JaapSuter

Mweh, I've had my fair share of interesting situations. I've handled them pretty well. Definitely not heroic, but nothing to be ashamed of either. But what the fuck, we're talking about a guy who is tired after climbing a ladder, not somebody who got kidnapped by some guerilla group for six months to get sodomized every day. My post didn't include the fact that this guy has a strong history. As far as I know, the locals have given him plenty of opportunity to receive advice and mentoring. But again, what the fuck. The history doesn't matter. The guy PCAd his rig off an antenna (that's pretty silly) and then decided to leave it there for a week before he picked it up! That's not silly, that's borderline criminally retarded.

But you must admit, it's one of the funniest threads in a long time.

This made me laugh out loud, in a depressing kind of way. I hope people will forgive me from copying it from the original source, but I have to share the laugh... Followed shortly by... If Dali, Tarantino and Palahniuk would write a book on BASE, it still wouldn't be as fucked up as the story above. Well done!

Hey, somebody recently sold a used rig to somebody in British Columbia, Canada. I believe it came from California, but I could be wrong. If you did, please drop me a PM. Thanks, Jaap Suter

Are you referring to the insurance fees that would cover such an event, or to the actual cost? If you mean the latter, do you have any idea what an air ambulance ride actually costs? What is important here, is whether or not I fully compensate the public for any debts I incur as a result of a medevac trip. Whether I pay for that out-of-pocket (i.e. self-insurance) or through a purchased insurance plan is entirely irrelevant to the town. Generally, most people don't have BASE specific insurance. That means they are relying on their regular health insurance to cover them for BASE accidents. This insurance is based on a mean behavior derived from a large group of people, only 0.00001% of which BASE jumps, and relying on the statistical behavior that at any given time there are more people that don't need insurance than there are people that do. Insurance is paying a fee to handle the risk, not a definite outcome. Now many of the non-BASE jumpers may very well be smoking, driving race-cars, climbing, eating fat food, or participating in other activities potentially harmful for one's health, it doesn't matter; BASE jumpers have higher risk of ending up using an above average amount from the accumulated insurance-pot. As a test, just call several random insurance companies and ask them if they cover BASE jumping or not, and if so; if it costs more than average. Now you may very well know that already. In fact, I hope so. I am only bringing this up because I've found that many people are just relying on their regular insurance without properly inquiring into what is covered, and possibly using cover-stories (fell with my skateboard) to get refunds for their health costs. By doing so, those people are cheating the system and using more money than they strictly speaking deserve. (And again, you can bring up the smokers, the obese, the lazy, and whatever. It doesn't counter the point, it just provides another example of it.) No longer directed at you, but at all readers of this post; if you are just relying on your regular health benefits and haven't looked into BASE specifics, I encourage you to do so. It only takes one significant accident with a few operations and a long stay in the hospital to extract more money from the system than you would put in during your entire life. Denying that you're at higher risk of having such an accident as a BASE jumper is whoefully ignorant. Saying that insurance companies are greedy bastards that make enough money already doesn't do much good either; you're more than welcome to start your own insurance company that covers BASE. You'd be surprised how high the fees would have to be. Yes, this is quite obvious to anybody. But that's hindsight reasoning. It's very easy to say: "I'm about to die unless I pay somebody 60 grand right now." Of course you'd find the money somewhere. It's a lot harder to say: "I'm about to leap off this bridge, I'm a little fuzzy on the insurance details. I don't think I have 60 grand lying around, so I'll just hope that my jump goes okay and that I won't get hurt. If I do, I'll just hope that my insurance covers me, otherwise I'd surely go bankrupt...." I've met many people that'll say: "...ah, fuck it. We'll worry about that when it comes." Next thing you know, they're hurt at the bottom of the canyon and more than willing to go bankrupt just to stay alive. I guess my point was; many people don't put in any effort to understand how insurance companies actually work. If they did, they would pick up the phone and sort out their BASE specific situation. Surely they'd gladly pay for an air ambulance ride if they're about to die, but it's a moot point when one can spend a few minutes up front and sort it out properly.

Are you referring to the insurance fees that would cover such an event, or to the actual cost? If you mean the latter, do you have any idea what an air ambulance ride actually costs?

HydroGuy hit it spot on. We should all use rigs with L-bars from now on... Seriously though, I'm struggling to find problems with the article. I think it's well written and doesn't fall for the cliche BASE traps. The biggest problem is that measuring the true cost that BASE jumping impinges onto Twin Falls is impossible. That means that any suggested charge (like the 10 dollars a day) will involve heavy debate, not in the least about where that money should go. The dropzonificaton of BASE, unavoidable? Remember folks, there's always something in your backyard.

Thursday night, August 3rd. Anybody? Not looking to jump, just grab a few pints or maybe do some GC. Please PM.

What's Abbie's address again?

Woah, she's a girl? Hey Jules, come to Vancouver! I'll throw you of our local objects and burn 'm to the ground. I even have a eight-cell umbrella you can borrow!

Awesome, I think I'll have to get a pair. Thanks Jimmy!

Wow Nick, very impressive. Definitely great work by Apex. Thanks for your post. Just curious, can you elaborate on how the original Vertigo WLO design fits into this picture. I guess that the Apex WLO 1 was an attempt at improving on the Vertigo WLOs? Also, can the Apex WLOs be used on slider-down jumps? Considering one incident happened on Memorial Day, I presume it was Perrine, so possibly slider-down. Thanks, Jaap Suter

Hi, I'm from Europe and I'm planning a BASE road trip through the United States soon. I have a few questions... 1) Do you guys have stores where you can buy, like, stuff? To eat and drink I mean. 2) What about toilet paper? Should I bring my own? 3) How are the roads? Should I rent a 4WD car, or will my bicycle be enough? 4) I may pop over the border and visit Mexico. Should I bring gloves? 5) I'm also thinking about stopping by in Canada, should I bring shorts? 6) Do I need any vaccinations? Thanks so much! Jaap Suter

Are those the same as the original Vertigo WLO toggles? Or did Apex come out with a new model? I've done two slider-up BASE jumps and at least fourty terminal skydives with my Vertigo WLO toggles, and they've never come lose by accident. This is what makes me think that you must have a different model than I have. On my WLO toggles the line clears as soon as I pull the ring. I've done this on purpose on many occasions. To Nick; can you elaborate on the underlying motivation for this free-of-charge replacement program? Typically, BASE manufacturers don't provide free upgrades if they come out with new models, unless there was something defective with the old models and it's a recall. I think it's a great gesture from Apex to offer replacements free of charge, but I've been quite happy with my original WLOs. Have there been reported accidental firings? Thanks, Jaap Suter

Perhaps, but with a cut-away you can swim deeper before you swim away.

http://www.basewiki.com/wiki/pmwiki.php/Gear/Helmets

Yeah, that's what I meant referring to the "more symmetric fabric loading". I suppose I could have explained that better. Part of me is imagining a pilotchute of which one spoke blows up. On a single-piece pilotchute, you'd probably generate enough drag still (albeit asymmetrically), whereas on a multi-piece pilotchute you now have a big hole across half your pilotchute, significantly reducing drag. Now I'm sure Asylum (or any other manufacturer that makes PCs this way) assures me that the seams just won't break, but in a sport where the working of a pilotchute is the difference between life and death, I'm not sure if I want to tinker with a proven design. That said, Asylum's QA has always been phenomenal so I ordered one and will see what it's like.

Does anybody have any opinions on pilotchutes where each pie slice is its own unique piece of ZP fabric? I'm aware that Asylum's Toxic also has the vents moved, something I can potentially see as an advantage. But I'm not convinced the advantages of more symmetric fabric loading are worth the introduced complexity of the extra seams. I ordered a Toxic to check it out, but I'm curious what other people think. Not just about the Toxic, but about pie-slice based PCs in general. Thanks, Jaap Suter

Ah, I get it now. Your original remark conveyed a recommended way of doing things, not a law of physics. I haven't done any aerials (nor do I intend to), so I don't know much about the best way to do them sub-terminal. Your explanation above makes sense though. The reason I asked is because I see many BASE aerialists hucking themselves of a bridge without proper gymnastic training. Some of those believe that initial rotational momentum defines the rest of their jump, which proper gymnasts know to be untrue. With proper training, you have a remarkable amount of control over your rotation in mid-air, even when subterminal. That said, stopping your rotation before pitching on a subterminal jump may indeed not be the best idea, as you pointed out. Yes. Thanks! Jaap Suter

I'm not sure if I understand this right, but stopping a rotation (flip, twist, spin) is one of the first things I learned in gymnastics.

As a 7-year game developer, I can only say; wow. That's incredble guys. I must admit you have come a lot further than I would have expected last December. That is some very impressive work. Looking forward to seeing a demo become available. You guys have a publisher yet? Drop me a PM if you don't. Jaap

Uh? Is this my irony detector failing?

Which ones? On my Rockdragon (bought a year and a half back) the tabs above the B line-group were off. I think Zennie had a similar problem.

If I carry 12 pounds, you must be carrying a truckload. How many jumps have you done since February, my friend? Tosser...