Basejumper.com - archive

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...&in_page_id=1770

ive been on that nice

True. And that's a good thing?

Great jump from a great object. Shame he felt the need to take it to the press. Sounds like staff wouldn't have been any wiser if he hadn't.

ian

He looks like Quentin Terentino...

I've got the paper..there are some more pics I'll scan them in when I am free at lunch.

"There can be only one" a comment noted as been said by a very upset Mr. Felix B.

But seriously. Good job.

Ronald

>>>But seriously. Good job.
~But seriously...someone ought to break his fucking pull hand.
WTF!?
The thing that pisses me off the most is that no one would have known, and it was obviously repeatable, untill they made a point of telling security that they fuckt up.
I can understand a stunt like Jeb's and the Building in NY, No one is jumping it- it's a get it if you can jump. To that I say: Right on, good shit! But this shit?
fucking unbeleavable. i can't believe BASE jumpers would think that this is "cool."
~J

I agree with Jamie.
The result of his telling the press is now:
1) The security company gets atacked from everywhere and maybe they will punish the guards by fireing them.
2) The object is now burned and could have been jumped again
3) The jumper will probably get fined but at least he is famous...

Someone got tard and featherd some time ago for something more or less simular...

Make no mistake....this is one object that isn't getting flicked regularly. That's not to say it hasn't been in the past or won't be in the future, but bagging this object is almost certainly on par with the Empire state building or the needle shaped B in vegas in terms of the security surrounding it and the planning required.

Gary did well to pull the jump off at all. What is a shame is that he did such a good job, he could have gotten away absolutely clean with security either non the wiser or in total denial. Either way, his achievement would have been (in my eyes) even greater.

It is a shame that he feels the value of the jump is intriniscally linked with the amount of attention/notoriety he gains from it.

With regards, goading the security, this is not the first time this has happened in the UK. A very famous London building complex - successfully targetted by an IRA bomb in 1996, was jumped quite a few years ago with the jumpers getting away with just some late night drinkers spotting their activities.

The witnesses reported their account to a local newspaper who then questioned the building's security staff regarding the claims of unauthorised parachuting from the roof. The security personnel countered that there was absolutely no way their security had been breached and the witnesses were drunk and undoubtedly mistaken.

The very next day, a jumper contacted the newspaper and insisted that not only had the jump taken place, but that several buildings in the complex were being jumped regularly. He went on to scoff at the claims of the security staff and bragged at how much of a joke their security was, especially in light of the fact that it had previously been bombed by terrorists.

I think that was perhaps the dumbest thing i have EVER read coming from a BASE jumper.

Ego and stealth are simply incompatible, as is the case here.

ian

>>>Make no mistake....this is one object that isn't getting flicked regularly.
How would you know? It was obviously possible to do without being noticed.J ust because you haven't been invited doesn't mean it isn't being done. *It's called a secret*
I don't know of anyone jumping it ....but then, why would I?
~J

Yeah, now I work near that building and spend a lot of time staring at it. Even though I work in a very tall building right nearby, I can't get out onto the roof because security is very tight. I'm sure it's not all down to that report (I remember reading about it in the paper at the time and it sounded a bit arrogant, almost like they were peed that they didn't get caught)

Fortunately I'm several hundred skydives from my first BASE, but I'm pretty sure I'll never get to jump any of these buildings.

I back Gary fully, Gary took it to the press because that is how he makes his living. Just like when he jump Nelsons Column none of you were jumping them, very very few were ever capable of getting a look in, so don't be pissed that someone else is out there pushing this sport to the level it deserves. Security would always have seen the landing. The object was always a one shot deal. The only other time it has been jump was while it was still under construction. I believe it was done in very good taste as are all Garys jumps.

Gaps in security should be highlighted, maybe Gary has just made a major national attraction safer for all who visit it.............

All in all well done Gary

Greeny

as an aussie living in england who was at a pub tonight while people were reading the local paper
I can tell you now what the local impression is of a base jumper

its a person who swims in the most polluted water (the thames river) to climb out in a water proof suit (yes I know what its called I've been diving since i was 8 years old ) to climb up on an object illegally to wait all night till there is maximum viewers then to jump off (doing a hop and pop, so maximum viewers can see maximum canopy ride) wearing a dinner suit and to land near by in front of the cameras so you can submit your photo's to the local papers so everyone can think every base jumper is the same.

now is every base jumper the same?
you tell me its not up to me to decide its up to the local news papers to tell us.

Surely harder = more of a challenge = better when it gets jumped

Not saying you should phone security and mark your jump in thier calendar but I bet lots of you would enjoy it less if security took you to the top in a lift.

Regarding the media coverage of skydiving/base jumping, for once the full page "story" in the Daily Mail was a positive note.

The photos and the text did not put base jumping in a bad light as previous reporting has done so.

It was a nice article to read for a change!

Liz

Sorry, I may have confused things by not quoting. I was replying to Sabre210's post about another jump a couple of years back.

Security were actively denying the jump, swearing blind it could not have happened. The jumper's contacted the local paper and explained exactly how and when they did it. Since then, they've rectified the blind spot on the security cameras and patrols are now far more aggressive. you can't even take photographs here anymore (and that was before 7/7)

Video here http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/basejump.shtml

From the end of the article, in case you missed it:

"Gary now plans to jump from a plane one mile up with no parachute. He hopes to land safely using only a wingsuit - a specially made jumpsuit which contains wings - a feat that has never been attempted before.

He is now looking for sponsorship to make the attempt possible, and hopes an aviation company will back him."

I don't know this fellow, or agree with how he day-blazed this jump, but the story called him a "stuntman" and over the years we've had more than a few out-of-work or beginning stuntmen who use BASE jumping to gain publicity for themselves. And most of them don't go as well as this one did. Often a stuntman knows there's a part coming up in a movie involving parachutes and these are what can be termed, "guerrilla auditions."

In the late 1980s there was a "stuntman wannabe" who jumped San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. But like many stuntman who had a lot a mad skills posted on their resumes he wasn't really proficient with them all, and especially he knew nothing about BASE jumping. Using non-BASE gear (round military equipment) he became snagged and hanging from the bridge after the wind got the better of him. He finally hand deployed his round reserve (chest mounted) and cutaway his main before landing in the water below. The way this works is the "film" then makes the rounds in Hollywood where standing out in a crowd is the only way to get noticed.

There was another stuntman in the early 90s but this one actually called me for some assistance. This time its San Diego and he wanted to jump from the Coronado Bridge but he'd never made a BASE jump before. After I explained the high security and the low height of the bridge, plus the landing in a Bay that can be cold and rough, I told him with no BASE experience there was no way I'd help him. But he went and did it anyway.

It actually went pretty well considering. He hired a stretch white limo and clinging to the trunk lid came speeding across the bridge, in broad daylight, and leapt over the rail with the limo going about 50 mph. He deployed a square (he got somewhere?) while very unstable and landed pretty much out of control, but okay, in the water.

Probably, in both the above cases, these guys got their chances in the movies. And if you follow along long enough, this Brit will most likely get his shot too.

Not all professional stuntman are so flippant about BASE. David Nunn, who was a working stuntman really got into BASE and went on to do some amazing gags, but he had the jumping background and his reels protected sites and other BASE jumpers, so there is a way to do it right . . .

NickD
BASE 194

Tim R. comes immediately to mind. I've often wondered if his absolutely low key BASE approach comes from the fact that he's already on the big screen doing what all the Mt. Dew drinking teens want to do, or if perhaps he just wants to keep the recreational parts of his life separate from his work.

And Dave B. too . . . A real class act.

NickD
BASE 194

I just saw that golden gate bridge incident on a special called "when stunts go wrong". I couldn't stop calling him a fucking idiot for about 5 minutes. He jumped a round, in a head wind, from the top of a beam. Opened great and he floated backwards right into the beam. Like you said, he got stuck and deployed his reserve which worked out alright. Lucky bastard.

thats why they call them "stunt-men"...

Why is that? Stunt people are just like us, calculated risk. This guy was a daredevil fool, not a stuntman.

its all about perspective my man...perspective

I wouldn't call him a wannabe. According to his IMDB entry, he's being doing professional stunts on screen since 1999. His website is http://www.thestuntbase.com. He's also been doing BASE for quite a while.

Are you talking about the black and white footage of Don Broyles?

The footage I saw was color. It was an olive drab round. Not close enough to tell what type of container, but he had two canopies.

You ever opened an object Jamie?

You know what's coming next? How do you know? What makes you think the thing you just jumped for (what you think is) the first time, wasn't jumped twice the night before?

Because all the evidence points to the contrary. It's a small world, word gets around and if you ask enough questions and keep your ears open, and are generally active in your area, you generally know.

If you don't have faith in that then the 'ask the locals' idea just took a dive right out the window.

Gary did astonishingly well to bag this jump. No question about it. Hats off to the guy. Unlike Greeny though, i didn't think taking it to the press was done in good taste. I thought it was tacky and cheapened an otherwise brilliant achievement.

However, seeing it through his eyes, as a stuntman, it undoubtedly looks good on his CV and must add kudos and credibility to him in his chosen profession.

With that in mind, maybe i was wrong to attribute it to simple ego. Bankability as a stuntman is a far greater motive for sure.

ian

jamie has never opened an object and sold it out. he would never sell it to the media. he has more class than this guy in a tux 10 fold.

>It's a small world, word gets around and if you ask enough questions and keep your ears open, and are generally active in your area, you generally know.
~ Well some secrets are better kept than others.
"generally"
I didn't mean to hurt your feelings by suggesting that maybe it's happens, but you haven't been envited.
"my bad"
~J

You're arguing the wrong case with the wrong fella here and skirting the point i made.

Using the logic that BASE is secretive and therefore no one knows everything about what gets jumped and when and by whom, leads you to ask how would you ever be able to claim you opened an object or were the first to do anything?


Simple. You can't. Because the moment you make that claim, along come the people who say 'well how do you know, it might have been done in secret' despite the fact that all the evidence might support your claim, you simply can't side step the 'how do you know for sure' element.

Now getting back to the inital point, all i ever said was that the London Eye wasn't getting jumped regularly, and i'll be even braver and say if at all. Jumping the London Eye is a major undertaking. It's not some rural A which can be flicked night after night without anyone knowing any better - just as I'm sure the ESB in NYC isn't.

Gary did well and anyone who's ever been and looked at it would agree on that.

What followed the jump remains controversial to say the least.

ian

>>I wouldn't call him a wannabe.<<

Good call, Craig. I actually thought there was something familiar about him, and after looking at the tape again, I'm sure I've seen him at some BASE event or another.

NickD
BASE 194

Couple of things.

Ian is about as "local" in London as anyone can claim to be; I reckon he would have a better-than-most idea of what is and isn't getting jumped. Of course this is merely my opinion.

Two things going on in this discussion; separate them and the issue goes away:

1) Did Gary execute an exquisite plan to get himself off a very technical object? Hell yes.

2) Did Gary then go and become a media whore to further his career? Also hell yes.

You can argue point two as long as you like, but it doesn't take away from point one.

Ivan is right, show more respect to Britain's top BASE jumper.

http://www.positive-design.co.uk/SBASE/contact.htm

Nice, now anyone who wishes can give him a buzz ant let him know exactly how they feel.
~J

Going of BH on a mountain bike? I thought that was Rodger.

http://news.sky.com/...ejump_280406,00.html

ts been done a few times...GC did it...DT did it and Roger did it too