Grisha, I am all for it, and since you live in Philly maybe we can start to work on this. I will be in touch after Oct. when things calm down. It was my pleasure to breath with you and to have you as a mentor. all the instructors at Wild Fire kick ass. Thank you so much.

It would be a good idea for people to practice sustains and arc’s. I think a good goal would be 2-3 second sustain and at least a 20 degree arc. You can’t do a good pass with just a quick fireball.

Count me in!

Also when practicing your arcs remember this is a fast big motion. It's a slower controlled arc of fire. If you push too far forward with your blast your partner who has to catch it will have alot more trouble and with each step forward it will cause the whole line to have to move forward.

Also if anyone wants to me video tape any specific tricks let me know and I'll try.

Consider also: the height of the breathers stacked next to each other. Making sure everyone has the proper safety equipment/considerations (wipe rags, etc). Having a sufficient amount of safeties.

(according to Wikipedia) The current world record for longest fire breathing pass is 21 people. If we're talking about legally breaking that record, here's the place to find the paperwork and other information: www.guinnessworldrecords.com/reg...aspx I volunteer to get that ball rolling on that if enough people are expressing interest in this. Or maybe just literally breaking it, minus the record. If we do break it, we'll all know that we did. Does anyone remember how many people we had lined up? I am already on top of forming a little group to practice with in Boston, super excited about this!

My extreme gratitude to you, Grisha, for the time you spent to help me push the envelope of my skills. Your enthusiasm as a teacher and fellow fire friend is absolutely infectious.

There was actually a thread on the fire-breathing tribe with a video attached (I think Tedward posted it for a pass attempt at BM OOF 08) with a list of exercises to master to make a pass line successful.
(post was here: tribes.tribe.net/fire-brea...17bb6b5d1)

"The first half of this video displays the five skills that breathers should practice for flame passing: Breath, sustain without torch, hit torch (with someone else waving the source torch), two torch (carry the flame from one lit torch to another soaked one about a meter away), hit-two torch (someone waves the source and you light a soaked torch)"

My one concern is making sure people have a good core skill at breathing before attempting a pass. I think a lot of times the fault in the pass line is that some people are just not experienced enough to sustain their arcs yet, as they have just learned fire breathing. It's not a bad thing or a performance deficiency, just a lack of experience and practice. Perhaps we can actually add a passing class to the schedule in the spring and train then, take the in between time to practice more, and go for it again in the fall. (It will also be after Burning man, and if we break it before they will totally try to kick our butts immediately!) That way we will have a chance to check everyone's skill level, and they will all have a focus to work on between June and September.

I dunno, that may be a terrible idea, but if we're gonna do this, we should not only do it, but make it beautiful and as awesome as possible.

But I look forward to trying in the Spring!

I would be all for this, i think we should get the paperwork going and if they beat us at BM in before fall then we will just have to beat them!

I am completely confident that with so much lead time and dedication we can totally break that record in the spring, wind willing. Let folks at Burning Man try to beat us; the wind is so annoying out there, it's hard to do a short pass (or anything particularly fun!) plus it's so hard to organize folks out there in the first place. :)

I'd like to talk a bit about what makes for a successful pass, based on my observations and experience with smaller and larger pass attempts... (I'll be the first to admit that my experience is not as extensive as others', but I do hope my opinions may be useful)

One's role in a pass -- particularly, as the line gets longer -- is fairly small. It's a hand-off. Gentleness is required. No-one gets to be noticeable (except perhaps the very last person in line): the focus should be on the flame, and keeping its path and size and form consistent as it travels down the line. So, the important things to remember individually:

1. don't take too much fuel;
2. remain calm and watch the flame move down the line;
3. trust your neighbor, and wait for the flame to be passed to you;
4. don't use too much power when it's your turn to pick up the breath;
5. observe as the breath comes to you: make sure you've picked up the flame, then calmly perform your arc and hand it to your other neighbor.

It's so, so easy to get anxious and excited during a big pass! But that's where errors happen... I don't know about you, but when I get jumpy I make stupid mistakes! I want to focus on steps 3-5 because I think that's where the problems come up: I think that some of us start to worry about the person ahead of us: will they pass the flame before it goes out? And that causes people to try to pick up the pass too early... or to pick up the pass with too much initial power, which can blow the flame out, or move it too far away from the line. You can start with a bit less power to get your pass ignited, and bring up the juice if needed as you start your arc towards the next person.

We're a competent and kick-ass bunch of people! If we work on our sustains individually, trust in each other and practice together, and work on becoming more detached and observational performers... there's no reason we can't start pulling off huge passes on a regular basis.

Feedback and other opinions more than welcomed. I can't wait to pull this off in June!

(and thanks to Grisha and everyone for their advice and feedback this weekend!)

I think height was an issue on the pass. I noticed shorter breathers literally jumping up to catch the light from the person infront of them. It makes sense to organize by height.

I'd just like to note that the Burning Man line was said tongue in cheek. Damn internet and it's lack of inflection!