wwarped

while Tom might have a different opinion, let me take a shot at it... at the risk of annoying NickDG, let's look at skydiving. people get all pumped and excited, and attack the sport. they buy all kinds of gear. spend loads on training. but what happens? most leave after a few years. USPA always cites statistics that the average jumper has only been in the sport a few years. thus, anyone who has been in the sport 10 years is a major statistical anomaly. one definition of learning is "a change in behavior resulting from experience." the same folks will tell you learning requires "time and opportunity." jumpers who leave the sport after a few years do not have the "time and opportunity" to collect lot of experiences from which to learn. how does this apply to BASE? many attack it with blind enthusiasm. a long "apprentice" phase under a mentor used to burn off this enthusiasm... not anymore. statsistically, most jumpers are probably relatively new to the sport. ask any of them, and they will claim they understand the risks. (and maybe they do.) it's just that everyone says that before suffering an ugly learning experience. heck, that's what I would have said. then I had teachers die. I was there when a friend lost a limb. I've also participated in several "rescues" of injured jumpers. I have seen jumpers hide how some injuries occur to protect family, jobs, etc. after a handful of these rather unglamorous experiences, I realized I really DID NOT understand the risks... there is a huge difference between imagining and experiencing... sad. folks like Tom A., and Tom B., work hard to educate newbies to help prevent more pain. please keep in mind, the longer someone has been in this sport, the longer they have suffered. it's a ying/yang thing. don't merely focus on the cool stuff. talk to a mother who has lost a son. talk to a daughter who has lost a father. notice people with permanent limps. they have as much to offer as a video. ah, so true... and impatience shortens the cycle. I'd rather see it broken! (but I'll settle on seeing it extended...) DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

Carl Boenish DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

oy vey! the issue is NOT the gear, and it is NOT the object. (even if gear can always be improved...) the issue is understanding the BASE environment, zero airspeed exits, wind patterns, possible turbulence, situational awareness, personal abilities, etc. any added equipment that enhances tracking acts like a lever. the user can greatly increase their ability, or greatly increase their risk. DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

so who reads this forum? - jumpers - jumper wannabes - jumpers' family and friends - officials investigating permitting/banning BASE if people in the last 2 groups find your humor lacking, will it help the BASE community? does your short term entertainment cost the community in the long term? do you even care? DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

by "phenomena," I meant watching snow swirling in a blizzard, or how a low cloud moves around a building. both permit people to directly view turbulence. watch these wind patterns, and you might question how they will take your "PC out of perpendicularity." if you choose to jump in such conditions, you can only react to how the turbulence affects you. you can not be proactive. so, why jump? I think we are saying much of the same thing, just in different ways... I hope this helps answer the original question. DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

I disagree. Turbs are very predictable. There are loads of books on this. They are probaly the most predictable. take care, space anyone watching the phenomena I mentioned can predict when and where turbulence may occur. (many books can help.) predicting how such turbulence will affect a canopy is not so simple... DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

Hey Mac just a question here but who are you to say that I don't make decent decisions? Just because I'm new to BASE? You don't know much about me or my abilities to make such a statement. remember: "The individual is always the exception. 'Everybody can't...' but anybody can." - Richard Bach i.e. Mac may be correct in general, but wrong in regards to you. DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

remember, turbulence is unpredictable. you can get a feel for it by watching water flowing over rocks, or snow falling in a blizzard. clouds passing over an object can also provide a clue. keep you eyes open and watch! (every object is different.) DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

this is called "secondary" insurance in the US. most additional insurance plans have a clause saying which is primary. for example, if you purchase the add-on insurance with a car rental, will it pay first or will your private insurance? if someone hits you, the other driver's insurance should pay first, but yours should pay if necessary... DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

define "better?" stronger? easier to manufacture? what problems do you wish to overcome? real, or imagined? remember, "the white string" has been used for decades. if there was a serious issue, surely it would have been corrected by now. DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

ever consider that the experienced jumpers are trying to SLOW down the newer jumpers? possibly because it's "some dumbass thing that I've done?" or "some dumbass thing that I've witnessed?" why view it as simply an US vs THEM thing? DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

well, where's the video? (if there's no video, it didn't happen!) sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

eyeballing? is that a model of laser rangefinder? (I didn't find anything on a google search...) can you take a picture of it and post it? it would be a huge help! DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

apologies. my comments were based on the original posts. several discussed having seen and spoken to the jumpers. those posts indicated that there would be no eyewitness reports posted here... I later was corrected to point out that cultural differences/language barriers may have created confusion. I feel for all those who knew him. I hate that another jumper will be added to the list. unfortuneately his knowledge, skill, experience, and likability may not matter if Swiss jumpers must fight to keep their valley open... DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

The word research, that I quoted from LukeH's post, in this case would mean to find out everything about this site to be geeky... it is virtually impossible to "find out everything about this site." it would entail setting up a multi-year research project in the valley, weather observation posts, etc. obviously, the research should be to collect enough information. few new jumpers with whom I have spoken seem to understand the vast amount of information that should be considered. heck, one 10 jump wonder hucked his buddy off a ~230ft bridge at BD. it was the friend's first jump! the only research that interests some is identifying the location. sad. unfortunately, publicity and online videos simplify this meager data collection. *** As for the evasive behavior of the 2 "experienced" jumpers, 1.) "experienced", Has that been confirmed? Were they actually experienced? 2.) I am not so sure if they really KNEW that they were cutting corners. Perhaps you are right and they did, but in my experience with Eastern Europeans I know now that they behave/talk/react in ways that might sound like 'evasive' to you, but in fact isn't. valid point. DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

research? like finding cool looking jumps on the internet and then trying to mimic them? that kind of research? the evasive behavior of the 2 "experienced" jumpers would indicate they KNEW they were cutting corners. it's sad that people repeat these mistakes. it lends credibility to Darwin... DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

quick question for those who prefer to carry on rigs: it's understandable NOT to want a BASE trip derailed by a rig arriving a few days late. what about the return trip when you are heading back to work? do you still insist on carrying on? DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

I disagree. you seem to forget the second half of the action/reaction cycle... high profile publicity -> quick growth -> many new, unprepared jumpers -> high profile injuries/deaths -> attempts to curb jumping in the end, jumping should be for yourself. to satisfy an internal need. I believe by jumping in a low profile manner, we slow down the action/reaction cycle. making videos available to the public, record attempts, etc. raises the BASE profile and speeds up the action/reaction cycle. the higher we raise BASE's profile, the harder we must work to keep sites open. DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

so, are you the one in the suit? err, maybe I don't want to know.... DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

check it. why carry my rig(s) around between connections? why worry about my rig(s) when using an airport toilet...? I remember killing a few hours in London. I was tempted to catch the tube into town. it would never have been an option if lugging rig(s). DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

I'll second that. I've seen some scary ugly being jumped in the name of CRW. but those rigs aren't taken to freefall! DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

Roger Nelson started training AFF using BOC pc's. he modified the spandex pouch to be attached only along one side. the other two used a "zipper" configuration (similiar to wingsuits). he mounted that handle on the left. either JM could thus initiate deployment. video showed the spandex jumping out of the way. I do not know if Skydive Chicago still uses this configuration. it would permit a jumper to pull left handed, but needs airspeed to function. there might be a way to tweak it to achieve your goal. DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

rounds also have another advantage: they can be landed by novices and the unconsious. (this is again related to skydiving, not BASE...) rounds remain a solid life saving piece of equipment. bail-out rigs, ejection seats, etc. continue to use them. DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

BASE & boogies. we have lots of bad history. to many jumpers get amped and jump beyond their abilities, all for that "look at me video." DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse

per Tom's photo/video analysis: so the top skin of the pc appeared restricted. the bottom skin mesh was not. the people on the bottom might have seen the mesh, and assumed the pc was NOT restricted. being friends, they might have seen what they want to see... p.s. Tom, thanks for the review. I wish it had not been necessary. you have had to perform way too many this year. I hope next year will be better! DON'T PANIC The lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. sloppy habits -> sloppy jumps -> injury or worse