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I am making my first base jump this May in Twin Falls(Perrine Bridge). I was curious as to what the landing area is like. I was there last year but never went and checked out the bottom.

I was planning on the Morpheus FJC there in May... when are you going?

Party foul! Please go back and edit your post and remove the site name. Leave site names to PM's. Tom (the moderator) has a pretty strict policy against naming - even legal sites.

Edit because my spelling sucks today.

????

Here's a more complete quote:

I've been meaning to start a thread on site naming, and my specific reasoning. I guess I'd better finish writing that and get it posted.

Sorry, I guess I wasn't clear on those sites.

If it is perfectly legal why cant you name the site, this makes no sence. So If I was going to bridge day and wanted to invite other dz.comers to come say hi, I would have to say Im going somewhere in america to jump if you happen to see me say hi but I cant tell you where. I know this isnt your rule but its still a silly rule.

Gosh, I guess then I'd just say "I'm going to Bridge Day."

As I said, I'll try to start another thread on this subject. But it will take me a few moments (at least). Let's not side-track this first jump thread into yet another discussion of my site naming policy.

Anyway.....

Mindygirl, PM me if you're planning on taking the same course or if you're planning on being there that same weekend.

Please anyone reading this just do a DZ.com search or Blinc search on site naming so this thread can get back to the question. It's all there.

The question: The landing area...? Proceed.

In an effort to get back on track, I'll give you my thoughts on the landing area. It's actually a very good place to make a first jump. The river bank is soft and full of "cushiony" grass, but you need decent accuracy to hit it. There is another landling area I've heard others refer to as the "football field" up from the river bank on the other side of the tree line. This is probably where you'll be instructed to land, but I'm not sure since I didn't take a FJC. (Very good call on your part to take one). The "football field" is wide open, but you don't want to go too far up river because there is a ditch and then a field of boulders. You really don't want to go too far up or down river anyway and if you land anywhere in between, other that in the trees, you sould be ok.

I would suggest taking a boat ride, or better yet a nice morning hike (it's really beautiful there), down to the landing area before. You should always inspect a proposed landing area before jumping into something anyway (pun intended).

I would suggest you check out the Perrine pics and info on the BLinc page including this
http://www.blincmagazine.com/cms/article_43.shtml

Or look at the attached picture.

Have Fun.

P.S. Wear a helmet, but don't borrow a dorky red ProTech or you'll look as stupid as I do in this picture!

The landing area is very large. It's a wide open grassy field, which is easily the size of the experienced jumper landing area at many drop zones. In order to make the upper landing area (the field), you will want to take a delay of no more than three seconds (slider down). You should be careful to land in the farther portion of the field (across the drainage ditch which may or may not have some old wooden boards bridging it), as the nearer part of the field has many large rocks which would be unfriendly to land on.

There are two good outs.

The first is a sandy (or covered in cockleburr bushes--depending on the time of year) beach, which is generally the "advanced" landing area. At some times of year, the water is high enough to submerge this area, forcing landings in the upper field.

The second is the river. The river is wide, deep and slow, making it an excellent out if you either (a) are too low, or (b) have some kind of malfunction. The river is also good fun for jumping round parachutes. All exits should be made over the deepest part of the water, in any case, to minimize the chance of injury in the event of a malfunction.

You may see experienced jumpers landing in other areas, or intentionally taking an out due to the nature of their jump, or delay. Please do not attempt to emulate them until you are certain that you have the experience necessary to do so. I recognize that coming from me, this is a classic case of "do as I say". Please feel free to flame me in private if you wish to point out my hypocrisy.

You'll really enjoy the Morpheus Course, they're great people, very knowledgeable and really look after their students.

Baxter.

technically the ditch is downstream of the 'football field'. The stream flow is from east to west and typically most jumps are made from the east side of the bridge. therefore, you'll want to stay upstream of the ditch, north of the canyon wall/talus and south of the river. it's big and it's flat. if you end up under the bridge (downstream of the ditch), there are quite a few hidden boulders that will bite you, though if you land on the trail - generally - you'll be okay.

hey freefal you might wanna change that pic filename I don't suppose it's any biggie, but once you get the hang of not site-naming then it becomes habit.

I've heard nothing but good things. I'm getting my container from them as well. I don't know which though... I've been getting mixed reviews on a pin rig vs. velcro for my 1st. I suppose that's another thread... lol.

Call Robert at Morpheus if you have questions. I've had both containers (started with the Medusa) and they function great.

There is a good group of jumpers in Atlanta so PM me if you're headed this way and want to ground crew before your FJC.

Baxter.

Hey thanks... I'm originally from Atlanta don't cha know . I'm there quite often.

Another view of the landing area from the exit point...

How high is the bridge?

486'.

A surprisingly high number of people have broken ankles landing from the Perrine. Some have been very experienced jumpers, some new to the sport. Particularly in the summer, this is really silly. Why?

Go to the water!

One's gear dries quick, but broken ankles take a long time to heal and are never quite right for many people.

Go to the water!

For your first few jumps, why not eliminate all concern about landing problems and just get wet? Then, when you are feeling frisky about the jump and the canopy behavior, you can stay dry. But, if you get the willies under canopy and things are moving a bit too fast, get wet!

I've watched too many times as solid jumpers took huge risks to stay dry. I've done this myself, too many times. Sure, it's cool to take it deep and just baaaarely swoop into land at 30+ mph. But one bad calculation and - you guessed it - broken ankle. Trip's over, jumping is over for the summer, major bummer.

I've pounded in so hard jumping there that, even in waist-deep water, I've sprained an ankle. I don't want to think what injury that would have been on dry land. I've also watched novices pendulum into the trees in a wild flurry of toggles, risers, arms, and legs. I've seen folks miss being impaled in dead branches of trees by only inches, blissfully unaware that they almost had the chance to see their intestines up-close and personal.

Heck, I've seen people pad up with so much protective gear that they were AFRAID to go to the water, so instead they hammered into the "football field" full of ankle-breaker rocks. News flash: no amount of gear will protect you if you pound in really hard on solid ground.

However, even jumping in one's birthday suit (not recommended, metaphorically speaking), it is damned hard to get hurt hitting the water so long as one has a canopy over one's head with a slider somewhere down by the risers, more or less. In other words. . .

Get wet!

One of the reasons this site is so safe is because it is over water. That gives a massive margin for error for mistakes that would otherwise cause substantial injury or fatality. However, that entire margin for error is lost (100% lost) if folks either jump over the land, or are so dead-set mentally on "making the shore" that they fail to use the water 'out.' If in doubt. . .

Get wet!

Sorry, bit of a sore topic for me. I watched a very good friend come about .3 seconds from sniveling into the shoreline because he was not far enough out over the water to really reap the benefits of the water landing option. It scared the doggie doo out of me, and ever since I'm a bit of a fanatic about the subject.

Peace,

D-d0g
ddog@wrinko.com
Dog's Den

Isn't there a trade off between deep enough to allow the water to bring you to rest without hitting the bottom and deep enough to drown you in? Wouldn't jumping over water but shallower and nearer the edge/ rescue be better?

I don't think so. You're never going to far enough from shore that you can't swim to it. I'd rather be in really, really deep water, if possible.

I've had pretty much the worse case (but one) scenario on this object, and I'm definitely glad that I impacted water deeper than the lines of my canopy (the thing that actually stopped my downward progress was the canopy catching the surface of the water).

On this object--deeper is better. You'll never be far enough from shore to make drowining from exhaustion a real hazard.