Question for experienced BASE jumpers....

[Douva]

Hi all,

This question is for those of you with some real BASE experience. I've been skydiving for about 5 years and have 311 jumps. The reason I have so few jumps is that finances got really tight for a while, and my jumping was reduced to about two jumps a month for about two years. Finances aren't quite so tight anymore, and I'm finally back in the swing, so I'm finally trying to do something I've wanted to do for several years--make the progression to BASE jumping. I've been thinking about taking one of the available BASE courses, and I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on these. I'm not sure if there's more than one (I've only read about one), but if so, I'd appreciate feedback on any you are familiar with. Do these courses require that you provide your own gear? (By the way, what is the formula for determining the appropriate BASE canopy size for your body weight?) Any additional information or advise on getting into BASE jumping is welcome. My BASE jumping experience is limited to working as ground crew for an antenna jump and some reading on the subject. I'm a pretty good canopy pilot and a pretty good packer, so I feel reasonably confident that I can handle BASE jumping; I just want to make sure I take the best approach. Thanks in advance.

--Douva
D-22772

[imported_Tom Aiello]

My stock answer to the "how to start" question is posted at various places around the internet.

Here's one of them: http://www.basejump.org/discus/artic...ttinginto.html

>...BASE courses, and I was wondering if anyone has an opinion on these.

I'd recommend the CR or BR class, but I'm sure that all will do a perfectly satisfactory job of getting you started.

>I'm not sure if there's more than one

First Jump Courses that I am aware of:

Consolidated Rigging
Basic Research
Morpheus Technologies
Vertigo BASE Outfitters
Bombproof Rigging

Since you've listed a USPA number, you probably don't need to hear about the FJC's offered in Europe or Australia.

The only ones I've actually seen in progress are the Consolidated Rigging, Basic Research and Vertigo classes.

>Do these courses require that you provide your own gear?
Not usually. I'm pretty sure that they all have student gear for use during the class. I believe there are discounts on instruction if you purchase gear at the same time.

>...what is the formula for determining the appropriate BASE canopy size for your body weight?
Textbook BASE wingloading is .75 pounds per square foot. So, take your body weight, add 20 pounds (for clothes, gear and armor) and divide by the canopy size. Try to get as close to .75 as possible. Err on the side of lighter wingloading.

Another way to view this is: Take your body weight, add 20 pounds, and multiply the result by 1.333. This is approximately the canopy size you want. If you land between canopy sizes (say, 250), round up (say, to a 260ish canopy).

Good luck, and have fun.

--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com

[imported_mknutson]

http://www.blincmagazine.com/cms/instruction.shtml

[Dwain]

>Textbook BASE wingloading is .75 pounds per square foot. So,
>take your body weight, add 20 pounds (for clothes, gear and
>armor) and divide by the canopy size. Try to get as close to
>.75 as possible. Err on the side of lighter wingloading.

Many years ago I used to be a dealer for BASE gear and so the "what canopy size should I get" question is something I've been asked many times.

From my experiences the .75 textbook wingloading is outdated, oversimplified and often results in people using the wrong sized canopy for their needs.
Two people with the same wingloading will have very different results if, for example, one person is flying a 200 sqr foot canopy and the other a 320 sqr foot canopy. Wingloading is not a constant formula which can be applied to all canopy sizes.

Many years ago I developed a rather detailed and complex table for customers to determine their ideal sized canopy given a number of variants.
However about a year ago Ray Losli from Portland told me his formula for working out your ideal canopy size. His formula is so idiotically simple on the outset that it continues to annoy me to no end. However in my opinion, when you apply it, it provides the best results of anything I've heard so far.

Basically it goes like this:
Take your naked body weight in pounds and add 100 to it. This is your ideal mid-range canopy size.
Add 20 if you are going to be doing lots of objects where you land in really bad landing areas or if you prefer landing in deep brake approaches.
Subtract 20 if you are going to be doing lots of jumping in high winds (eg. antennas or big walls) with good landing areas.

I've asked many experienced BASE jumpers what their preferred canopy size is and this formula seems to apply the best.

Kudos to Shotgun Ray - an unsung BASE legend of the Pacific NorthWest.

[base311]

> I've been skydiving for about 5 years and have
>311 jumps.

Good number....

;)

Gardner
base311

[Yuri]

Yo !

This formula may not be very precise, as Ray's naked weight includes lots of metal pellets under the skin.

Nevertheless, it is the best empirical method i have seen. Fits me perfectly.

Oh, i mean the canopy sizing. Not the leather bulletproofing ;-)

bsbd!

Yuri.