MyTwoCents

I was gonna send you a PM instead, but that takes more mouse-clicks so fuck it. Dude, I fucking sprayed my sandwich all over my monitor, I was laughing so hard. Well done, and thank you. Btw, it was an egg sandwich but it didn't have any bacon on it. Where is Tom Dancs when you need him?

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Will my house burn down if I put my canopy in the dryer? A quick Google search didn't caution against nylon-esque material in the dryer so I think I'm good. A heck, I guess I could put it on low heat. Maybe I'm just posting because it sounds so funny. Don't worry, it's my torn up beyond repair canopy. One the one hand; it's a technical post. On the other hand, I can't help but wonder if I helped this forum reach a new low. Hey, it's a BASE canopy so it belongs here, right? I'll give Tom ten minutes before he moves it to gear and rigging...

Bummer Next time, I'll remember to add the sarcasm smiley. I forgot that you Europeans don't have your sense of comedy as finely tuned as the Danish Canadians from Holland.

Sorry about that. I forgot to thank you guys because I was still in shock. Ivan drives me to the train station the next morning. I'm extremely hung-over, worried about the work-meeting I have to attend still being drunk, totally freaked out about the whole driving on the left side of the road thing... ...suddenly Ivan slams on the handbrake in the middle of the road, stops his car, jumps out, takes two steps, and starts pissing right by the side of the road, 8 AM with thirty other cars wizzing by at high speed. Wtf? Only in England. So hereby; thanks guys! I hope it wasn't the last time we got drunk. I'll have to make a stop in England this summer. Now let's all have a group hug on the forums here!

Turn off the computer, back away slow, call Ivan, roll a cigarette, turn on some Dire Straits, and slam down a beer. I've made my fair share of "lookat me" and "thanks to X" posts (SabreDave, Crwper, Base 736, Chad and Katie, Cornishe, Tom Aeillo, lifewithoutanet, pBaseToBe and Tom Dancs all come to mind), but you've never torn me a second asshole. This is BASE brotherhood man. It's no technical post, but it beats the hell out of the hookers and blow drivel. I for one think Tom Dancs is a great guy, and he can leave his bacon at my house any day!

Different contexts, different use-cases. If I'm gonna pull high, like on a skydive, than using a dual parachute rig would be safer than a single rig, all other parameters being the same (i.e. no AAD, no RSL, same large canopy, etcetera. Just a larger container with a second chance behind a springloaded pilotchute). Denying this, or trying to argue the converse by chalking it up to increased complexity (which isn't that much to begin with, and has been largely sorted out over the past thirty years) or rigger error is foolish. Trying to argue that single parachute systems never fail to begin with would be equally foolish. An infinitesimal chance is still more dangerous than absolute safety. Now add in sloppy packing, head-down flying, sit flying, multi-ways with collision potential, and a huge reduction in canopy size for swoop purposes, and all of a sudden you have a context in which the dual rig greatly increases the chance of survival. For the record, I'll jump my BASE rig out of a plane any day and feel safe enough. But even then I'm still jumping my BASE canopy, jumping solo, not going headdown, packing carefully, and wearing a hookknife. Change any of these parameters, and I'll bring my reserve.

Don't have to perhaps, but if you get the opportunity I recommend taking it! BASE 736 is an awesome friend to have. Too bad he eats poutine these days...

The statistically inclined need to consider if riggers that make mistakes do more or less reserve packjobs on average than riggers that don't make mistakes. I think it may affect the optimal length of the repack cycle. For what it's worth, I prefer a longer cycle.

Is this the Benni that posted here?

The APOOPA founders will disagree, but I'm pretty sure it means American Parachuting Organization Of Parachuting Americans.

No kidding. As of nine days ago, my local dropzone requires all skydivers (not just the students) to have an AAD. Guess who's looking for a new dropzone? Sigh... Just like AADs, the TSOing has led to the bowlification of skydiving.

Although I totally agree and did measure from the SBS down to the new knot location (as you describe), I doubt that anything less than an inch of difference would be noticable. Having symmetrical brake-settings is highly recommended, but once I pop my brakes I don't fly straight by making sure my hands are at similar levels; I just feel where the canopy is going.

The history of that page (all the wiki pages have it at the top-right) shows this to be written by Jason Cooper (BASE 736). He'll probably chime in here. I wonder if that line of reasoning came from the generally accepted wisdom that a deep brake setting that works for an unvented canopy may be too deep when transfered to a vented canopy.

I'm not a rigger so excuse me for not knowing what eyelets are. But I'll assume that you're talking about some sort of loop construct. Those can exist in several places on the brake-line. One where the four or five line cascade to your canopy starts. 99 percent of BASE jumpers never have to change this location. Some loops exist where your DBS, SBS and other brake-settings are. These you definitely want to change (in the likely event that your factory settings are not optimal). The last loop is possibly at the bottom of your brake-line, where the toggle connects. Alternatively the line doesn't have a loop at the end, but you can tie a knot in it and attach the toggle that way (see the CR canopy manual for more information). If you want to change the brake-line length when you have a loop at this end, you'll have to set a new "eyelet" yes. If you have no loop here, but just a knot; you can change the brake-line length in five minutes by shifting the knot up and down. That's the main reason why I prefer the knot over the loop; it's easier to experiment with different brake-line lengths. I've moved the toggles on my Blackjack up a good five inches. That said, I use the same length on my slider-up and slider-down jumps. Edited to add: rereading MostWanted's question, I guess he is referring to the brake-settings. I wasn't sure in light of the other current thread about brake-line length.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. It seems there is no way to please existing BASE jumpers. I've slammed my fair share of wannabe BASE jumpers, but MostWanted is not one of them. So what that he's asking things extremely early in a possible career? Generally his questions are the ones that a search provide no answer for yet. And he has provably devoured these forums and the BASE wiki. I see two possible outcomes... The first is that MostWanted loses his interest in BASE and skydiving. Good for him, at least he still got to enjoy the excitement of this little online community for a while. Maybe he added some threads with questions that could have been answered with more time in rigging, but I've seen posts less useful (or this one, geez) The second possible outcome is that MostWanted does one day make a BASE jump. Possibly too soon in his career, or possibly after having made a gazillion skydives. Either way, he's not going to get hurt for having asked questions too soon in his career. Edited for spelling error.

I don't make that decision for him, but I can't think of any possible way to be a safe and responsible BASE jumper and not spend significant amounts of money. I don't know any BASE jumpers with such an attitude. It's not a sudden change, and neither is it a black-and-white matter. Jumping a seven cell canopy at your local dropzone will help you find a mentor before you take an FJC. Booking an FJC may help you find a mentor. The reality is, there aren't that many mentors left. Most people take an FJC and then start jumping with the (somewhat experienced) locals at home. Mentorship in the traditional sense is not as common anymore (from what I understand). I'd like to say that is a bad thing, but the fact of the matter is that mentoring is a big deal and if people get by with just an FJC, the free-flow of information, and hanging with other experienced jumpers (almost like mentoring, just less intensive), good for them.

And the drills described here...

If you can't afford to travel from Florida to the Perrine, you can't afford to BASE jump.

And it's unlikely you'll get to know them until you have more skydives. Take a first-jump-course (and do all those other things) and it's a more likely that mentors and jumpers in your area will hang out with you. That's rarely what mentors are after.

The bust was at 3:00am, not the middle of the day. I'm sure eventually the details will come out. I kindly ask we let this thread rest for the moment, pending legal action. Edited to add: Sean, I will pass your request for details to the locals involved and let them decide if they want to inform you or not. Thanks...

That's very mature. May I ask what you do for a living? The problem is that you don't contribute anything to this forum. You are only here for your selfish satisfaction. Unfortunately, it appears that your idea of the meaning of life is self-gratifying happiness and nothing else. As such, you don't care about whether or not you contribute. But think about this for a second; imagine if all the BASE pioneers had never contributed or shared a single positive thing. You wouldn't be BASE jumping today my friend. Surely somebody with your IQ can understand that? All we ask for is a little less poking with the stick and a little more flying around the beehive looking for honey. Or, go hang out at a different beehive.

Can you back this up? Perhaps a scan of your SAT results? Aside from that, human interaction works along many axes. Intelligence is only one of them. Is that the single measure stick that guides your life? I wonder if you misinterpret Dwain's adage. Perhaps you are not so intelligent after all? Is that the kind of wisdom you teach your children as well?

Interesting. I have a Gravity Sports Vision and I'd say it's less aerodynamic (almost pillow-like) than any Perigee Pro I've seen. Perhaps it has to do with the canopy volume inside, I suppose?

Can you share what model they were?