TF (Minor) Landing Mishaps

[hookitt 0]

I recieved an informative and accurate message regarding the landing. You and Tree are correct.

Opposite side of the bridge
Stowed floater exit
Object avoidance drill
Ended up low
90 degree off heading opening
Chose to go for the tall grass landing zone not remembering the boulders are in there.

He took a downwinder into the rock field hitting one of the big boulders instead of the river.

It was a mistake that luckily went "ok". People do that sometimes, and this time, the outcome was not horrible.

Many of us (including myself) have got away with poor landing choices in the past and luckily this jumper did too.

The good news, 6 to 8 weeks from now, he can jump again.

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

[CanuckInUSA 0]

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he told me he had done a floater, and had been deep due to not so great stability

I can't be the only one thinking that we don't have the luxury on sub-terminal (low'ish) BASE jumps to waste time trying to get stable when we mess up our exits. It's better to get something out (the PC) with a less than ideal body position than it is to try and get stable. I think this last weekend proved to us that while Twin may be one of the safer jumpers around, it's still not a safe jump.

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

[pop 0]

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it's still not a safe jump.

I dont think there is such a thing as a safe jump...but only jumps with minimized risks

7 ounce wonders, music and dogs that are not into beer

[RayLosli 11]

MINIMAL RISK IS A UNDERSTATEMENT.

As far as degree of Jump Difficulty, in reference to Twin Falls as a BASE object. It is a Cake Walk.
A Open Span to exit.
With almost zero chance of object strike.
Several Acres of flat landing area.
Water to exit over or to Land in if desired.
Legal to Jump. With a relaxed atmosphere to take your time to mentally go over your Jump Plan.
You can even Hire a Boat to pick you up out of the water for intentional or Un-Intentional water Landing.
And if you don't want to ride a Boat back to your Vehicle or the grass packing area. You can chouse one, of two low physically demanding ways to go back. A Climb or easy Hike down the river trail.
.
I will go ONE MORE on this subject. I will argue that it is More than a Cake Walk. Hell I have seen a Paraplegic BASE jumper with more canopy control and BASE Game Plan.
It is a BASE object That is SO LIBERAL and forgiving of PILOT ERROR. It can be used as a Repetitious Training Area for Improvement of Life Saving jump Technique and Muscle Memory Gain for Maximum Spontaneous Action.
If that is to difficult to handle. I suggest exiting out of Aircraft. Pulling you Pilot Chute @ 2000' AGL. and landing your Canopy in a manicured grass landing area at your Local Skydive DZ..
.

[kslay 0]

For the record, I didnt know he was doing a floater...I stand corrected. The were in fact also doing object avoidance drills...should that be done with newbies in strong winds? Id like to hear your opinion on that "lifewithoutanet." Dont get yourself all worked up now though, its only a forum on the dorkzone.

[lifewithoutanet 0]

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The were in fact also doing object avoidance drills...should that be done with newbies in strong winds? Id like to hear your opinion on that "lifewithouTAnet."(<--there, I fixed it for you)

I wasn't there, yet, so I don't know for certain the windspeed, but others have posted 5-10, so I'll use that. Hell, I'll assume 10 for the sake of argument. I'd qualify that as higher, but not too high for a front-floater from the dark side w/ a westerly wind. And I applaud the fact that someone's teaching newbies object-avoidance drills.

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Dont get yourself all worked up now though, its only a forum on the dorkzone.

Right, and one of diminishing value with the constant bickering (which I'm guilty of falling prey to on this thread), blamestorming, high-fiving and general patting ourselves on the back, rather than discussing shit that will help keep us alive.

Maybe you don't need that kind of help and honestly, I hope you don't. That would be one less person to worry about if you've got your shit so together that you don't have anything left to learn. If you've got something to say, something you disagree about, back it up instead of just pointing fingers. Say why it's a bad idea. Shit, prove me wrong or anybody else on here. I'll welcome that because it means that I'll have learned something.

-C.

[avenfoto 0]

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Life Saving jump Technique and Muscle Memory Gain for Maximum Spontaneous Action.

yep.. need to keep that LSJTMMGMSA finely tuned...

[RayLosli 11]

Yes you do need, LSJTMMGMSA
For BASE jumpers that do keep really current on there numbers over several years of jumping. Doing at least 2 BASE jumps a week. There is no problem being current and having quick reflex from the Brain/Motor Drive to the actual muscles that do the life/injury saving maneuvers Spontaneously without Thinking. Spontaneous corrections for the problems that arise on every BASE jump taken.
The Twin Falls Bridge enables a BASE jumper that is experienced but have laid-off a time to very quickly get current and back to speed on the muscle memory & spontaneous action.
This is the same thing in relationship to any athletes doing any sport well. It goes to Skydiving as well. Large amounts of Repetitious jump numbers done for. aggressive competitive RW, CRW, Swooping, Free Fly, WS, etc.
Large numbers of Repetitious jumps make for. Muscle Memory Gain for Maximum Spontaneous Action. Makes you competitive as well as Keeping you uninjured or Alive longer.
This Bridge is a real gem for the serious learning BASE jumper and it's Easy 365 day a year access for BASE jumping. BUT it's a double edged sword. Running from Pack Job to BASE jump, one after another. It's your best training move for maximum gain for learning. It can be your worst enemy for your Health and for the long-term Free Access of this bridge.
plus: (this is where i possibly rant)
Besides BASE jumpers in training the other thing this Twin Fall Bridge draws is a large volume of perspective. BASE Jump Tryouts.
The problem I See with this. and this is just ( My Opinion ). BASE jumping is NOT Skydiving. This bridge brings the mentality of. WOW I WanaTry BASE.- Looks like Fun & Everyone is doing it.- All my friends are Trying It.- Wow, looks so cool in Skydive Magazine - Wow FJC courses for BASE - Wow his must be the para-Skydive Sport I PROGRESS into after I have Mastered one or two hundred skydive jumps. ...
Although Skydives will help you Start BASE jumping safer. BASE Jumping is NOT like learning to Skydive. NOT everyone can learn and should be given the opportunity to BASE jump.
Learning to BASE jump is not like the Mindset of USPA teaching mass students to SPORT-Skydive by Coddled & Manicured teaching lessons . In Skydiving It is a rare occurrence that anyone is turned away from after being given an Unlimited amount of Lessons and Time. That bullshit is called, No Child Shall be Left Behind.
If they are a LITTLE SLOW on the learning curve. That's no big deal. The modern skydive student can suck the Tit of his AFF or Dive Coach till he can stay alive. This DOES NOT translate over to BASE jumping. You are not given this luxury as a BASE person learning to jump. You will have Sensory Overload. Then shortly You will be Injured or Dead.
Ten seconds per-jump of BASE fun is not the wisest health move. The Idaho Span is NOT the party, novelty Bridge Day BASE jump. FU & Stay Away.
.

[Mac 1]

That is one of the most sensible posts I have read on this forum for ages...

[psychokiwi_base 0]

Well said Ray, my slippery footed brother. I couldn't agree more. And me agreeing with you is a rare thing. Keep up the good work and I'll even vote for you at the next BASE Moderators election. I guess it's time to start kissing babies Ray.
Cheers mate.

[RayLosli 11]

thanks, Matt but no votes necessary..
I believe that I would rather be doing my Life Sentence. Being an ill-respected BASE jumper, wondering aimlessly. Who's eccentric Ramblings & Rants are judged as, talk of a Social Misfit and Outcast.
Than be Moderator of this BASE talk forum, on DZ..com
.
.
edit to add:
hey this statement has nothing personally to do with you, TA. it's just that I could not imagine having to deal with fucking righteous, educationally bankrupt, assholes like myself. On a BASE talk forum.

[PeteS 0]

Wow, Ray. We've never met but I like what i hear. I think you are talking about the fellow with too much time and money who wants to be the next rockstar of next months video. Then there is the young lady with all that jiggle and the twinkle in her eye who will have no idea when she is in over her head. The buck stops with all of us looking after one another. We can all say something when needed. You might not be popular all the time, but at least you can look yourself in the mirror.

[psychokiwi_base 0]

but at least you can look yourself in the mirror...and say HOLY SHIT who is that old bastard.who still owes Matt 50 Ringit

[Treejumps 0]

Hey Matt,

Good to see you again mate. I get worried when Ray starts to sound like the most sensible (if not gramatically challeneged) guy on here, but that is the most honest, accurate assesment of the state of the sport I've heard articulated. Unfortunately the ball is rolling and picking up speed and last weekend was a harbinger of things to come. Will it ever stop? Yo, I don't know.

Cya

[psychokiwi_base 0]

True dat Tree.
Good luck with the Drive in jiffy lube tranny brake smog muffler rigging pastry shop...
Cya soon. Maybe on a little less hectic weekend.
Matt.

It's not tourist BASE if you have to use a sleeping bag as a bodybag!

[Faber 0]

i second that.

EDIT,yeah the big old guy is cool(Ray read my line i said big not fat)

BASEjumping is more and more becoming a sport alike to skydive were people will be abel to learn and progress in a speed never seen before,by the same time people are pushing the human flight even further and further,Ofcourse people want to be a part of that..But the price will be more carnecage if we dont tight up.

Stay safe
Stefan Faber

[Possum 0]

Ray, you're point, summarizing between you're two posts, seems to be as follows: That the Perrine is the easiest jump ever, and people are getting hurt because we are putting sub-standard jump students off of it. While I agree wholeheartedly with the first assertion (yep, Twin is as easy as it gets), and suspect that you may be right about the quality of some of the folks making their first jump there (particularly if they're paying 100$ for their first parachute experience ever), I don't think you've gotten to the heart of the matter. In fact, I think commentary like your first post is part of the problem, accurate as it may be.
I think I had the dubious honor of being the first hospital injury of the weekend- although, thanks to some timely Demerol, I actually got there after the broken-pelvis dude, who hammered in 30 or so minutes after me. In short, I made a slider up flat-n-stable (of the previous millennium), took a 3+ delay, did not have time to turn in, and pounded in cross/down wind and sprained an ankle that had been previously injured on multiple occasions. I would like to take this opportunity to thank gweeks for half piggybacking me to the boat ramp, as the boat itself was not running on Thursday.
Anyway- what pisses me off the most about that jump was this- Due to an injury in October, I had made exactly 2 jumps in the last six months, the last one at least a month and a half ago. I was certainly in your category of experienced jumps in need of a quick Twin-style reccurrency. And I could have had it, had I had the goddamn good sense to take a few slider down, 1 second jumps, landed on the football field and re attuned my LSJTMMGMSA. This sort of reasonable thinking, I'm afraid, never actually came into play. My only thought was to whether I should do a flip or not. In fact, all I really thought about was how easy the Perrine was, and what sort of new stuff I would try. I had after all, taken 5 sec. canopy rides there before with no problem. So rather than get recurrent and then have a blast all weekend, I spent most of the rest of the time(I did hobble out and make a water jump the next day) sitting in a hotel room, disgusted with myself for what was, in hindsight, clearly a silly-ass combination of dumb and arrogant.
As the weekend went on and the injuries mounted, one of which was the comp. fracture to a new (and very heads up, despite a shitty chain events she set off with what was almost certainly a packing error) girl who was with our crew, my disgust combined with a sort of mind-numbing sadness, which culminated with Monday morning's trifecta of shit. Or maybe that was from 5 days of Vicodin and beer. In any event, what I am getting at is this: I think that because the Perrine is so easy, because it is such a comparative "cake walk," many of us have had a fairly skewed perception of risk when we are there. Or at least I am completely certain that I did, and several other experienced jumpers I talked to expressed the same sentiment. I would assert that this sense of the Perrine as a cakewalk might manifest itself in; the nature of the jumps we choose to take ourselves; the type of folks we choose to put off; and how we act around the fledgling jumpers we make there.

[hookitt 0]

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As the weekend went on and the injuries mounted, one of which was the comp. fracture to a new (and very heads up, despite a shitty chain events she set off with what was almost certainly a packing error) girl who was with our crew,

Heads up maybe. Prepared? I doubt it. I posted already with:

1 (Too Much)Publicity
2 Not enough rigging preparation
3 Not enough canopy control preparation
4 Not enough mental preparation

She had a rigging error due to the second thing listed, did not know how to safely land on rear risers, was not mentally prepared to take the water instead.

Edit: to be a little nicer.

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

[Possum 0]

Not sure who told her she did everything right, but it was certainly no one from our crew.

[diablopilot 2]

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Anybody Else think they have a Rational Explanation of, - (i will try to humble myself when saying this)
...what The Fuck is going on ????

Boogie and BASE were used in the same sentence.

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[littlestranger 0]

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The broken arm or leg was both. I don't have any more details about that either though.

our friend is in surgery today. tib/fib and fractured wrist. he asked me to post this.

Please copy & post this as an open letter to the base jumping community..
I do not wish to reveal my identity at this time.

I was the 'mystery man' being tended to on the ground when Shannon went in...

To Frenchie:
Your tender touch at cradling my head and your warm smile meant more to me than you know.

To girl shielding my face from sun:
Thank you for hanging in there and helping me be comfortable....

To Firefighter:
You rock. dude!

To group who carried me to boat:
Awsum work! Thanks a million!!

To friends, loved ones of Shannon:
Words cannot convey my deepest sympathy and profound sadness at your loss.

To my mates who helped at hospital and got me home:
You know how I feel.... I love you all!:

I know I'll heal to jump again. That, and the love I felt there keeps me going!