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The mandatory helmets issue has been brewing for years and I would like your honest opinions on this. In preparation for Bridge Day 2004, I'm considering the implementation of a helmet rule.

Helmets were mandatory for anyone who jumped during the IPBC competitions recently. Everyone knows that helmets do work. And if you saw the guy who smashed his head into the back of the NPS cherrypicker at Bridge Day 2003, then you'll know why I'm posting this.

While Bridge Day has not had a helmet rule in the past (that I'm aware of), it has been highly suggested by a few people. I realize that a helmet rule will hide your beautiful face for all the photos, however, some of us just aren't that pretty and need to cover up anyway

So please vote and, if you desire, post your opinions. Thanks for your input.

cant really se why not... by the way its the perfect place to secure a camera so we get even more video from the event
but who am i to say,i just use my safty gear when i can,and such a event would be the place were i would use the full setup.

I don't think helmets should be mandatory, I think its a personal choice. I was happy to comply with the 'rule' this year for a diving board jump. For me personally, I choose to wear a helmet on every jump; save a couple on the legal potato span.
Good luck with whatever you decide
Blair

I don't think so. Bridge Day is such a wild affair, and that's where it's roots lie. I think that every little requirement erodes the spirit of BD just a little bit.

On the practical side, I think that helmets will cause as many problems as they solve. The chances of striking something serious are fairly slim, while the chances of landing in the water are really quite good. A full face helmet on a water landing is a pain (I've done it about 15 times, and I dread it), and taken with a canopy and current, could be the thing that pushes an exciting water landing into a drowning.

There is plenty of skydiving gear (of various kinds) at Bridge Day. Throwing in a whole bunch of RW helmets (that won't do much to protect from real head injury and make water landings significantly worse) on beginners just doesn't seem like it's worth the extra trouble it would cause.

Absolutely! Helmets should be worn on each and every BASE jump. Maybe the chances of a head strike are slim, but saving only one life will be worth it. (The chances of a 38" pilot chute failing are slim, but 42's are still required.) The arguement that lots of skydiving gear is used at Bridge Day is actually a wake up call, that use of skydiving gear should only be allowed if it is your first BASE jump, other than that, BASE gear should be required at Bridge Day. (That is, if anyone is making a return trip to NRGB for Bridge Day, they should have BASE specific gear. This will help the sport in a few ways, it will help validate the BASE gear, remember Jean Boenish did not want to allow BASE gear, it will get newer BASE jumpers up to speed with BASE gear, and it will help support the BASE gear manufacturers.) Also, if Bridge Day is a skydivers first BASE jump, that is the perfect opportunity to start their proper training, with proper gear, like body armor, helmet included. If you land in the water at Bridge Day, the first rule to follow is cut away your canopy, so there should be no safety issue there, the next thing that happens, is you are yanked into a boat, those guys are very good at what they do, the next thing the jumper will have to do is remove the helmet if it is a problem. Bridge Day should require the helmet rule.

I wear a helmet on almost all my jumps. (The exceptions being those few intentional water landings)

That said, I don't think helmets should be a "requirement" for BD, but I think you could turn up the volume on the fact that they are strongly recommended. Perhaps a clause could be added to the video waiver? Something like: "I understand that a full face helmet and kneepads have been proven to reduce the possibility of injury and that their use is very strongly recommended."

On another point, how many helmets and kneepads did you see for sale at BD? I don't recall seeing any.. I took a quick look at the websites for BR, CR and Vertigo. While one sells boots, I couldn't find helmets or kneepads anywhere. Why not?

Helmets and knee pads are commonly available almost everywhere, in sporting goods stores. The margins on them are small enough that it's probably not worthwhile for a BASE gear company to sell them, because they aren't really in the business of acting as a retailer--they only pick that up on a very limited number of specialty items.

I'd say it boils down to economics.

most of us bring the helmet we use to skydive whith,i got a stronger one i only use for BASE,plus i have my skydive bonehead,which i use for video.

Kneepads and helmets are easy to get in any skater store.

bodyarmor do you get were you buy motor bike.

Shooes,well there loads of stores for thouse i guess

i simply think that theres so much out there so the BASE manufatores wouldnt sell much of it.
Its might also comon sence,none of us would buy a pair of BR kneepads or CR shooes when we in most cityes can custom buy these things,whickh the BASE manufatores might need to sharge abit ekstra for(i dunno if my teory holds)
just my thourght.

After reading the posts after my own post i started to reconsidder. i never had a waterlanding so i cant talk about that. but i think that most would like to land in the dry LZ,and if you do so i see no reasson not to wear protection.
I dunno how rules should be made(i dont really like them).i might just posted my answer too fast,i just thought of what I would do in such place whith out thinking of the fredom of BASE

Yo !

I would rather have helmets as "highly recommended", as opposed to mandatory item.

bsbd!

Yuri.

How about we keep cherrypickers and other manmade objects out of the landing area instead?? Let's keep the creeping laws and regulations of big brother, that is taking over every other aspect of American life out of Bridge Day. Thanks Mom, but I can look out for myself.
Mike

Thanks for everyone's input so far. Keep it up.

While I'd love to see everyone be smart and wear a friggin' helmet, I also don't like new laws and regulations.....actually, I hate new laws.

I think some common ground would be for us to "highly recommend" helmets, and even put a little checkbox on the waiver that says you'll try to wear one, but not make it mandatory. I would hate to see Joe Jumper smash his head on a rock and die, and then Mrs. Joe Jumper complaining that I "could've done more by making everyone wear a helmet". I guess the bottom line is that if you DIE, it's your responsibility. If you can't shoot accuracy very well and you smash your bare skull into something hard, then you deserve the pain you receive. If you've got tons of jumps and think nothing can happen to you, then you can take that chance and not wear a helmet. Although any smart jumper can see that sometimes skill just can't save you all the time. Some of the best in our sport are gone. Skill could not save them.

Perhaps we could add a new trophy for Bridge Day 2003 that would accompany our "I would have dried faster than I'll heal" award. We could call it the "if I only wore a helmet, I would be conscious now" award.

Please keep voting on this issue, but for now we'll keep Bridge Day the same.

PS. Do any other legal BASE events require helmets besides IPBC?

The last event in KL required helmets.

Since I'm looking at this BD as being my first BASE jump, I really don't have any input from an experienced jumper view point but how about making it manditory for all first time jumpers and highly recommended for everyone else?

In lieu of another rule...

The Bridge Day Safety Awareness Campaign:

"Got Helmet?" posters
Stickers for your helmet that say "Intelligence Inside"
Video: "This is your brain ... This is your brain on the side of a truck."

Seriously, any kind of awareness raising you do might make some who hadn't really thought about it much decide to put on a helmet -- and maybe one or two others who hadn't really thought about not wearing one decide to stop wearing one (or try it once without). In either case, they're making a (more) conscious decision; probably a good thing.

I think it should be a choice - I sometimes wear a helmet - I sometimes dont - I depends on how I assess the chances of me hitting my head on something that will bloody hurt!

To be honest it should be a personal choice - and if it goes against you then you know you made the wrong choice.

If your stupid enough not to wear protective gear on certain jumps then thats your fault - so the first timer going off then fucking up the landing and crashing through trees and pounding into a rocky area should have had respect for what they were about to do - and if they did not then maybe they should not have been doing it in the first place?!?!

Just my two pieces of skull fractured and splintered!!!

Let's just let natural selection take it's course. Post the warnings and Post the good advice and then let whatever happens happen. What would be next, floation devices, asshole protectors from tree landings??

I voted "no"... Helmets, or any other safety gear is a personal choice.
But I can see where from a politically correct standpoint, if it supported some kind of insurance requirement, or a lawyer's advice to avoid a law suit, you'd have to do what you have to do, and let those who want to comply have fun.

Maybe an explanation why you'd even consider requiring helmets would clarify this issue more, for me anyway.
Some of us newer jumpers may not be familiar with past proposed helmet laws at BASE events. Is it an insurance issue? Lawsuit thing? Just curious.

I wear a helmet because there is always that chance I'd wish I had it on.


Rod

I'd say that the last thing a new jumper needs is to increase his chance of additional excitement by using skydiving gear which is more likely to provide exactly that.

BASE gear for BASE. You wouldn't use a penguin as a tuxedo just cos they look similar.

Just my .02 (as the Hydrocodone kicks in following this mornings root canal).

Stay safe if not sane.

Skin

to me this kind of relates to the "BASE and skydiving associations" post that we have been bitching about on the UK Board - if you start setting rules then where do these rules stop??

How can you allow people to go off the span with some shitty gear (skydiving gear) or even as one vid I watched someone going tard with a VX - but then turn around and say "best you wear a helmet" - to me that is both against what BASE means in the freedom it gives you and hypocritical in the fact that "anything goes" but please wear a protective hat!!!

If you are looking to make BD safer then basically stop the skydivers looking for a fareground ride jump just so they can say "I am a BASE jumper" from jumping! - there are more issues attached to BD then whether head protection is needed..........

just my two broken bones needing pinning coz i thought a really high bridge would be easy and almost a skydive!!

as you may have guessed I still have issues on the whole BD thing..............

We all spend time telling people - you must have the right gear, you must have the right experience, blah blah blah

but then come BD and to me it seems that all the rules go out of the window and skydivers can lob of a fixed object without the ethics that so many of us try to drum into people..............

I think BD is hypocritical............ open for discussion.........

I think Bridge Day is Bridge Day, and BASE jumping is BASE jumping, and while there are some similarities, and some overlap, they aren't really the same thing.

Bridge Day has it's own history, and it's own spirit, which is quite distinct from BASE as a whole.

Good reply! - it aint BASE but I guess that some people once they do BD suddenly become "BASE jumpers"????

I understand the attraction (Im not into big boogie jumps at all) and that it opens the doors for some people - but in the end BD aint what BASE is about..........

Strong words... When I started jumping at Bridge Day in '84 I didn't wear a helmet - and I used my skydiving gear... Ditto for the years after that I returned... Last year when I finally went back I wore a helmet (I often didn't wear helmets skydiving in the '80's and early '90's either, but now do on almost all jumps)... I must say next year I'll still wear a helmet, but I certainly think it felt better when I used to jump it without... So I think that it should be personal choice as to whether you wear a helmet or not... Likewise when I went back to Bridge Day last year I used my skydiving rig even though I had a base rig in the van. It wasn't the same rig I used to use but it was the same make and vintage. And I get awfully tired of hearing people say that you shouldn't be allowed to use skydiving gear off the bridge when, used properly, it's as safe as any other gear...

how exactly is it as safe as a single parachute system?

I beg to differ.............. but please tell me I am wrong

On an 876' object with no object strike potential and a 42" pc with appropriate bridle, you can put any canopy you like (ie BASE or accuracy, not pocketrocket) in there with as much or as little chance of anything going wrong as on a one-parachute system... Which system had risers release out West before landing? Which systems were other jumpers on the same object using when they went in? You configure or choose gear for the object you're doing, and on BD there is nothing wrong with skydiving gear properly configured.

So there are no landing incidents with the first timers at all???

My point was why take off a free stowed fury 220 in a racer when you could take off something "nicer"?!?!

yeah there is nothing wrong with skydiving configd right - but why bother when there is the gear to do it right is out there......???

lets go back to the 80's! - nick kershaw will save ya but he aint the right choice!

Jason,

I vote that helmets should be recommended but NOT required. On gnarly jumps I definately like wearing a helmet, but at Bridge Day I would like to have the option to jump without one. People flailing and blasting in at BD are mainly busting up their bodies not their heads...except that dude who face planted the truck. Is that image still haunting you? People got to learn not to fly into hard metal objects. There is a river with boats waiting. If your canopy skills are lacking or you are struggling for any reason, then LAND IN THE WATER.

If you are new to the sport, then you probably want to wear a helmet. Some more experienced jumpers feel comfortable jumping without a helmet at certain objects. I can understand why, I do too.

Please keep Bridge Day the fun boogie it has always been.

Johnny Utah
Mandalay Bay #1

johnnyutah101@hotmail.com
http://johnnyutah.com

I personally would wear a helmet, guess I'm too used to it ever since I started racing motocross bikes (before I took up skydiving/BASE). I just feel better with one on, don't want to be wishing I had one on when I do jump!!

But I think it should be the jumper's choice.

I've only done 3 BASE jumps - all at BD 2003. I wore a helmet jump 1 and jump 3. And I would of worn it on the 2nd jump too if I would of not forgotten it on the packing tarp :). I would say make it a choice, not a requirement. As far as skydiving gear though - I think more than just a 9' bridle should be required ( s/a no d-bags )

So there are no landing incidents with the first timers at all???

Maybe Jason could tell you for sure, but I figure very few of the accidents are actually first timers - more likely semi-experienced jumpers. Certainly I doubt they're any more likely to get hurt - a lot of them land in the water because of this...
_________________________________________________
yeah there is nothing wrong with skydiving configd right - but why bother when there is the gear to do it right is out there......???

Maybe for one thing, cost. I have a hard time justifying making everyone buy base gear to jump a bridge simply to do base equipment manufacturers a favor when the the jumpers don't need it for any other objects, they're only doing this one day a year, and it's relatively easy to borrow compatible equipment. The wild card is a person's training and experience, not really his equipment...

Also history. I don't want to tell ripcord man that he can no longer jump at Bridge Day. There's a rich history there, and I'd like to see it preserved.

Hey pup,

I agree that skydiving gear is safe when used properly. Given your experience level it's hardly surprising that you're comfortable with it. It just has more chance of not getting used properly (in general - I guess) and if it works at BD then maybe it'll work at the antenna down the street etc...Where is the line drawn?

As far as mandatory helmets, gear etc. I think that the BD organizers should get to do whatever it takes to hold the event and it's their call. You can jump if you want to abide by the rules. If not, be the rogue bandit that you are and jump something else illegally but equipped as you please...

I guess that's .04 now.

I voted no... keep it a choice. Like the masses have said, recommended but not required

I would prefer to have helmets as "strongly recommended", with the exception being those intentionally landing in the water. I would vote to make them mandatory because some people have more balls than sense and would crack their skulls tripping up the beach on landing...but so many people have to opt out into the water, this isn't practical. Newer jumpers, especially, should be encouraged to use all available saftey gear, helmets, knee pads, elbow pads, and good ankle-supporting boots.

BD 2003 I did 2 intentional water landings. I was barefoot, helmetless, and wearing just a bikini with a wetsuit over, and I can't even describe the extra freedom I felt with the wind blowing in my hair and between my toes! Especially since I got to humm it (for me, that is.) I'd hate for mandatory rules to come along and ruin an otherwise amazingly fun jump.

Love Bridge Day!

Karen

why the wetsuit

the guy that hit the back of truck is a friend of mine.Ididnt see him hit but I heard the crash from 20' away.he has over 100 BASE jumps +over 500 sky dives.he said plain and simple he screwed up.he was lucky to walk away from that one.2 days later his whole chest was black+blue. we have made a few jumps since then and he chooses to wear a helmet on every jump now.so do I.but I think it should be the jumpers choice.

most times its the pilot that screw up,even the experienced.

How about "strongly recommending" a minimum of a half-shell Pro-Tec, then telling people
"no helmet=no raffle prizes."
Subtle economic pressure may work better.

I'm all for safety although for the Bridge Day I decided not to go with the helmet for the following reasons: nothing to strike with an off-heading opening with a delay more than 3 sec. If I was not confident with my approach I would have gone for the water on landing. You guys though made the mandatory 42" and that IMHO solved tons of problems. Mandatory helmet? I don't see the need for the way I jump off the bridge but I have nothing against it.

Jason, crap on the helmet issue. A far more interesting question would be- Should we require BASE specific rigs for BD? Or should we allow Racer containers with D-Bags and only God knows what for a parachute inside. I bet you'll get different answers from the Dropzone.com newbie crowd than from the Blincmag gang. And by the way, was the dood who bounced his skull off the truck bumper a BASE jumper with BASE gear or not? Love and Kisses, Hank.....

Why the wetsuit? Because that water is friggin' COLD, that's why!

Besides, I wouldn't want over 200,000 spectators to see me in my bikini. It's not that great of a view.

K

cold water is good for your skinoh and by a new bekini if you dont like the oldhehe

I could be wrong on this, but in viewing Johnny Utah's BD Safety Video, it looked like the worst of the malfunctions occurred on skydiving gear. Again, I could be wrong, but I recall seeing several skydiving canopies twirling off into the trees or into the river.

Gear has come a long way since BASE first began, and in my humble opinion it's best to use the right tool for the job. I'm glad my ortho surgeon had his slotted hammer for removing my tibial nail and didn't use the ball peen hammer in the van's toolbox. With so much great BASE gear available for rent from various manufacturers, it only makes sense to me to properly equip yourself for the precise task at hand. But then, some people do this for the thrill of the risk involved, so using skydiving gear just adds to that risk/thrill factor.

I'm personally glad that Kjerag, for instance, now disallows skydiving gear. The two sports have evolved into two completely separate entities, with the exception that they both use parachutes as the means to decellerate and avoid high-speed impact.

K

I could be wrong on this, but in viewing Johnny Utah's BD Safety Video, it looked like the worst of the malfunctions occurred on skydiving gear. Again, I could be wrong, but I recall seeing several skydiving canopies twirling off into the trees or into the river.
__________________________________________________

Any canopy will go twirling off into the trees if you have linetwists and do nothing about it... It would be interesting to know Johnny Utah's idea about the Safety Video - were there actually more linetwists on skydiving canopies, or was it just that there was more video of skydiving canopies from previous years (I realize he very well may agree with banning skydiving gear, I'm just asking about the footage)... Also notice they stopped allowing pocketrocket canopies this year (a good move, as far as I'm concerned) only allowing low aspect ratio canopies... That would also make a difference...

Here are my views on the skydiving gear vs. BASE gear at Bridge Day issue.

BASE gear is ideal.

Appropriate skydiving gear can be jumped safely at this bridge if configured and packed correctly for a BASE jump.

There were 100 first time BASE jumpers at BD this year and similar numbers at previous years. These first timers are just getting into BASE or trying it out. Bridge Day has definitely helped this sport grow through the many years by allowing first timers to jump. BD is the one place on earth where this works. The span, the altitude, the water, the boats, the rescue crews and the ambulances.

Many of the people jumping skydiving gear are first-timers or low-timers. A lot of the ugliness you see from skydiving gear is because of poor performance by the jumper either during the jump, while packing the chute, or both.

Here are some specifics on using skydiving gear for a BASE jump.
1. A 9 foot bridle and a BASE specific pilot chute are required because if you do not get the stuff out of the container in a timely manner, that would be bad. People have died in this sport by not having these basic essentials.

2. A docile 7-cell canopy is way safer than a 9-cell or high performance canopy. The higher the aspect ratio of the canopy the more chance there is of it spinning up on opening. I have noticed that 9-cells do go into line-twist more often than 7-cells. Also, it is nice to have a big 7-cell while landing in a tight area. Jumping a cross-braced or similar high performance canopy can be fatal because that thing will most likely line-twist up and one turn of that canopy (either intentional or not) can cause an enormous amount of altitude loss. Please DO NOT jump a high performance canopy at Bridge Day.

3. D-bags can be a problem. They increase the chance of line twist and a bag-lock malfunction is very possible. The main problem with d-bags are the rubber band stows. Anyone who has been skydiving for a while knows that bag-locks do happen. The rubber band stows hang-up (get tangled) sometimes, typically due to sloppy packing. Also, as the lines pull out of the stows, the d-bag gets jerked around and often results in off-headings and line-twist. There is such a thing as a BASE specific sleeve (Mark Hewitt was working on one a while back). The important difference is that the sleeve does not use rubber band stows. Instead you s-fold the lines into a pocket like you would on a reserve free-bag. If I were to jump a skydiving rig at BD I would free-pack it if I did not have a sleeve. If you are planning on jumping a d-bag, make sure the stows are NEAT and SMALL (not too much line-stow hanging out)(Like a rigger would do on the diaper of a round reserve). I recommend you find someone at the Holiday Inn before BD who knows how to show you the method of free-packing.

4. Packing! Do not pack like you are just going for another skydive. While skydiving I can trash pack with the best of them, but in BASE your main is your reserve and should be packed that way. Make sure there is NOT too much tension on the closing pin. The airspeeds involve at BD are much less than a skydive.

5. If you are jumping slider up, then use a mesh slider. You can die from sniveling into the water. Do not let it be you.

6. If you are jumping slider down, make sure you understand and use the line-mod and a tailgate. This takes only a few minutes to learn and set up and can definitely save your life.


Through the years, Bridge Day has been a cool situation where skydivers can go to dabble in our sport and often end up becoming full-blown BASE jumpers. Though there may be pros and cons to this, it has helped our sport grow in a positive way. We as a community need to continue to assist these saplings at BD and welcome them into our family so that they will listen, learn, and not get hurt.

If you are planning on making your first jump at BD, make sure you get some instruction. Also make sure your gear is totally dialed in. Nowadays there is no need or reason to learn the way I did. Scary stuff, let me tell you.

Have fun, don't die!
Johnny Utah


johnnyutah101@hotmail.com
http://johnnyutah.com

What defines a helmet? Possibly a package of eggs with a few strings to hold it to your head.

OK, I have my mandatory helmet. But no where did the question actually insist upon wearing this mandatory helmet.

 
Yes/No

Nick
BASE 194

I would say that it should be mandatory for first time jumpers. I did my first at bd this year and I wore a helmet. I will wear one next year too. Although I didn't have any problems getting into the landing area safe, from what I saw standing in the landing area, a lot of people should be wearing helmets... I think that the first jump off the bridge can be very overwhelming, and most likely first jumpers aren't used to landing in a constricted area like that.

I was stowing my gear next to the cherrrypicker when that guy hit it. his problem began WAY before he got to it. I agree totally with 515 and 700!

this is supposed to be a big boy sport, no new laws needed

hmmmmm.........

yeah, I was within 5 feet of that truck when he hit and I can still hear the sound resonate... and that was after he almost wound up in two different trees! Sorry who ever you are who rammed your noggin into that bumper, but you're going to find it tough to live that one down! I say all this knowing that some day, some where, I'll likely fuck myself up simmilarly so that it makes a loud noise... and then you can make posts about it on the internet.

:)

If a noggin' crashes into a bumper in the forest and no one's around to hear it...

...does it really make a loud noise for which internet heckling would be justified?

careful what you say; just a few days ago I narrowly escaped a traffic situation on a major Atlanta interstate when a driver in front of me brainfarted and decided to pull into the HOV (high occupancy veh.) lane from a standing start (stop and go trafffice situation) and was forthwith creamed from behind (snicker) by a person minging his own business travelling efficiently in the HOV. I had pulled forward somewhat, so this happened right next to me. I commented to myself, "Self, you just narrowly avoided getting caught up in that mess."

The next day I rear-ended a lady in an infinity while trying to merge into the next lane. I was looking back waiting for my slot to come by and the traffic in my lane stopped (a.k.a. merging madness). I hadn't been involved in an accident in 17 years.

I guess the moral of the story is... be careful the comments you make.

Gardner

I have never heard of any one who was hurt or killed because they wore body armor, but I have heard of people getting hurt and killed by not waring it. Out of all the jumps I have made, I have a total of two jumps with no body armor (both into water). Thats what make me feel good at the exit point. However I think wearing it or not wearing it should remain the jumpers choice

Jason,

It'll be really hard to put our pig ears on a helmet...LOL

I believe it should be personal choice. If this were a building or cliff I could understand making them mandatory, however, for Bridge Day allow the jumper to make their own decision.

Or, mandatory helmets for things such as the diving board like last year is a good implementation.

We all know that BASE is an extremely personal choice.

C-Ya
EasterPig13