jimmyp

You rule Hanky, I've got my copy all ready to be autographed! Marta wants to know where she can get me one of those leopard print lycra spankmaster outfits? Jimmy P.

Here is the latest version of the Apex DP for the H2O. Jimmy Apex BASE

Jimmy was the best. He took us out on one of his shark dives, way cool. Such a nice guy.

Those shots of jumping off the top of the handrail were from like 6 years ago. Man, those were the days...

Found a black Giro helmet in the bushes just below the rope on the hike out this Sunday. Let me know if you want your brain bucket back. Jimmy

Thanks for the head's up, I'll get the webmaster on it. Thanks! Jimmy Apex BASE

Anyone have Lee M's contact info? Thanks! Jimmy Apex BASE

For customers who are interested, we will have replacement V2 toggles at the World Freefall convention on July 26,27,28th and at Skydive Chicago's Summerfest on July 29,30,31st. For overseas customers, we will be on the full tour in Malaysia from August 9th to August 28th and will have V2's with us. Thanks, Jimmy P

The swap only applies to WLO V1 toggles, the problem doesn't exist with the Vertigo pin/snap version. JP

Yuri, The pin will stay in place regardless of the position of the handle in the pack tray, I always turn my stiffened toggle handles towards the inside of the tray as opposed to the outside, turning them towards the outside tends to want to peel the toggle off the riser due to the sidewall of the container going straight up off the pack tray once it's closed. The pin is held in place by the Velcro, not the handle of the toggle. The main difference between the 2 versions is that in order for the pin to move at all with V2, the tab has to come out of the pocket and the Velcro has to COMPLETELY unpeel. The pin is held in place by the shear force of the Velcro. V1, the pin can move downward with a peeling of the Velcro. This is how we did it with the Vertigo version and we couldn't figure out a way to duplicate the same setup with the new toggles until now. JP

Version 2 is actually closer to the original Vertigo design, as far as the channel and the Velcro are concerned. The reason we had to redesign the toggles after the merge into Apex was to make them work with BR style risers. Vertigo WLO's were not compatible and we didn't want to produce 2 different types of risers. The WLO V2 toggles can be used for slider down jumps

For the record: The Rock Dragon and the Dagger are completely different canopies, designed for intentionally different flight characteristics. The Dagger was pre-vent and remains unvented, it is designed with a flatter glide slope and responsive toggle input. (For those interested, it also hook turns very smoothly, with none of the "shudder" that most seven cells have when one front riser is pulled down). It has an aspect ratio of 2.1:1 The Rock Dragon was designed with vents and sinking approaches in mind. It has a straight 2:1 aspect ratio. It is less responsive to toggle inputs and more docile than the Dagger, yet still turns and flares very nicely. JP

The first few Rock Dragons had the tabs in the wrong place. My fault, totally. I moved the tabs to the correct locations and this is where they are now. I have always had what I call the stair step where the folds get consecutively narrower with the fabric between the A-B line groups widest, B-C fold about 2 inches narrower, and the C-D fold about 2 inches narrower still. After reading this, I consulted with several jumpers/riggers to get outside opinions. Most say that this is how their pack jobs turn out. Marta and I know how to fly the canopies and have learned alot about their manufacturing, but don't have alot of first hand knowlege as to their actual construction. So I went to our partner Todd Shoebotham who has been building the FOX and the FLiK for years. He pulled a Rock Dragon off the shelf(he was not involved with the placement of the Dagger or Rock Dragon packing tabs, we were not partners at the time). Upon inspection of the packing tab placement, he said that they were in the correct location and wouldn't move them. To me, your initial pictures using the tabs is exactly how I like the canopy to look at that stage of packing. There is nothing wrong with how you have the pack job in the second set of photos, not using the tabs. As far as "ease of packing", I think that it is what you are used to which makes packing seem easier or more difficult. I hope this helps. Thanks, Jimmy P Apex BASE

Thanks to Abbie and the locs in TF for running a nice big color ad thanking the city of TF for allowing us to live free. TF is the most awesome city on the planet for letting us do what we do!

It was brought to my attention that it wasn't Abe Lincoln that said the truth shall set you free, it was Jesus. They both had beards, give me a break, for Christ's sake! JP

All flights were unbelievable, this place should be legal. JP

It's not a secret who got caught in BCNP. It was me, Marta and Jay E. The reason that I post this is to let anyone thinking about jumping here to think twice and in comparison to other NP's, to show the professionalism of the Rangers who we dealt with. I wish that the other NP rangers would lighten up and realize that they are just doing their job and we are just doing ours. Here's the story: Our jump was at first light, the Black has a new climbing ranger, he saw the permit filed for backcountry access, got his binoculars out and saw us coming up the SOB gully with packs on. There had been alot of activity in the Canyon while the park was closed this Winter/Spring and one group of jumpers even left a tyrolian traverse across the river, they were not impressed with this apparent lack of respect for the canyon, leave no trace and all. Someone else filled out a backcountry permit while the park was closed and put Jack Meoff as the permit holder and wrote at the bottom NPS sucks. They blamed jumpers for this, the jumpers who left the tyrolean said they wouldn't do this, so this sounds like a coincidence that jumpers got blamed for, I sure hope so. Anyway, I was first up the gully and saw the NPS truck parked at the top of the trailhead on the road. I hid my stashbag in the trees and came up the trail like it was no big deal. When he saw me, he started to back the truck up and tried to hide behind some bushes. I knew then that he wanted to talk to me. I continued up to him like it was no big deal, I was just out for an early morning hike. He was a younger guy and I said "wow" I can't believe those guys climb those walls. He said, yeah, what else? I said, "yup", not wanting to say any more than I had to. He said, with a knowing smile, "where's your pack that you were hiking up the gulley with?" I knew at this point it was hopeless to argue and would only make matters worse if I tried to lie. There's one way out of the canyon and one road into and out of the park. I knew that I had to produce a pack and the only one I could produce had a parachute in it. I told him that we had jumped and how about letting us go? He said that was up to his superior who was on the way. Bummer. Three more Rangers showed up and there was one younger guy who seemed to be taking the whole thing personally and really wanted me to have an atitude so he could pull his pistol and shoot me, at least in the leg so I couldn't get away. There was a girl Ranger with him who was totally cool and not upset at all. She defused the whole situation with her cool attitude. Then the head Ranger showed up and he was totally cool too. They seemed to really appreciate the fact that I just told the truth and wasn't trying to make up a big story that they wouldn't have believed anyway, due to the climbing ranger seeing three of us coming up the gulley with packs. The head Ranger was completely professional and had about 40 jumps in the Army. We joked around a bit and asked him what he thought about what Abe Lincoln had said, "The Truth shall set you free"? He said, not this time. Marta and Jay showed up with their stash bags, I had called them on the radio, letting them know just to bring their packs up, we were seen with them coming up the gullley. The head ranger wrote up the tickets and said to appear in Grand Junction on the date that would be assigned to us via mail. Now this is the cool part: He let us keep our cameras, helmets, shin guards and wingsuits. All he wanted was insurance that we would show up in court. He wasn't trying to be "The Man and keep us down" and all that. So yeah, we did it and although it shouldn't be illegal, for now it is, so we will show up in court and hopefully the judge will hug us and say that of course it shouldn't be illegal, you are citizens of this country and these parks are yours to enjoy. "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" is one of the most famous phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence. It is listed as one of the "unalienable rights" of man and woman. Jimmy

Our server is down. They have monkeys banging wrenches on it now. Should be fixed in no time. JP

Try to get Tom to invite us over to his house for dinner! JP

Just in case you haven't heard... Apex BASE is now accepting applications for 2 back to back trips to the falls FOR EXPERIENCED BASE JUMPERS WITH AT LEAST 50 JUMPS. For dates and more information, go to www.apexbase.com Thanks! Jimmy P

Just to make this public, I have sent an email to Maggot as well. I thought that my comments on the accidents at the TB would be a small part of a large article, not the main point of the article. It did not help that Robin interviewed me on the second night after spending two days recovering Jerry's canopy. I was pissed and I admit it. I shouldn't have let the steam of the moment come through in my interview. Both Maggot and Marty have made awesome donations to cover the recovery and to bulk up Apex's medical and rescue supplies which hopefully will not be used by anyone, but are there for anyone who needs them. I didn't even want Maggot's name mentioned, but it is too late now. Overall, it frightens me with the overall attitude of alot of the younger jumpers, like maybe BASE isn't as dangerous as it truly is. We have seen so much shit(anyone who's been in the sport for any amount of time) and I guess my feelings about it all flooded out in this interview. As a direct result of the FIVE wallstrikes that happened in November in Moab, two of which required search and rescue, not including the strikes during the boogie. The locals are like, what is going on? We are taking at least a year off from the Turkey Boogie, and this makes me upset as well. Anyway, I really like Jerry and I didn't want the article to come out sounding the way it did, but at the same time, IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP or lose what we have. Jimmy P

"I'd say that Jimmy has probably taught more BASE students than anyone else on earth." Thanks for the props Tom, but considering that my wife taught me to BASE jump and was teaching people for 10 years prior to my starting, I'd have to give that honor to her or one of the other "pioneers". We both love to teach and hopefully that comes through in the way we teach our courses. Thanks Yuri, tavarisch. jp

Indian Cave No traffic, no spectators, fun technical climbing section, relatively short turnaround time, our dog Lua waits for us by the windsock(so she gets to enjoy the day also), severely overhung, sandy landing area, nice view, kinda low(280 to the landing area) so you get that groundrush as you exit. What more could you ask for? That is a rhetorical question. JP

I would prefer to not bring in outside help to train ourselves as that will end up just costing everyone. I have already gotten some interest from very qualified volunteers to give instruction. Anyone else interested in instructing (not attending as a student at this point) please contact me at [email protected] It looks like a go, we just have to decide on a date and I'll post it on this forum as well as our website. Once again, this course will cover wall rescue and trauma assessment. Could someone send me Brian C's(dude's) email? JP

First of all Chad, You went above and beyond the call of duty at the boogie and we want to thank you. This is not the first time that you have gone out of your way to help an injured jumper. You are officially invited to any events/boogies/trips that we have in the future. You never really get to know a person until you are running side by side up a 500 foot talus. Your idea is something that I would very much like to do. Not a boogie or during a boogie, but a full on rope rescue/first responder event. Are you volunteering your EMT services? Anyone reading this, please email me at [email protected] and let me know what you can offer towards the goal of trauma assessment or wall rescue. I am thinking out here in Spring, any suggestions? I love the idea of not charging for this event. JP