mattair

I think a lot of us hold others to a higher standard than our own. Theres a lot of 'do as I say, not as I did' going on. Who here hasn't jumped something they maybe wasn't ready for in retrospect? how many of us haven't jumped in sketchy winds? It's the voice of experience. Being a baby to BASE myself I've got no doubt that in the future I'll look back on my early days and realise then how little I know now. Be that as it may, people are entering this sport with the same spirit and enthusiasm as the old school once had. To me it still is new and wild. I don't think anyone should be encouraged into BASE but I think sometimes it's more ethical to better educate the people who snuck in through sheer determination rather than make hard and fast rules based on how many times they've jumped out of a plane. I'm not saying it's right, Just how it sometimes is. Ultimately it's a personal decision what you do and who you trust. To me that's the true spirit of BASE.

I got 72m with a laptop touchpad. can't get far with a mouse though

Attatched pic was my 200th at Elsinore. I wouldn't even bother trying to hang onto it through deployment. Why risk it for the sake of about $10? I let it go at about 3500ft and it spiraled down onto the runway a few minutes after I landed. Make sure you only inflate it about 50% on the ground because the air will expand at altitude. If you can maintain any kind of control over it in the air you'll have done a lot better than me!

Yeah, the magazine is negligible in the scheme of things but it still represents a slice of the overall pie. It's a sad state of affairs when we get to the stage that people decide their best option is to leave the country for a jump. How are you working it out at around £1 per jump? You're assuming the average UK jumper does 111 jumps per year!!? When I was living in California that was a realistic target. With UK weather and the UK price of jumps I'm not so sure.

I'm also an overseas only jumper now. I don't think it's possible to get temporary 'just visiting' membership after you've been a full member. I asked and the CCI said BPA wouldn't allow it even though i've got an overseas address. I won't be renewing my membership until it goes down considerably and realistically i don't see that happening. I think they should just scrap the magazine all together. It's all gloss and no content and compares poorly against USPA's magazine and Skydiving Magazine.