Training

[guest]

Okay! I am currently a student skydiver. I am wondering if there is a way to start BASE jumping now. Is there someplace where I can be instructed? BASE jumpers don't neccesarily have to be skydivers. Do they?

Get up, Fall down, No problem.
sigsby

[guest]

You don't have to be a skydiver to be a BASE jumper, but it helps... a lot, especially with canopy flying and navigation.

There have been a few people who started BASE jumping without having first skydived, but they are few and far between and theri circumstances were very special.

AS A RULE, it is good to have a couple of hundred skydives before you start BASE jumping, simply because it takes that many for the averag to above average person to get a good handle on handling the parachute.

So skydive as much as you can, and most definitely forego the freefall fun in favor of hop and pops to get your canopy handling down. You can spend less money and time and learn the most important BASE-specific thing skydiving can give you.

And on the long delays (the ones you need to get your licenses), practice your tracking technique.

In the meantime, there are a couple of BASE "schools." One is operated by Vertigo; another is run by Consolidated Rigging.

Both are run by first-class people who are first-rate BASE jumpers -- and both advertise on this board. Click their ad and you're there.


Also remember: BASE is a black death sport no matter how carefuil you are, and anybody witha cavalier attitude is usually dead or scared out of the sport in pretty short order.

Robin

[guest]

Good points Robin. Sigsby, unless you are in the Make a Wish Foundation, slow down and enjoy skydiving for a while. Fly your canopy, learning some of the physics of wing flight can't hurt either... watch the weather channel for days...be aware/respect every jump.

[guest]

P.S. Basic Research also has a school, perhaps the biggest and most active of the three I mentioned. They have ads on the Board too.

[imported_mknutson]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jul-12-00 AT 09:12 AM (PST)[/font][p]The Cliff Jumpers Association of America recommends a minimum of 150+ skydives to start BASE Training. The Norwegian BASE mandates 150+ and the Australian mandates 150+.

There are people with over 1,000 BASE jumps in the world. They did NOT get there by ignoring training!

--
Thanks

Mick Knutson
BLiNC Magazine

"Everything you ever wanted to know about BASE Jumping, but didn't know who to ask."
--

[base311]

I'm one of those 'few and far between' morons who started without any skydives first. I still shake my head when I think about how freakin' stupid I was to do some of the things I did. I narrowly escaped death on more than one occasion and I was a real dumbazz in retrospect.

I can second what Robin said. Learn to fly the canopy. Make every landing an accuracy landing. I don't know where you are in your skydiving training, but at some point pick a canopy that would be appropriately sized for a base jump (big-azz 7-cell) and skydive it all the time. Explore all bounds of canopy flight: steep, near-stall approaches; braked turns; flares from half-brakes; riser-only flares; flares with one riser/one toggle, etc.(do this only with appropriate instruction and prior self-education, of course (up high, too)). Talk to your jumpmasters/experienced people @ your dz.

Try to get some balloon jumps to experience zero relative wind exits.

Also, learn everything you can about the rigging aspects of the sport; this will demonstrate your devotion and abilities to a base instructor when you do manage to find someone to introduce you to the sport.

And slow down - the objects are not going anywhere.

bsbd,
Gardner
311

P.S. it also helps to be multi-skilled: climbing and rope techniques, swimming skills, social engineering skills, etc.