base698

Amen. Despite the 3500 ft altitude this is not another skydive. Make sure you have BASE gear lined and up and at least have a knowledge of BASE. Quite a few skygods have gone in on similar jumps because of their refusal for instruction.

420 isn't the police code for marijuana. It had something to do with old school Grateful Dead stuff, and I think it even predates them a bit. If I recall it was when they all met together to smoke up and they made a song about it.

*cough* http://www.anonymizer.com

610 jumps 210lbs out door Skymaster and Manta 280s (19 jumps) PD 260 (3 jumps) Raider 220 (7 jumps) PD 170 (300 jumps) Triathlon 160 (1 jump) (borrowed) Stiletto 150 (110 jumps) Stiletto 135 (40 jumps) (borrowed) Stiletto 120 (120 jumps)

I just got rid of my reserve and got a new one. I realized that iffy during a headdown deployment was not good enough. When I was a student I didn't understand the need for a lot of things. I saw lots of problems with my rig I was jumping early on so I replaced that. When I saw how the reserve was contructed when I packed it myself the first time a few months back I was shocked because I'd seen the construction on BASE canopies and always thought a reserve should be comparable. Shortly after that I sent that reserve on its way and got one much more suitable for what kind of skydiving I was doing.

Way to go Chuck. I think every birdman has had a birdman experience at least partially similar. I did the same damn thing but I was spun. I blew through 2000 after pulling at 4500 before I got out of them. I felt stupid as well for not pulling the handles immediatly. When I do Birdman jumps from now on I make sure I go over that in the plane many times. They are exceptional skydives that deserve to be treated as such. Glad to see ya made it out alright.

Here are the first two chapters I've rewritten from the Tao Te Ching: One * The skydiving that can be told is not the eternal freeflying. The skydive that can only be named is the eternal freefly. The sit is the beginning of heaven and Earth. The headdown is the mother of true skydiving. Even on belly, one can see the mystery. Even bellyless, one sees the manifestations. Belly and freefly spring from the same source but differ in name; freefly appears as darkness. Darkness within darkness. The gate to all mystery. Two * Under heaven and above earth all can see beauty All can know freefly as freefly only because there is belly. Therefore headdown and belly arise together. Difficult and easy complement each other. Fast and slow contrast each other: Headdown and sit harmonize each other; Belly to headdown follow one another. Therefore the freeflyer goes about doing nothing, teaching no-talking. The fourteen thousand feet rise and fall without cease, Creating, yet not. Flying, yet not corking. Docking is done, then forgotten. Therefore it lasts forever.

You NEVER choose to be hetero nor homo. Everyone here remember that time around 12 years old when you start thinking about the other sex in the shower or bed :) I had no choice in the matter that I was definitly going to sleep with women later in life--just turned out that way. Even if you are a virgin you are still one of the other. The act does not make you hetero or homo. The desire must be there for both. I've also equated telling the family about skydiving (and ahem base) to coming out. It was a extremely hard thing to do because of their worries about safety.

--C. S. Lewis

When should you shift your weight to get a carve going in a swoop--on the plane out or after? I can't see why you'd want to start it before, but perhaps there too.

3 prior to jump number 100. Now at about 100 base jumps and 600 skydives. 1) horseshoe on exit. very nasty but cool video. threw pilot chute shook arm and chopped. (main was still in bag and hit a moving car causing 1600 in damages--how's that for accuracy :) 2) spinning due to something wrong with the stowing of the brakes (i didn't do it). Never figured out why exactly. 3) Total due to pilot chute monkey fisting. Went right to reserve at about 1300 ft never cutting away because I knew it was in. Lesson 1: Always pack yourself Lesson 2: Learn to do it right :)

At 200 lbs with tshirt/shorts I hit 97 mph avg on my belly. I'm 190 now and will try again soon. I do a whole lot of tracking dives.

Letting it up slow would help. On a big seven cell it is relatively easy to land in deep brakes and flare standing up. Letting up the toggles on a big seven cell may surge you into the ground so keeping them down is better. On a highly loaded stiletto I'd let them up slow and reflare. I did a 180 on a Stiletto 135 about a year and a half ago and half way down saw a canopy i was on a crash course with (he was hooking the same way as me and i was following the pattern :) ). I went half brakes flat turn away let up and flared standing up. Would have been a good swoop too. It was also only my 5th jump or so on the canopy, so make sure you practice that a lot early on. Even though I've had that happen the thought of it still scares me...

What would be something good to work on in the tunnel? I'm going to the tunnel at some point shortly and wanted to know some specifecs I could work on there. Thanks

Sounds to me like the poor bastard was trying to avoid someone NOT trying to swoop. There is a difference. You ought to learn it before you get caught in the same situation and do the same thing. Brake, flat turn, flare... it could save your life one day.

Val: I saw your first cutaway that was definitly more dangerous than driving :) On another note. It seems like people aren't taking economics into consideration here. In other words while skydiving people take very few risks relative to driving. Ie when have you been drunk skydiving, eaten lunch, changed the radio station, or just down right not paid attention? In driving because of the relative safety of it they have more incentive to take extra risks. It does of course end in deaths but not near as much per capita as all the people who can't learn to do flat turns.

Maybe because its much harder to get access where you can jump like skydiving? I did 100 base jumps last year and that was solely because i took frequent trips where I didn't have to run after I landed and could crank out more than 4 a day (and if at a certain S in idaho) 8 a day. If there were BASE dzs around you'd likely see people with that many. We push our limits just like skydivers do. When comfortable with something we move on, but not everyone does. Add gainers, go lower, jump tighter landing areas. You can make it as safe as you want. Yes there is always a risk but its up to you how big that risk is.

Not yet but I could do it soon or up it a week or two.

Anyone going there on these dates? Was thinking about it myself and am looking for someone to split bulk time with then do a few jumps. Anyone else interested?

With everything that has being said. It basically seems that if you can already safely rear riser land you are ahead of the game. Seems like the same stuff applies to in a swoop as to that as rear riser flares in general stall much easier. Right?

What makes you so sure you could? I seriously need to practice my standard rear landings. what happens if you break a steering line in a dive?

Well now that I know that it seems like it would be less prone to stall due to air speed increase. Not that I'm going to try it yet but what is going on aerodynamically?

*Cringe*

After talking to LaBlanc about a month or two ago. They way Icarus gets around it is by manufacturing over seas and more or less illegally importing. That seemed to me to be the case, but I could be wrong.

In that article on swooping in Parachutist this month it mentioned using rear risers to help with reducing drag. Anyone know what it meant? I use them a lot but not during the swoop (unless the steering line broke).