Anybody in the San Jose area?

[VNugget 0]

Hi, I am a local wuffo who is interested in skydiving and BASE jumping in the future. (I was going to take up skydiving earlier, but that went on the back burner when I decided to become a pilot. BTW, I just flew my first solo cross country today! ) I'm in no finantial situation to start skydiving (or much less BASE jumping, of course) in the near future, but it won't hurt to learn as much about both in the interim and meet some people. Thus, if any of you are from the local area, it would be of great interest to me if we could get to hang out and talk about things, or even if I could view a BASE jump. Maybe I could even help out as part of a ground crew.

So.. anybody?

By the way, I read the thread about naming locations, and I hope I didn't do anything wrong with the title of this post. If so, do not hesitate to edit it. But I'm not quite sure how to say what I mean to say otherwise.

[hookitt 0]

Who Are you?

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[VNugget 0]

A college student in San Jose who hopes to become a professional pilot, if that's what you mean.

I think I sense what's on your mind, that I'm some sort of spy or something. Well I'm not sure what I can do or say, beyond showing you my transcript and student pilot certificate to prove my background!

I have no skydiving friends and have no connections to any skydiivng/BASE circles, aside from my 2 posts so far on this site, which is exactly what I'm trying to chage.

[hookitt 0]

Well you may not be a spy and seriously I could care less if you are. It's not like we're criminals or doing any thing that makes a difference in the safety and security of the world.

You have no info in your profile. No way to contact you other than on this public website. Take a look around your area, you may notice it lacks tall stuff. Tall stuff, or fairly tall stuff is essential for the sport of BASE.

You are welcome to contact me if you wish. I'm curious as to what you have in mind.

Cheers.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[ojf1982 0]

I travel alot of Costa Rica, and there is only one dropzone in San Jose and its a small club, who call each other up once a month to jump. They call an airport and hire a pilot for a few hours a day.

If you want to learn how to skydive which is ESSENTIAL for base, then the closest dropzone which runs every week is in Panama.

Good Luck

The edge ... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who know where it is are those that have gone over - Hunter S. Thompson

[hookitt 0]

Hmm... I never thought of that. Which San Jose are you talking about VNugget?

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

[CanuckInUSA 0]

I am someone who is just getting into BASE myself, so I can't be of any service in this area except to say that you should read the "Getting into BASE" and "My First BASE Rig" articles first. They are just one person's opinion (God knows not everyone agrees with everything which is written), but it's a good starting point.

As to skydiving and being a pilot. I was a licensed private pilot before I ever did my first skydive and I loved flying, especially my solo mountain x-country flights I've done here in Colorado (dangerous yet beautiful stuff I tell you). But in that time, I've started jumping and I hate to say it, for the time being I've given up on my flying because trying to do the two at the same time was just too darn expensive. Now I wasn't planning on becoming a ATP, so giving up my flying (for the time being) wasn't a hard decision. I'm only saying this because skydiving profoundly effected the outlook I had on my life (one can only wonder what BASE will do to me), and I thought I'd give you a heads up.

As far as getting into BASE and talking on these forums, it'll help if you don't hide your identity (people are much more likely to trust you when they know who you are) and get some skydiving experience. In fact get a lot of skydiving experience before you ever think about doing a BASE jump. The only thing in common between skydiving and BASE is gravity and the fact that we rely on a parachute to save our bacon. It's okay to research BASE, but get some skydiving experience first. Who knows, maybe skydiving will scare you enough that BASE will no longer be in the equation. Personally I am not afraid to jump out of an airplane (heck I've done it enough), but a certain fear does exist in my head with BASE (and I view this fear as a healthy fear).

By the way, congrats on your solo cross-country. I thought my solo was neat, but my first solo cross-country flight was when it dawned on me that I was in the process of becoming a real pilot. Just don't rush into BASE and learn to be a good skydiver first. BASE jumping is not skydiving.

Try not to worry about the things you have no control over

[ojf1982 0]

I didnt think of that. He might be talking about San Jose, CA ?

The edge ... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who know where it is are those that have gone over - Hunter S. Thompson

[VNugget 0]

Well, thanks for all the replies, guys.

1. Oops, I should have clarified it, I'm talking about the SJ in California (yes, the one with no tall stuff, save for the B's downtown that are all 5 minutes from the police AND sheriff's stations :P )

2. I fully understand that like most other undertakings in life, you need to learn how to walk before you run, and I realize the importance of having at least several hundred skydives under your belt before you start looking into BASE.

3. As for my identity, well, I never really associated someone's profile on a forum with his identity, as anyone can fill out anything they want, and I'm not in the habit in filling them out anyway. But since this forum doesn't seem to be full of stalkers and axe-murderers, I filled out my profile here with as thoroughly as I could, as apparently that is the norm and custom here.

[hookitt 0]

Look up near the top of the page at the word messages. There should be a red number under it. Click on the word messages.

My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto