BASE841

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Everything posted by BASE841

  1. Sorry, Zebra Tit shut down due to security concerns. You'll have to fly into Albuquerque's Sunport. I've flown into and out of it a bunch of times. Easy parking and fast, convenient car rentals. Let us know when you're coming in, and I bet we'll find someone to pick you up and show you around. Us New Mexicans can be a hospitable bunch. We even have a few jumpable objects, if your tastes run to the dark side Hope to see you out here!
  2. Never did any illegal drugs, never smoked pot, never smoked anything (hate that sh!t around me.) A few years ago, I got royally pissed when Time magazine announced that anyone in my age group (boomers) who claims to have never smoked pot is lying. Just shows how out of touch the editorial writer was (the slimy SOB, mutter mutter...) While they're not for me, I think illegal drugs are hyped dangerous way more than they are actually dangerous. For the short time I was a cop with the Air Force, I responded to lots of drunks getting violent. I've never even heard of a pothead getting violent. We learned only part of the lesson Prohibition taught us, and we're wasting billions on eradicating something that as far as I can tell is no more harmful than tobacco or alcohol. Ah, but this is turning into something for the Speaker's Corner!
  3. Good on ya! So when do you get B, S and E?
  4. I jumped a few times at a club in central Illinois. One of the pilots would not tolerate anyone touching his seat... at all. I forgot this as I climbed out and used his seat to help me out of the plane. As I left the door, I saw something whip past my shoulder. The SOB took a swipe at me as I left his plane! At our DZ, we have some outstanding, even legendary pilots. One has more than a hundred combat missions over extremely hostile enemy territory, and has been a jump pilot since before I was born (and I'm no spring chicken.) He gives pretty good spots, but beware asking for a correction on jump run. He'll snap the plane over so hard it'll slam the door down on the unwary JM. I've learned to take the spot he gives me and like it.
  5. I did, by accident. It happened during a Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws. We never did get along, and I was feeling the tension. Since I had just picked up a demo canopy from Precision (my first ZP) I begged off the rest of dinner, citing my need to hook it to my rig as an excuse to get away. Note to self: don't rig while upset. Yes, I did a 4-line check, but still screwed it up. The next day over Anderson IN, I did a hop & pop and felt a seriously strange opening. I looked up and took a few seconds to see the problem... my brake lines ran to the FRONT of the canopy! I thought about it for a few minutes as I played with the Interceptor, then decided that I could control it just fine and chose to land it. The flare was a little funky and I did my planned PLF. I landed a little out, not because I couldn't steer but because I was embarrassed.
  6. One more of angelic Skysprite with a demon (me) closing fast.
  7. ...and this is what Skysprite looked like moments before I landed on her back (I was dressed like a demon, thought I'd let that part of me rule for a moment!)
  8. I have a Kaw ZX-10, not too good for hauling gear, but it's what I have, so I make it work. What I did was put my gear into a large Cordura zip bag I bought at the BX. It's bare bones and only weather resistant, but it kept my gear centered on the bike and not on my back. I put it on my passenger seat crosswise and on its side, so it fits between me and my backrest (a big help toting stuff.) DO NOT use bungy cords! They won't hold your heavy and expensive gear securely enough. Instead use non-strechy tie-down straps. You can cinch them down and they won't let your gear wiggle free on the highway. Also, try to get more than two secure points on your bike to fix the straps. That'll keep your load from rotating. I use the frame and the rear peg mount on each side, plus the backrest mount, giving me 5 points. If you have a tank bag, you can put some of your stuff in there, moving weight and bulk a little more forward. I put my log book, altis, goggles and other various stuff in my helmet and the helmet in my tank bag, leaving the big bag for my rig. A rule of thumb is keep the weight forward and low. Especially keep weight forward of the rear axle. If you'll be moving jump gear a lot, investigate Givi hard bags, or soft bags especially for sport bikes. But what really worked best for me was asking the DZO for a place to put a large plastic lockable tub. That's where my gear is right now. Good luck mixing the two sports. It's worked for me.
  9. BASE841

    Age survey...

    I'm closing in on 47 next month, started BASE when I was 36.
  10. The "Potato" exit count caught me once in 1980 at Perris. I was rear float and was gone by "Two Potato." I didn't hear the rest of that funky count until I got back on the ground after a solo jump (spent entirely in a reverse arch) and asked, "Just what the f#ck was that count!?"
  11. Nearly 80 by the test. Funny, they never asked me how often I pull low (never but by my def. of low pull )
  12. The logo on my Icarus Omega began peeling within dozens of jumps... I worried that I was packing it improperly. When I sent it back to Precision to replace a broken brake line (long story there) I asked to have the logo removed. It still flies fine without it.
  13. Karen, The rescue was a joint effort. Alex's brother and sister and I headed to the gorge under cover of darkness. We stopped at the Taos Wal-Mart (can you believe there is such a thing?) and picked up a 2 million candlepower portable light for an "eye in the sky." We stopped on the bridge, hopped out of my Aztek and shown the light down to the river and rocks 600 feet below. Chris spotted the canopy immediately, Kara found it moments later. I never did see anything but water and rocks. Chris and I carried our gear under the bridge and fixed anchors about halfway down, just where the gorge gets vertical. I hoped the last 50 feet were a fairly gentle slope, because I had 200' and Chris had 60, leaving us a little short, and we still couldn't see clearly to the river. I went first (age before beauty) and we slid down without a problem. Chris attatched his rope to the end of mine and I headed down again... to a ledge 50' above the river and nothing but overhung rock. Sh!t. I ascended up to Chris. We discussed our options and decided to have Kara scramble to our anchor and remove my 60' rope that was serving as our backup anchor. She untied it, clipped it to our rope and slid it down. I tossed it into my stash bag and rappelled down again. Something about this rope you should know. It's not really climbing rope, but Air Force surplus 1/2" kermantle from 1988. I don't know why I still keep it, just sentimental I guess. But it's not something you'd want to trust your life to... and that's just what I was doing. I attached a 1" piece of webbing as a backup if it snapped where I joined it to the REAL climbing rope, climbed down as far as I could, then gingerly put my weight on it. Geez, this was scarier than any BASE jump I've ever done, even with modified skydiving gear. At least I had a reasonable faith in my gear then. I tried to strike a balance between stressing the rope and spending time on it, and made it to the gorge bottom safely. I unhooked, called up to Chris that I was off the rope and fought through the bushes to the place where the others saw the canopy. Yup, right where their young eyes saw it, along with his stash bag and helmet. Alex's Flik was half inflated with the water, the bridle pulled tight and the PC straining from the current. I waded in, scrambled around the submerged rocks and tried to collect the canopy. After a few minutes, Chris joined me in the water. We spent 30 minutes in the Rio Grande, trying to free the canopy and risers, finally dragging it onto the rocks that you could call a shore. We caught our breath as the canopy drained. Chris said, "glad we don't have any cotton on us, huh?" I agreed, then remembered I snagged a sturdy pair of cotton pants, anticipating thorn bushes. Damn. And I was wearing a thick turtleneck as my top layer. Cotton, of course. Hell, I thought, the climb up will keep me warm. We decided to climb out instead of ascending the rope, following the alleged "trail" that was supposed to be just a little upstream. Long story short, we made it, with the help of Kara's light guiding our way, making it out of the gorge by almost 2am. I was seriously chilled, but made good use of Alex's sleeping bag on the drive back to the hospital. Security was dubious about visiting someone in ICU at 3:30am, but when I explained we had news for the "bridge jumping guy," he immediately understood and let us in. Alex seemed relieved knowing his gear was back in good hands. He's a good kid, but looks like he has a long road to recovery ahead of him. At least he was getting along well with his nurses. I made it back home by 6am, just in time to wake up my wife for her work. I snuck in two hours of sleep, claiming my ZX-10 wouldn't start. Kara and Chris had planned on seeing their folks off at the airport later in the morning, then would drive back home to Colorado. I'm glad I had a chance to help. I would have rather met these fine folks under better circumstances, though.
  14. Update: Alex is doing as well as you can expect; in good spirits and getting the medical attention he needs. Early this morning, he was talking about getting transfered to Denver soon. His family has been with him through most of the ordeal. His brother Chris and I pulled his gear out of the gorge early this morning. Can't tell what nearly three days in the water did to his Flik, but I'm sure his gear bag and Pro Tec are still usable. And I discovered why the National Guard UH-60 couldn't take him directly to the hospital. Seems they aren't authorized to transport civilians, not having a trauma nurse or MD on board. Fortunately, pulling 'em out of a canyon is OK.
  15. http://www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?RECORD_KEY[News]=ID&ID%5BNews%5D=8893 Here's the text: "A 21-year-old Colorado man suffered serious leg injuries after his parachute opened late when he jumped off the XXX bridge on US XX west of XXXX. "Robert Walking of Crested Butte, Colorado, jumped off the bridge about 6:30 a.m. yesterday. The man's parachute didn't open until he was near the Gorge floor. "The bridge is some 650 feet above the Rio XXXXXX. "Search and rescue teams had to be sent out to look for Walking. "New Mexico State Police Lieutenant Jimmy Glascock says a New Mexico National Guard helicopter eventually pulled the man out of the gorge. "He says Walking was taken to Santa Fe's St. Vincent Hospital. "The man's injuries are not life-threatening." The young man has big ones. I've thought about jumping that particular site, but the landing area is royaly worse than a particularly gnarly span I could mention. I called the NM National Guard rescue folks, the 717th Air Ambulance. They tell me he broke at least one leg on landing. It took a couple of hours for the request to make it through channels to the 717th. When the Guard UH-60 made it to the site, they couldn't land in the gorge, so they lowered a pair of medics on their hoist, strapped the jumper in and lifted him out. For some reason, he wasn't medivaced out directly, but instead transfered to a Life Flight chopper that was waiting on the highway. I tried to contact him or his brother at the hospital to send them some good wishes, but since this made the media, he's considered a privacy patient. Hope he's doing well, under the circumstances.
  16. 1. Whats your name? David 2. How old are you? 47 soon and darned proud I survived this long 3. Why did you decide to start jumping out of airplanes? I was raised on my dad's Airborne stories and TV's "Ripcord," so I've wanted to jump since I was in diapers. 4. Are you single or taken? Married? Married, hopefully for the last time. 5. Do you have kids? Two, and the oldest wants to jump on his 18th birthday. I hope to be his JM/I. 6. What do you drive? 1989 Kaw XZ-10. Yeah, the new ones go faster, but I'm happy with 155 mph. 7. Have you ever done a kisspass? Yes, both sexes... but no tongue with the guys. 8. Where do you live? New Mexico 9. Do you have any pets? A neurotic Greyhound/Cattledog 10. How many jumps do you have? About 700, but the weekend isn't here yet. 11. What color eyes do you have? Hazel 12. What is your nationality? ah-MUR-kin, by God. Oh, Norwegian/German. 13. Have you ever dated someone you met off the internet? Once. Don't have to, now (see #4.) 14. Favorite Movie? Fight Club, Saving Private Ryan, Radix... I have a big collection and love 'em all. 15. What do you do when you aren't skydiving? Ride bikes (motor & pedal) serve in the National Guard, BASE jump, camp, hike & climb. 16. Have you ever BASE jumped? Oh yeah. 17. If not... do you want to? This evening, possibly! 18. Do you have siblings? 1 sister, a probation officer (deep irony with #16.) 19. Where do you want to travel to the most? Norway. 20. What's your favorite color? Chocolate Chip Desert Camo. 21. Where was the last place you flew to ( not skydiving )? Does riding down a deserted desert highway at 155 mph count as flying?
  17. Anyone heading to the legal cliffs in southeastern Utah this weekend? If so, leave a message here, or e-mail me at [email protected]
  18. BASE841

    Older Pickys . . .

    Hey, Nick, These photos have some technical problems that I can fix with Photoshop. Would you like me to color balance these shots for you?
  19. BASE841

    Line Twists

    I've only had line twists on one BASE jump. I had taken a 7-second delay off a pretty big tower, so I was quite a ways away when I opened with 1 1/2 twists, and the canopy was pointing pretty much straight back at the tower. I knew I had a few moments, so I pulled and kicked out of them in plenty of time. My two boys were with me. My oldest was watching from the top and didn't notice a significant delay in my turning away from the tower. But my youngest was operating the elevator from the bottom and saw the line twists. From his (alarmed) perspective, it took me way too long to correct the problem. But he also said I had only moved about halfway back from my opening point before I got my canopy under control, so it wasn't too dangerous, just scary. Don't know if this helps, since I wasn't near collision. Since then, I've wondered what to do if I was closer and still in twists. I'm looking forward to reading other's experiences and thoughts.
  20. I thought this "twisting in the wind" sounded familiar... The day after Christmas was my 10-year anniversary in BASE. Conditions were pretty sweet here in the high desert, so I trekked to a fairly nearby TV tower to celebrate. I brought my dog Jesse as ground crew. No, she can't help too much if things go wrong, but she does love to chase people flying canopies. The tower was getting some work done, and they left the gate open. Jesse curled at the bottom, waiting for the crack of my canopy to alert her that there's a new target flying. The sun had already dropped below the horizon, and I took my time climbing. By the time I was above 500', the moon was about a hand-width over the mountains, giving the wide-open spaces a pearly tint. I had passed some gnarly antennas sticking right where I wanted to fall, so I made sure I would take a delay to geddt past them. The wind was light (my hocker fell at about a 30 degree angle) but right down the wire to my left. Hmmm. Are the winds light enough for that to not matter? I stood on the steel, considering it for a few minutes. And I'm ashamed to admit that I considered the special day in the mix, rather than looking at the entire situation dispassionately. (Yeah, that's called 'foreshadowing.') I looked at my position, confirmed the delay I'd need to open past the wires and the antennas (I figured I'd be best with 3 seconds, the max with my pack job,) climbed out and jumped. Sweet exit, out at a 45 degree angle, good push-off. But as I was getting to "thousand-two," I started to rotate into the wind, to my right! I could see the steel out of the corner of my eye, rushing past me. I twisted to my left, but I still rotated towards the tower. I pitched, and kept turning, falling another two seconds as my canopy deployed. WHACK, good canopy, on-heading, but the heading was almost straight at the tower! I was already on my risers and pulled hard on my left rear riser. Too late, my right cell struck the steel. Before the canopy could collapse completely, it tore free. I fell for a moment, then my six remaining cells motored me away. I stayed on my left rear riser to counteract the right turn, coasted over the power lines that fed the transmitter , and did a righteous PLF. As I pulled off my gear and started stuffing it into my stash bag, Jesse ran up, possibly excited by all the new things she saw me do under canopy. As i walked back to my car, I noticed I didn't get away unscathed. I had a bruise and a slight abrasion on my right arm, from (I think) hitting the tower. Lessons learned: A. the wind really does turn me in freefall, and B. I could be a little less tolerant of sketchy conditions. Too bad I decided not to shoot video of this jump. Thrilling visuals that no one would want to experience in real life!
  21. Heck, the ride wasn't that bad. I had perfect weather and the best scenery I could imagine. A little Tylenol can go a long way to ease the aching bones. Hey, I owe a big debt of gratitude to the fine folks who caried my busted carcass out of there and drove me to the ER. Anyone involved, please e-mail me (BASE841@hotmail) so I can send you a copy of the finished video product. And saying "thank-you" is inadequate for Bobby, the retired TF native who considers herself our surrogate mom. Boy, she went above and beyond the call with me. She escorted me to the ER, took me in to her own home, and made sure I stuck to the doctor's orders... kept me on my back with my leg iced and elevated for 4 days, housed me, fed me, and was the most gracious host I could imagine! If you stop by the visitor's center on a Sunday when she works there, you can meet her and shake the hand of an angel.
  22. I'm the dumb@ss who broke his fibula Sunday evening. As soon as I opened and looked up to see my brakelines fluttering in the wind, I knew what I did wrong... stopped in the middle of my last pack job and forgot to stow my brakes. But even more than that, the underlying mistake I made was trying to do an 850-mile motorcycle ride (on a sportbike for God's sake!) then immediately bang out a few jumps. Even though I just celebrated my 46th year on this planet, I thought I could still push myself that far. Heck, I used to be able to do that kind of hard-@ss stuff! But no, I learned the hard way that I get fatigued sooner than when I was but a young pup. For me, the winds were a little high, but still inside my comfort range. While I was on the bridge, a still, small voice tried to tell me not to jump. Too bad I didn't listen. Lemming syndrome? Nope. I've walked off/down obects a dozen times before when the voice called to me. But this time, I was too exhausted to listen. Fatigue inhibited my judgment when I thought I saw I was too far from the river for a water landing. Video review at the ER showed I could have easily made the river. Moral of the story for me... go easier, don't try to push through fatigue, cuz that's when my judgment goes out the window. I'll find out tomorrow when I can jump again, but the ER doc told me to expect another 3 weeks in the cast. Fortunately, I'm in pretty good shape, so my leg muscles won't deteriorate too fast. Plus, I have some killer video of the landing! Check with Jimmy if you want to see the finished product. I just learned I'll soon head to the big sandbox and probably won't be able to show it to my fellow jumpers for 565 days. The fun part was trying to ride the Kawasaki back home. I made it safely, with my right leg strapped to the side of the bike.
  23. Two other memories of the Paradactyl; I was told but never witnessed that the Dac was TSO'ed as a reserve. Larry Yohn was my source, as he considered a small RW rig with a pair of Paradactyls. As far as I know, he never made the rig. The other was watching a BASE jumper take a double-keel Paradactyl off the New River Gorge Bridge about 10 years ago. It opened and flew just fine.
  24. My first rig was a red & white Hanbury with a Piglet II round reserve and a color-matched Paradactyl main. I bought it in 1980 from the gear store at Perris, only 3 years old. Most DZs at the time had restrictions on who could jump a ram air. I chose the Dac because it performed almost as well as a square and packed TINY... and no one had a rule against it. Plus, I learned to fly a Dac from my Instructor at Perris, Larry "Peg Leg" Yohn, RIP. Once I did a cross country at "Parachutes Are Fun" on Maryland's eastern shore, exited over the Bay Bridge and made it all the way back to Ridgely. I discovered my single keel Paradactyl would fly with the wind as fast as a Cloud but wouldn't penetrate any better than a round... go figure. Out east, few people had ever seen a triangular Rogallo wing. When I jumped at a new DZ, my wife would love to listen to the people watching from the ground. "Ooh, that's a hairy line-over. Isn't he going to cut it? Oh my GOD he's going to try to LAND that thing!" I only had a single malfunction, and I caused it. I wanted a snappier opening, so I detached the slider. I only snapped one suspension line on a HARD opening and still landed it stand-up! Ah, angels do look out for fools, huh? Yes, I put the slider back on after that. I traded my Paradactyl five years ago to George Galloway of Precision for a hefty discount on my new Irarus Omega. I would have kept it, but it had so many jumps on it, the material was as porous as cheesecloth and I was getting some pounding landings.