):
March 30th, 2004 Well.....
You find it a bit creepy to jump a canopy
that has never been in the air.
OOHHH...!
Don't be scared of that, brand new, un-jumped, pretty gear.
#587 said you might be coming down hear for a Hop.
So I will tell you what, Hand it over to me, and I will
Pack it up and give that New Container and Vented Canopy
**A few test jumps.**
To help you out and make you feel much better.
We will see if it will Open OK.
:7 ...Ray
March 31st, 2004 Dave,
I think Ray may be trying to get you signed up for the Jump course that he offers alongside 587. I have spent some time with this 587 character and outside of his dubious amount of experience at Hot Rocks, all he is going to do is sit you in his truck and have you play with all of his little homies that he has collected on his travels. If you are lucky he will pass you his doubles!
If you find it a bit creepy to jump a canopy that has never been in the air just think how creeped out the canopy feels being jumped by some stranger who has only laid across it a few times before slamming it into a tiny bondage like container.
Can't wait to hit the rock with you!!!!
kris
April 1st, 2004 Yeah, I thought about the course but I have the disadvantage of 13+ years of Skydiving. Besides I taught 587 everything he knows;-)
I do appreciate the offer Ray but I'm not sure I can afford your rig testing services with the exchange rate what it is.
K, c'ya up on the Y very soon!!!
2 more sleeps......................F-me!!:+
April 1st, 2004 1st, Id tell you that an 'e' is not the place to make your fist base jump. Appreciated that you seem to have heaps of skydives, but this is not skydiving as you have partially seen while on the edge.
The FJC are a great value, aspecially when Spring is pretty much here. There you can get your feet wet in a much safer environment.
2nd, the fear is just part of 1st jump(s) It is natural, and the reason why you will get hooked.
3rd, I know people that have jumped their rigs base first, but the real issue for you is that you have heaps of SKYDIVES under a canopy that is NOT anything like your new BASE canopy. Not to mention the fact that this is not a skydive, dropzone, or anything else resembling what you are used to. That is the real driving force in taking your base main out skydiving. Get to know what is feels like with a 2-5 minute canopy ride, not a 2-5 second canopy ride.
Wouldn't it be worth that 3 hour drive to the next DZ to jump your 310 (or whatever you got), verse having an object strike, tree landing, or just plain BLASTING into the ground and breaking a leg, or your heal, because you didn't know enough about the canopy characteristics?
It is an easy thing to fix with some skydives under that main.
I personally purchased a D-5.5 with a Raven III for skydiving, so now every skydive I make is on a similiar canopy that I base with. It is just so valuable of time when skydiving.
Stay safe and in one piece.
Trust me, hardware is _NOT_ cool. Just expensive... ;-)
April 1st, 2004 Just a quick correction. Dave's first jump will be off a span, not a cliff. I think he was just saying that his drive to BASE jump has come mainly from a desire to jump cliffs.
Michael
April 1st, 2004 Hey Mick
I appreciate what your saying and the advice! My first jump will not be an "E" but a nice "S" with obstacle free landing zone. In my original post I mentioned being up there without my gear as I had no intentions on doing my first one off that "E".
The nearest dropzone that would be open would be 13 hours west in Vancouver BC, it is snowing here as I write this.
I wasn't dissing the FJC idea at all but just making a humorous remark to the thread that happened on DZ.com about the bounce proof first jump course. I think courses are great but sneaking past those US customs guys is tricky;-) No official FJC here in the GReat White NOrth. I have spent much time with different people learning and practicing as much as I can. Pool exits, visualization, talking, reading, packing and everything else they throw at me.
I know the value of time on a canopy but I also have never owned an eliptical canopy and I am not a big swooper but great at accuracy. I flew my SAbre 230 at the 1999 World Paraski in Austria and did pretty good. Again I know this is a much different canopy, I really do and I respect it greatly.
I will say as safe as I possibly can and hope to avoid being part of the heavy metal club!! But in the event, I'm in Canada, the hardware is free here:)
I appreciate any input, thanks!
April 1st, 2004 No message
April 1st, 2004 Oh gawd y'gotta love that first jump electric buzz. enjoy it! sounds like you've done some homework. sounds like you'll get a little more scare for your fare considering you've not jumped the canopy b4hand. checking every stitch - it might help ease those fears somewhat (but probably not).. but I wouldn't worry too much.. it's only your life ;) It'll open (probably) heh heh... wish I could be there.
let us know how it turns out.
gardner
April 2nd, 2004 Great.
April 2nd, 2004 Is this a duplicate post?
If so, i want to delete the duplicate.
April 2nd, 2004 So, as I make the transition to the "dark side" of the railing I find the emotions and thoughts already running high.
I have been doing ground crew and photography for years now, BASE has been on my mind for about 13 years and it is all coming together. This coming Saturday will be my first jump if the weather and my nads hold up. Maybe I will look down and then walk away forever, or, maybe I will do 10 a week for the rest of my life. I can't say at this point. My mind is open to both ends of the spectrum.
My gear arrived less than 2 weeks ago and it looks great but, I find it a bit creepy to jump a canopy that has never been in the air. Yes, it would be great to skydive with it first but it is winter here and the DZ's are closed.
I personally know at least 3 people who first jumped their canopies off an object, I also trust these 3 people very much but it still keeps runing around in my brain that maybe something is wrong, something structural that can't be seen through inspection. Am I just being paranoid? Do most people do their test jump from an object? Maybe I think of it more because I am a big f***er weighing in at 240 lbs.!!?!???
It seems almost bizarre that after all these years it is actually going to happen.
Last Sat. I climbed, minus gear with a friend and BASE mentor who had his gear to 2 different exits on our local bitchin "E". Standing on that edge felt soooooo good and inviting if you subract the 70 mph gusts that day. It is that particular "E" that as been burning at me all these years. Although I am open to dabbling with other letters it is the rocks that have always been the driving force behind my desire to jump. I stood on top of that beautiful mountain 10 years (and 30 times since) ago, well before she had her cherry popped and I knew it could be done. So several years later #587 jumped her first and opened 2 more exits after that one. There is potential for many more exits from this 1km long cliff face. I have also climbed this face, 9 pitches of limestone with a ton of loose debris that rains down once in awhile. BLAH BLAH BLAH
Does/did everyone have overwhelming thoughts and maybe some big axiety leading up to their first jump? Is it going to be nucking futs when I step off that beam? Was there one particular object that you desired to do above all others??
WTF??
I'll shut up now:)
April 2nd, 2004 I read them through. They were word for word identical, so I yanked the second one.
--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com
April 2nd, 2004 Dave
Don't want to ruin your plans, but just wanted to make sure you know that Westlock is open on nice weekends. If you wanted to skydive your canopy first.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
Andrew
April 5th, 2004 It seems Dave is still busy cleaning his underwear from the weekend, so let me just say congratulations to the S-jumping fool. Demonstrating once again that sand is for beaches, he managed to put himself off the object in a short -- what was it, half an hour? ;-) I'll let him tell the full story.
Seriously, congratulations man. Nice jumps.
April 5th, 2004 Hehehehe
Well, where to start??!! This weekend was an insane emotional roller coaster in many ways. Excitement and anticipation that gave way to fear and second guessing and then back to "oh yeah baby"!
Like i said before, this (BASE) has been bouncing around in my head for 13 years now. I felt good, I felt ready, I felt prepared. Until I got to the object............
When we were a mile or two away the butterflies in my stomach morphed into a couple of battling badgers!
Climbed up to the exit on this very cool "S" in a very cool setting and watched someone else go first so they could report on the landing area snow conditions. Not much snow left, lots of bare bank and rocks but still just as many and more good spots left to land. It was sunny blue skies, t-shirt warm and surrounded by huge mountain peaks in every direction.
The report was good from the LZ. Walked back down and geared up with my shiny new rig. Again, I think it would be good to skydive it first but I did't. Was thinking about that quite a bit climbing into the steel again. As for the gear fear, I had gone over every stitch of the container and wing, rigger Mike did too. Gargoyle 2 pin and a Troll MDV 290, hehehe. Looks great but it still was freaking me out a bit.
Jason says half an hour, might have been, could have been an hour. El Braino had no use to process such un-important data at the time;) I stood there for awhile, thought about walking down, knew it WAS an option always! Could not have had 3 cooler people with me at the exit point! Winds were less than 3 mph, it was sunny, it was time!! Mike grabs my PC and I try to climb over the rail, stop and come down. Up more stop, come down........ (yaya, keep laughing "Commanche")Finally I got over the friggin railing and now was more scared than I had ever been in my whole seemingly short life, much to the amusement of my cohorts! Was trying to get my right arm back to the railing on the other side but was having problems, blah, blah.squeek..whine,...curse........ Heels on the catwalk, arms back on the railings, leaning out 35-40 degrees looking down. I bet I could have held on for hours. After several minutes of trying to calm things down I felt it, IT!! Whatever IT was??!!? I knew right then I was going! 5-4-3-2-1. hesitate, hesitate and launch with a loud indecipherable noise!! HHAHAHHA
WOW! The second I fell through the steel it was pure ecstasy, truly amazing!
LZ was approx. 3600ft. ASL and the jump itself is a funnel! You step off and immediately there is terra firma on either side and a big friggin rock right below me, 260 feet away. It was much calmer and slower than I expected it to be. It was quiet, and calm and it felt so nice, it felt warm!?!?! Maybe that was the urine;)
I heard the pins pop and felt things lifting off my back and I felt aware of all things around me and then some but it was slow until I had canopy. On heading, fast pressurization and I was on the toggles like a fat kid on smarties. Looking for my sweet spot, seeing it and thinking wow I am still in the air, cooool! Big flare and a groovy soft landing. Troll flares nice, I am 240 lbs and it was sweet!
What a feeling it was sitting in the sun, up to my nuts in snow looking back up at the exit and the mountains behind it. Truly friggin amazing! I felt so good. Reports back were all great, good launch, position and reaction time on the risers.
Jump 2 went about the same, really great. Turned the canopy a bit on this one, sporty! Nice, downwind landing and again, impressive! I like this Troll already. Probably because it just saved my ass!
3rd jump, decide to change it up a bit. Did a side float facing the bank to simulate an off heading. You have about 3 seconds+ before touch down. It worked out great because my plan didn't work and I had to improvise. 45 right on opening, left risered it around 100 degrees and saw that I would not make my intended LZ. Picked a sweet spot between the rocks and touched down on semi-steep bank on the far side. Tippy toe landing, good stuff!!
So, that, a couple of jugs of beer and 17 hours of driving round trip has me back at home and feeling the high still coursing through my veins. It was a great experience and all the effort paid off! That effort was also big on the part of other people!!
Jason and Michael took over my training when 587 went AWOL in the US, they all put alot of their time and effort into me over the last 15 months. Thanks guys, you are the cat's ass!!
Thanks also to Commanche, glad you were there laughing in the background bro!! That was great!
Winds look good tonight......................
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