system in case you need the energy, the different ways to get out from the otherside of the canyon. Was an 1hr 30min jump, normally takes me ~8minutes to climb out so now i make sure i dont plan my pedicures after i plan to do a jump. Im not angry btw, i just thought your comment was shit. This was Josh's B-day, figured he'd enjoy some shenanigans. Like im the first person to jump a wingsuit off the perrine, hardly. I go hard, thats why i got a sponsor from Viagra. I'll give you some free samples old timer! Bitches say my D's like folgers, good to the last drop. This shits gonna get bananas, like a fucking orangutan!

No. You can't.

Enough of this one.