BASE841

As opposed to Perris, CA. This is Dropzone.com, and I already know the fun things to do at PVP.

Waitaminnut, don't we do "CoB" in BASE? You mean I was SCAMMED out of all that beer!? Anyway, the only stuff legally available here is the non-A variety. Refreshing, but not quite fulfilling. I got my ground crew Starbucks instead.

Made my first two BASE jumps in the Magic Kingdom this weekend. (Weekends here are Thurs & Fri.) Perfect, on-heading openings from my Troll/Gargoyle. Case of Beverages owed for: first jump out of US, first jump on new gear, first jump from a freestander. Also PCAed another jumper on his first in 5 years. Aussie Phill is back in the air on my backup rig.

I have an 17-hour overnight layover in the City of Lights in a few weeks. If you were me, what would you do? I can sleep on the plane for the remainder of my trip, so don't let rest figure into the equation. Francophiles, give me your recommendations, svp.

PM sent.

In surprisingly un-sunny Saudi Arabia. I'm on a one-year tour here, but hopefully will get to do some jumping.

Bigun is right, that's tough to diagnose on-line, and an in-air video or coach is what you need. That said, I've seen a good number of my students start to turn at pull time. Usually, they get focused on the pull and forget to keep heading, usually looking down. Often these same student jumpers get tense and stiff at that time which leads to at least potato-chipping and often an unintentional turn. You might try taking a deep, relaxing breath and find a point on the horizon at pull time. That often works for my students.

As I understand, Steve was just shy of 50.

Here's a photo of Steve and his son, taken just after his son made a skydive, I think it was summer 2005. Also, just found out his family will have him cremated. Still no word on when they'll hold a service.

A long-time jumper and packer here at Skydive New Mexico has passed away. Steve died after a long illness last night. We'll miss him.

I've been a TI at three different drop zones. One treats tandem passengers like students and assumes they come to completely experience a skydive. After I introduce myself, I ask why they want to jump. I mostly hear some variation of "This is something I've always wanted to do." I train them how to exit, maintain an arch, check their altitude and pull at the right time. We give tandem students an audible altimeter, and that helps tremendously. And at the end of training, we tell the student that if they forget anything, we're right there to help. I have had only one student at this DZ really not want to pull. All of the others either wanted to pull or were worried that they may not pull. Note the huge difference between being worried that you may not be able to pull and not wanting to pull at all. At least 80% of my tandems at this DZ pull with little or no help finding the ripcord (I do often take their hand and guide it to the handle.) More than 95% at least try to find the ripcord. And every one of them knows that if they don't, I will. (I usually tell them that I have a seriously hot wife waiting for me after the day's jumping, and I'm strongly motivated to finish the jump safely.) This DZ has a significant return rate with tandem students coming back for further instruction, although it's still way lower than I would expect. But then again, I can't understand anyone not wanting to jump from a perfectly good airplane. So why do we have as good a return rate as we do? I think the feeling of accomplishment the students get after performing a skydive (with assistance) combined with the discount price on the SL first jump course after tandem are both major factors. To really find out, we'd need some serious market research, and the DZ does not have that kind of money to invest. Oh, and I have been burned by a student who pulled right after exit. Yes it sucks, but it still doesn't happen to me often enough for me to worry about giving a student the ripcord.

About 25 years ago, I was part of a 3-way at Elsinore. At break-off time, the three of us did the standard T-T-W-P. I watched the others track away, checked my altimeter, waved off and pitched. At line stretch, something barreled past me like a freight train, brushing my left arm and tearing the "N" off of my New Balance running shoe. A moment later, I saw a Paracommander pop open below and in front of me. Turns out a young man just off student status followed us out to watch. No, he didn't remember to tell us his plan. After watching us turn points, he saw us turn and track, then forgot what he was supposed to do. His decision, if he had the skills to do it, really wasn't such a bad idea. He thought that since we were all moving away from the center, he should track for the now empty center. Unfortunately, he couldn't stop his track, and he ended up flying almost directly over me at pull time. He got a strong lecture from both me and the staff at Elsinore, and was grounded for a while, giving him time to review basic safety procedures in skydiving. Bottom line, stay out of the lower jumper's air. There are several ways to do this, from proper exit order to giving an appropriate delay between groups. There are quite a few threads that address these issues. Hope this helped.

It was a Flik 266, gold with black, Multi and V-Tec packed in a matching gold and black Gargoyle. Flik #36302005, Gargoyle GT4N manufactured July 2003 #259. I had a nice conversation with Kathy today, and put in an order for the Gargoyle/Troll package with their new digital camo pattern and a few extras I didn't have on my previous Gargoyle. I'm sure my wife will suspect I managed to get my stuff stolen just so I would have a good excuse to upgrade my gear.

Yes, Tom. I'll post the serial numbers once I get home. I put the info on the stolen gear page, but it takes a little while for them to be posted.

Dammit, somebody stole my Flik266/Gargoyle from me last night. If anyone hears of a gold/black rig available, please let me know. I'd like to talk to the "seller." And yes, I've already called the police ("only for legal jumps, officer... ") and I've listed it in "stolen gear."

48 year old, started skydiving in 1979 (1100 skydives,) first BASE jump 1994 (150 BASE.)

New River Gorge, Bridge Day 1995, I think. Shot with a Canon EOS Rebel 35mm. Jen was a jumper from Napoleon Skydiving Center in Michigan and we did this 2-way off the bridge.

Looks like I'm heading to Saudi in about a month for at least a year. Does anyone know about sites in the Kingdom? I remember Dead Steve had a cliff strike there. Anyone know details of that E? I won't be doing any illegal jumps there, as my job is kinda sensitive, and I really don't want to find out their penalties the hard way. Please PM me with info. Thanks.

Tony, Glad you're ok, or as good as can be, considering the circumstances. And thanks for the "lessons learned." Can't wait til I hear the rest of the story! Too bad we won't get to jump before I leave the country in December (long story, PM me.) David

I'm at work right now and don't have time for an in-depth reply, but quickly: Faber and all, thanks for your views. Letting my son skydive and BASE jump was done with a LOT of thought and discussion, and not done lightly. I have taken some steps to keep it in control... only PCA from TF, and I hold onto the gear so he only jumps under my supervision. And I wouldn't even consider doing this unless Matthew impressed me with his maturity. (He's looking forward to doing the cliffs in Utah, but knows they are many jumps in the future.) As for judging maturity, I would never consider letting/helping his older brother (19) skydive, much less BASE jump. The two young men are VERY different. Helping Matthew skydive and BASE jump has been terrifying for me, but like one poster said, at some point your children will grow up and start their own lives. Instead of shielding my children from the world, I try to prepare them for it, based on their abilities and aptitudes. Matthew has impressed me with having the desire and aptitude for jumping. Is it too early? I don't think so; not for him, and not for TF PCA. For others? That depends on the individuals involved. I think rules of thumb (200 skydives, for example) are good guidelines. But despite (or maybe because of) my military experience, I don't think they should be followed blindly. For my oldest son (for example) I'd recommend more like 500 skydives under a variety of canopies with no injuries. I don't think he could do it.

Notice the floating handle in the Patricia Zoetveit video.

I can't imagine that a BASE logbook could be used as evidence in a court of law. It would be nothing but hearsay. I seem to remember one overenthusiastic prosecutor trying, handing it to an accused BASE jumper on the witness stand. The jumper explained that he just made all that stuff up, "to get laid." And how would you prove otherwise? The prosecutor didn't. Yeah, like a BASE jumper would ever get laid... As far as I'm concerned, a good reason to not take it with you on a less than legal jump would be the chance of losing it the man. I suppose a cop might try to use it to get laid.

As I understand it, there were two trips to the hospital Friday, one significantly more serious than the other, one on land and the other in water. Hope all are well.