Basejumper.com - archive

This web site primarily serves the skydiving community. We (BASE jumpers) are here through the goodwill of the site's owner (who, if you haven't noticed, is a skydiver who does not BASE jump).

I think it's pretty damn rude to walk around his place, constantly expressing your contempt for a class of people that includes the owner.

We already have a place where we (BASE jumpers) primarily hang out, which doesn't have a bunch of skydivers. If you want to gripe about skydivers (sometimes I need to do that too) let's take it to BLiNC.

Funny how many BASE snobs there are when skydiving comes up. I personally don't have a skydiving rig, but I want to get one soon. I miss skydiving and some aspects of the social elements of the dropzone.

I enjoy both skydiving and BASE jumping and have goals set for both disciplines. My only long term concerns about skydiving exists in "can I afford to do the sport if/when I don't have a well paying job". But as I said, I enjoy doing both.

Oh and on another observations, some people have said they left skydiving because they didn't like the DZ politics, drama and egos. But quess what? I see similar politics, drama and egos in BASE. It's just done on a different level.

Anyway, I hope that years from now I will have thousands of skydives and thousands of BASE jumps under my belt and more importantly I hope that I can remain healthy and happy in these two ever so cool sports and I hope that I'm not alone in my healthy and happy pursuits as there are many people out there in both the skydiving and BASE jumping communities which I hope to still call friends.

Skydiving and BASE jumping are two totally cool sports.

You know what I learned though, those politics don't exist when you are hanging over the edge. They don't have a place at exit points. I realized while I am out there, on the other side, the politics are the last thing on my mind... and I like it.

You're right. The last thing on my mind is that sort of stuff when I'm about to jump.

Maybe rather than invite them to clutter up that other Board with the insults, you could invite them to keep their insults to themselves.

its like our mothers said,"if you don't have anythign nice to say, don't say it at all!"

"It's all the same thing . . . man"

Janis Joplin, 1971

Nick
BASE 194

Used to get all hyped up about DZ politics - now I'm just flat out happy to jump. Started pondering the meaning of it - just jump for the JUMP not for what it looks like to people.

If there are any purist die hard BASE jumpers out there, they should of course appreciate that BASE evolved from Skydiving and if you go back far enough the first parachutes were tested from fixed objects, leslie irvins first round was jumped from a bridge in the London, not freefall but there you go so any elitism is irrelevant we all learn from each others disciplines and sports.

Cheers
Fraser

Back to my peace pipe and daisy chain!

then did not skydiving evolve from BASE?

what he said... but hey,even as im not alowed to skydive then i still likes it

I'm pretty much a purist die hard BASE jumper.

There are large cultural differences between skydiving and BASE, and I think that they often create misunderstandings and hard feelings. BASE jumpers who look down on skydivers contribute to this, but so do skydivers who enter BASE without any respect for our (separate) culture and history.

Hmmm, perhaps time for me to write at greater length...

This is important, not from a chicken or egg concept, but only because the history books always get this wrong . . .

The first parachute jumps ever done are from fixed objects and those jumps predate aviation by hundreds of years. One early fixed object jump (by Faust Veransio) is witnesses by 3000 people in Venice, Italy in the 1640s.

Modern history books continually cite a hot air balloon jump done in Paris in the late 1700s as the first parachute jump. But it's only because modern historians automatically connect parachutes with flying machines and remain whuffoly ignorant of anything that happened prior.

Taken a step further it's safe to say that while the first parachute jumps ever made were from fixed objects, when the fossil fuels are all gone, the last parachute jumps ever made will also be from fixed objects . . .

Nick
BASE 194

Someone got there, that was my point it does not really matter which came first, the fact is we have 2 great sports which are inextricably linked and long do I hope they continue to be.

Cheers

Fraser

somewhat related as i believe have seen a few painting but cant recall where of chinese 'jumpers' going off cliffs with multiple large baskets/umbrella's in their hands... I'm I just imagining this or has anyone else seen these?

an even older history of BASE?

Death or Slower Death . . .

Chinese War Lords, in the 15th century, took the idea of parachutes used by high flying acrobats a step further. They tied the small parachutes to vanquished enemy prisoners and then tossed them off steep cliffs to their deaths. This may have been just an amusing (for the War Lords) spectator sport, or it may have been a way to prolong the agony of the condemned.

Nick
BASE 194

im a skydiver that loves to see whats going on with BASE and watch vid's/see pics, although i doubt i will ever partake in it.

That's what I said for years...

...and just recently discovered something that excites and charges me even more than skydiving... And skydiving has obviously entertained me.

Never say never.

Chris

Chris I'm sorry we never got a chance to jump that tower. There I was making the decision that the winds were wrong and thinkin' we'd have a chance to go back and hit it another day. It's not going anywhere, I told you... and you agreed.

If I'd known then - what I know now - I'd have made you grab your rig and we'd have gone up there and done it anyway. More than likely we'd have been alright. Then again, hindsight's always crystal.

Godspeed Chris!

Gardner

BSBD for Chris (GroundZero). I never got to meet him, but I'm guessing that he was liked by many.

That's serious understatement, in so many ways.

A true friends spirit lives on in each of us that they have touched.

Some words that have helped me with loss in the past:

"Do not stand at my grave and weep,
I am not there, I do not sleep.
I am the essence of clear blue sky;
I am the yearning to climb very high.
I am the breeze you feel as you spot;
I am the rapture of building a blot.
I am the rustle of a canopy in flight;
I am the flicker of camp fire light.
When you pass through the door into open
air,
I know you are smiling, I'm the wind in
your hair.
Do not stand at my grave and cry.
I am not there; I did not die.

-Allen Roulston, June 1996"


Modify as you see fit to apply to the BASE enviornment, the meaning is the same.

Cool cat for sure. A very giving individual at so many levels.

I'm just a babe in BASE, and I may be an anomaly here, but I enjoy both skydiving AND BASE without prejudice toward either. The mere fact that I am fortunate enough to be ambulatory and able to participate in both sports is enough to make me grin from ear to ear. Taking things slowly enough in both sports to learn all I can and be as safe and knowledgable as possible is my main concern...that and having fun with fantastic people. It's a bond we all share, whether we acknowledge it or not.