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Howdy all

I've been back a week now and quite a few people have been asking for feedback about the FJC, so here goes.

I was in a class of four doing the BR FJC with JJ (gotta love the acronyms). I chose BR because I had bought a BR rig second hand (got a great deal through the dz.com classifieds - thank you Andrew). I'm sure all the various FJCs are good and anyway I have no basis for comparison. So rather than try and say what was good or bad about one particular course I thought I'd rather give some general feedback.

Here are some of the mistakes I made :

I had a total of 470 skydives prior to doing the course, I felt ready for the course however I hadn't been doing the right kind of skydives prior to the course. I wasn't current on big-ass F111 canopies, 400 jumps on relatively small ZP canopies doesn't help. Bottom line - my canopy control sucked. (CR has some great material for practicing canopy drills in a skydiving environment).

I wasn't current on packing F111 canopies. If I did the preparation over, then I would've packed the static line canopies at the DZ on the weekend. This would've brought in extra cash (my flights were £603 alone) and got me lots of F111 flat packing practice.

I had the bright idea to wear camera on one jump. The throbbing ache at the top of my neck made sure I didn't do it again.

My course started on the Saturday morning 8AM. I arrived at my motel at 1AM that morning after 19 hours travelling (3 flights). This was stupid of me. Anybody else travelling to Idaho from Europe for your FJC, sacrifice a day and allow more time to be ready for the course.

Mistakes aside, I did have a great time. I managed to get 12 jumps in : 1 PCA, 4 handheld (including 1 slider up) and 7 stowed. I could've got more in, but I lost one day due to a sore foot and it was too windy to jump two other days. Eight of the jumps were on the course and under supervision which was great. The theory part of the course was largely revision for me (I've been reading as much as I could on the net for a long time). However the real value of the course was in having an experienced jumper you could ask all your questions for 3 days. Especially when packing and debriefing, that was probably where I learnt the most. I must say that JJ was really patient (I wasn't the quickest learner).

The other thing I learnt on this course was that no matter how prepared I thought I was, the real thing is totally different. I was very scared, I knew it and JJ could see it. After my first stowed jump my hands were shaking when I was packing. For me it is still a real conflict. I would be totally scared until I was counting down, then I would just get this massive calm sense of release as I left the edge. The real adrenaline headfuck for me was after deploying, that 'wait' to feel the canopy was just unreal. In the beginning I was just looking up. Then I started getting my peripheral vision back, started seeing the canyons on the side. Then I started sneaking peeks down.

I am not a BASE jumper yet. I am a skydiver who has done some BASE jumps. I reckon after I've flicked something illegaly at night, after I've chosen to walk down rather than jump, after a whole bunch of other shit I'll know. But jumping a legal span in daylight under supervision with a boat ready to give you a ride (or rescue you) doesn't make you a BASE jumper (IMHO).

My final observation is about the other jumpers I met there. I went there almost expecting DZ attitudes and egos. But everyone was really friendly and helpful. I met Jimmy and Marta from Vertigo, we were talking about South Africa. Also met Robert and Cathy from Morpheus along with loads of experienced jumpers. All of them were friendly and sincere. I commented on one guy's T-shirt, asked him where I could buy one, next thing he gives me the shirt off his back - I shit you not! (thank you Johnny). I didn't have a car (yes, I was the pedestrian in TF that week ), another jumper drove me out to the airport. (thank you Mark).

And a last bit of advice : just because you are staying in Motel 6 doesn't mean you can't have breakfast at the Shilo.

Will

Awesome.

Congratulations Will, i'm grinning for you here.

I was pretty sure about which method of preparation i will adopt before i ever undertake a FJC.
Big 7cell accuracy seems the way to go (as i've been told before) and CReW for the fast riser reflexes & control.

Did you practice you exits in a pool or with balloon jumps ? (i can't remember if you mentioned that you had done some).

Fair play dude.

Thanks for posting that dude, loads of people will read it and find it interesting and useful.

Gus

Hi Will --

Thank you for taking the time to post your experience. Undoubtedly, it will spur others into thinking and make them a little wiser.

Also, a big welcome to this wonderful wacky thing that we do. For me, BASE jumping was truly a life-changing experience and there isn't a day that it's not a part of my life in some form or another.

I hope it'll be the same for you...and from the sounds of it, it already is.

C-ya,

Bryan

Skreamer`s article is brilliant and my experiences during my FJC, made before and during the Labor Day Weekend, let me agree with all of it. So here just a few remarks:

I ordered my gear from Morpheus Technologies and so also took the Morpheus FJC.
The course started on thursday and I managed to get 8 jumps (1 PCA, 1 static line, 1 stowed, rest handheld) till monday with one windy day off.
Kathy and Robert from Morpheus were awesome and really patient especially when teaching me how to pack. When the course was over on saturday, they still supervised my jumps till monday and took care of my packing. Again thank you for that.

My mistakes:
I totally underestimated the part "physical fitness" during my preparation for the course. Parking your car near the bridge, jump to the boat waiting for you down there and driving up again sounds not very demanding. But there are the openings.
All my jumps were slider down and for me it was really hard to get used to the opening shock. Later in the course my factory diver felt like it was several pounds heavy. On the day of departure I was not even able to raise my head when trying to get up in the morning. Not to speak from the rest of my body. And I did not even jump with a camera So being in a very good physical condition would have changed this a little and at the moment I am working on this part.

Beside my lacking physical fitness my poor packing skills really slowed down my jumping. Packing this really big BASE canopy is completely different comparing to my skydiving canopy, which I used to trash in ten minutes. I have read this before, I have been told this before, now after the course I really know it.

But I had a great time, met a lot of great and helpful people and found a sport which will for sure take a central part in my future live.

jo

I'm wondering which fjc offers the most number of jumps?

Also, which would be the closet fjc to take if I'm flying from Asia to say either LA/New York/San Francisco??

Thanks for any help.

Pretty much all the FJC's take place at the same bridge, so they're all going to be the same distance.

Consolidated Rigging is about two hours from San Francisco, and Basic Research is about one hour from LA. I'm not sure if it would matter that the shop is closer to your destination airport.

That helps.

Thanks Tom.

What exactly about your canopy control sucked? What did you have to do in the BASE environment that you weren't well practiced in? I've read the CR canopy drills document and have been practicing flat turns, riser turns, stalls etc.

Gus

In general the fact that I wasn't current on big F111 canopies, in particular timing the flare on landing. I reckon about 20 jumps on big F111 canopies (doing the CR drills) would've sorted me out. I'll be hooking my Fox up to my accuracy rig and doing those drills starting this weekend - better late than never but I should really have done it before the FJC.

Will

where's the best place to fly into when heading to TF? and by best i mean cheapest....and where is best place to stay???

riggersam and I looked into flights into Boise and Salt Lake City. We opted for SLC even though the drive is a bit further.

ty

If there are two or more of you then fly into Salt Lake City and hire a car. About a 3 drive from there to TF. If you are on your own as I was and not hiring a car then fly into TF (via Salt Lake City). This is flying from UK, I'd presume it applies to rest of Europe as well.


Don't know, but Motel 6 is cheap and within walking distance of the bridge. But be warned though that this town is NOT pedestrian friendly. They even have drive-thru banks and pharmacies! They have a hard time understanding people who are willing to walk further than 20 yards

i am rolling solo, so most likely going to opt for the tf flight....

again, info is appreciated

edit: meaning thanks to all who have provided it

You might consider looking around to see if anyone else is flying into SLC and renting a car. There are folks headed there all the time, and it's not too hard to catch a ride from either airport.

so I've wondered this for awhile, and seems like an appropriate time to ask, can you camp by the side of the river under the bridge or in the woods around? Or is that a No No?

Its not that I'm a cheap bastard, but that I like camping and I think a BASE camping trip would be fun, albeit different from staying in a motel.

I'm not sure. The town side is all owned by the city, so I'd doubt you could camp there. The other side is all BLM land, though, so that's a possibility. If you check around you can probably find out.

I know that I've camped 15 miles or so outside TF proper before.

I'm actually going there tomorrow and I was thinking about camping. Any good campsite recommendations?

thought about that, but b/c of my time constraints with work, it is easier just to suck up the extra cash and fly straight in to tf....

Skreamer - thank you for that post. It pretty much sums up everything I imagine while still wrestling with the choice of to purchase a big ol base canopy or not. I have personally been contemplating getting into the base world but have MANY fears about it - I have been contemplating for almost two years now. It still scares the hell out of me. I can imagine the feeling the first 20 times - pure exhiliration but just as much fear coursing thru the veins.

I guess only time will tell.

The first 20 times?

I can only speak for myself, but as far as I can tell, the fear doesn't leave...

Remember: The Carrion Man is always there, watching, waiting...

Edited to add: Fear is good...It helps keep you in check...

I love that book!

Yah - I imagine that is true. Don't you learn to kind of accept it a bit better and sort of manage it after getting basic experience and some jumps under your belt though - or is that not the case??

same here for sure..

gardner