LukeH

If you are looking for someone to tell you, yes you can do it and you will be fine, that is unlikely to happen. But even if someone did say that, it won't be much use to you when you are head down and sliding towards the cliff. You and mixing up two different issues here, BASE jumps with long freefalls V short freefalls and WS v Non-WS. There are so many variables on each jump, I don't think you can say that a jump is safer because it is a long freefall or a short freefall. I think you can say that a BASE jump without a WS is less complicated than one with a WS. BASE is a very different animal to skydiving. Just because you have lots of WS skydives doesn't mean you should complicate your early BASE jumps with a WS. If you are dead set on high jumps and traveling, maybe you should look into getting PF tracking Pants & Jacket, it will give you a good degree of WS like drive without the complications. Once you are competent with that - think about moving to your Classic. C-ya

Just 'cause your sister makes more money than you doesn't mean you should be bad mouthing her!

wow! the response to this post has been amazing. within minutes there were PMs offering gear. the good news is - we appear to have located canopies from locals, one of which we didn't know existed! thanks to all of those that offered gear, advice on where to get gear and good vibes. c-ya

hey guys, due to circumstances beyond the control of the manufacturer, two good friends of mine will be stranded in Norway sans canopy. the canopies were ordered a long time ago but a combination of staff injuries and fabric supply problems means that despite the manufacturers best efforts they will not be ready for these guys to take to Norway. we need a 260 between July 16 and July 30 a 300 between July 25 and Aug 2 time off work and non-refundable flights are booked. you can imagine how these guys feel. i know it's a lot to ask and a long shot, but we are desperate!! can anyone that will be in Norway around this time bring a spare canopy? can anyone help!? i’m sure some sort of security and payment can be arranged. thanks...

hello, i have just ordered a Optik Illusion, and got a friend that is a metal worked make me an aluminium box. apparently the BoneHead boxes won't take cameras that don't have a flush battery!? (mine is a PC101). the only other box i liked was the cookie composite box and it is too damn expensive. so anyway, i now have to mount the box on the side of the helmet, and was wondering if there was anywhere i can pick up those little threaded plates with the teeth that dig into the inside of the helmet, the ones that mount fairly flush and don't need to be held in place when adjusting the angle of the box... any other mounting tips much appreciated. TIA

yup, about 5.5 480 / 16 = 30 square root of 30 is ~ 5.5 NOTE: (this doesn't take into account air resistance and assumes you start off fairly close to the ground)

Care to start a new thread and tall us all about flat spins? ah go on... go on go on go on ...

another gray area.... if you exit from a balloon or a chopper at a low altitude with a base rig, is it a base jump? if yes, then at what altitude does it cease to become a base jump? technically they aren't fixed objects, unless the balloon is tethered of course. so i call 'em skydives.

Assuming you are experienced enough to start flying a wingsuit, a GTi is not a bad suit to start with. I've seen people that started with a more advanced suit, e.g. S3 and even after a fair number of jumps they can't fly it as well as someone on a GTi after a similar number of jumps. I bough a GTi for my first suit, and even after 130 jumps on it I'm happy with the performance I get from it. All of that said, for similar performance, a lower cost, and superior (in my opinion) design you should take a look at the Prodigy wing suit by PF. http://www.phoenix-fly.com/products/wingsuit_Prodigy.htm It is designed by the same guy that designed the GTi, but it's much more user friendly and will probably be easier to sell if you want to upgrade later (because the sizing is less critical). C-ya

edit: Let's try to keep this discussion theoretical, and away from real objects, please. Thanks! ~TA

You can tie yourself up in knots trying to classify an object. At the end of the day - does it matter that much? I tend to think of things that aren't clearly one of the 4 object types as an "Other" rather than try to force it into a category. Examples: Power tower, dam, crane, ferris wheel, roller coaster, smoke stack etc... You could argue some similarity between a crane and an A but what if the crane is on a building? You are really stretching by calling a Dam a building or a span, but call it what you like. C-ya

no worries. you can get "Windows Media Encoder 9 Series" for free from the Microsoft web-site. this gives you loads of options for encoding files. c-ya

Holy fuck, nice bit of ground rush right before you opened. clip plays very choppy, seems to be from when you encoded it. any chance you can encode it again using variable bit rate and 2 passes? c-ya

I'll take off my sarcastic hat for a minute. I'm not interested in a brand bashing match either. I own two suits from different manufacturers and like them both I think it's great to see the proliferation of WS designs and manufacturers. There are many opinions on which design is best for different purposes and which is better built. If asked for my opinion i'll give it but i have no interest is trying to argue that one is better than the other. I don't see anything wrong with an individual poking a little fun. It's not like I'm a manufacturer making a dig at another manufacturer in a publication. C-ya

So you're saying the latest BM tech. is really a dated Robi experiment What was it i heard about about imitation recently...

The pouches these guys are talking about are on the hip area on the wingsuit. (S3 or V1). The leg strap of the container is inside the suit. here is a picture V1 Pouch BTW: The new PF web-site is amazing, check it out http://www.phoenix-fly.com

you just don't get it do you?!! you have to rave about MACs to make yourself look cool and more knowledgeable that the poor WinTel crowd! why else would people use over priced proprietary hardware? surely it's not because they just look pretty? i vote for WMV or DIVX...

I have no trouble believing it opens much quicker than a freefall. I was referring to a PCA.

hey, yes i recall that the lines are stowed on the bag not in the tail pocket. i was suggesting a velcro flap to allow the canopy to be put in the bag with minimal distortion, which seemed to be the concern. having never used a d-bag i don't know how difficult it is to put the canopy in there without messing up your lovely pack job. i'm still not convinced that it will make that much difference in opening altitude. can anyone who has done a bunch of D-bag jumps comment on how much sooner you have a fully flying canopy if everything else is equal?

Why not make the D-Bag with a Velcro flap on the top? Then you can put it in the bag the same way you would put it in a Velcro container. What are you jumping that you want to use a D-Bag instead of a PCA or static line? Regarding your Q about how low you can go with a D-Bag..... I would have though that other aspects of your setup and type of landing area are more important for how low you can go. E.G. canopy vented or not, water landing, bone density, etc.

The bridle length doesn't vary for PCs. It varies for wingsuit Vs non-wingsuit. Even that depends on the suit and PC pouch being used. 9' will be fine for all of those PCs when NOT using a WS. C-ya

Hi Robi, Thanks again. Yes it's crystal clear. Can't wait to get my hands on my Prodigy. C-ya

Hi Johnny, Yes you are right, I missed that part, it says: "ZP pilot chutes, the size depends on your canopy, between 34” – 38”" Canopy is a Troll 245. (It does not have MDV) So I'm going to stick with a 36" ZP Apex Vented, with light external handle.

Hi Robi, Thanks for your reply. I had seen the article you pointed to, and it is very informative. However it doesn't comment on bridle length and just recommends a PC 34" - 38" (it doesn't mention vents, but I recall a previous post by you recommending vented PCs). Should I conclude from this that a standard bridle is ok, and that PC size should be between 34" and 38" in proportion to WS size? Or is the PC size influenced by another factor or just personal preference? Thanks - Luke

Hi, I hope to get in to WS BASE in Norway this summer. I've read of various types of PC and bridles being used, and am not sure which to go for. I will be using a Gargoyle with dynamic corners and a PF Prodigy or BirdMan GTi wingsuit. I've heard of bridles 9' 11' and 13' and PC's ranging from 32" Apex Vented to 38" Apex Vented, 36" F111 etc. My Initial thoughts were a 36" AV on a standard 9' bridle. But i'm interested in what the experienced WS BASE jumpers views are. If WS BASE requires a longer bridle - say 11ft, is there a downside to using this for non-WS jumps too? For the minimal cost should I have both? Finally, for the advanced suits (S3 and V1) would you increase the PC size and bridle lenght even more? Thanks !