GaryP

That "ambulance" we put you in was nothing more than a clapped-out rusty old Mazda Bongo Van. Your oxygen-line helped negate the carbon-monoxide fumes that were seeping in through the rotten door-seals. Happy to hear of your recovery as it looked pretty nasty. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

Australian assholes Barlow & Chambers were hanged in Malaysia and the protest from the Australian govt. fell on deaf ears -the Malaysians just didn't see what all the fuss was about as it's the norm to hang traffickers -period. There are lengthy prison stints for users too. E's are available in many of the bars and you may think that there's a level of acceptance but you will be mistaken. You seriously need to heed the warnings and don't fuck with this line of recreation. There are plenty of other countries to jump that allow for more workable penalties (or none) so if you can't do without doing drugs for the 1-3 weeks you are there then don't go. Gary C will warn you in writing of the penalties when you apply. The travel literature will warn you. The airport signs will warn you. This forum has warned you. Uncle Sam has enough trouble without doing a diplomatic incursion into another Muslim country to save the ass of some idiot jumper who didn't heed the warnings. Guantanamo Bay 'aint exactly helping Muslim / US relations. So I guess you should stick to alcohol. Your stash will still be there upon your return home. For a Muslim country I must say that KL sure does promote heavy beer drinking. Make sure you try one of those large (almost a gallon) chilled-beer-taps that can be brought to your table. Some nightclubs will offer you a large bottle (750ml) of spirit at discount with your entry. The nightclubs are full of hookers but be careful as not all of them are exactly female ... Oh.. and there's this big-fucker tower to jump off too... ....and then there's b...a....n....d.....i......t j.......u... g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

I wouldn't say you are old Tom. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

Nice work Plummy... It's good to see the tradition of the ABA night being kept up - not easy work by the looks. Thanks to all that have hosted the nights in the past as well..Liv, Fast Al, Greg W., Plummy.... Who have I forgotten?? g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

Buying ballet shoes doesn't make you a ballerina - the same way that a true ballerina is still such -even if they don't own any shoes. If you were the last person on Earth and there was nobody to watch your vids or jumps- would you still jump?? We all know that skydiving is safe and easily available to a lot of personality types that crave attention - egocentrics, showoffs etc and is the perfect wank for these people. BASE tends to weed out those that are doing it to show off leaving a larger proportion of ppl that do it for the experience rather than the status. This is one of the things I love about the sport - the ppl are more "down to Earth" (sorry!) Where I live just about all the objects are advanced (shitty, low, underhung, tight landing, scary) and there's no decent "first" object so this tends to scare away nearly all the ego-jumpers. I'm guessing that having really safe objects in your area can be bitter-sweet. You get to jump it but you also get more wankers getting off it. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

On the subject of the proliferation of newer jumpers The increased number of jumpers over the past two decades have created market demands that have led to increased technology for which I am thankful - meaning that I no longer have to freestow my X-228+lines into my skydiving Pygmee container and hope for the best. I have also seen the limits of what I thought physically possible change and therefore setting new goals for myself that I would not have or could not have in the 80's. For this I am very thankful (and take my hat off to) to the new breed of jumpers. On the subject of glory hounds and publicity So much has been written on this topic and I have not much to add except that the argument usually goues new school scrrewing it up for old school (yaawn). I remember in the 80's it was pretty much common practice to sell urban BASE footage to the media and nobody gave a toss. And how many jumpers today are paying the price for the antics of the FLATBED 10??? To Nick Respectfully, could you please tell me specifically how you have been personally affected by BASE being more publicised than before. What experiences have you had or what opportunities have you missed that you can attribute to it. I ask because I can't see how my jumping has been adversly affected by more attention to BASE. If anything - there's more understanding in the general public towards what I do and I'm less likely to be called "crazy". I ask because I feel you think this publicity is a bad thing but I'd like to know how you SPECIFICALLY have been affected. Thanx. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

What about a 320' mobile digging shovel complete with offices, sleeping quarters, lunch rooms, toilets and a gift shop?? Must be a building then eh?? I'm with Sean621 on this - if you gotta ask then it probably 'aint. But if you persevere I'm sure you'll eventually find someone who will agree and give the answer you wanna hear so you can feel justified in logging that "B" or whatever. If it quacks like a duck then it's probably a duck.... but if it moos like a cow then is 'aint no duck! Go figure. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

I gotta say I'm pretty amazed by the jumper's survival in this incident. There is a number of us it seems who have bounced and lived and I was wondering if there are any other story's like this. At a recent international event I was asked by a dozen or so jumpers to recall an incident early on in my BASE career. The story was met with amazement (as it always is) and I've since had a number of you ask me to tell it again. Sorry if you've already heard this. It's quite funny to me to hear the versions that are going around the rumour mill - so here's the real story. ______________________________ August 1987, My 2nd BASE -invited for a D-BAGjump off a 460' B under construction in Sydney. Yeah I know it's high for a D-Bag but that's what we did in those days and it was my 2nd BASE. Modified skydiving gear with 7-cell canopy in a freebag (D-Bag) with safety bridle attached to object - no p/c.. The lines are stowed on the bag and closed with rubber bands. My mentor is holding my D-bag at the exit point with the bridle running from the bag, over his shoulder and clean to the attachment point of the Bldg - or so he thought. 1st jumper goes off and lands next to taxi which panics ground crew into calling to "go go go - cops are coming!!!" so my mentor says to "go" "Am I right to go??" I ask my mentor "Yeah mate, you're good to go - GO!!" he commands .. and so I exit ... but alas the bridle was not running clear to the bldg but was misrouted around the RH main lift web so that when I jumped the bag was ripped from his hands as it fell away with me and then the bridle broke.....putting me, locked bag and broken bridle in freefall with no deployment available. After exit I felt the hard tug of my bridle which spun me 180 to the right. Next thing I remember vividly was being flat & stable, facing the corner of the bldg in freefall, d-bag & lines floating in front of my face, several line-stows locking the bag and a broken bridle wavering pilotchuteless in the ever-increasing airflow, all backdropped against the rush of vertically growing concrete & steel. The next thing I saw was a beam coming up at me at the most-perfect trajectory.... instinctively I grabbed for it and I landed along it's length parallel with my body. By this stage my body had gone through a complete 360 from exit allowing my body to become parallell with this beam at precicely the critical time in the fall. This was an absolute fluke of physics -the bridle breaking at a time when there was a slight swing-back toward the object - unbelieveable. This beam is actually part of the bldg skeleton where a window was to be put in. There was no floor on this level, nor the next 3 floors down so I had a 400' drop outside and a 60ish' drop inside. I landed between two steel plate fixtures where the window was to be affixed - lucky not to be impailed, lucky not to have glanced off this beam, lucky not to have fallen inside the bldg, lucky to land the length of my body - more than just lucky - this was a fluke of physics - like betting your life you can toss a coin onto a table and have it land on it's edge in one go. ...And so I impacted hard and it hurt like hell but knew I was in a bad spot and had to stay concious. After cutting away the bag & lines I managed to shuffle along the beam to a spot where some resourcefulness of my mates resulted in a series of ropes and steel cables which saw me being lowered down the inside of the building from my precarious point. I often think of the construction workers coming to work the next day and scratching their heads wondering how the ropes and cables "got up there!!!". Anyway - result - fractured ribs and punctured lung but I managed to walk down the stairs the rest of the way & go home (then to Emergency). As a result I became a very conservative jumper. I gave up BASE for 3 years but could not resist the calling and resumed jumping but with a new approach of respect for BASE, life and equipment. Some have suggested I should have punched the bag-holder in the face for the fake gear check but I knew BASE is about choice and ultimate responsibility (although I never would trust him again). For a while I had a fastidious preoccupation with my bridle. "Is my bridle clear??" is a question that you would hear often if you shared an exit point with me in the past. Nowadays, with a number of jumps under my belt, it aint so bad although friends that know, know not to make jokes at the exit point about my bridle. Respect Gary "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

38 y/o 19yrs in Aussie BASE only 1 bounce (impact no canopy) "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

A nice smile, calming presence, devoted husband, awesome aerialist, inspiring achiever, a really top bloke. Cya mate - thanks for all the fun - your spirit stays with us - wishing you had as well. - Gary "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

Rob's idea of fun at the local park with some mates, a car, some rope and rigging and asstd. parachuting stuff; * Towed behind a car using an x-300 canopy to get to approx 250' altitude * Cutaway the tow-rope to achieve free canopy flight * cutaway from the canopy for free-fall * deploy BASE-rig Sometimes he'd do this at night. Rob's balls were very big indeed. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

Photo credits: Overhang - Gary Cunningham Trev's Exit Pt - Feral VG - Fast Al g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

Just wanted to note here that when Trevor Yates went in he was jumping his Fury. One witness who I spoke to told me how he watched from the top as he saw a 3-cell-snivel after deployment for "some time" until impact. While there were many errors with Trev's choice of equipment on this jump (d'bag, 4' bridle, pull-out, Racer) given that a timely deployment did occur, the factors concerning the fatal snivel were likely to be the combination of Fury and sail-slider. I'm pretty sure the brake-settings would have been the standard factory settings as it was not standard practice at the time to change them. Not slagging the Fury for all applications but I thought this combination should be noted. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

Ella goes CRAZY for cooked King Prawns (not frozen)... eating approx 15 (200g) before I stop in disgust. Given she weighs 1/20th of myself that's equal to me eating 4kg king prawns. Other foods are canned tuna, salmon, sardines, pilchards & calamari. Also on the menu is cooked steak, bacon and ham & chicken (as prepared by my GF - an occasional meat-eater even though she has become vegetarian by association to an extent) As much as I'd like to spoil Ella with some raw meats I have avoided feeding her these as the TOXIPLASMA parasite uses raw meats as one medium to complete it's life-cycle and get into a cat's system. TOXIPLASMA risk to humans can be dramatically lessened if raw meats are avoided in the cat's diet. Of course - a good kibble is needed for dental hygene & digestion. Thanks PLFX "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

My cat is a carnivoure. Her digestive system, fleet-of-foot, dental configuration and the protein content of her breast milk are proof of this fact. I feed her a mainly meat diet (actually, I spoil her silly with the best meats I can aquire - money no object). Dogs are this way too although they are slightly more omnivorous. To feed a cat or dog a strictly vegetable diet is a form of cruelty and abuse. Cats & dogs do also need to chew on grass to maintain health as grass contains chloryphyll and certain amino acids, vitamins, minerals that they won't get in their meats. For the last 14yrs the only meat I've eaten has been fish. I came to this choice after studying anatomy, nutrition and pharmacology and concluded that humans were not meant to eat three square meals of meat every day but this isn't the thread to get into the reasons why (unless I get challenged to do so). I'm not saying that humans should not eat beef/poultry/pork etc... (even though I don't)... just not as much as the meat-conglomerates would like their deceipt and misinformation to have you consume. Gotta go....Ella's just jumped onto my lap and is purrrring wildly for some food... and how can I resist... gotta go peel some prawns for her now.... cya. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

A tethered balloon can't just be winched down as the stresses on the envelope are too extreme. You DO need a good pilot to raise and lower the balloon keeping in mind the careful balance exit weights, ballast and decent rates. Finding a willing pilot is the hardest part. A generous BASE'r friend with the most amazing organizational skills who owned a balloon did find such a pilot. The 1200' rope got us up to 900' AGL although most loads were 500-600'. SL-up's & downs, unpacked jumps of all types, daisy-chains, bicycle-BASE, student PCA's... I even managed to slide down the angled rope with a sling for a while before letting go & deploying (like the world's biggest flying-fox). The point here is that we were on private property doing all this without fanfare or hype. Word got out into the mainstream DZ's & to CASA here but they just left us to our own. All out loads were tethered. They (CASA) could have hassled us but it was more to the point that there was a level of mutual respect that they would not bother us and we would not bother them. On a side note - Wilton (Picton) DZ near Sydney has banned ppl from packing BASE rigs anywhere on the DZ. If you are seen packing one you can be assured that someone will run (literally) to DZ management and "rat" you out. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

To set the record straight - I'm not Gary Peek (as some who have pm'd me seem to think). g. OzBASE86 "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

I used to think the outcome of my next jump was determined by the choices I make but, alas, it seems my Ozzie blood is gonna be my downfall. Damn!!! g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

The percentage of BASE# holders to total# of BASErs worldwide is getting lower nowadays for a number of reasons including: * More jumpers completeing FJC's than applying for BASE#'s and this figure rising yearly * Given it's mainly English-speaking jumpers bothering with BASE#'s ,and BASE is growing across all languages, the percentage of #holders gets smaller as the sport grows. Because of this, Yuri's exponential is actually conservative 'cause it relies on the percentage of BASErs that hold BASE#'s to be the same over the given time period. There's not enough numbers/figures available in the "BASE# only" equation that you suggest to make as good a projection as what has already been given here. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

Very well said 515. OK - CASE POINT: A recent BASE fatality here in Oz. Local "E" that has a history of busts and fines. Jumper on the load known well to all who were there goes in and all on the load split. An anonymous call is made to the police as to the location. The jumper is, without question, deceased. The initial intention was for one jumper to stay with the deceased as the others left (not a bad plan) but for some reasone this jumper decided to leave as well after the others had left. The result was the apperance that all had decided to leave the scene. In the news aftermath the media (print & TV) focused intensely on the fact that his "friends abandoned him". This fact was the prelude and headline on every story on the incident. It was very bad publicity for BASE here. At least one jumper on the load that I know well has much regret about leaving the scene and had much turmoil over the choice made. The jumpers parents were outraged as was the public and police. The parents held much anomosity toward those that abandoned their son. Just a factual slice of the aftermath of "bailing out". g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

I agree with Mark and have highlighted the basics covered in his & my posts to simplify. From Mark's post: From my post: The key here is to ensure the vent doesn't allow more air to escape from it than is escaping around the bottom skirt of the canopy/pc. g. += "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

There is NO LOSS OF DRAG with a vented p/c once it is inflated, compared to a p/c of equal size & construction that is not vented at the apex. When a p/c is fully inflated and travelling through the air it is being subjected to more air being forced into the p/c from below. Because no more air can be accommodated inside the already inflated p/c the surplus air spills around to the sides out from the bottom of the skirt. On an apex vented (AV) p/c, as long as the amount of air escaping through the vent does not exceed that which is spilling out from the bottom of the skirt there will be no loss of drag as the p/c is fully inflated and cannot take any more air inside anyway. It makes no difference that some of the spillage of surplus air is occurring through the apex vent. As long as the p/c is inflated to the degree that excess air is spilling out around the skirt then it's doing it's job. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

So no more phone-booth packing races at Katherine or Batchelor I guess?? + =

I had B, S & E completed for 16 years before I bothered to get off an A and my number early last year. An Aussie jumper who has a BASE# earlier than me got his in only 4 jumps and then virtually stopped BASE a few jumps after that. BASE#'s are primaraly an English-Speaking phenomenom and there's a huge non-English speaking scene with jumpers of the highest calibre (primarily European and Baltic) that don't bother with them. I've heard one estimate that puts the number roughly equal Eng-speaking to non-Eng-speaking BASErs out there. Not attacking your sentimental lament for the tradition but using the numbers to quantify a person's ability is poor. I'm not from US so it's not my place to comment on any US sites but if a standard is to be implemented then there are better ways. The referee system used by organizers of KL events is much better at honing in on a particular jumpers skills - judgement from our peers. g. BASE 985 OzBASE86 "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .

A bounce is a crime scene - taking the rig is tampering with evidence. Making an accident look like a suicide may save "The List" from getting another number - big deal. It would also bring grief and turmoil to the families of the deceased jumper. There may even be implications for life insurance pay-outs that don't cover suicide but do cover jumpers for accidental death. By removing the rig you just may cost the jumpr's next-of-kin many hundreds of thousands of dollars. Don't do it. It serves no point. It's a crime. g. "Altitude is birthright to any individual who seeks it" .