MyTwoCents

Nope. There was only one; Brian didn't throw his pilotchute on time. To anybody trying to shift blame to anybody but Brian himself, please PM me your addres, I'll personally come punch you in the face. I'm confident that Jason and all the others involved tried incredibly hard to make sure that Brian was adequately prepared. When the day comes that I go in, don't let me catch any of you fuckers trying to put blame anywhere else but my own decisions and actions. If I can't own my failures, I'll never deserve success.

Can you explain why?

If you do, please keep the ones that BASE jumpers can still learn from. I'm thinking about Alf Humphries, Frank Gambalie, Jim Dias, Steve Morell, Larry March, Earl Redfern, Jurgen Ornburger, and Neil Quemenit.

Jup, it's all fun and games; until your friends start dying. I have no problems with people getting into BASE. Considering I jump myself, it would be quite odd to tell other people they shouldn't. However, I prefer the default stance of discouraging people, not encouraging (which is what the original poster did). Now I'm well aware that BASE-beginner excitement can cloud judgement. I've written my fair share of stories about how great BASE is and regret some of that now. The fact of the matter is, even at bridgeday; it is not skydiving. Being in the Bonfire among all the cheering people, it doesn't hurt to have a bitter old grunt like me point out that it's a dangerous sport. One could say: "duh", but that only works until your friends start dying...

No you don't.

I'm just speculating here, but my guess is that a slider-up jump was done regardless of the delay, Given Brian's age, a softer opening is preferable.

It's not his site. There are many other locals using it, you just never jumped with them. Jaap did change his mind on the helmet thing and has used one there again. The main reason for not using a helmet there at one point was not for the climb-over-the-railing (you're pretty much fucked and seen by that point anyway), but for the approach. This particular object has an approach with high visibility. A full-face helmet adds a lot of bulk to a stashbag, whereas just a rig looked essentially like a small backpack. But I digress. It's not Jaap's site (he doesn't jump it anymore), nor is it mine. I believe it's mainly used by the other locals these days. I've seen cops appear on the bridge twice, despite wearing helmets (and fiddling with a static-line long enough to make it blatantly obvious we were not suicide jumpers). Some people just love being NARCs.

There's a relatively successful one for BASE: http://www.basewiki.com

Or.... Shouldn't we allow people to decide their own fate just because we are humans? The "just because we are human" argument is used a lot, but I don't think it's very practical. It can be misused too easily. I'll insert one for you: "jump of cliffs in NPS land"; still agree? Jup. I respect other people's lives so much, if they want to take theirs, they can have it! Of course, reality isn't that simple. Whenever somebody goes in, there's an emotional and recovery cost. Th question is, where does responsible behaviour turn into recklesness. I would draw the line at doing a two second delay with a Sabre 170. Doing a 30 second delay with a Sabre 170? I'm not sure sure anymore. It's not my thing, but it's definitely less reckless than the two second delay. It's a grey area, and the second we stop this guy, we hand others the right to stop us. Education, yes. Prevention, neah. Let him die...

Heh, you can see him riding the edge of my favorite exit point in this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUeLN2CovJ0&mode=related&search= And no, it's not the obvious one. That's too underhung.

Not a manufacturer. Just a guy selling a used rig. As far as I know, most manufacturers are quite good about background checks. For some definition of that word, yes. Yes, and yes. One guy I will definitely not jump with, period. A walking fatality... I have yet to meet the other guy, but he's been emailing me about packing instructions, has an excuse why he can't go to Twin Falls, and has an existing history with other BASE jumpers. I'm withholding judgement until I meet him in person, but he strikes me as the kind of guy that would welcome online packing instructions. Not rude at all. I don't mind discussing these kind of things, because it's not an easy situation. Good advice is always welcome. I disagree. For a certain type of person, it's harder to open a PDF file on a relatively obscure site (let's be honest) and find the package instructions embedded in there, than find a how-to-pack video on SkydivingMovies.com. Much more importantly, the CR packing instructions still require a lot of thought to interpret the pictures and text. With full audio and video, not much is left to the imagination. You say it could save a couple of lives. I personally believe that it could cost a couple of lives. Right now, the magic of the BASE packjob still scares a lot of people away. With instructions out in the open, more people will go at it alone.

I'm not sure, but you'd be surprised how much more work it is to order a video through somebody compared to being able to just download it.

Can you please not do that? I know of at least two people in my neighbourhood for who the mystery of the BASE packjob is the only thing stopping them from going out and jumping. One of them already procured BASE gear (thanks, random person in California that doesn't do background checks) and refuses to do an FJC. I'm well aware that CR has packing information in their Ram Air manual, but fortunately it takes some effort to find, open and read. Having it in full video glory on SkydivingMovies.com would do more harm than good.

Bwhuaahuhua, I hear ya Grumpy. Don't you just love the PS3? So easy to develop for eh?

Yeah, congrats to Veggie Reggie, who also happened to make his first BASE jumps the same weekend he got his PFI rating. Great job! Also, nice to meet you there Base733.

Since you have known him personally, I'll take your word for it. I stand corrected. I must admit; I had to chuckle when somebody recently posted a link to his jumping video that was hosted on MySpace. Of all places... But then again, that just means I've become the very snob I don't want to see in others. One last point I would like to make; although we continue to be worried about the explosion of the sport, it doesn't seem like the inexperienced and uninformed are killing themselves at a rapid rate. A quick look at the last four years of BASE jumping shows a lot of experienced people pass away. So although we may not have an excuse to do 'stupid' things anymore, I think the statistics actually show that a lot people continue to poop their pants at the exit point. And so we should...

Ofcourse that implies that I am more concerned with the consequences for the object than the life of the actual jumper himself. I suppose I'm a little bitter that way, but if somebody wants to take a two second delay off a terminal wall using skydiving gear, I'm not going to lose sleep over said person's life. It's the object I'm more worried about.

Very true, and I don't necessarily disagree with Nick. But he did say: ...and... In light of that, I sensed some irony. I don't think the old guys were very different. It's just a new world these days. I think Nick's sentiments are largely in line with my intention to shut BASE WIKI down a while back. I still struggle with it today, but in the end I decided that pro-actively sharing knowledge is the lesser evil. As for the Sabre guy... Imagine that hypothetically he had killed himself. Does anybody have any thoughts if there would have been much value in pointing out that he was using inappropriate gear, or are such remarks to little value to the law-makers that will just throw us all in one big pile of suicidal maniacs? I'm seriously curious. Climbing faces much the same problems. Most of the time, search-and-rescue (and climber's access society in collaboration with park services) can figure out if somebody was being moronic, or if there was genuine danger.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know Carl Boenish didn't mind showing his videos to people either. I'm sure he would have been thrilled had YouTube existed in his days...

Don't you work for the same company that has the lowest number of jumps as an FJC requisite? Not to mention an FJC that'll let you bring your own packers if you're only interested in the jumping part of the course? Plus, didn't you start one of the first BASE boards? Just let it go; times change. Jump with your friends, and try not to worry about the things you have no control over. People die. Organizations step in. But as long as my feet can reach an exit point, I'll find my altitude.

Who is training them?

So what? Some people buy expensive shoes in the hope of getting laid, but yet you see uglier people get laid much easier. That doesn't mean that your shoes don't look good. If you got the money... Maybe the original poster doesn't want to become the best tracker ever. Undeniably if he's going to jump a Phoenix setup for the first time he's going to fall slower, and maybe have a bit more forward speed. Most of all, he's probably going to have a ton of fun. Maybe he'll do some tracking in jeans later, maybe not. It doesn't matter, as long as people are safe, we should encourage them to do what they think is fun. Obviously safety is a factor, so I wouldn't tell somebody with twenty skydives to go fly a tricked-out tracking setup, but to actively discourage people from having fun once they have, say, fifty skydives; that's just snobbish. Remember, the more money people give to Phoenix Fly and Birdman, the more money they have to do research on new toys...

Number 65 afaik.