Re: [robibird] Bill Booth rule #2
Totally agree Robi. I had just under 500 skydives when I started BASE about 10 years ago, and was worried it wasnt enough. Now people have 50 and are stoked that they waited that long.
I would argue that the gear is about as good of a combination of safe/simple as it can be. The number of fatalities has remained fairly consistent in the last years with a large increase in numbers of jumpers who are active. BASE jumping can be as safe as you want to make it, but will always have that chance of the unknown.
If you only jumped bridges, took short delays, never did aeirals, and only used big open LZs, BASE can be a relatively safe sport. Skydiving analogy being if you only did solos, pulled at 5k, jumped a 200+ sq ft square canopy, and used an AAD. The problem is, swooping, terrain flying, freeflying, aerials, ect are all fun and ways to look cool, so we do them.
