rookie questions

[diveout]

I've officially been bitten by the bug to get into base. I'm always on the manufacturers sites and asking local jumpers if I can tag along as ground crew, asking to see video's and so on.

There's even a local guy with a few hundred base jumps who's willing to help me out with information, gear and eventually a long weekend at a legal location for my first several jumps.

Couple of questions: 1-the rig I'm looking at would be a FOX VEC 285, I'd be loading it at .87, does this sound resonable for a 1st canopy? (I've got 1800 skydives but I fly a small x-braced).

Would you recommend a packing video (if so, which one do you like best) to supplement actual instruction? I've seen 4 or 5 different base pack jobs for the same type of jump from the same object from different jumpers.

thanks-

[imported_Tom Aiello]

>...the rig I'm looking at would be a FOX VTEC 285, I'd be loading it at .87, does this sound resonable for a 1st canopy?

Not really. Doing the math backward, your exit weight is around 248.

I've calculated appropriate canopy size two ways.

Textbook loading is .75. So, at 248, you ought to be jumping a canopy sized around 330. In other words, the biggest canopy you can find. Definitely something in the 300+ size range, not the 280 size range.

Shotgun Ray's rule (Naked weight +100 pounds) yields a canopy size of (assume you weight around 220 naked) 320. Again, you want a much bigger canopy than a 280.

With more appropriate sizes available, there is no reason to put yourself in harms way with an undersized canopy.

Is the Vtec covered (i.e. valves)? If not, you're going to have even less flare, and that's going to make this situation even worse.

I'd get something bigger.

>Would you recommend a packing video (if so, which one do you like best) to supplement actual instruction?

Learning the (same) pack job from your mentor over and over until you've got it right is probably the best way to go. Until you have that pack job down, watching others is just going to confuse you. So, I'd stick with the single pack job your mentor is teaching you. If he (or she) is doing something close to one of the packing videos, then I'd get that video. Otherwise, just learn from your mentor. Ask him if there's a packing video that's close.

--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com