980

better late than never: thanks for the fun flights everyone!

I had a great time meeting you guys and flocking with you.

now to train up a whole bunch of new flockers with my brand spanking new PFI rating...

cya
sam

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So we take them to a beautiful place where the sites are spectacular.

it just so happens that you can see Niagara Falls and Lake Erie in freefall most days and Lake Ontraio and the T.O. skyline too on clear days at my home DZ and it's nearby neighbour

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And we land on an island or a beach.

damn, if only you could do that in Ontario, oh wait, I have...

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I plan to take skydiving to a brand new level in Canada.

good luck to you sir, I hope you realize how high you should be aiming, like I said, there are 2 DZs in Ontario with the view I described and as it happens they both fly Turbines and will get you to 13500-14000ft...

not to even mention the spectacular views of the 1000 Islands and puffy clouds if you jump at Gan...

I really hope you have checked out every DZ in your target area to know what the competition really looks like, not just one or two...

cya
sam

exactly!

these are the bomb: CN-10
Professional Cable and Housing Cutter

not well known outside the bicycle industry, but easily the best quailty cable cutter I've seen

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It sounds like a great tool for learning/practicing flying the line mod.... and a hell of a lot less risky than trying to fish your toggles up through the slider grommets mid-flight.

maybe so, but fishing your toggles up through the slider grommets is so much fun once you get the hang of trying to counter the turn while not dropping any toggles and staying calm while the canopy is spiralling and you are trying to focus on something else too...

I'm not sure what amount of learning/practising the line release mod is needed?

Sure, it feels weird at first, but other than holding onto your toggles everything should be able to be figured out by the pilot through feedback from the canopy, even on 15-20 second flights.

It seemed really useful to simulate slider off/down brake line routing to evaluate DBS, but doing a hop'n'pop high enough to be safe makes it hard to have good references on movement.

Vented canopies also seem to make finding the correct DBS tricky if only doing skydives with the canopy.

I don't see an unreasonable amount of risk in fishing your toggles through the slider grommets on a decent altitude hop'n'pop.

At worst you'll screw it up, get scared and cutaway and have a reserve ride instead of staying calm and fixing it.

Either way I think it makes for a great learning experience.

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I challenge you to justify your publicizing a private message.

I do like a challenge.
I did it for all the reasons Tom stated and also:

the guy's attitude - look at his other posts

he might ask some valid questions, but he also asks some really ridiculous ones and mentions some really bad ideas that are easy options to him

if the PM was written in better English or it included a mention that English is not his first language, I would not have posted it

we need more eloquent basejumpers with initiative and a willingness to find information

if he was any of the above he would not have needed to PM me 90% of the questions he had, as the answers to those can easily be found on your own

The last reason was to discourage PMs like that which promote a spoon-feeding of knowledge and give pointers as to where the knowledge can be found for yourself.

I guess he picked the wrong person to PM.

cya
sam

according to the manual, the third alarm (continuous tone) will sound at OR BELOW the preset altitude IF you are exceeding 29 m/s descent rate

the same goes for the Protrack

29 m/s = 95 ft/s = 65 mph

now the interesting part:

if you have a CYPRES, it will activate if you are exceeding a descent rate of 35 m/s at around 750 ft, all the way down to 130 ft, where it deactivates

35 m/s = 115 ft/s = 78 mph

if you have a student CYPRES, it will activate at 1000 ft if you have a descent rate below 35 m/s but above 29 m/s


interesting if you have a CYPRES and you hear that flatline during your final turn, know that if you are above 130ft, then you have just reached 80% of the descent rate required to fire your CYPRES (unless you have a speed CYPRES)...

RTFM

seriously, anyone with a gear question out there, RTFM and then ask the question if you still have one

Hi

What happens at 12:05 in the first one?

Video by jumper who goes off on back videoing other jumper jump and deploy, turns around, deploys, there's a few frames of canopy deploying slowly slider up, then it gets violently spinny pretty quick.

Did he have a riser release or failure?

cya
sam

staple it!




seriously though, with a 100 basejumps (from your profile) you should know the options by now...

not the scenario you described, but:

jumper A: 6'0" and 168lbs in a modified S3
jumper B: around 5'6" and 135lbs in a Matter suit

linked exit at 6000ft, then race for distance, pull at 3000ft

jumper B had a shorter flight and higher forward speed, but it was a draw on distance, so the glide ratio was the same for both jumpers on this jump

the ironic bit is that the S3 is generally seen as a faster flying suit and the Matter as more floaty..

the really ironic part is that by racing for distance I ended up getting my lowest descent rate in around 260 jumps on the S3

see the attachment

cya
sam

*BUMP*

well, anyone, anyone?

looking forward to hearing from you

not sure in what way those posts are interesting, but this ITN article certainly is interesting...

apparently our man Felix can do 20 seconds freefall from 738ft - quite the feat

compete in accuracy

but it was hardly highly useful, as I did a total of 30 jumps on a 252 Parafoil and ended up using a borrowed Sabre 150, that I was jumping and loving at the time, for the actual competition

but then with all of about 100 skydives that seemed like a good idea to me at the time

ah, the happy days of jumping in England, mud, sheep and sheepshit all over the LZ, wind, clouds and rain all over the sky and whining all over the whole island

I'm almost looking forward to jumping with you damn foreigners again!

oh yeah, almost forgot - I have actually jumped an A in higher winds now than that night with you and Glamourboy! The trick is leave facing the antenna and pull silly low.

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How many of these did you do before you started BASE jumping?

one

but I soon wished I had done all four

besides, you don't want to end up with my limited skillset

Don't do as I do, do as I say.

I've learned from what I did and don't see why that experience should not help others make BETTER decisions than I did

I've been unbelievably lucky to make it through the way I started basically unscathed (I had a guy-wire strike around 80 jumps which could have been entirely avoided by being better prepared).

Why would I recommend anyone else to take those same odds if they can get better odds?

I know you are implying that I, the pot, am calling the kettle black, but really all I'm doing is saying:

don't be dumb like me, be smart, because:
A - it's smart
B - you might not be as lucky

oh yeah, I'm up to 3 of those four things completed now and the fourth should be done this year..

I'll be at Sebastian from 3-5 Feb and then at another Florida DZ or two (haven't decided which ones yet) 6-7 Feb.

if you are a local please PM me, it would be great to meet you while I'm in town

I'm going to skydive, but as always I like to do real jumps too.

hoping someone will hook me up

thanks!
sam

I'll be going to the Pyro Vixen at Sebastian and will only be returning on 8 Feb.

Where do I find wingsuit jumpers who are jumping on the 6th and 7th?

Which DZs are open in the week and active?

I'm flying to and from Orlando and I'm willing to drive up to 4 hours for good flocking.

thanks!
sam

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(You spelled "inversely" wrong.)

so did you!

obviously he meant: inversilly

I'd hate for this thread to degenerate into something less than entirely useful, so if you have received any entertaining PMs from people regarding BASE, do share if appropriate!

Funks - There's no point in ragging on people for asking questions.

Airfury17 - at least you are asking, don't take this thread personally, see it as a pointer on what kind of response you get based on the format and presentation of your communications.

cya

so I got this PM today (I'm thinking some other people must have gotten ones very similar at some point):

Quote

how can I get into Base Jumping...I have 60 jumps IM 18 and want to make a nice entry into BASE...alsoe a I have a bridge on my road 200 Feet. high...people base it....could I get my reserve in my skydiivng RIG....and have fellow base jumping hold it and i jump....Or dangle it below me? and jump over it...I am not going to try this anytime soon. but I heard Skydiving reserves are perfect for Base. what are these different exits called...thanx bro...also I am looking at the Apex jump course...altough i need about 100 more jumps...see ya!

(sic)

first, I have no idea why this person picked me to PM, I'm not from the area in their profile, maybe they just spammed a whole bunch of jumpers who post here?

second, that PM is just packed with the sort of attitude goodness that will make me look past my own low level of experience and take this person on as a student - NOT!

it really concerns me to to see the attitudes a lot of people have to starting base these days

to the person who sent me that PM:

How can I get into BASE jumping?
- There are many ways, ranging from buying gear with no experience or training, finding a site on the internet or by rumour and hucking yourself off unsupervised (this generally results in injury) to tailoring all your skydives and a lot of time and money to learn all you can about BASE before ever stepping up to the exit point.

I would recommend the latter. Start by reading the following articles:

Before you Post!

Getting into BASE

My First BASE Rig

funnily enough, you could have found them all through the links at the top of this page, check the attachment for more clues...

Then read all the posts in the threads, found by using the search option, below:

starting base

start base

getting started

FJC

first jump course

course

learning

THEN find your local BASE jumpers and find your nearest experienced (250+ jumps and 5+ years in the sport IMHO, opinions vary) BASE jumpers and talk to them

offer to groundcrew and be so nice and helpful that they will LET you groundcrew for a few months

the longer you groundcrew the more you will see and learn and the better you will be informed to make good decisions

at this point you will have a good idea of your options to start

I also recommend getting way more than the required minimum number of skydives.

Get your PRO rating. Do stadium demos. Compete in accuracy. Learn to be rigger.

oh yeah, 200 feet is low

skydiving reserves DO NOT make good (or even acceptable) BASE canopies

the way you described those exits, they would more likely be called INCIDENTS

do some more research guy, you have plenty of time

cya
sam

PS - I almost forgot, you also want to check out OUR BASE WIKI

edited to remove apparent sabotage of dutch BASE knowledge providers

I've had those feelings ever since I had memories.

Then I found out basejumping exists and it all made sense, I had found my way to go with those urges and live to repeat.

If I am any indication, then you're probably headed for a load of basejumps.

You do want to start keeping what you say in check, or you might wind up in that padded room on heavy medication....

cya
sam

hey KT,

I can't believe how many people are understanding and supportive of your issues...

I bet it's only because they were not here on your recent trip to see you whimper like a wet kitten almost all the time...

you guys have no idea how high-maintenance magot is as a jump partner - needs constant reassurance on the climbs, needs PCAs and FFAs and repacking and restowing of his PC, a well lit landing area and a steeped tea from Tim Hortons before and after...

it's OK buddy, we still like you and will jump with you anytime, especially those jumps that almost make you hurl after landing!!

the only things I have are my pictures from BD05, where I am sporting visibly one of the Jon Dragan buttons they handed out, if you're interested I can send you copies, as I bought them on CD with the rights

other than that, you should have the video footage of the 4 jumps I made wearing the button - might be cool to have a little bit where you show all the folks who wore the button at BD05?

but then maybe you're all over that already

cya
sam

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She was in the mid 35's on her GTI, as her S3-S is off at the riggers getting extra stuff done to it.

holy crap that's slow for a GTi !

what is she getting done to her S3S ? I'm all curious.

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I think Rob's on a 78? Loading is around 3.0

Was he flying a prototype Parachute Systems crossbrace? I seem to remember him jumping that at the AFFC. I'm wondering how the development is coming along?

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They were nowhere near a dock, but she was ghosting him round the outside of a turn he induced to increase the decent rate. (and so help her out.)

yeah dude, we did the same thing with the 40, especially if you get some seperation, it helps get back close

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I think she can go slower than 35 in the S3-S... but then there's too much forward speed... Ah, Life's little problems!

No doubt she'll go slower in S3S - but then the problem would be finding anyone who could keep up!

wingsuits are so much fun, especially if you're into trying things

two of my favourite wingsuits things at the moment are wingsuit-wingsuit rodeos and hanging-backfly-exits from wingstruts

cya
sam

I believe you are referring to the little zip-in wing with the mesh triangle in it's middle.

Just zip it off and fly without it, it doesn't make you lose any performance by not having it there.

Send it to Jii-wings, I know they are aware of this flapping issue.

If your main legwing is not inflating, check the inlet from the inside of the suit to make sure it's only mesh there, not ripstop too.

here's what I went with

I'm selling this rig at the moment, so I don't really mind if you want to copy it in any way.

cya
sam

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Have you tried taking them to terminal with otherwise normal sport gear?

I've got around 200 skydives (almost all terminal) with a standard sport rig and 155 canopy, using a 32" AV pilotchute by Asylum.

I replaced that pilotchute with a 28" AV by Asylum when I downsized to a 120 canopy and I have around 260 (almost all terminal and almost all wingsuit) skydives using that PC.

Why do I use an Asylum BASE PC for skydiving? - it's quite simply the best made pilotchute I have seen and the idea of the vent makes sense. Both these PCs also have the external plastic tube handle, I wouldn't jump a wingsuit with any other handle configuration.

As for AV pilotchutes inflating slower than non-vented pilotchutes, in my limited experience (293 basejumps all under 6 seconds delay and split about evenly between AV pilotchutes and non-vented pilotchutes, I can't tell the difference in inflation speed or drag comparing like sizes. But then, I retire my base pilotchutes at 50 jumps - I figure $1.50 a jump for that warm and fuzzy feeling a fresh ZP pilotchute in your BOC or hand gives you is cheap.

edited to add: I had a special bridle with a kill line made up that has a loop for PC attachment (standard BASE style), this allows me to use these BASE PCs with a kill-line to still have a collapsible PC, like you would want for a smallish canopy.

cya
sam

hear-hear, Nick makes a good point

speculation is not helping anyone right now

and at this point in time a discussion on the ethics involved here is not productive enough to justify the pain it will cause some people

I realise this is a very controversial topic and one that easily moves one to post, but if you do not have any information that could help locate Scott, please just post something like the following (feel free to copy and paste it):

---

dear family, friends and loved ones of Scott:
my thoughts and prayers are with you in these times

to any person who has information that could help find Scott:
please contact Scott's family or Tom Aiello as soon as possible with that information
it is time to start considering other people here and do what you can to help end this search

---

maybe if enough people expressed this sentiment, word would get around to someone with some information and they could be moved to provide said information

thank you
sam