There were approximately 570 BASE jumps done (Anne has the exact figures) from the 73rd floor of Tower 2. This was 872' to impact and 979' to landing. Most people were doing between 4.5 to 5.5 second delays. There was an exit ramp built which extended out a few feet from the building.
There were also 4 BASE jumps done from the gondolas at 1134' to impact (1241 to landing). Aerials were not allowed from the 73rd floor. There were only two 2-ways performed during the meet.
Incidents:
There were also two relatively minor landing injuries - common when people are performing accuracy style landing approaches. There were also two object strikes during the event.
The details first object strike was as follows:
Raven canopy packed with factory brake settings. P/C was attached to bridle off-center. This resulted in the p/c oscillating aggressively during canopy extraction. A 180 with severe line twists resulted. The jumper hit the building about 4.5 seconds after deployment (the Raven was moving pretty fast). The canopy reinflated flying away from the building. The jumper then kicked out the line twists and landed on the roof of the shopping mall. The landing wasn't too bad but from video he landed awkwardly on his right leg breaking it in the process.
After reviewing this incident all non-BASE specific canopies were banned from this event. As far as I know this was a world first. Every other BASE event which has had restrictions on equipment (such as Bridge Day, KL Tower Day, IPBC comps, Lysebotn, Mt Brento, etc) have always allowed large skydiving F111 7-cells. Everyone's p/c attachment point was also checked to ensure that it was perfectly centered on the bridle.
Protective equipment was initially not mandatory but highly recommended (as is the case at Bridge Day, Lysebotn, KL Tower Day, Mt Brento etc). After the first object strike helmets were made mandatory.
The second object strike was as follows:
Mojo 240 packed in factory shallow brake settings. About a 160 degree offheading and the canopy flew at the building at a very fast forward speed. The jumper hit the building once. The nose of the canopy then slide down the side of the building for several stories until the jumper turned it away (via rear risers). The jumper then landed without incident.
After reviewing the video and much discussion, it was recommended that people use the deep brake setting on their canopies if they had previously jumped them in that configuration slider up and a stall had not resulted. Many jumpers changed to deep brakes and made comments that their openings felt much more stable, slightly faster and forward speed was far less.
Anne Helliwell and Mark Hewitt were the principal Meet directors and in my opinion did an excellent job doing so. They were pretty tough in removing people from the event if there was any question as to their ability or judgement. Omar Alhegelan also worked as a technical director and was a fantastic mediator between the jumpers and the Petronas people. Johnny Utah and myself were also technical directors but only in regards to safety as we were also competitors. Our jobs mostly ranged between gear inspection, condition evaluation and incident review.
I witnessed people with 100 BASE jumps far out-performing jumpers with 400+ BASE jumps once again proving that jump numbers alone is a poor indication of overall ability.
The competition:
Not once during this event did I ever hear the term "World Championship" used. The official name was the "Malaysian International Championship of Extreme Skydiving". To most participants it was just an opportunity to get some accurate feedback on their jump performance and advance their skill level.
The competition was structured to reward safety. Points were given for the launch (the further away from the building you pushed the more points you were given), opening heading and landing accuracy. The stand up bonus was very large to discourage pound-in deep-brake-approach landings.
In my opinion the average skill level far exceeded the average IPBC competition. In particular the Croatians showed exceptional skills.
The competition was tight but in the end Johnny Utah took the competition after demonstrating phenomenal consistency. The total prize money given out well exceeded the money taken in entry fees.
A 19 participant canopy train was also flown from the building in front of the Minister for Tourism. Johnny started the train with a wingsuit (Skyflyer) jump from the gondola. His delay was conservative (9+ secs) but he still managed to clear the shopping mall.
Anne filmed every single jump. Before the exit she recorded on video the jumpers weight, canopy size and type, p/c, and brake settings (shallow or deep). Documenting this data along with the deployment speed and heading of the canopy will provide some very critical data for understanding variable effects on subterminal slider up deployments. This data may well be used in future gear design and thereby could reduce future incidents and save lives.
90% of what was posted on the BASE Board preceding this event was totally incorrect. It was interesting to watch how hearsay and rumor became established as fact.
I was asked a number of times by various people, including Petronas employees why there was so much politics and lack of unity in our sport especially in regards to this event. I didnt really have a response and all I could do was apologize.
The event ended on a good note. Petronas and the Malaysian government were extremely happy and already making plans for next years event. Just about all participants felt they improved their knowledge base and skill levels.
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