Basejumper.com - archive

This started as a reply to Nick's post in the Credibility thread, but I figure this is different enough to split off into a new thread.

I am not making an argument for any of the points below; I am just curious to know what you guys think.

So here's a question for all the people out there. BASE has changed over the years, for better or worse, and the sport will continue to change. So, hypothetically, what do you believe is the "ideal" form of BASE jumping? Do you see a "golden age" of BASE jumping as something in the future, or as something that has come and gone? Would you like to see the sport revert back to complete secrecy, or would you rather jump in a time when everything has been made completely legal? Do you think BASE would be better if you had unfettered access to every object imaginable, or would you prefer that there be no legal objects at all? Would you prefer if BASE jumping became 100% safe, or would you want it to become more dangerous? Is the ideal somewhere in between all these extremes? Where do you see this sport going, and where would you like to see it go?

For that matter, I occasionally see mention of things being "Good for BASE." But what does that mean to you? What of the above do you see as being good for BASE, and what- as bad?

Anybody who's having trouble making BASE dangerous enough isn't trying very hard. One is always free to take a deeper delay, use a smaller pilot chute, rig blindfolded, leave their armour at home, wait for ugly weather -- no need to put it on a "wish list".

I always find it a little melodramatic when somebody decries the end of the golden age of BASE. Without excluding the possibility that things are different in a handful of places (and I'm sure lots of folks will chime in that theirs is one of them), I expect the enormous majority of jumpers live in a place where they could, if they chose to, exist more or less as though they were the only jumper in the world. I know I always have. If, in that sort of environment, your enjoyment of BASE is contingent on what somebody else does or believes, that's a choice you are making.

As to legality, which is one thing we don't generally control (an objective hazard, I guess), my world would only be made better if I had the option of heading out to an antenna on a sunny afternoon to do a couple of jumps.

Edit to add: The idea that something could be "good for BASE", incidentally, is one that's always bugged me, much like the idea of "good for Canada" or "the Republicans' fault". People ascribe all kinds of crap to abstract entities, and it's just stupid and unproductive in my opinion. We'd all do much better, I think, to ask about what's good for me, or good for me, you, and him, or whatever. Keep it specific, and you keep it honest.

 
[applause]Good. [/applause]

"good" would be a permit-legal Yosemite