lifewithoutanet

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    BASE Jumping
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    Wing Suit Flying

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  1. Not just the new airport manager at KLMO. Neighboring airports have sent out similar messages. No one likes a pain in the ass and it appears her pain in the assness is spreading. http://files.ctctcdn.com/da41ffa3101/703e71bc-6188-4477-ad4d-ad2299c1bbe9.pdf
  2. Just called the congressman's office and spoke to a very nice woman who answered the phone. I informed her of my displeasure in his alignment with this group and my commitment to donate considerable sums of money to any opponent who challenges him in the next election. I cited interference with general aviation and interstate commerce among other things. Here's his number. Jared Polis (202) 225-2161
  3. Canopy skills: Excellent. I feel Sonic is fully qualified to teach those where skydiving is concerned. Object avoidance drills out of a plane...incomplete. There's a method to determining whether or not you actually got it turned around in time that you can't cover without reference-able objects. It's habit-forming/muscle memory, so that's a good foundation, but it's not complete. Site evaluation: What can you really know about site evaluation from 11 jumps off 2 objects? This is part of the reason you ground crew with local jumpers. In my mind, this should be left to a true BASE FJC or the *qualified* local jumpers that are willing to mentor. Lack of experience in this respect makes me worry that it will also be quite simplistic in the lessons. Packing: Well, he certainly knows how to pack. How well can he answer questions about various packing methods? Why one jumper wraps the tail and another buries the tail in the center of the packjob with A/B (sometimes even C) reduction folds on top of the centercell of the tail? Is he going to teach multiple methods of packing? Can he answer why some jumpers use one over another? Anything beyond a basic packjob and what I wrote above is suspect to me. In my conversation with Sonic, I heard far too many "it's not that hard" statements. You know what, a PCA in and of itself probably isn't. But BASE is complex. The sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. Sonic says he places an importance on getting a mentor after his course. I asked that he place an importance on getting a *QUALIFIED* mentor after the course. That is, now that you have "BASE gear", don't go running off to that other new jumper on the DZ with 11 jumps and ask him to take you off a local object. Oh...wait, why not go to the guy with 11 jumps if you were just taught by someone with 11 jumps? Beyond that request, he had little concern over whether or not they do. And yeah, you can't protect stupid people from themselves. He's' got Miles and he'll guide them to him, but he should really be clear with his students that he's giving them an incomplete BASE gear course in a skydiving environment and that his course does not make them ready for a BASE jump. DSE, in your interview, he thought Twin and Moab had only been legal for a few years. Not picking on Sonic, here, but how much else does he not know? How many and what questions will he take a stab at, thinking he knows the answer, when a student asks? And again, his repeated "it's not that hard" statements leave me to believe he has a very simplistic approach to BASE jumping. Look, the root of this for me keeps coming back to 11 jumps. Bill, you started teaching when you had 100 skydives. 9 times the amount of BASE jumps Sonic has. I don't know what arbitrary number would make him seem a bit more prepared to teach anything about BASE, but it sure as shit isn't 11 jumps. The fact that anyone can defend that as a good idea is fucking ridiculous. But, Sonic owns a gear shop, is the BMOC at The Ranch, so he must know what he's doing. In closing once more, "Why would you want to learn about BASE from someone with 11 BASE jumps?" There are far better, more qualified options. -C.
  4. I'm willing to teach a lot of things. Guess that makes me qualified. Thanks for sorting that out for me, Bill. -C.
  5. "That's not true for all of us" wasn't directed at having the money to do whatever we want. I was talking about budget in relation to cutting corners instead of investing the time (and sometimes money) to be better prepared. -C.
  6. Well, I talked to Sonic last night and actually, that [25 jump wonders] won't be the case...or at least he's requiring 100 skydives before you can purchase gear or take his course. (...Funny how the numbers seem to be coming lower and lower. I remember when it was 200, then 150...now a new standard is 100.) That's not true for all of us. Given your desires for a BSR around canopy downsizing, I'm kind of surprised you'd make this defense. "Making that many jumps on this big canopy before I can jump this small canopy is gonna be expensive" Can you actually defend that? How many of them started BASE businesses--especially teaching--when they had 11 BASE jumps? Look, I finally talked to Sonic last night. And as I said to him then and in a final Email this morning, my apologies for not talking to him first. I should've done that and when I realized it, I gave him a call. Still, the areas where I speculated and was wrong were not my major concerns. My core opinions on the matter remain unchanged in their foundation. I won't belabor the point and carry on with any more drivel. The fact of the matter is BASE remains unregulated, so I can just fuck-off with my opinions and you're free to do that which you want. The only thing I'll ask of any new, aspiring BASE jumper is this: Do you really want to learn about BASE from someone with 11 BASE jumps from 2 objects? -C.
  7. How about letting people be adults and have a discussion? I saw one personal attack. The other two were--I thought--relevant to the discussion. -C.
  8. And neither is this. When you're ready to contribute something of value or present another opinion on the matter, I'm all ears. -C.
  9. I posted the following over on basejumper.com and on BLiNC in response to an interview w/ Sonic. Figured I might as well add to this thread: Links: http://blincmagazine.com/forum/original-base-board/33235-baser-discussion.html http://www.basejumper.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=2902322#2902322 Post:
  10. Does Final Cut Express succinctly address the quality issues I'm encountering? Is it better w/ HD formats than iMovie? I don't believe that is the answer. Final Cut Express--as it has been explained to me by Apple--is more feature-rich and closer to the more professional tools. So, unless you can say that Final Cut Express will solve the problem and why, I'll stick w/ iMovie for now. -C.
  11. Thanks for the suggestion. However...I'm not so sure that's a factor, unless you changed your camera settings... 1920x1080 = 16:9 aspect ratio 1440x1080 = 4:3 aspect ratio Is it possible your camera was set on 4:3 instead of widescreen 16:9? I appreciate the suggestion, though. Gonna work with Apple tomorrow and show them what I'm running into. Will let you know how it turns out. -C.