Basejumper.com - archive

...curious to read other views...

you asked, so you go first....

Ability to ejaculate ballistically.

The stereotype, unfortunately is that we are a bunch of reckless wankers out to kill our self before our time. The truth of the matter is, most BASE jumpers are considerably more safety conscience than your average skydiver. In order to be a good BASE jumper, it is not enough to just be a good jumper, skill will only get you so far. You must also possess the ability to back down in the face of your peers, and not succumb to peer pressure, be able to interpret the weather, judge winds (and know how to disseminate the data as it pertains to jumping) possess the skills of most senior riggers, be fluid, and able to safely improvise, and demonstrate the skills of the most highly trained cat burglar. (Most building jumps require the same amount of planning as a high end jewel theft)
I would say that we as a whole have been given a bad wrap. In the beginning BASE seemed crazy, but so did skydiving when it first peeked its head out from under the aviation rock. And now that BASE is finished cutting its teeth, and equipment related fatalities and on a downslide, people will be able to see more clearly what BASE truely is.

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i would say.. male.. young.. reckless.. rebellious.. dangerous..

by far this is not the case and is actually quite opposite to current general BASE practice.

She's not asking what the truth is; she's asking what the stereotypes are.

I'd add "crazy."

rl

Yo!

Stereotype is an adrenaline junkie.

Truth is a seriously fucked up adrenaline junkie.

bsbd!

Yuri.

That has not been my experience.

Look at all of the one liners today.


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I have a few friends that have told me I am suicidal. It was not until I had them watch me pack and talked to them for a while and they final realized how much preparation and safety awareness actually goes into each jump. They thought I just grabbed my chute and threw myself off stuff. I think it’s pretty clear that the general public knows very little about BASE, so things like Nick’s talk on press releases about legal jumping are a good idea. Its just like anything that is not mainstream, people have no idea so they build their own ideas and perceptions from what they see and hear, especially when what they hear is primary about the negative (accidents and rescues).

that's the stereotype, but it's about right isn't it? Maybe not a bullseye but pretty close to centre.

fearless?

That's what we do isn't it? Endless poetry and philosophy aside, doesn't it all just boil down to jumping off shit with a chute, or am I missing something here.

Spot on. You hit it.

Fearless. That's the biggest stereotype. Basejumpers are fearless.

Hung like an elephant.....rinnnnnnng...oh shit is that my alarm?Time to get up already...

seriously though...stereotypes?All BASE jumpers are normal.

Well, checking landing areas for saftey, wind conditions, understadning what PC to use for for what delays......yada yada yada, that kinda deal.

Coco

Your own abilities & talents do not necessarily negate $kin's general observation.

Uh...

Given that I am not a base jumper (or a boy), my abilities and talents have nothing to do with it.

<pulls out clipboard> If, however, you want to gather together a group of likely test subjects, I will positively revel in being proven wrong.

Voyeristically yours,

rl

I don't talk about BASE to whuffos and most skydivers because I'm sick of hearing about my "Death Wish".

I hate this one, since it's all about experiencing life to me.

-Mindless, reckless, aesthetically unappealing, conductive metallic endowed, non athletic, adrenaline monkey, that maintains his/her abilities to move out with a purpose with greater than or equal to 180 Square feet of uncontained silk, in hiking boots and assorted armor, and cram in greater than or equal to two more people than the vehicle is manufactured to carry, not once thinking about wiping feet or seatbelts.

This doesn’t even count what happened to cause the “move out with a purpose” in the first place.

I made the mistake of showing some family members Continuum 2 on Thanksgiving...

A couple of them were really interested, and the rest spent the entire time arguing with me that "anyone could strap a parachute to their back and do that (BASE)... as long as they're stupid enough", and "you don't have any control over where you go when you're falling". When I asked them how they thought the jumpers were getting away from the objects in freefall, they said "the wind blows them away".

They even went as far as to pretty much call me a moron for skydiving.

do I smell another nugget?

I deffinately smell something
~J

My experience has been that if you depict the sport to your friends and relative in a positive, calculated way and that you keep the technical mumbo jumbo out of it, most people will really respect what I do.

Heck people at work just ask me on Mondays: " Hey Chris did you go jumping this weekend?"
and I Just reply: " yeah I went jumping, was lots of fun... what did you do this weekend?"

Most people are quite ok with it because I depict it as a sport and not a wacko activity.
Of course I get the occasional "You are crazy man!" But since most people know me as a reserved, shy, calculated, professional type of guy, they figure it can't be that crazy if I partake in it.

that was me. Sorry. Pardon me!

You all have convinced me... I'm going to convince everyone it's only for the athlete with an extreme death wish. At least, hopefull it'll slow the rate of entry of more people wanting to come to the local objects.

Wow that sux. I've got it good though. My parents are fine with my skydiving (my dad jumps too), they are also ok with my BASE jumping (my dad has two at BD and might get into it) and my GF is ok with it too and actually wants to come watch some time. Rest of the family only knows about skydiving



Coco

As far as I am concerned, they are people with an extreme LIFE-WISH.