Switz BASE course??

[guest]

hey....I'm looking for more info....a static line student at our DZ recently returned from a trip to Switzerland....get this...she has a grand total of 6 whole static line jumps...wow...but somehow she was allowed to do a BASE jump from a cliff in Switzerland (not Laut.)....she saw a flyer at her hotel and checked into it...now we are not talking paragliding....some guys gave her some gear (and she doesn't know what it was..smart girl)...but they told her to jump, count to 2 and pull the ripcord!...now this was for real no BS...she said the guys who "trained" her didn't speak much english...and she had to find her own landing area...come on!!!!??!...I chewed her dumb ass...she showed me photos...and has a video...that I have yet to see...is this really happening?....she made it sound like she was able to schmooze her way into it..and it didn't seem to be a common practice...anyone familiar with this?....concerned....and a bit peeved...peace...staying low still

[guest]

Yo!
Wow,thats suicide stuff!! Did she say how much she was charged or mention what sort of "training" she was given? You seem to be for real but I find it really suprising that someone would actually allow this girl to jump.A PCA from a bridge would be one thing but a FREEFALL from a CLIFF???!!!Those guys should be strung-up!!

C-ya

[Micke N]

Ha-ha-ha!!! Well, this is a pretty common way to get into BASE-jumping for jumpers in a country close to Sweden.
"So you got no skydiving experience? Not a problem!".

Not a joke.

/Micke

[guest]

I remember there was a jumper from the Tampa bay area that taught his non-skydiving brother to base jump in four jumps. I recall meeting him at the old Z-Hills in the late 70's but can't remember his name. Jog any memories?

[guest]

I know this sounds crazy but my first jump with a canopy was a 308 ft. bridge. I then went to a DZ. I will remain anonomous because I don't to be the new topic on the "BASH BOARD"(at least that is what it has seemed like lately!). I feel I was trained by one of the best jumpers of 1999 Bridge Day Comp. Hours and hours of videos were studied, along with endless Q&A sessions. A harnesss was hung to simulate line twists etc. The landing area was deep water about 100 yards wide. Toggles were not even touched, only riser steering. Everything went well, and I have since jumped again. This time I used my toggles and directed my landing 15 feet from where my instructor landed (he exited sideways and I jumped straight). These jumps have been made possible by long hours of learning with an experienced jumper. So what I'm saying is that it is possible to so this with proper instruction and knowledge. If you've never jumped a cliff you can only learn to by jumping one, correct? These two jumps have taught me more about hitting a target than my skydives have! I feel that if you got it in you then you got it in you, Mind over Matter! Anyone please respond with any advice but don't bash me as a cannot change the past. BSBD

[guest]

Yes, there's a few who actually became BASE jumpers without skydiving first, and I'm also sure there have been many one-offs done by friends of BASE jumpers (d-bag, bridge, low, water, etc), "Go ahead John, just jump and don't touch anything, nothing to it!"

I've always, since the mid-eighties anyway, envisioned a time we'd teach non-jumpers to BASE jump like we now teach non-jumpers to skydive. We could do it. It just isn't fashionable at the moment.

In other words, with the right object, the right amount of training (wind-tunnels and such) and the right Instructors you could have a whuffo doing decent looking delays and landings in a week.

There will come a day when BASE instructors routinely say, "I prefer the ones with no skydives. That way you don't have to spend all day re-teaching and breaking bad habits."

And dwell on this one, there is a time in the not too distant past when people thought the only way to learn to skydive is three weeks in the Army and a lot of pushups. When Mr. Istel and Mr. Sanborn suggested they could teach a civilian to static line jump in three hours they got laughed out of town. But they were right (there are still some who will argue) and it became the way of it.

We all use the 150 to 200 jump figure as a minimal amount of skydives for a transition to BASE jumping. It's the Industry Standard. As manufactures it makes good sense for us to stick with things like industry standards.

However, me as a person, is convinced the sport will always go lacking in wants until something very simple happens. The answer is there must be more of us.

Every time we ratchet the number down, from 150 to 100, from 75 to 50 and so on, we get closer to the day some aid will whisper in a Senator's ear, "You can't do that sir, that state is heavy with BASE jumpers," and that's the day everything will change.

Plus, we at BR would sell more gear . . .

[guest]

hey...now that this has gotten off track...and I apologize for being ambigious in my original post, but the topic of this thread (IMO) was expressing my concern on the lack of training given to this gal for her jump....she tells me she has no idea what she would have done if it opened off heading..or any other of multitude of problems...she wasn't smart enough to know what to worry about (what a great gift she has there)...but still someone put her off this cliff....and I'm still amazed that it was a ripcord rig (cliff with 2 second delay !)...also..to answer the question..she paid about $90US for this lovely experience...seems a bit unsafe to me....but hey...I'm nobody

[guest]

And you will remain nobody, as long as you remain
anonymous. An e-mail address to reply to would
be the minimum requirement for "coming out".

[guest]

Nobody,

At first glance, yes, it appears crazy. But there are always two sides to every story. If she gave you the correct story then, she's out to lunch, and the fellow who chucked her off is out to lunch too. (However, the whole story rings untrue on the face of it).

But you asked, what can be done?

There aren't many viable options the BASE community has in situations like this. One is site banishment and the other is peer banishment. There is nothing else, if there was, it would be monkeying with the underlying freedom of the sport itself. (It's like free speech, it's great, but you have to watch the KKK march by every now and again).

Site Banishment:
Can only be accomplished at already controlled sites like Norway. On the local level (that tower down the street) it becomes a bit more personal. How you handle this is tough as in most cases you have no more right to be up there than anyone else. These situations can also become confrontational so in trying to save a site, a life, or the public’s perception of the sport, you can wind up with a bloody nose or worse.

If you are going to get that involved then you should understand your own feelings toward the sport.

We all grew up listening to our skydiving elders tell us we must protect the public’s perception of the sport or they will take it away from us. With BASE jumping it is slightly different.

I see BASE jumping as the proverbial unscrewable pooch. In other words, sites may come and go, people will join as others quit, gear and technique will be popular and then fall by the wayside, but BASE jumping will never end.

Tomorrow they could ban skydiving. They could simply make it a crime for a pilot to fly jumpers. If they tried to ban BASE jumping, they wouldn't be making it any harder to do than it already is. BASE jumping will survive as long as there is just one person left with the BASE fire in their belly.

Peer banishment is the other option and it simply means this;

Him: "So what have you planned for this weekend?"
You: "Nothing . . ."

Nick
BR