Canopy Skills for BASE

[guest]

I want to develop some BASE canopy skills on the drop zone before starting BASE jumps. Seems like most of the sites I can go to have some tight landing areas, and I want to learn things like how to avoid the object without stalling in case of some gnarly situtation--before the gnarly situation happens (novel idea!). I hear you can actually fly backwards a little if you know how. Almost all of my skydives have been with small zp ellipticals and I'm not familiar with flying anything big, F-111 or 7-cell.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a skydiving canopy that flies or lands most like a BASE canopy, so I could practice on? Ideally, I want something 135 sq ft max to fit in my TJN, but don't know if that'd be possible. I'm 125 lbs.

Thanks.

[guest]

If you are not going to use a 135 for base it is not a good idea to practice with one. You might want to look for a used 7 cell ravin 2 on action air parachutes website. although I think that is a 200 sg foot. That would be more realistic I think, but what the heck do i know.

[bps]

Hello -

Your on the right tract with your question...

Canopy control is *very* important in BASE jumping. As you mentioned, many BASE jumps require you to land in very tight area where there is little room for error, if any. Even on jumps with decent landing areas, something will eventually go wrong requiring you to make a quick, decisive canopy manuever.

You are correct for assuming that modern-day high performance parachutes fly completely different than a low-aspect 7 cell canopy that is typically associated with BASE jumping.

An ideal wing-loading for a BASE canopy is around .7 lbs per square foot. Given your body weight of 125lbs, you will have an average exit weight of 145 by the time you factor in your BASE rig, pads, helmet, supportive shoes, radio, water, etc. With an exit weight of 145lbs, you will probably look into jumping a BASE canopy that is somewhere in the neihborhood of 190 to 220 square feet. A 190 will give you a wing-loading of .76 while a 220 will provide you with a wing-loading of .65

Either one of these will work well, but it wouldn't hurt to go with the canopy that is slightly larger. (Big and slow is good in BASE)

Quite honestly, you can rehearse drills on a 135, but the canopy will react dramatically different than a BASE canopy of a larger size.

If your dead-set on getting into BASE and can afford it, go ahead and purchase the canopy you will use for BASE, even if it will be awhile before you BASE jump. You can never get enough practice skydiving your BASE canopy. (I skydive mine all the time and constantly rehearse BASE-specific drills)

Most drop zones have student rigs that you can put the canopy into, or try asking a friend that has a larger sized rig.

If purchasing your own canopy is too expensive, a canopy such as a Raven II would work quite well. I believe that a Raven II is 218 square feet, and its flight characteristics are similar to that of BASE-specific canopies.

In a nutshell, your looking for a low-aspect (around 2.0) ratio 7-cell canopy that is loaded at .7.

There are many things to practice once you get up into the air. Here is something that will help you out:

Go to Consolidated Rigging's website at:

www.crmojo.com

Click on the "Library" section. In that section is a document that outlines several BASE-specific drills that you can work on when you skydive the canopy. Practice these things over and over like your life depends on it, because one day it will!

I hope this helps. If you have any more questions, just post them here and I'll be more than happy to help you out.

C-ya!

Bryan

[space]

Nice troll,
Keep up the good work, you are really makin baser´s think.....the responses are class A.
Troll doesn´t mean bad, this guy rocks,,,,,,
space

[imported_mknutson]

http://www.baselogic.com/base/gear/p...es/index.shtml
--
Thanks

Mick Knutson
BLiNC Magazine

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

[guest]

Right on! Good advice...

[guest]

Thanks space, I've been impressed too. But this guy's really a girl. ;)

[sean]

buy a cotainer that fits your canopy babe...there are skydivers in the UK doing exactly that...mojos every where!!!Thats if you are who I think you are!!