Dd0g

Flame-baiting, actually. I'm sure Tom A. will be happy when he gets back home and sees that Tommy has been up to his old tricks, cluttering this discussion forum. Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Hmm. . . how about just the knowledge that he won't be missed. Isn't that enough? Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Well, I'm pretty sure there's more than a few folks here and elsewhere who would gladly pay good money if you'd just quietly go away. You single-handedly drive the signal-to-noise ratio down in every forum you enter. There's thousands of forae on the web that deal with topics about which you have little knowledge. Can't you find a few others to populate with your drivel, and leave the BASE world to its relative peace and quiet for a while? Look at it this way: you'd be a hero! Cheers, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Um, just in case folks don't already know this: 1. Thomas has no experience with BASE aerials; 2. Thomas has never trained with anybody who has experience with BASE aerials; 3. Thomas does not have any experience or knowledge at all that relates to the topic of BASE aerials. While this might not stop him from pontificating on the topic of BASE aerials, it most certainly should stop folks from taking his "advice" (more like random guesses/attempts to garner attention) seriously. That could be a fatal mistake. His random comments on this (and other) discussion forae would be merely annoying and a waste of bandwidth (in addition to being crass, insulting, and occasionally hurtful to family members of dead jumpers) if there were not a risk that someone not familiar with his desperate attempts to garner attention might actually take his words seriously. It would be a shame for someone legitimate to be injured as a result. Consequently, there are a few of us who will always caveat his remarks in attempts to forestall this possibility. Though, I suppose, anyone with judgment so bad as to take him seriously in the first place probably would have a difficult time making good decisions in BASE - or just about anywhere else. Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

I know those cats! That is the infamous "Antwerpen crew" from Belgium, spreading holiday cheer. Of all the folks I've met in the BASE game, I've had the most fun in the shortest period of time with that gang. They take "energetic" and "active" to an entirely new level. Long live Antewrpen! Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com ps: the tower they are jumping has been dubbed (by Americans, at least) the "Iron Cross." It is the most spectacularly. . . weird tower I've ever seen, let alone jumped. Of course, doing it in 30+ mph winds added to the environment of surreality. . . +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Well spoken. I have to wonder about some people (Thomas) who blather on about how hardcore they are in the event of a fatality. . . but have never been part of a fatality. Those of us who have lost friends in BASE - and who have been present during fatalities - can't help but think that his sort of chest-beating, testosterone-substitute comments on fatalities are somehow insulting to folks who have died in our sport. For someone who is constantly threatening suicide, I'd think Thomas would understand that death is no joke. Or maybe not. . . There is simply no way to describe the flow of events around a fatality - particularly one involving a good friend - to those who have not been there. And, for those of us who have, I think we all sincerely hope that blow-hards and good-intentioned souls alike will never actually have to face that reality. There's nothing "fun" or "cool" or "hardcore" about it. It just hurts, terribly. And it keeps hurting for a long, long time. Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

The thing that scares me most noawadays is the phone ringing late at night. Too many phone calls with the words beginning "I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, but xxx just went in." Those calls leave permanent scars. Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Haven't seen that photo, but I do have good video of me dumping early on a two-way and my fellow jumper getting a face-full of pink PC right as he hit line stretch. Actually, he gets his hand up in time to ward off the PC but that visual of PINK for a few frames is pretty entertaining - at least for me, since I was low slot! Of course, this was the same fellow who has fallen through deploying canopies not once but twice, and those are just the ones I know about. What's the common denominator there? It is quite surprising that we don't have more multi-way fatalities in BASE (caused by colliding jumpers). While we can argue that they are fun and so forth, it's hard to argue with a straight face that they are safer than solo jumps. With careful planning they can be nearly as safe as solos, but it is sad but true that from time to time BASE folks don't do the most careful planning in the world. Who knew? The trick to being safe on multi-ways is to always be the low slot, and to always take it to the dirt. That way, you get to the ground first and nobody can dump in front of you during freefall. Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Awwwww, poor Tommy boy. Not getting enough attention lately? Such a shame - someday, someone should surgically implant a sense of humor in you. D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Percy, I just want to give my heartfelt thanks for posting links to those two wonderful videos. It was very painful for me to watch Lukas - and his words at the end echoed in my soul. Still, seeing his smiling face and vibrant energy brought a big smile to my face - even as it brought tears to my eyes. I hope you guys are doing well up there - don't get too cold! Peace and happy holidays, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

I have an article coming out in January's skydiving that addresses some of these topics. However, I'm sworn to secrecy on the contents until it is published, so I can't say more than that. You are correct, however, in concluding that the vast majority of serious BASE injuries and also fatalities occur from object strike during opening sequence or on landing. Objects where object strike is very low risk (such as most bridges) are thus qualitatively safer than objects with high object-strike potential such as most cliffs. Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

I know you aren't going to believe this, Tom, but I heard that a couple of out-of-shape Americans went to Europe this year, ate mushrooms, sat in their car in the rain, jumped a B, drove to another country, saw a flaming tower, and finished the night by flopping off a weird crane-thing just before dawn. Seems unlikely, I'll admit - who would do such things? Nonetheless, this is JUST the type of behavior that gives Americans such a bad rap. That, and buying one-way tickets on trams where getting down any other way is "impossible!" Peace and happy holidays to all! D-dog [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Those are our Swedish friends, a super bunch of guys all around who sadly lost Lukas Knutsson this year in Switzerland. Per "Flare" Eriksson would be able to translate the Swedish. His email is [email protected]; I do not think he'd mind our sharing it with you. Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

There's actually an even rarer "underground" version of Beyond Extreme that includes footage of RL picking shotgun pellets out of his legs, Slim stripping at Exotica in Portland after a long night of partying, and even the famed "road kill" footage (both cat and possum) courtesy of Goldilocks. Sadly, most bootleg copies of this amazing piece of Aussie filmmaking were in posession of Dr. Nik and now that Nik has gone on to make the next world a more colorful place for everyone there (wherever "there" is), the conduit for distribution is severely cramped. There'a rumor that a smelly old Dog in Oregon has access, but that's just rumor. There's also a rumor that "roadkill elk" is in the works. . . Peace and happy holidays, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Bah. Landing areas are totally over-rated. A better policy is "jump first, work it out under canopy." It is a little-known fact that steep talus, tress, and even moving cars are actually landing areas in disguise. The trick is to "think outside the box" when it comes to BASE. In the same vein, a good strong wind is also helpful since it can carry you to better "landing areas" really fast. Hooray for wind! Now climbing back into the aforementioned box. . Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

QuoteI was watching some old videos of a BASE jumper that came to Panama years ago and noticed that in all his jumps he throws a hand held PC then the PC pulls the d-bag out of the container and then the canopy, like a normal skydiving deployment, only difference was the hand held PC and the canopy inflating VERY fast.Quote Actually, I think that jumper was a guy from Paraguay. He's pretty well-known in BASE. In one famous stunt he did, he jumped the Gandrino de Sontino du Bodrino bridge in rush hour traffic with a d-bag and instead of a pilot chute he just used this paper, origami-like thing he folded together in the taxicab on the way to the jump. And the bridge is only like 40 meters tall! That Paraguay guy really gets around; he's the MAN. Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

We stopped at this "wrong" bridge over the weekend. A member of the PNW crew (who will go un-named to protect the guilty) has a hankerin' for repeating the jump. Say what you will about the first jumper's judgment (and skills, and altitude estimating skills, and competence, and whatever else). . . man oh man he's got a heck of a lot of courage. Standing on that railing with a 42 inch PC in hand and jumping off. . . whoo-eee. Media reports pegged the span at 130+ feet; we lasered it at 98/99 feet on the button, at the highest point over dry land. Somehow we resisted the urge to static line this particular B on the trip. A rare burst of good judgment emanating from the unseasonably-dry Pacific NW. And, yes folks, Tom is right about not naming sites. Sometimes we get sloppy about this, figuring that "everyone knows about that obsure exit point down that long gravel road, past the ranger's house and a 10 mile hike from the trailhead." Surprisingly (to us, anyway) there ARE in fact folks in the world who have lives outside of BASE. . . and, for them, these sites we tend to live and breathe on a daily basis aren't so well-known a quantity. The less folks know about most BASE sites, the better - on many levels. Lest folks think that this is a bunch of stuck-up BASE gods deciding to keep objects secret: there's nary a site in the world that a qualified jumper can't get beta for with a few phone calls to locals. BASE folks are the most generous people in the world, but we also need to protect not only our sites from unqualified jumpers, but also unqualified jumpers from our sites. Peace and happy holidays! D-dog [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Actually, I think people should have ONE MILLION skydives before they even think about meeting someone who once dated a guy who did a BASE jump. And even then, they should never actually utter the word "BASE" until they do ONE MILLION more skydives. After all, jumping out of an airplane and deploying a canopy at terminal with a D-bag at 3000 feet altitude and landing in a giant grassy field is totally like flopping off a 400 foot cliff and landing between a few boulders after a 3 second delay! If you do the former thousands of times, you'll be sure to excel at the latter. BASE is as risky or safe as we choose to make it. There are few active jumpers who don't understand from firsthand experience the cost of this risk, and yet we keep jumping, I guess that means that either we're total idiots (a strong possibility), or we like it enough to pay the price. I'd say that BASE is "better than sex," but then I'd be accused of having crappy sex which would just kill my male ego. Careful with the male ego! Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Yes, ok, wow. Lots of different items popping up in this thread, most of which I'm really not qualified to comment on. Of course, that won't stop me from commenting. . . 1. Backsurge: while Tom states that this a proven phenomenon based on video analysis (and I'm sure if he says he's seen it, then he has), I think the magnitude of the movement here is trivial. According to Tom, he's seeing around 1/2 a canopy depth movement which he attributes to bottomskin venting. Again, assuming this is accurate, this is trivial. There are very few jumpers who have ever opened so close to an object that a "backsurge" of approximately four feet would have resulted in an object strike and/or injury with an on-heading opening. Tom is one; I'm another, as are some of my jumping mates. Seriously, though, we really shouldn't be opening so close to an object that 4 feet of backwards movement is substantive. Too, even an incredibly small wind can cause a canopy to move four feet in any given direction on opening, no problem. Net net, no jumper has ever been injured or killed due to "backsurge." It may be an interesting technical phenomenon, but I don't see it as being relevant to actual gear choices. DW, who first posited the existence of backsurge (and who first explored the ideas of bottomskin venting in BASE) and I discussed this, and he concurs. 2. The moniker of "Deep Brake Settings" (DBS) is a misnomer. No brake setting is inherently "deep" or "shallow;" just because a canopy has two different brake settings on it's lines does NOT make one "deep" and one "shallow," save (trivially) in reference to each other. It is quite common to see jumpers using their deeper (which I prefer to "deep" since both may in fact be too shallow) brake setting on slider down jumps and their shallower setting on slider up. However, it is equally common to see that BOTH the deeper and the shallower settings are way, way too shallow for safe use with hard objects behind a jumper. Being too shallow, remember, simply means that on opening the canopy is moving forward with some speed, versus sinking straight down. There's good video of a jumper in Malaysia suffering the consequences of too-shallow brake settings on a legal building jump. With helmet cam footage, the sound of him repeatedly impacting the building while his canopy surges forward into it is. . . sobering. Too-shallow brakes can kill you. Conversely, if a canopy ships with one brake setting only, this setting is neither "deep" or "shallow." It just. . . is (kinda Zen-like). It might be too deep (unlikely with most gear manfacturers), or too shallow for safe jumping. In any case, it likely needs to be customized for a given jumper. Tom's advice both on why to customize brakes and HOW to customize brakes is terribly important. BASE jumpers today die from object strike, for the most part. Too-shallow brake settings are a major - if not the major - cause of object strike injuries or fatalities (this is my opinion, but even if it isn't the #1 reason, bad brake settings always make a bad situation even worse). Tom is also right that I'm skewed by my locale, perhaps. In Portland, we jump lots of low and often underhung objects, and have been known to do this with "non-optimal" winds. Consequently, we take proper brake settings as a given; I've been jumping a new canopy with brakes too shallow for a few months now on and off, and every jump I am aware of the impact this oversight will have and plan accordingly. To simply not know that improper brake settings are a huge issue is hard for me to understand, but I think it is more common than I imagine given my Portland-jumping roots. 3. In terms of venting for new jumpers, I think Tom and I have as much a difference in perspective as we have a difference of opinion. Again, in my home area there simply aren't any "safe" objects for beginners. So my concept of "beginning" BASE is skewed, certainly. However, in other places in the world I guess folks can flop off easy stuff for years during their BASE career and wouldn't ever really need venting. Frankly, I'd say this however: if a beginning jumper is poor enough with BASE canopy management that bottom-skin venting is a "complexity" that is hard for them to manage, they aren't anywhere near good enough to be jumping "real" BASE objects. Now that I'm sliding into "Pacific NW BASE snobbery," I'll just stop typing before I get any deeper. . . 4. Landing with one rear riser and one toggle is not too bad. I've done it three times slider down, due to blown brake lines. Never done it slider up, so I can't comment on that. I learned to do it after I blew a brake line jumping in South Africa - a 500 foot to impact cliff with a 2000+ foot canopy flight to landing. So I had lots of time to play with the riser/toggle "flare" before setting up for landing. Once I'd found the sweet spot, I got a MUCH better flare than both rear risers - important on that jump as I was landing on pavement with a slight tailwind. I'm not sure toggle/riser is "better" than riser/riser, but once I learned both I was able to get a better landing with the toggle/riser setup. Not sure why, maybe that only applies to fat-assed, horny Dogs. 5. Final metaphor (or is it a simile?): vented canopies are cars with anti-lock brakes, unvented are without. Non-ABS is "less complex" and "simpler," but one wouldn't recommend that a new driver avoid the "complexity" of ABS, right? Vented canopies behave like unvented ones, but with a bigger envelope of responsiveness and more options for off-heading correction. 6. I'd much rather see a student of mine have "backsurge" of a few feet on opening with a vented canopy than a snivelly, jellyfish opening on an unvented one (brake settings held constant for both). Why? Simple: jellyfish openings are much more likely to evolve into full-on off-headings; a bit of backstall isn't going to cause anything worse than a strange visual from above, and the need to pop the toggles off quick to get the canopy flying forward. In general, I look at every tech element mostly in terms of how it will affect off-heading percentages, and how it will help or hinder the correction of off-headings after the fact. This is, again, because the majority of jumpers have died from off-heading openings, plain and simple. They are the true "black death" element of BASE, and the more we plan for and understand them, the longer we'll live. From another angle, we can control almost all other BASE risk factors - but not off-headings. We can minimize them, but we don't fully understand them and they happen to ALL jumpers sooner or later. They are the one great "Russian roulette" element of BASE - many of us have done jumps where an off-heading would have been fatal, no question. Aiguille du Midi in 20+ mph winds 7. Tom knows more about BASE than I do, so listen to him and not me! I'm just a fat-assed BASE canine from the land of dodgy objects and rainy weather Good thread, Tom. I hope folks appreciate the time and energy (and knowledge) you are investing here. What's up, too sunburned down there to get out and jump? Peace and happy holidays, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com ps: "I am sorry, that is not possible." Tom: "but we're FLYYYYYYYING down. . . (flaps arms to demonstrate) Dog: "I have a Norwegian friend. . . " Dog: "That jump is only safe if you pull the slider down. . . " +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

You are correct that an older canopy will open softer on deep slider-down delays (however, jumping ratty gear to decrease the pounding can be scary too). You are also correct that going deep slider down can blow toggles (I use a custom pin setup with the toggles in part to alleviate this problem). I've actually broken three brake lines taking deep slider down delays - this is a very unpleasant experience, as the opening initiates a pretty violent spinning malfunction. As to landing with risers, practice makes perfect! Pack your BASE rig in a skydiving container (if possible) and jump it at a DZ, landing rear risers. Many of us believe that it is possible to get a better landing using one riser and one toggle, versus throwing away the second toggle altogether and landing both rear risers - again, this requires practice. In any case, it is possible to land rear risers with BASE canopies very well - but hard to do the first time! Some comments on Tom's feedback: 1. Multi: I agree that it is hard to know if there is a stastically valid impact on openings with the multi. However, it is pretty much uncontested that the multi has never been known to cause problems. Consequently, many jumpers feel that the potential benefit (still unproven, but hypothetically there) is worth the risk - which is, practically speaking, zero. It's cheap insurance, and I'd never buy a new canopy without a Multi. The "complexity" Tom is worried about is not very complex at all - if you can't pack up your Multi correct, you shouldn't be jumping! 2. Venting: it is worth noting that Tom is very, very, very much in the minority that venting is not for beginning jumpers. All the reasons that venting matters (better openings, better riser input, better correction from off-headings, faster pressurization on opening, ability to back away from objects with double riser input without canopy collapse, and finally faster re-inflation of canopy of nose is dragging down a cliff face after a 180 cliff strike) apply to beginners just as much (if not more so) as more advanced jumpers. The only "downside" of venting, as Tom says, is probably a slightly less powerful flare stroke. This is both not terribly important on 95% of BASE jumps (we rarely land from full flight), and pretty much solved with new valving technology offered by all the gear manufacturers. So why are vents not good for beginners? See below for more discussion. 3. Brake settings: Tom argues that somehow vented canopies require brake setting adjustment out of the factory more than non-vented canopies. I think this is bunk. ANY canopy, shipped from the factory, MUST have its brake settings customized for the jumper. Gear manufacturers guess at brake settings based on the weight you provide them, but it's a guess! You'd be beyond reckless to take a new rig out and jump non-custom brake settings on a tech object first go: venting or otherwise is irrelevant. True, some manufacturers have a rep for setting "factory" brakes really shallow. ALL gear manufacturers INSIST that jumpers must customize their brakes. Again, venting or not is irrelevant. If you jump gear without custom brakes, you are rolling the dice on objects where an off-heading could result in object strike. Remember, we set our brakes custom so that, when we open, the canopy is (ideally) stalling, falling straight down. Why? So that, if we get a 180, we can turn away from the object (without releasing brakes) using rear risers, rather than having lots of forward speed on opening (brakes too shallow) and, on a 180, flying into the object even before we can do anything to turn away. Brake settings too deep result in either a stall, a generally snively/crappy opening, or even backwards flight. Yes, it is true that a vented canopy has the ability to "fly backwards" much more than an unvented one, but if you set brakes too deep on both and jump, the results are going to be equally bad. Unvented, the canopy will pressurize very poorly, respond to toggle/riser input VERY slowly immediately after opening, and generally behave like crap until it gets some forward drive to pressurize (remember, it NEEDS forward drive to pressurize - air enters the cells only through the nose inlets). Vented, the canopy will still pressurize, and will be reasonably responsive - but will stall backwards at a slow rate. Not good if you ass is scraping a wall after jumping an underhung object, but in my book still much better than having an unpressurized, unsteerable nonvented canopy over my head! So why is it that a vented canopy needs custom brakes more than an unveted one? I don't get that argument at all. If anything, I'd argue the reverse - a vented canopy still pressurizes with brakes too deep, while an unvented one just turns into a big jellyfish over your head. Bottom-skin venting is a technolgy that is qualitatively better than its predecessor technology in BASE. There is no reason for any jumper to be jumping non-vented canopies today (other than economics: unvented canopies are really cheap on the aftermarket, which tells you what "the market" thinks of their worth relative to their vented brothers). There are many experienced jumpers who have sold off all of their unvented canopies and now jump only vented canopies - they are safer, they are better. Too, there are precious few of us who will freefall sub-200 foot stuff with unvented canopies any more (Aussies being the exception, as usual). As to beginners, I recently taught a new jumper and I did so with a vented Fox. I'd never think of pitching a student off with unvented gear on his/her early jumps - more than anyone, a student needs the extra pressurization, faster responsiveness, and generally more tolerant behavior of a vented canopy if things get bad (at least this is the case if the objects being jumped have object strike potential - otherwise, the argument becomes essentially academic as venting is all about object strike prevention and response everywhere but in super-low freefall situations). In fact, I'd argue 180 degress from Tom: an experienced jumper (like Tom or I), if he is really "on his shit," can fly an unvented canopy almost as well as a vented one. We know how to massage them if things get bad, we know their riser input characteristics, we're likely to have our brakes set properly on them in the first place, and we're generally better able to respond to a bad off-heading since (unfortunately) we've had more than a few in our BASE career so we aren't so surprised. A student? She'll be staring at a cliff face, yanking on a rear riser with an unveted canopy, and nothing's happening. . . . Recommending unvented canopies to new BASE jumpers is like recommending a car without seatbelts to new drivers. (standard caveats apply: Tom has more jumps than I, and knows more about gear than I do - I'm just a smelly old Dog!) Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

From ample firsthand experience, I'd say that worries about "hard openings" from vented canopies are unwarranted for two reasons: 1. Slider-up, packing tricks are easily learned to slow openings of any canopy - though, let it be noted that on average these tricks will increase off-heading probabilities and require expert knowledge to use effectively. That said, there's not excuse not to learn them if you plan to do lots of 8+ second slider-up delays on your canopy, vented or otherwise. 2. Slider-down, the only place this is going to matter is in the world of deeper-than-3 second deployments (at less than 3 seconds slider down, there's really not such a a thing as a "hard opening;" just not enough airspeed). In my experience, very very VERY few folks are actually taking (consistent) 3+ second delays slider-down. I can count the number on one hand, in fact, on a global basis (though surely there are more than I know personally. . . I'm merely making the point of relative scarcity). Taking slider-down delays between 3 and 4+ second is a game only for those with a stout constitution and a taste for pain - the openings, no matter what canopy, are HARD. There are no packing tricks to slow them down noticeably. While there might me a small increase in "hardness" between a vented and unvented canopy at, say, 3.5 seconds, this is like saying that 120 volts of electricity hurts "more" than 115 volts (amperage held constant); they both hurt a great deal. The benefits of canopy venting far, far outweight the perceived cost of "harder openings." In fact, almost no jumpers will experience these hard openings slider-down, and no jumper need consistently experience them slider up (see packing tricks above). Analogy: a car with better brakes (ABS, for example) stops faster. Would you worry about how much the seatbelt hurts when it holds you in as you are using those better brakes? No, not generally - in fact, your darned happy those brakes are stopping you so fast! The hardest "opening" in the world is the snively piece-of-crap that puts you into the talus with a partially-inflated canopy over your head. Right, Tom? Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com ps: the Ace is simply the Blackjack without venting (and valves) - thus, I'd recommend doubly against it, for it has the airfoil and flight characteristics of the latter, without the benefits of venting. +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

I'd add one more thing, Tom. It is downright pathetic to watch some guys trying to get a chick's pants off by danging the fruit of BASE in front of their nose. Pathetic from the perspective of the guy, who confirms in our eyes that he is a total ass, unable to garner sexual gratification in any other more respectable way. And pathetic from the perspective of the chick, who is stupid enough to play with fire (i.e. BASE) just to have some guy drool over her. Leave the goddamned hormones at home. Almost without exception, it is the more incompetent members of the BASE fraternity who are busy chasing cheap tail with their over-inflated sense of their BASE competence. Girls, Tom speaks true - any BASE "mentor" who wants in your pants is not to be trusted. Find a male who has some self-control, or better yet find a qualified male mentor who ain't straight! That way, you know he's not got anything but your best interests at heart when he is illustrating the path to BASE to you. While we are all responsible for our own actions, it is beyond irresponsible for a person to mis-represent the true state of the world to another who in turn lacks the knowledge to accurately judge that false information. In this case, the true responsibility for any tragedies that result is shared BOTH by the one who chose the wrong person to trust in gathering information, and by the person who knowingly spread false information to further another agenda. Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

Thanks for bringing those comments over from the ABA, Tom. While I do stand by my comments therein, I also want to emphasize once again that I've NEVER jumped a Blackjack myself. In the interest of full disclosure, an extremely good friend of mine also died while jumping this canopy; it is not possible, emotionally, for me to be objective about whether the canopy had a substantive involvement in the incident. Objectively, I can say that I am jumping a Fox right now and am sticking with this generation of technology until convinced there are solid reasons to move on. I believe that, for 95% of BASE folks on 95% of jumps, the consistency and generally forgiving nature of the Fox (with vents) is the optimal canopy. There are certain jumps - and certain jumpers - where another technology may be marginally superior. However, so often in BASE we end up jumping the canopy that we have packed - if I am going to have one packed canopy in my trunk for any given jump, I'll take a vented Fox over anything on the market, bar none. I'm not sponsored by Basic Research (who make the Fox), I don't get discounts on gear from them, etc. I also have nothing but good things to say about Consolidated Rigging (who make the Blackjack); most of my 200 jumps have been done on a CR Mojo, in fact. So, again, these are my opinions and are not meant as the definitive answer. Tom has different opinions, and as everyone knows, Tom has more jumps than I and knows more about gear than I do. In a fistfight, however, I'd kick his gimpy ass Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.

The FOX is the last generation (Mojo/FOX) technology. Basic Research (manufacturer of the FOX) now has a new canopy called the Flik. CR's latest generation is the Ace and Blackjack. FOX's are still good workhorse canopies (tough, reliable), but for cutting edge BASE I'd prefer one of the next generation canopies. Many active BASE folks consider the vented Fox to be the most reliable, most tested, most trusted, most predictable canopy on the market today (the Mojo is a decent canopy, but with no bottom-skin venting it is, indeed, old technology). While there is, as Tom says, new technology available in the Flik and the Blackjack/Ace, opinions are decidedly mixed on these canopies (at least on the latter). I do my share of "cutting edge" jumps I suppose, and I'll trust my fat ass to a vented Fox and let other folks be guinea pigs with new canopy designs for a few years before I jump in the pool. I'll trade 10 units of fancy goo-gads for one unit of predictability when the chips are down. Anyway, one Dog's (alternate) opinion of canopy characteristics. Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com

Unless I'm mistaken, Thomas, you don't even own a BASE rig. Spend too much time cluttering this place up with your words to actually jump? All words and no action. . . Peace, D-d0g [email protected] www.wrinko.com +~+~+~+~ But this, surely, was the glory that no spirits, canine or human, had ever clearly seen, the light that never was on land or sea, and yet is glimpsed by the quickened mind everywhere.