JaapSuter

Don't have a percentage for you, but we experimented with break cord in a tensile tester and noticed it barely stretches and then just snaps suddenly. So whatever the percentage is, it's not going to be very high. Not sure if that's useful, but there you have it anyway...

If it's an illegal jump; less is more. Preferably only one person for groundcrew, and no more than two jumpers. The local jumpers here all agree and we don't give each other shit for not getting invited on a load. The organizer sets the rules. If you don't like it, organize your own loads. For legal jumps, the more the merrier. That is, I have no problems sharing the excitement of a jump. I won't go out and actively invite tons of people, but I've run into hikers at the exit point and happily agreed they could watch. As long as the jump isn't overly sketchy, I don't see harm in showing that we're just ordinary people with an extra-ordinary passion.

You mean this was not an April Fool's joke?

If you know how to pack a BASE canopy slider up into a BASE container, and your dropzone allows it (with or without a bellymount), I'd say use the BASE specific container.

Right on dude!

The second time it won't be new anymore. That doesn't mean it won't be fun anymore, but my first jumps of an object have been an order of magnitude more enjoyable than any other jumps.

BASE isn't going anywhere. Why rush? Savour the moments. You can only jump a new object once. edit for thread name ~TA

Yeah, that damn Tri Tip ruined my self-righteous life! Damn you Tom!

Welcome to BASE!

I won't disagree with you, but there is more to it than that. Don't forget the impact a BASE fatality can have. I don't mean on family and friends, because it's blatantly obvious any incident causes tremendous amounts of pain. Judgement belongs to family and friends in this case. The impact I am talking about is the impact to the sport and people's perception of it. I wouldn't be surprised if several UK jumpers have to go through more painful discussions with loved ones to explain why yet another BASE jumper has died. Have you told your parents you want to BASE jump Tenshi? Believe me, these are difficult conversations. The list of problems that can kill in BASE is long and not every item on the list is a checkbox. But those that are ought to be avoided at all cost. If I do some day die on a BASE jump, it'll be my fault and responsibility regardless of what caused it. But please, I hope it wasn't because I forgot to attach my bridle to my canopy, because I forgot to rig up my three rings correctly, or because I forgot to do up my chest-strap. Blue skies, black death...

I actually don't, since I believe we have vastly different opinions on this matter. I also think that there is a difference between making a rigging error of this magnitude or being overconfident in a particular skillset. The former is a mechanical process that can be executed perfectly if given proper diligence. The latter has a knack to it. Few people will ever be forced to pack a pilotchute in split seconds. Many people will some day be forced to avoid an object strike in the same time. I don't have more respect for a dead person than I did during the last moments he or she was alive, save to avoid hurting other people's feelings. But this is a BASE forum after all.

And so you should have...

And how many of those 1000 make a person less stupid for dying because of it? I thought long and hard to find a nice way to say this. I know I'm not making myself popular with this opinion, but I'll take my chances. A pilotchute is the freakin' difference between life and death. If you can't take care of it, expect shit to happen. For the record, I don't discriminate. My closest BASE friends have promised to piss on my grave should I die on a BASE jump. There is no such thing as a freak accident; we're all in control of our own destiny. At least give me credit for my own actions, however irresponsible or stupid they may have been.

If you die with a pull-up cord around your pilotchute, it's not because you used a restrictive device during packing, it's because you didn't treat the sport with the paranoia it requires.

Vancouver - 13 - That I know of, I'm pretty sure there are more.

That's why it is a 'hypothetical' guy from the future. Lots of people believe BASE jumping is suicide and yet you engage in it. Don't let your beliefs stop you from thinking outside the box...

One doesn't have to be religious to engage in philosophical thought experiments.

That's a nugget. Great stuff Jamie!

Do you realize what you're saying? So the guy comes up to you and says: "You're going to die on your next jump." You're still going to jump...

Those are very interesting questions! Thanks for asking, I hadn't considered these. That said, they answer a different question than the one I tried to make, namely; how much is your life worth to you? And yes, that question is infinitely more complicated and doesn't lend itself to definitions. But poor approximations can still lead to interesting discussions. The people voting one jump or "I won't quit" are essentially comitting suicide. The people voting 100,000 believe they have enough control on every BASE jump to outlive at least 10,000 jumps (the next smaller option for N). Both are bold claims. For the record; I didn't vote. Yet. It's a difficult question.

Yeah bro, I do plenty of things outside of BASE. I just don't talk about them here. Edited to add: cue funny comment from Abbie here...

Ugh, here comes the drunk driver again. He's always just around the corner in these types of discussions. With all due respect; I think you're largely underestimating the risk of BASE and overestimating the risk of being in traffic if you bring up the drunk driver. Remember that typical involvement in traffic takes up more time than the typical time from exit to landing. But even so, you're hypothetical question is valid. Die in the next hundred jumps or live another 10 years (regardless of cause of death)? Kinda depends on how enjoyable your life would be without BASE I suppose.

Imagine some hypothetical guy from the future shows up and says... "You're going to die on one of your next N jumps!" Loopholes and paradoxes aside, assume he is speaking the truth. What is the biggest N for which you would quit BASE? Edited to add... I realize this question can be confusing at first. So let's take it one step at a time to illustrate. The guy comes up to you and says: "You're going to die on your next jump." Would you still jump? I doubt it. It'd be suicide. Now the guy comes up to you and says: "You're going to die on your next jump, or the one following that." Effectively this creates a fifty fifty chance you may die on your next jump. For all the talk from the fifty fifty crowd, I honestly don't believe there are many BASE jumpers that give themselves that low a success rate before they jump. So most would still quit... Now the guy comes up to you and says: "You're going to die within the next ten jumps." Would you still jump now? You're given a one in ten chance that you're going to survive the next jump. It may be worth it, or not quite yet. What if the guy says: "You're going to die within the next 10,000 jumps." Would you continue then? So spend some time and think about where your sweet spot is. That's your N. It's not important what your sweet spot is. It depends on the quality of the jumps and the quality of your life outside of BASE. It can also change over time. But if you happen to have a number, then realize the following. If you have a low number, you're taking a rather suicidal approach to BASE. Apparently it's worth it to you. Great! If you have a very high number, you're effectively assuming you're a good enough BASE jumper to survive at least N-1 jumps. That means if you pick a number that is higher than the highest number of jumps anybody has ever made, you are effectively saying you are a safer BASE jumper than every single person on the fatality list. Granted, given that their fatalities preceded yours it gives you more information and arguably changes the probability dynamics. That's the whole point of learning from other people's mistakes. Just sharing some food for thought here...

I agree, and my post was meant to drive home a point; that no incident in BASE come as a surprise. Things happen because physics demands it.