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Marios

Need Help

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Hello everybody

I want to BASE jump.

I will be in AZ for two weeks in August. I will be travelling half the globe to get there since I live in Greece now.
I know nothing about BASE jumping. I have 124 skydives and by the time I get to AZ I should have 170 (if everything goes right - skydiving is underdeveloped here).

1) Do you think I need more experience than that to get into BASE? I heard of people who were never skydivers and started BASE jumping.
2) Is there something I should do to prepare myself, either physically or mentally?How about canopy control tips?
3) Is anybody willing to help me do at least one jump?
4) Do you know of somebody in AZ who would be willing to help?

Thank you all
Blue Skies

Marios

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I want to BASE jump.

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I know nothing about BASE jumping



I would say that's your biggest problem right now... I have a big, long response in my mind, but I'm in the middle of studying for a final.

On a slightly different topic, I never knew why so many people in here were such, well, jerks to those that post comments like that. Guess what guys? After two years I get it now! :S
"I reject your reality and substitute my own" ~Adam Savage

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I have seen several videos and read many threads here but I never had somebody explain anything more than that.
I know that you only have one parachute, accurate landing skills are needed, your reaction times must be precise and I understand the huge danger the sport has. I need somebody to give me that first touch with the sport and I mean in person not through here.
I am just trying to find the right person here.
If you can help and not be a jerk as hollyhjb mentioned had happened in previous posts, PM me please.

Again thanks in advance

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start reading:

http://hometown.aol.com/base194/myhomepage/base_fatality_list

http://web.archive.org/web/20060528195148/http://www.basewiki.com/

http://www.snakeriverbase.com/library.html

http://www.crmojo.com/adobepdf/fjccanopy.pdf

http://www.crmojo.com/adobepdf/ethics.pdf

http://www.crmojo.com/adobepdf/stowed.pdf

http://www.crmojo.com/adobepdf/protection.pdf

http://www.apexbase.com/portal/content.asp?CatId=12&ContentType=Article

http://www.dropzone.com/safety/Disciplines/BASE_Jumping/

http://www.bridgeday.info/faq.php




---that's all i can think of at the moment... i should be asleep :-(

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http://www.amazon.com/Base-66-Story-Fear-Freefall/dp/0595335101/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-0638673-9513466?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178788572&sr=8-1

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Thanks man.

Some of those I have already read. I've read the fatality list many times.
I will get to read the rest of the info.

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Isay this in a loving way, "get a couple hundred more jumps."

not only for the community, but more importantly, yourself
Leroy


..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio...

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I get it. I should probably abandon the idea of making my first BASE jump in August. It seems that I need much more praparation than just the willingness to jump.
I will try and get as many jumps possible and then maybe take a course.

Thanks for the info

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Also, ask yourself why you want to, and would it be for "good" reasons?

Not saying you do, but "I want to look cool" is a good example of a bad reason

If it's adventure you want, have you considered paragliding? There are many options in this arena... not just BASE
--
BASE #1182
Muff #3573
PFI #52; UK WSI #13

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Also, ask yourself why you want to, and would it be for "good" reasons?


great post.
DON'T PANIC
The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.
sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

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You may want to contact apexbase.com and find out if there is a course going on, which will require you to be at the Potato Bridge. You can also contact asylum to find out if there is a course going on with them. Either are good programs. They can tell you whether they will require you to get more jumps in before you get into the course. If you're going to be in the states up until October, you may want to find out from Jason if you can register for Bridge Day which is a good first jump.

Hope this helps...good luck.
Kaye

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There is not really anything good in AZ to do a first jump off of. Get in touch and we'll go out and have a beer. We do have some nice legal cliffs where you could GC and learn a little more about the sport, but I don't think anyone I know would be interested in putting you off anything local.

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I do not know if I want to get into BASE jumping as a whole.

I know that I want to feel the rush (at least once) of standing at the exit point and feel that I am 100% ready to take that ackward step forward and be able to survive. I do not know what will happen after I land (hopefully safely).

Paragliding just does not excite me that much. You know when you see a video of something. You jump off the coush and you say: I want to do that. That is how I got into skydiving and scubadiving. Well paragliding does not do that to me.

To be honest there was a period after I got my A-license that I felt the "I want to look cool" syndrome. I got over it very fast though and I realized that I am doing this for me and that I want to learn to fly my body and have fun.

So why did everybody here started BASE jumping? What "good" reasons does everybody have?

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Well, if you just want to feel the rush, perhaps you should consider just making more skydives and making a jump at bridge day. If you take the groundcrew offer and learn about everything involved, you can just take the course, borrow a rig and get your experience. In the long run, it might be the cheapest/safest?

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I don't usually bother writing replies to posts like this but its a slow morning:

If you want to feel the rush, just once like you said, then Bridge Day would be a great option. I seriously wanted to get into BASE when I had about 200 skydives, but in the year or 18 months that I was reading and learning everything that I could about BASE, watching videos to learn from watching others styles as well as mistakes, I had about 425 skydives. When I got done with my first BASE jump, I remember thinking that I was very grateful that the way things went, I had every jump since 200. I would have done fine with 200, but I learned a lot about general canopy flight, had that "experience" watching videos and talking to people, and overall had scared a lot of scaredness out of myself with a couple routine skydive mals and the things that happen when jumping out of planes 200 versus 425 times.

Its a heck of a thing to BASE jump. Its a heck of a thing to get someone to help bring you into the sport. And its a heck of a thing to ask strangers online, with marginal experience, and without gear, to risk and take you to their local objects and possibly take you to the hospital. BASE is a personal journey, maybe while you slow down and round up some patience, you can build up some extra experience, and look within yourself and find out not only why you want to jump, but if you want to take that first hit from the crack pipe. You're life will be different every day afterwards...

I'm writing this not only to you but all the other skydiving lurkers who dream of jumping. BASE rocks. I couldn't not do it. But it isn't what you think.

Remember when you tried explaining to whoffos after your first skydive, and you told them how it was the greatest rush, compressed into 50 seconds of freefall? Well, take everything that you know, and compress 100x that into 2-3 seconds. It isn't for everyone...

Keep jumping, until skydiving loses the edge. Keep reading here and other techinical BASE websites. Learn all you can. Download everything on skydivingmovies, and watch everyones crashes and I love me videos. Analyze the bad ones to see what they did wrong. Analyze the good ones to see what they did right. Save $1500 for your first rig, and pack it 20 times before you want to jump. You'll appreciate every pack job, just like every skydive you did since, when you are standing at the exit point the first time. Talk to people like tfelber when you come out, buy him beer and listen to everything he has to say. He'll tell you some stories that will make you wonder if its worth it to you. It is to him. Watch him and his bros jump if given the chance. Keep sponging it up. And don't be in a hurry. As often is the case, you only hurry to an accident.

If you made it this far, congrats. I hope something that I typed made a little sense, and helped alter your BASE experience to make it a little more safe and/or enjoyable.
Gravity Research Institute

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:|

I'm not a base jumper but I have several friends that are expert base jumpers in Quebec, Canada and the advice that VINCENTVL just posted should be read by everyone thinking of their first base jump.

WEll said!!

Happysurfer

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Paragliding just does not excite me that much. You know when you see a video of something.




You obviously haven't watched the right videos then... I've seen some crazy shit under a paraglider. (i know I wanna do it some day)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37Ro7irBbSw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thAJpE_ipKw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Zfj60gZBdY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1njB-ev7whg

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Get in touch and we'll go out and have a beer. We do have some nice legal cliffs where you could GC and learn a little more about the sport...



I think thats a great offer, take it.
HISPA #93
DS #419.5


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I think I have to take you up on that offer. PM me how to get in touch as soon as I get there.

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I totally agree with you. For someone with little or no experience, some of those jumps are just plain scary.

When I lived in Scottsdale, I played GC and video for some of the guys hitting S***o Lake Park. That stuff is all low and you have no time to recover if you're headlow.

That's why I encouraged hitting the legal bridges to get started.

Good luck Marios.
Kaye

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http://www.bridgeday.info/

It sounds like this would be perfect for you. It seems to me like around half the jumpers there are skydivers wanting to give BASE a try.

Buy, rent, or borrow a suitable rig and try to sign up on July 1st if you meet the requirements. Show up for the safety briefings there. I'd also recommend taking a full FJC. Read, learn, and practice all you can. Talk and learn from any other BASE jumpers you meet. First decide if BASE is really for you before you get to the exit point.

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