JaapSuter

Seems like a good idea. I'll have to borrow a digital camera, but I'll throw 'm up on BASE WIKI when I get them and let you know. Thanks, Jaap

You should post some pictures of your girlfriend. Then we can decide if you should come visit us. If we like her, you can go make some BASE jumps while we entertain her...

I fly faster and fall slower. It's definitely noticable. I'm flying the same as I did without the mods, but that was already with the wider leg approach. I also fly palms facing up, wingsuit style.

I didn't know Tom Manship very well, but from what I do know I don't think he would ever belief such a thing. Why? Because he was smart and friendly enough to realize there is no one true spirit to the sport. Perhaps publicity didn't jell well with the particular spirit he was looking for in the sport, but he didn't seem the type of guy that would making sweeping generalizations. We all jump for our own reasons, and some like numbers more than others. Don't forget that publicity and numbers can be a good thing too, in that it provides inspiration to people. If the US had kept the moon landing a secret or all Olympic sprinters would only run secretely in a hidden basement, we'd still be earthbound and slow. Anyway, Tom and Miles had more in common than you think. At the edge they probably both jump(ed) for the sheer fun of it all.

That is one hundred percent bad ass and very creative. Now make it bigger so I can strap that cardboard box on my back...

Ah come on, where's your sense of adventure? He specifically said... 60 feet won't kill you even if you tried, unless you're really skilled. I've jumped as high as 84 feet without canopy and while I don't recommend it per se, it's doable.

Why not? We need more scientists in this sport!

Hooray. That's the best decision you've made in your BASE career so far. One day I hope to get to your level... Great job!

Haha; at the rate I was going head low on that E, it should be you guys that won't jump with me anymore. Come to think of it, when we we did go back to that O for the second time, you only wanted to groundcrew for me. What's going on guys, are you saying I'm a deadly BASE jumper? Hey, what else is new?

Certainly you should be doing that. There are people I have jumped with once or twice, but have decided to stop jumping with. These days I ask for references, and try to figure out through talking to the person himself what kind of jumper he is. Furthermore, even if you do decide to jump with somebody, you can still tune what object you jump with them. I've had visitors in town that I gladly took of our local S, but wouldn't take of our local E for a million bucks. Actually, I would for a million...

Hey, nice one. I like it!

Coming home from work last night and walking up an escalator, I had an interesting revelation. If you're walking up (not down) on an escalator that is moving up, the key to touching as many steps as possible, is to spend the least amount of time on it. That's sort of paradoxical.

Physically impossible man! All well trained BASE jumpers know you can't do more than 666 jumps in a year. Sheesh...

Yeah, we've already discussed this after driving back from a jump a few months back. I couldn't quite understand what his reasoning was, but in the end we just agreed to disagree. I mean, I'll be the last to tell another BASE jumper what's best for his safety...

I was talking hypothetically...

Is this the same buddy that says he'll never make a BASE jump because it's too dangerous? It always surprises me how skewed some people's perception of risk is and how little thought they actually put into these things. It used to piss me of. Nowadays I just shrug...

I didn't know Tom very well either, but I was very impressed when he remembered my name the second time I ran into him, five months after taking my first FJC. He came up to me, shook my hand and talked to me as one of the BASE jumpers instead of treating me like a beginner intruding the scene. We never talked too much, but nonetheless I owe Tom a lot. When people ask me about BASE jumping, I often told them about this 58 year old guy I knew that wakes up at five AM every day and does three jumps and hikes before others even wake up. It contributed to a different image of BASE than what most people think initially. And for that, I thank you Tom... ...for the fact that you were the great and friendly 58 year old guy that woke up at five AM every day and did three jumps and hikes before others even woke up. Fly...

Was that the "NOS Jeugd Journaal" Ronald? I tried watching the last few editions online but couldn't find it. Thanks, Jaap

Resisting the urge, resisting the urge...

Hey, Might spend a night in San Fran, any locals around with some time to show me around? Thanks, Jaap

I made them. I started with two simple shoelaces...

Hey, the guys in the Virtus movie seem to be holding some sort of sleeve-wideners in their Phoenix jackets. You can spot it around 7 minutes and 10 seconds into the movie. Any ideas what these are? I'm already jumping the Phoenix combo with both tensioners along the inside of my pants (cue funny comment here) and from thumb to thumb through my sleeves. I could probably come up with something like what the people in Virtus use, but I might as well learn from their lessons. I'd love to hear about other mods that people have made. Thanks, Jaap

Can't; gotta duck behind a 3 feet tall concrete divider to hide from passing cars. And that's all I have to say about that...

Not that wet? I nearly drowned while gearing up in that bicycle lane that looked like a river...

I made my first post to these forums in November of 2004. A little over a year later we are about to enter 2006 and here I am; writing post number thousand. With an average of two and a half posts per day, it' a sad and depressing statistic. Nonetheless one that I want to commemorate with this special post. So for everybody's enjoyment, here's my list of advice to future and fellow BASE forum post-whores that occasionally make a jump as well... Write Better If you want to improve your odds of surviving your BASE career, I urge you to improve your writing. English is my second language so I can't claim to posses any writing skills in it. However, my efforts to write well have been a great advantage on every BASE jump. Those that write better than I do will agree. Many others will mock me and remain skeptical. A select few will give it a shot and buy Strunk and White's Elements of Style. One of you is going to approach me within the next few years and tell me that Strunk and White saved your life. I can't explain why in a Hunter S. Thompson kind of way, but I'm dead serious. Read More, Write Less In a twist of the famous "Jump More, Post Less" and the similar "Listen More, Talk Less", I recommend reading more in the coming year. If writing improves your jumping than reading improves conversations at the edge, with your inner voice as well as your peers. If you've ever wondered how leaping over the edge makes the world a better place, I suggest picking up a few books. Our sport is not always as selfish as we think. I won't make any specific book recommendations, but feel free to PM me if you need a list. Jump Around Sleeping around is generally frowned upon. Jumping around, however, is something I can't recommend highly enough. You'll learn more from jumping with different people than you'll ever learn from a single extremely experienced jumper. So leave your local scene and go travel. Call your neighbours and huck their objects. You may not have the money to tour the world but you should be able to visit all scenes in an eight hour radius. Not only will you become a better and safer jumper, you'll also make friends and live adventures you can't even begin to imagine. I'm adamant to having grandchildren some day so I can tell tem what a crazy fucker their grandfather used to be. Obviously BASE will be popular and safe by then, but I'll be talking about the good old days when the sport was still romantic. Maybe I'll pursuade them to pick up shark fucking, which will be the big thing by then. Open a new Object Stop jump-whoring your existing objects and put some effort into scouting and exploring. Take the risks. Get up in the middle of the night and check out the security and street patterns of a great B, A or O. Make a jump plan, discuss it with other jumpers and then go huck it. If you've never opened up an object before; if feels like twenty best BASE jumps rolled together in a single orgasm. Actually, that still doesn't come close to how it feels to safely land and get away from something that nobody has ever jumped before. BASE is not just about taking your parachutes from fixed objects. It's about going where no man has gone before. While the sport had more pioneers twenty years ago than it has today, you can still be the Neil Armstrong in your city by opening up something fresh and exciting. It'll be one small step for the BASE community, but a giant leap for you. Roll the Dice Stop playing it safe. Don't sweat the small stuff and pay attention to the big stuff. You can microreef the crap out of your canopy and only jump in zero winds, but inevitably you're going to get that offheading and you'd better be ready. If you want to be safe jumper; make sure you attach a bridle between your canopy and the pilot chute. Beyond that, make sure that every now and then you do a jump that scares the living crap out of you. There's always some dice rolling in every jump so you might as well be honest about it. Retire Early and Be Realistic Quit the sport before you hurt yourself or your friends. There are more things in life that are equally if not more beautiful than BASE jumping than there are things that suck more. So don't hesitate to leave. Quit forever or take a break. Just because you're not jumping doesn't mean you lost the spirit... Of course if you proudly proclaim to retire forever, make sure you actually really do so; unlike that dumb fuck that said he was going to stop posting and then actually didn't. Ignore Jaap Fuck, I can't even belief you read this far. I should probably mention that I only have 78 jumps, and have no right to give an sort of advice. I do like to brag -like I'm going to do right now- that I have fifteen objects, five of which I opened myself, but nonetheless I'm really just a pathetic loser that ought to spend more time jumping, instead of sounding like he knows what he's talking about. Because I don't. Never have, never will... Well, that about sums it up. It's pissing rain here and there's an 14 mph wind coming from the east. I'm about to head out and make my end-of-year jump, followed by plenty of beers. I've got better plans for new year's eve already. Happy new year to you all. I hope we'll make many safe and enjoyable jumps from new and old objects. Let's try and avoid the number 2006 from appearing on the BASE fatality list.