Bridge Day Base Jumper Free Falls Into the River

Base Jumper unclips from his harness and free falls into the river at Bridge Day 2011

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• bridge
• day
• 2011
• base
• jump
• new
• river
• gorge
• vbats
• rappel
• accident
• wing
• suit
• free
• fall
• without
• parachute

[f00lishkl0wn]

for me personally, because the winds were so damned squirrely, i chose to land in the water on both jumps. this was to avoid weird wake spots and turbulence near the landing area that could have potentially broken my ankles, legs, shins, etc. it wasnt because it was fun, it was neccessary.

[TheAndrewMobley]

@f00lishkl0wn that makes some sense. As I was rappelling, I noticed that it would be windless on the catwalk (normally the windiest area) but it got windy once I passed the bridge superstructure and was free hanging below the bridge. Then the wind strength varied significantly and somewhat randomly as I reached the train tracks. I can imagine that it might be smart to land softly in the water, especially with those pretty awesome rescue boats that seem to pick people up within seconds

[TheAndrewMobley]

I understand releasing the canopy for safety reasons, but he sure did it pretty high up. I probably saw 50 jumpers land in the water and he was the only one that released his chute prior to spashdown. I'm sure there was some element of doing it for fun as well :)

[TheAndrewMobley]

Thanks for clarifying that. I'm a rapeller not a bast jumper, so I don't know all the details of the equipment. At the end of the day a LOT of them were purposefully landing in the water. I guess it was just for fun. I sure enjoyed watching the spectacle, but the best view of the bast jumpers is from one of the rappelling ropes. I like to stop for a few minutes once I clear the bridge structure and watch the bodies falling past me and hearing the popping sound of the chutes opening.

[krazedgunner]

snork snork I think he will be banned for that snork snork . you are probably a tattletale too.

[guyman20]

@TheAndrewMobley he released the canopy for safety reasons - when you land in the water with a canopy, after few seconds it will start to sink and create turbulence and can cause the jumper to drown, it is almost impossible to swim with a sinking canopy. Its a strandart procedure to cut away the canopy in order to ensure you will be able to swim safely away from the turbulance.

[otis1408]

No worries dude, some people do that every year. He wont get banned from BD for doing that. He didn't unclip from his harness he released the canopy from his harness by pulling the cut a way handle.