Basejumper.com - archive

Somebody at the post-Bridge Day party on Saturday night jokingly said they'd like to use a Trebuchet to exit the bridge.

I honestly didn't think much of it until I saw one used on a TLC program the other day. A quick internet search turned up a version that keeps a person in a sitting position until "departure" and I thought something like this would be really cool for experienced jumpers:

http://www.trebuchet.com/...s/ron/trebuchet.html

What do you think?

Pigs will fly!

I would worry about rigging getting caught in the apparatus for people going hand-held.

Maybe a trampoline would be cheaper and safer.

Since when did any of us ever let money and safety ever get in the way of ingenuity and balls?

I love the part in the linked doc where the guy says, "Women told their children not to look and men advised me not to do it. I turned to my friend at the trigger and said "On the count of five, pull it." I started counting backwards from five. "FIVE..." I never got to four. My literal friend pulled the trigger right then. Suddenly I was flying."

LMMFAO @ that... has so many implications beyond just his trigger man being Amelia Bedelia incarnate... reminds me of Python, et al., and the counting... First shalt thou take out the holy pin... then shalt thou count to three. No more, no less.

Right, One! Two! Five! (three sir) Three!

I'll build it if someone will fund it.

Later,
Gardner

p.s. I wasn't joking, riggersam.

That would be awesome, but alot of thought would have to go into it to make it as safe as possible.
That said, I think bridge day is already on thin ice politically, and we should be glad to have it. I don't think they'll let something like a trebuchet on the bridge.
Nice thought though. I would want to see a ginea pig ( or another BASE jumper) do it before I did it.

I thought it was you that brought that up! I have some ideas on how to do this a bit simplier and cleaner than the design pictured... Know any good engineers? BASE428?

Do you realize how much opposition I had to the diving board this year? Some people wanted everyone to go handheld on the diving board in case they hit their head.

And you think this contraption could fly at bday? The safety police, and there are tons of them out there, will go nuts!

I say we go for it.

I didn't necessarily want it for the bridge; I wanted to take it to moab and back it up to "Tailgate Party" for shits n giggles.

gardner

Another cool idea....

A DUNK TANK, hung over the side of the bridge. $20 a throw. The ball has a small string tied to it for retrieval.

And I had my sights set on a circus cannon for 2005... <sigh>

I take it that the ball isn't thrown from the ground then ?

Now THERE'S an idea!!!! That would rock. I have a few buds I'd like to dunk!

It looks like that pig is gonna need a medic!

medic did someone say medic????

Hello --

If I remember correctly, Dave Barlia launched himself off a big westerly span with one of these a few years ago for a Master of Gravity show...

Pretty fun to watch, even funner if you're the one getting catapulted.

Bryan

That sounds and looks really cool.

The thing I've always wanted to build, though, is a reverse bungy that will shoot you high enough into the sky to deploy a parachute.

I know this is the bit where a bunch of people post back saying that for that to happen the acceleration needed would be unsurvivable, but:

-the acceleration needed is just a function of the distance you use to get up to 'escape velocity'

you could calculate how fast you need to be going to reach the right height if you stayed in your slowest falling position (we'd disregard tracking, as you should be able to keep a steady belly fly all the way up if you've got some skydiving experience and we launch you on your back - you're just 'seeing' the relative wind and it shouldn't matter if you're going up or down through the air)

then, if you can keep an upside down sitfly or head-down (head-up?? : ) ) position, you would gain more altitude

then, once we know what speed you need to leave our launch device at (this is also a function of the height where you leave the launch device), we know how tall it needs to be!

make no mistake, it would be very tall to keep a reasonably 'low' acceleration, like 4 G's or so (some rollercoasters do that much)
but the theory is all sound and I think we should build it!

hell, if you make it big enough, you could launch formations on it and they could turn points on the way up.....

I know I'd be one the first people to line up for a launch....

If it was me you were talking to, I wasn't kidding.

Ever since the day I started building my first really big spud gun, I pictured it with human cannon-ball type application throwing living flesh from the top of a cliff.

I hadn't jumped from a fixed object way back then, so the vision of a contraption to launch a body to 1500 feet or so was rather daunting.

Now, with a wider view of what can be done and what is really fun - I know it can be done. Especially from something like our favorite once-a-year span.

Could be a great winter project at the DZ somewhere...

It's totally doable. I did negatives in the 250 foot range before I ever put a parachute on. Higher ones have been done. 250 was the near the limit of the crane.

I wouldn't be so sure it hasn't already been done either.

This is a link to a ski resort in Oregon that has summer attractions. One of these thrill rides IS a reverse bungee. See details below.

"Rapid Riser Reverse Bungee Get ready to go ballistic. Accelerate up to 80 feet in the air pulling 2.5 G's. Of course, what goes up, must come down, so get ready to rebound... and rebound... and rebound..... and rebound.... get the picture?"

http://www.skibowl.com/winter/attractions.html

Hey Jason,

How about a great big SLIDE???


peace
lew

How about setting it up at the bottom of the bridge? Repack then get fired back up to the top.

They've got one in Orlando next to the skycoater as well. I rode it 5 times in a row (without getting off). Just keep paying the dude and he sends you back up (wasn't busy at the time). I bet it is 200', although I didn't really ask or look into it.

Dude you're forking hilarious...

I like that..