Almost, the First Nugget . . .
We used to laugh when a reporter or policeman would say about BASE that it was a new sport. Well, now I can officially proclaim it old because, sitting here, I can't recall if it was Moe Viletto or me, that came up with the phrase, "That's a nugget."
I'm pretty sure it was me.
I remember the night well enough, it was 1988, or so, and we are peering over the 34th floor of an under-construction building in San Diego. The night is reeking of wet cement but it seemed like perfume to us. (Girls, take note). It was one of those nights where it wasn't too windy to outright call it, but it was too windy to just go. We laid prone. The four of us, sticking our heads out under the safety cables. Like ducks in the slaughter house.
"If you watch," Moe said, "there's a lull every once in a while."
What did he think we were doing? I was watching everything. It was getting towards three in the morning and people are still walking (or staggering) down the street. I was looking at the spot I wanted to land. And thinking how different it was from the DZ. Even if you are doing accuracy, at hop and pop altitude, you're just imagining the peas. Here I was looking right at the spot where I wanted to put my feet. And if my feet went somewhere else it would mean something went wrong. It could be a little wrong, or a big wrong. But wrong is wrong.
And then Moe goes, "What did you say?"
But because I half thought it and half spoke it, "Wrong is wrong," didn't become the first nugget.
Instead I mumbled, "If the wind keeps coming like now I'm going."
Buildings are the whores of B.A.S.E. objects. An easy climb over a cyclone fence and a jaunty walk up some flights of stairs and you're there. And that was the issue. It would be here tomorrow night, and the next, and the next. For a while anyway.
"I'd go with 5 to about 7 right down this way," someone said.
"I'll take ten, this way, if it's steady," said another.
And we waited . . .
"The only wind I like," said Lane Kent, "is no wind."
And we all suddenly just looked at each other.
Until I added, " . . . That's a nugget."
And that's how - the only good wind is no wind -became the very first nugget.
I sometimes fear nuggets are going by the wayside, but since BASE is ever expanding that can't be.
Here's the best one I heard lately on this new board.
"Trying BASE without trying skydiving, in my opinion, is like skipping beer and pot and going straight to meth or smack." - GreenMachine
That's a nugget . . .
And I've got my own list of them, but I'm saving those for the book . . .
Here's the Wiki list.
http://www.basewiki.com/...ki.php/Other/Nuggets
More?
NickD
BASE 194