base736

Absolutely. Compare two people: Person 1 walks into a wall at a brisk walking pace of 2 m/s, his head slowing to zero in a matter of millimeters; person 2 is slowed to a stop from 150 km/h (41 m/s) over a foot or two. Assuming constant acceleration, they will experience comparable accelerations, on the order of a few hundred g's. The first will feel it for milliseconds. The second will feel it for tens of milliseconds. My experience has been that being person 1 is a lot more fun than being person 2. Edit to add: Equations, for those who care: a = v^2 / 2d t = 2d / v

It's not a real sewing machine unless you can hear the flywheel come up to speed when you hit "on", and keeping your fingers out of the way is a survival skill. Bonus points if it has a sticker prominently displayed that says "Always wear safety glasses."

And just to be extra-helpful, don't push too much with your legs either. You'll feel like you should get yourself belly-to-earth as soon as possible, but 2-3 seconds is a LONG time, and if you're rotating much you'll be head-low by the time you pitch. If you exit thinking "I'm going to be at 45 degrees by the time I pitch", you'll probably do fine.

You're sure it's not just photos by sabredave that you love? I have a theory that the guy could shoot [insert event here] and it'd end up looking like the sweetest [insert event here] ever. 'Course, it never hurts to have my pretty face in the shot.

Psh... And you call yourself a BASE jumper?

Not at all like sunburn. That's exactly the point.

... And because of the short repack cycle, the riggers who made those first mistakes will have more opportunities to make a similar mistake on another rig, which might otherwise have been functional. The argument still holds. If 1% of reserve packjobs result in some critical error, then it doesn't matter whether they're repacked once a year or once a day -- 1% of skydiving rigs will have such an error packed in.

The studies that I've read indicate that damage from RF radiation (such as this) is limited to tissue heating and is usually temporary. Near a typical radio transmitter, this might mean temporary sterility, and apparently warming of the eyeballs is noticeable early on. More power gets you into nausea / vomiting territory, then temporary blindness. As to the particular power of this transmitter, you'll need to find somebody who's actually been on one, since the intensity of the radiation depends sensitively on the distance from the transmitting element and how the radiation is distributed. There is, according to what I've read, no conclusive evidence that RF radiation causes, for instance, cancer.

I'm not necessarily a fan of the requirement that skydiving rigs be TSO'd, and I'm certainly not a fan of the related issue of mandatory AADs. But I'm not sold on the idea that skydiving rigs would be lightyears beyond where they are without the TSO either. Take a look at the rig above. It's a nice-looking BASE rig (congratulations -- looking forward to hearing about the first jump). In fact, it looks in most respects a lot like other BASE rigs. I'd wager that it works even more like them -- that the canopy is hooked to the harness using the same hardware, that the packjob is similar... Clearly it has leg straps and even a chest strap. No major innovation even without a TSO. Why? Because these things work. BASE rigs didn't evolve like crazy in the 80's and 90's because they were unencumbered by a TSO. They evolved quickly because they were new technology. Now they're not (much like skydiving gear is not), and accordingly they evolve more slowly.

I'd bet (hope) that this was tongue-in-cheek. Still, maybe you can help me out here... If the NPS gets frustrated with the impotence of laws that clearly apply to BASE jumpers, and starts sticking them with delivery by air, that's evil. If BASE jumpers got frustrated with the impotence of laws that prohibit locking folks in a compound, and started harassing people for stuff they didn't do, that would be ____.

He already has!

An unvented canopy will stall before it sinks straight down. You don't want to be playing in that territory on opening. A vented canopy, on the other hand, will behave in a more-or-less friendly manner even when it's sinking straight down. If your assumption is that, since the canopy isn't behaving oddly, it'll turn on a dime, you're mistaken in the second case. The difference in your response to a 180 (for example) is an important one. Speaking from experience. ... Doesn't mean such a brake setting is bad, but you need to be aware of the difference.

Ouch.

Not just "still", but perhaps "increasingly", since the gear is getting better and better. On a jump from what was once my local 600' E, I'd usually be thinking hard about the 180, about pilot chute hesitation... Jumping from the Potato Bridge or any of the Big Cliffs, people push their limits a little more. They suck their track down another tenth of a second. They exit skipping. They exit on their back. They try for more jumps in a day. They take a shot at a waterfall jump. These people aren't generally being stupid -- that is, the risk is not usually grossly out of line -- but maybe they're behaving 250% as dangerously on a jump which still has 50% as much the objective hazard. It's enough.

I'm a pretty skinny guy, and I climb *real* slow. It follows that the average heavy guy must climb much faster. QED.

Beautiful!

Enjoy! http://www.xrez.com/gallery/yosemite/xRez_yose.html

If I could offer up a refinement on that... Body weight in fat does little to protect a person in the event of a hard landing, adds the stress of extra mass to muscles and bones absorbing the impact, and in the case of severe injury hinders surgeons trying to get to the important stuff. I had surgeons and nurses comment on that last one following my only major injury. On the other hand, muscular body weight helps absorb impacts not only in the obvious way, but also in that the tissue itself absorbs direct impacts before that energy can get to bones and internal organs. Even a skinny bastard like me can put on enough muscle to make a difference. Lastly, I've come to see physical fitness as sort of an insurance policy. The fitter you are before an eventful landing, the fitter you'll be immediately after. Maybe that means you fail to break anything. Maybe that means you live.

Also very nice...

I posted only because I find this backhanded shit-flinging more than a little tiresome. I respect you and consider you a friend, but you don't make the world a better place by being catty.

... To which I think the best reply has already been posted:

As Dave says, I've done all of my camera stuff with high-quality stereo audio. I've had a lot of success with a pair of DSM-6S/M's baffled by Micro-Cats. I've gone without a filter generally. Take a listen to the links he's given -- the first one in particular -- with a pair of headphones on.

Yeah. Gay references are for retards.

Yes. This is why I haven't ridden my motorcycle since the accident, and won't be snowboarding this season. I'm definitely giving this one time. It's one thing to re-break a leg by using it too early and think, "Man, I'm such a tool." It's a different game entirely with the spine. Doctor's advice (which I'm taking very seriously) is that the fusion should take ~8 months to finish up. I'm giving it a little longer than that, and am hoping to have a CT done before I get back into jumping. Thanks to everybody for the quick and thorough responses!

Six months after an accident this summer, I'm feeling 100% -- and in some respects, better than that -- and, allowing another few months for things to set firmly before I abuse them again, I expect to be making my first jumps back early next year. Following my accident, I had five vertebrae fused in my thoracic spine, and had hardware installed there (screws and rods) that I don't expect I'll be looking to get removed. I figure somebody -- probably several somebodies -- out there must have experience with similar injuries and hardware. Any recommendations, cautionary tales, etc? I can run, jump, and so on without discomfort -- as I say, I'm feeling 100% -- and have no significant reduction in range of motion, but thought I'd put this out there. Clearly I'd rather not re-injure this one. Looking forward to getting back in the air...