Wingsuiting

Just saw your awesome video on the gopro site and was wondering how many years of skydiving you did before you started base jumping and THEN, how long were you base jumping until you were getting into the wing suits? My dream would be to base off of a tandem paraglider someday and MAYBE get good enough for real base jumping.
thanks for your time!
Cormac

Hi Cormac,
I started skydiving in 2007, and I started base jumping the same year. I first started flying a wingsuit out of planes, and then started flying them from cliffs. My first wingsuit was a really small Birdman Classic, and I skydived it first, then jumped it out of a helicopter, and then from cliffs. Eventually I started jumping bigger wingsuits. The best progression with wingsuit flying is gradual skill acquisition, and lots and lots of time in the suit. You don’t want to be base jumping any wingsuit that you haven’t put many many skydives on, in my opinion. The key to base jumping is skydive, skydive, skydive, and the key to wingsuit flying is skydive, skydive, skydive.

Most people recommend that you start with skydiving, and do at least 200 skydives before you start base jumping. 200 jumps is the recommended minimum before starting to skydive a wingsuit too. To base jump a wingsuit, you want to have a lot of skill in the suit from skydiving, and a lot of skill base jumping without one. Being “current” is also very important, so you want to be skydiving a lot, not just during a learning phase.

Though I did the minimum number of skydives before starting to base jump, I also lost some time and money as a base jumper when I got hurt landing my parachute in the first year of jumping. So I learned something from that experience. I think the best thing to do would be 200-500 skydives before starting to base jump, and then approach base in a very slow and respectful way. Canopy skills can only be acquired through experience, and hurting yourself is expensive and painful, and can even be tragically life-altering.

The best, most accomplished jumpers I know are those who have the most respect for the sport and physics, and who have the most conservative/intelligent approach to base jumping–not coincidentally, these are also the most experienced and seasoned jumpers. Amazing experiences are a given, and better to be a jumper for decades than for 2 years. So, lots and lots of skydiving is the way to base jumping, not to mention a whole lot of fun….
Steph