lifewithoutanet

Happy B-day, Matt. You out partying w/ Kelly? -C.

Never knew him, but one that I read and love is: "Put on your gear and die like a man!" -C.

Ghet velll soooon, Faber-son. -C.

Different mothers, same howler-monkey father. Happy birthday, boys. -C.

CONGRATUFUCKINGLATIONS, Ray and Kristy. -C.

Truly a shame. Walt When you need to explain the importance of preserving the purity and beauty of nature to so much of the population because they can't understand it for themselves, it truly is a shame. -C.

That's one unvented canopy from one manufacturer vs. another vented canopy from another manufacturer...and quite a bit fewer jumps on the latter than the former. I would expect some differences between the wings. I get what you're saying here and in theory, it makes sense, but I'm not sure it's that simple in terms of vents providing greater surface area yielding a faster, harder opening. I'm not convinced that the pressurization through vents and crossports will have a measurable effect on presenting more of the bottomskin of the canopy in the way you describe. Hopefully some of the aforementioned wing designers can/will weigh in. -C.

Welcome back to The World, Hecker. Keep working on whatever you have to, no matter how tedious or bullshit-ridden to get back in the seat, back jumping, back flying. Hope to see you soon. Cheers, -C.

Agreed, but that option had already been mentioned. I was just proposing an alternative that might not have been so obvious. -C.

I've thought about this before, but didn't think there was enough of an issue to merit making one for BASE, but maybe this will help. Attached is a pic of a paraglider reserve handle. It's a coated wire inside a big-grab handle, each end of the wire threaded through closing loops on the reserve container. This sort of design might provide you w/ a velcro-less system of keeping the toggle on the riser (or rather, since the tension on the brake setting should accomplish that, keeping the toggle controlled/in-place on the riser). Of course, these loops require tension (provided by the packed reserve, in this case). You might be able to move the two loops closer together on the riser and still have the security you're looking for. Just a thought. -C.

Heartfelt condolences to jumper, family and friends. Fly free, -C.

Oh, it's caressed and flaked just fine at the exit, I just fuck it up as I step off. Those few you saw were the reasons you won't see me doing them off anything solid for a long time to come. -C.

If it's the one I'm thinking about, it's the visuals just before and during the second exit on that same jump that really make it spectacular. -C.

Comic books... Yeah, that Sun Tzu writes one bitchin' strip. One day maybe he'll break out and get into the anime scene. Think he's up to it? Specifically, on the 'battle/war' quote, I was paraphrasing a Vietnemese General who, at the signing of the Paris Peace Accords was confronted by an American general who said: "You know, we beat you in every major battle." The Vietnemese general responded: "That is true, but it is also immaterial." It's an analogy, as out of context w/ BASE as your comparison to the OJ Simpson Trial, but applicable if you consider a single court case to be a "victory". And I don't see you offering pro bono representation. I'm not criticizing anyone who would take a different path from what these guys chose to do. I think under the circumstances, they did the rest of us a service, and may have made their chances a little better when they do go to court. Not everything requires a lawyer and some things would go well enough without one. Fight it like it's a crime and yeah, they just might treat you like a criminal. -C.

It's not that simple. Cops know, are trained and most often expect to deal w/ this. Would you rather go the route they expect or throw them a curve and attempt to gain the upper-hand on the situation on your own? I'm not saying there's absolutely one way to go. I'm saying that if you think you have to fight the system every step of the way, you might win the battle, but you'll lose the war. -C.

A jumper was busted in a city (not far from this park) and that jumper was charged heavily. The DAs wanted no part of any plea-bargain and were unwilling to lighten the sentence. They had what they needed (they thought) to convict this jumper and proceeded on w/ prosecution. In the end, they lost. All good, right? In response, they decided they would not let this happen again and as a result, that city is one of a few that has it's own "aerial delivery" laws, making BASE jumping (I think even mere parachuting) within city limits a crime. Had Jimmy, Marta and Jay put up a fight, they might have gotten away w/ it, but that might have put MORE heat on this site and turned what were otherwise professional and courteous officials into someone w/ a bit more of a hard-on for us. I'm just saying, choose your battles. Not all of them need to be fought. I still say BRAV-FUCKING-O, Jimmy. Good job. -C.

Way to make the best of a bad situation, Jimmy. Props to the three of you for taking the high road. That will help to cast us all in a better light, if only as one instance in one park. Sounds like you still got your rigs confiscated, but very cool that you kept the rest of your kit. Hopefully you'll get them back, but if not, Jay was travelling with good company when he lost his. I believe mere possession of a rig on park land is grounds for confiscation (right, wrong or indifferent), provided they 'know' a jump has occurred. Is that correct? Thought it happened to a couple of Moab locals on the fringe of Arches who had jumped outside the park, but crossed through it w/ unpacked rigs on their hike out. -C. Editted to make more sense.

Check here for general info/links and here for more specific info. -C.

Well done. "Picture perfect", eh? Where's the pic? -C.

This weekend was what BASE is all about. It was an adventure from start to finish with phenomenal effort by all involved. You put the hours, miles, and lack of sleep into it that we did, all for a couple of seconds each. And there's not a doubt that it's all worth it. Congrats, Russel and everybody else involved. -C.

I was familiar w/ the concept, but had to look up a couple details that I was unclear on. -C.

Bollucks. Here's one of the ways I'll remember you... I'm in Phoenix on a Friday, wrapping up a sales call at a healthcare provider. After seeing a presentation, the CIO asks me if I can come back on Mon and give the same spiel to a couple of her direct-reports. I'm on my way to Twin right after this meeting and between rides from a couple of Colorado guys to and from SLC, I don't know if I'll be able to make it back on time. I figure it'll work itself out. She asks, "Can you do this? Is it too short notice, can you make it work?" Before I can answer, my sales rep blurts out, "Don't worry about this guy. Making it back here for a meeting is the least of his worries. He's headed out to parachute off some bridge all weekend." She turns to me, "So, you're a BASE jumper..." and begins to tell me about some of her exploits in skydiving in Southern California 'when she was younger' and that she 'knew a few guys who were into that back in the day'. I think I'll rattle off a couple of names and say, "So, you might know...Nick D..." And she interrupts "DiGiovani".

It sounds like a cool enough idea, but I'd be a little wary about a panel coming unattached--partially or totally--and inducing off-headings or a mal because of uneven pressurization. Of course, your intent is for terminal objects with proper separation, so a simple off-heading might not matter that much. The other influences it could have are my point. -C.

I've been trying to stay out of the fray and kept a few conversations to PMs in an effort to keep things civil and avoid arguments, but you know...Jaap's right, so I'm just going to jump on this bandwagon. And anyone out there can call me a Tom-lover or a Jaap-lover or whateverthefuck else. The fact is, I've gotten to know Tom over the past year and a half and he's always acted in the best spirit of BASE. The accusations that he would go to any law enforcement or authority is preposterous and if anyone wants to continue with that, put up w/ some proof or shut the fuck up. Say whatever you want about the CSI Huck 'em Off thing, but the fact is that in confronting CSI about Miles' course Tom 1.) didn't act alone and 2.) made his efforts to curtail that course known UPFRONT, before going to CSI. Back to your whole skiBASE event, If somebody did rat you guys out, well, that's just plain dispicable and I have a serious lack of respect for any jumper that would do such a thing. It's contradictory to the Spirit of BASE and downright unacceptable. But have you considered that you reap what you sow? Aside from the occasional good-natured jab I don't see very many people taking shots at or taunting you guys as relentlessly as you go after Tom or anyone who happens to be friends with him. And inevitably, just because we're friends with Tom we "must be wearing blinders" and "blindly follow what we read on the boards". What does that say about the rest of you? Have you met the guy? Formed your own opinion or are you just swallowing someone else's? Fuck, I don't care if we don't all get along, but the bullshit Internet drama of this place is sickening. BASE jumping has some of the greatest people in the world? Like anything else, it's got its fair share of assholes, too. It would seem that most of us don't see it necessary to continuously point that out to everyone else, just becuase we (or maybe one of our friends) disagrees with them. Remember when BASE was about BASE? Neither do I...and I think it's been several hundred BASE jumpers since anybody could. Fuck it. -C.

Mind linking that article? Or scanning and posting it if it's not online? -C.