First Jump Course - Basic Research
Just finished a Basic Research (BR) First Jump Course The course instructor, training manual and equipment were excellent, while the site is very jumper friendly (a place serious about their potatos!). I thoroughly recommend it to anyone serious about getting into base jumping.
While the course obviously promotes BR equipment and offers a $200 discount on new gear, a wide range of methods, other systems and essential equipment were discussed during the course. We all learnt to PCA each other and set up a static lines, as we drive over a 200 foot bridge daily it’s seem a waste not to be using it.
Go base prepared, being able to flat/reserve pack will save a lot time and increase your jump numbers considerably. Fortunately our small group had over 9000 jumps, which really help keep the pace up during the course.
If you are comfortable with light rock climbing you can add 2 or 3 jump a day by climbing out which is quite easy and only has a couple of exposed spots, we lost a few jumps by being over-cautious and not climbing until we watched a 70 year old woman follow one of the locals out the canyon.
The weather was mostly good and our group of 3 completed 68 base jumps, mostly going stowed with slider up, a lot less bruising. A few round jumps were completed into the water using BR H20 round, otherwise it was Vertex twin pin containers with Multi (reefing) and Vtec (bottom skin venting) which soon instilled real confidence in the Flik canopies.
We were jumping large canopies was proved a bonus as we don’t have a decent set of knees, ankles or back between us, old injuries, years of military boots and plain old age having taken its toll (average age almost 46 yrs old).
Soon the emphasise was on enjoying the exit and delay, not worry about the gear.
All in all, a very worthwhile and fun trip, make sure you do a dawn jump it really kick starts your day. A big thank you to Karen and Anne at Basic Research for their free gear rental for the extra few days, all their support and of course JJ for making the whole thing safe, very professional and a lot of fun.
Pete Mac
