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"If" the finger scan requirement went away, would you go to Bridge Day in West Virginia or stay committed to Twin Falls?

Bridge Day doesn't deserve our presence this year, regardless of any rule changes. And now they're trying to bring in a skydiving team to replace us:

https://www.facebook.com/bridgedaywv?fref=nf

I suggest everyone contact the All Veteran Parachute Team with your thoughts.

Will they be fingerprinted ?

Will they have permits for the "Arial Delivery" or liability insurance?

i think that's awesome. now they have to pay a team for one demonstration jump. not 6 hours of continuous entertainment that made them money.

good luck.

i will never go back.

I might go back to the NRGB,

but Not during BD 2015 because

that is not the decision WE made.

If I'm not the only jumper there, maybe. But then again, I'm a newer jumper and the profile of the object is useful to me and it is actually within driving distance from where I live.

By the looks of it, everyone is already set on Twin Falls this year though. So hopefully there will be a BASE event at the bridge in WV next year :)

https://www.facebook.com/allveteranparachuteteam

Just exactly who is this group? No secret that there is a boycott of this event. Another fine example of what is so Fucking wrong with Skydiving in general. A group is going to undermine this boycott by going there and attempting to exploit it for their own personal benefit. Nice job!

 

 

Someone who is a Golden Knight and knows the All Veteran Parachute team posted this to my facebook page in my response to my disgust of The all Veterans Parachute team supporting the Bridgeday Commission.

"To put my last comment on this subject, I know for a fact that they had already signed a contract to participate at the event before it was ever brought up or mentioned about the fingerprinting. If they back out there in violation of the contract which makes them look very bad. And if they show up it makes them look bad in the jumpers eyes.
The jumpers cannot sue them because of their boycott but the promoters and sponsors can."

IF this is true, it lends a very different light on the subject. I may still disagree with them going forward with the jump but, if it was me in that position, I would have explained the situation upfront and made sure there wasn't a misunderstanding of it. Certainly not necessary but sure would have made it look better. And yes, I would have honored the agreement and gone ahead with it.

If it is true. The All Veteran Parachute team needs to address and come out with a statement. That it is wrong to single out and discriminate against a group of people (BASE Jumpers). To ask that The Bridgeday commission squash finger scanned background checks.

If that is true, then why did the Police State Bridge Commission wait until yesterday to announce it on its FB page?


44

I'm sure the local news media will interview the parachute team following their demo jump. This would be the perfect time for them to explain why there are no BASE jumpers this year, because of the 250,000 people who attend Bridge Day, only the 400 or so athletes would be finger printed. We were being treated like criminals, and terrorists, which we are not.
~981

In contract law the parties abide by the contract. If the contract was changed after the fact then the parties have the opportunity to redress the issues. The changes must be made in 'good faith', without undue influence and unconscionability.

There options include:
A) Agree to the new terms without modification
B) Counteroffer - with new terms
C) Voiding of the contract
D) Do nothing (which is agreeing)

I just spoke with the former head of the Bridge Day Commission (through November 2014) and she never heard of the All Veteran Parachute Team. She reports that she would have known if a contract was ever signed. So, "adammystc", I'd love to hear more about how they signed a contract before the fingerprinting plan became an issue. Or, to get right to the point, why are you lying about this? To save face?

Plus, we were just told that Sharon Cruikshank (the new head of the Bridge Day Commission - long after the fingerprint issue was public) actually signed them.

It took Larry Lemaster YEARS to get the OK to do a parachute jump during Bridge Day. The first year he did it, we had to get Bridge Day Commission approval and it had to be worked into my NPS landing zone special permit. Tons of paperwork and preparation, with approvals required every year.

Now, they say they did this BEFORE the fingerprinting issue came about. Impossible. The Bridge Day Commission would have asked for the BASE Jumping Coordinator's approval before they ever asked a skydiving team to attend (in order to not affect the BASE jumping timeline). How do I know this? The BD Commission routinely made sure I had no conflict with Larry's single parachute jump over the last 3 years or so.

Why would they hire another skydiving team when Larry did it for free and EVERYONE praised him year after year. The BD Commission knows Larry and I are out, so they just signed this guy up.

Show me a copy of their contract with the BD Commission.

Not even listed on their webpage...

BURN!!!!

I have invited the person that is stating All Veteran Parachute Team knew nothing about the prints before they signed on to join our conversation here on the forum.

You previously said that YOU knew for a fact the All Veteran Parachute Team signed up before the fingerprinting was an issue. Now, you are deflecting things onto another person?

Either way, this skydiving team apparently did zero research on Bridge Day prior to signing up.

it looks like the "i know for a fact" section of his post was the quote from his fb page (should have had quotes around it) and he has invited the person that made that post to join our lovely discussion

My apologies I forgot to put quotes on another persons statement. I have invited that person to our forum to engage in this conversation.

Another thing. I have posted my thoughts to there FB page. They won't respond to me but they did respond to my gf. Please go to the FB page and voice your opinions please. Maybe they will respond to others.

https://www.facebook.com/allveteranparachuteteam

OK, makes more sense now. Sounded like you were the one who was making that statement.

Again my apologies and sorry for the confusion. I edited my original post to include the quotes.

OK, I have invited the person to this forum. He signed up for an account and it says he has to wait 3 days to post. Who do I have to contact to get this user approved? His user name is gregwindmiller. If anyone knows an admin to Basejumper.com please forward this request over to them.

Until then here is his latest post to my Facebook account. I put quotes in this time to not confuse anyone on this forum.

Greg Windmiller "I tried to comment but apparently you need to be on there for 3 days before you can post.
Please relay my reply to those who seem so sure that "everyone is evil" and the ones that have nothing better to do than to try and discredit people and prove everyone wrong.
I personally spoke with the president of the All Veterans Parachute Team today. I informed him of all of this negativity and the fingerprinting boycott uproar.
First you have to understand that there are more entities here than just the bridge day commission. There are more sponsors than just the bridge day representatives.
The AVPT and the Golden Knights have been friends with an organization in West Virginia for many years. An organization that are huge supporters of the military. They are the ones that asked the team to participate to show a presence of a US Armed Forces veterans. This was all done and agreed to before anyone knew of any fingerprinting going on. The team is already committed to being there and performing no matter what "security measures" (or whatever it is they are calling it) that the organizer decides to instill or utilize.
While I don't agree or believe in it, the simple answer to me is to just not attend.
To say that someone from the parachute team should come forward and make a statement in regards to the fingerprinting is not practical and of they did this it would not only be out of line but unprofessional. No one wants to be the Kanye West of skydiving.
Not every single event is on the AVPT calendar. They sometimes conduct 2-3 operations in the same day with multiple teams.
I am not trying to defend the bridge day Libtards but I am and will defend my brothers and sisters on the AVPT.
Thank you for allowing me to try and discuss this. I appreciate your professionalism handling this and I appreciate your time.
Blue Skies buddy."

I know there are lots of emotions here. But lets try to be as objective as possible if we want to be respected as a logical entity. We were not singled out. The rappelers and vendors also are subject to the finger printing. The difference is that we are the ones doing something about it.

Which "organization" in West Virginia asked the All Veteran Parachute Team to come to Bridge Day long ago? No one but the Bridge Day Commission can issue a contract to perform at Bridge Day.

I love the fact that it took Larry Lemaster and I years to get an approval to do one parachute jump, despite the concerns of many law enforcement. Now, it's the first thing booked this year!

Maybe it's because it'll be the only thing that is booked this year.

Firstly, It's inconceivable that they could make it this far without being aware of the issues at hand (they have been hotly debated since BD2014). Secondly, There is absolutely zero chance we would ever be considered in their decision making process (now or in the future).
They are a Skydiving Demo team, they make skydives to entertain the crowd. It's asinine to think that their priorities/values would ever parallel ours and it's borderline retarded to expect any tangible support from them.

cut their fucking bridles!

Holy shit people. It's not a conspiracy. Who really cares if a skydiving group is going to jump in there? If anything, it'll just prove how lame the event is without the BASE jumpers. Everybody calm down, let's all go to Twin Falls and have a good time. Bridge Day NRGB is already looking at its own demise because of their decisions. Case. Closed.

^yes, this!!!!!!!!!!!
fuck em.
lets go have our own fun, where were appreciated.

Greg Windmiller:
When was the AVPT first approached about the jump and when was the contract signed?

Amen. They are a demo team. They do their bit for freedom, liberty, the right of the state to indefinitely detain without trial etc after they have been paid to perform.

 

 

Well if you raise any money the homeless in tf will be stoked

And definitely include this link with your correspondence... that way, the AVG folks can see how to handle matters of principle.


44

And still no official statement, copy of their pre-fingerprinting contract, or reply to my email from the All Veteran Parachute Team.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that. Their brotherhood is different to ours. Hence the "don't hold your breath waiting for their support" in something that really doesn't even involve/affect them. I'm betting if the tables were turned they would have refused the contract.

Continuing to play devil's advocate here - and I say this with nothing but love for everyone on here - but didn't this thing start because we wanted freedom to do what we wanted? Isn't that the whole point? Nobody can tell us where to jump without getting fingerprinted, prodded up the butt hole, etc.? Then why are we up in arms when another group decides to do what they want and skydive into Bridge Day. Let's not be hypocrites. Freedom means EVERYBODY gets to do whatever they want. Don't turn into the NRGB Commission. We're right now trying to tell another group of jumpers not to jump...let that sink in.

 

If they're vets then aren't they, by default, part of the police state. After all their military equipment gets passed down to the local police to be used to quell the uppity peasants.

 

Well said and to add one more point, read Department of Homeland Surveillance "literature" and you will see that vets are the people most feared by the police state because they have military training and may actually want to enjoy the freedoms they thought their service would maintain when they joined up.

That is what's most problematic about the AVG decision to support the Police State Bridge Commission's jihad against freedom -- these "patriots" are pooping on the very principles they served to uphold and now use to sell their product.

Methinks that stinks
And ranks with the skanks
Who pretend to be vets when they ain't.


44

"all vets are just that, vets, I'd be hesitant to lump them into the police state group by default"

isnt that what you did?

"they chose to abandon their fellow jumpers and side with the police state"

"they should be tar & feathered the same as any other jumper would have been, the fact that they use their previous job history as a marketing tool makes no difference to me, their actions and decisions define who they are, police state supporters"

And "We are all jumpers, we all share that unique bond with each other, I would have expected more support from fellow jumpers"

I would suggest a group of professional skydivers are miles away from a bunch of BASE jumpers

 

You chuckleheads are getting all lathered up over a completely unrelated issue.

In military parlance, it's called mission creep.

These are a solid group of cats - doing what they do. They don't, and shouldn't be pressured to, represent BASE jumpers as we make a very profound statement about the state of affairs in WV.

One demo jump does not BD make. I find it misguided to pile onto these dudes for our cause. It's our cause, our protest, and the results will be crippling to the BD commission.

Stay focused and don't go full douche attacking a well-intentioned group whose agenda is completely unrelated to ours. The only correlation here is nylon over our heads.

You only do harm to the overriding statement by sounding like a bunch of assclowns attacking a highly reputable veteran advocacy group.

And if you don't like that very objective opinion - eat a dick. See you in Twin.

You win all of the forum points for the day! Well said.

See you in Twin.

I personally have no problem with any person
or group(s) of people making SKY jumps in WV.

I do hope that the next legal BASE jump made
from the NRGB happens in 2016, because it
means we stood together as a group, and our
polite request to treat us 400 people who pay
to attend, the same or better than 200,000
strangers who don't pay to attend the event
yet have the same ability to harm others.

Thank you for putting this much more eloquent than I. Because these have been some of the dumbest, most one sided, ignorant comments I've seen on this forum. And I've been here for a minute. To everyone else- stop giving fucks about skydivers. Holy fuck. Go jump, or get laid. It's obvious you're not getting either

Unrelated issue? Parachutes at Bridge Day are now unrelated? Have you forgotten that during the last three BD events, Larry Lemaster skydived with a large American flag? Larry and I put a lot of time and effort into making that happen. Special NPS permits had to be reworked and it took well over a year to get the first approval. We put ourselves out there at great risk.

Larry told the BD Commission to take a hike this year, so they hire this Veteran group to replace him. It's NOT an unrelated issue. Whatever happened to supporting our brothers and sisters in the parachuting world? Parafrog, you're way wrong here.

No worries though, I'm not losing any sleep over this thing. I'm done with BD anyway. However, it's just very disappointing to give the BD Commission anything, even if it's a 2 minute skydiving exhibition.

Then by all means run with it Jason, you guys will run this into the fucking ground. Bullying these guys is a PR abortion.

I get your passion, really I do, but in this instance you're gonna have to step back and allow them (BDC) their efforts at spin control. Keep focused and watch them fail.

Or turn us into the bad guys, which is what will happen.

No one is bullying them.

Looking completely objectively at the dialog back and forth with AVP - yeah dude, it's very easy - especially to say - the press - to see it as accusatory bullying.

Seriously, that's precisely what it looks like.

It's a stupid approach. Plain and simple. If we are reduced to stomping our feet and requiring solidarity of every peripheral organization associated with BD - it shouts that our cause doesn't have its own legs to stand on.

And allows us to be marginalized and vilified by the same forces we're fighting against.

It looks like amateur hour up in this bitch. Seriously.

You're a military guy. I get it. That's likely why you're siding with this group of folks who coincidentally signed up to jump at BD 2015 (with full prior knowledge of the fingerprinting boycott, so I have since heard). Sorry, I just can't take anything you say seriously at this point.

I'm still waiting for an official statement from the Vets. Silence isn't helping their cause. If they refused to jump at BD 2015, it would have helped our cause.

Agreed 100%. And if you can't objectively understand this mans argument you need to take a step back for a second and think it through.

The premise is this people: nobody has the right and or privilege to control the actions of others. BDC doesn't have the right to fingerprint base jumpers based off the 4th and 14th amendments. We do not have a right to stop these skydivers from jumping into BD. Holy fuck balls

Nice solid, reasonable position Jason. But I won't completely shit on your responses because you're not a veteran. I did however just lose about 90% of the respect I had for you - which was significant - for such an asinine statement.

Your focusing, scratch that, obsessing, with what BD15 will look like is taking away from the resources that should be focused on TOBD15.

What does the date they agreed to a contract have to do with the event in Twin that should be the focus? It doesn't.

While your opinions on this are noted, your bias because of the shit you've been through are clouding and compromising the major statement. Yours and a few others' input has to be weighted for the fact that you're way too emotionally invested in "fuck da police."

But if you want to paint this effort as a bunch of angry fucks with a personal agenda willing to call out other organizations - I won't be the only one pulling my support. And I'm working pretty diligently with the other locals behind the scenes in Idaho to make shit awesome in October.

Get me lumped in as a Vet-bashing douchebag because it's some right you have to know when AVP signed contracts - and you get the buddy-fucker trophy of the year.

Again. Agreed

Well no shit, Sherlock.......we know we don't have a right to stop this skydiving team from jumping at Bridge Day 2015. But is it now "uncool" to ask them to support our cause? For most of my jumping career, I actually thought jumpers supported jumpers? I guess I was wrong.

Just imagine what the spectators will think when they arrive at the event with parachutes in the air. They will think we gave in. The Bridge Day Commission's goal is to keep parachutes at the event, one way or another, and this skydiving team is helping them meet that goal.

What's next? Perhaps some energy drink can cut a deal with the BD Commission for a few BASE jumps from the bridge because, ya know, it'll only be a few parachutes in the sky.

Tell you what I can do. I'll fire off an email to AVP - from one vet to another - telling them they have my full support to do whatever the fuck they want, and they shouldn't feel any responsibility whatsoever to answer to this cause. Wish them good luck and to have fun. Since I have exactly as much influence over their decisions as you do. That's not true - I speak the language.

This isn't their fight.

Looks like we'll agree to disagree, but you don't speak for me - so I got this. They probably won't discount what I have to say because I'm in the military.

Then why are we still arguing this?

Here's the bottom line people. And this is going to hurt our feelings a little bit so get ready. 99% of the worlds population couldn't give two fucks about base jumpers getting finger printed at bridge day. They couldn't give one fuck neither. IN FACT, most people are probably MORE concerned with the well being of veterans than the well being of our biometric data. So if you wanted to play this smart, you would support these people as opposed to ostracize them.

Just because we're pissed about something doesn't mean anybody else has to be pissed about it. Why aren't you up in arms over veteran issues? Because you don't give two rat fucks. And that's your right. We as a community tend to be VERY myopic. And it lands us here. With nobody outside of the community giving rat fucks.

Anyway. I'Be just had my first alcoholic beverage in several months. Jack and coke. It's delicious. I'm going to continue enjoying this. Goodnight all.

Jason, again, well done on all your hard work over the years on bridge day. A feat of management not to be underestimated. But the gears are going in the right direction now. Let it go

Not sure where you got that idea from.

That's a given. Wouldn't be surprised if it happens this year even.

Gah, sorry the logical fallacy/hypocrisy here is driving me crazy. I can spin this argument around, 'I thought Americans supported Americans?' I guess I was wrong. Point being. Nobody has to care about our cause.

And imagining what the spectators will think and that we have in? Are our egos really that inflated that we genuinely think people will approach this as such? See post above. Most people couldn't care less about base jumpers and their biometric record data.

Here Jason - your voice was heard. Now mine has been as well.

Brothers and Sisters of the AVG,

My name is CPT Chris Harvey, former Jarhead, current AC Army. I’m a skydiving instructor and an avid BASE jumper as well. I have been privy to the contentious discussions in the BASE community about your participation in Bridge Day 2015.

As you now know, the BASE community has organized a protest to the policies at Bridge Day and are essentially boycotting the event. You have been on the receiving end of some consternation from a few within our community, but I am writing to represent a very vocal group who dissent from that approach and wish you all the best in your endeavors.

You do great work, please continue to do so while our typically dysfunctional family sorts things out. Ignore the noise, as those pressuring you for an imagined “solidarity,” appear to be in the minority. You owe nothing to our community and have the full support of many BASE jumpers.

Good luck and blue skies.

Semper Fi,
CPT Chris Harvey – BASE1232

....Drops mike.

Jason has my support on this one. I guess it's nice they can make money, as we all know skydivers are poor as shit, but this makes them douchy at the least.

I agree, but what people do care about is money which it seems we have a little control over (depending if we show up or not). This country's history has shown that american's basic human rights have to be fought for and money is the best weapon.

I think any jumping at BD this year will hurt our cause. I think there would be a big difference between zero jumpers and 10 jumpers be they base or sky.

The whole point of the boycott in my eyes is for us as a community to demand better treatment and to hopefully someday enjoy our freedom in the parks like we deserve, like everyone else. My dream is to jump in the parks whenever i want without being tazed or robbed or imprisoned. I will shun anyone that shows up and jumps at BD this year because i feel it will hurt my dream.

And we are taking up a collection to hire you for the other bridge day...

Captain Harvey,

You make some good points in a lathered up sort of way, but the fatal flaw in your presentation is that the opposite of mission creep is target fixation.

You are so fixated on defending your brothers in arms that you have lost sight of the larger picture, which is that you and they -- and I -- all took one of the following oaths when we joined the military:

"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God." (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

"I, _____ (SSAN), having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God." (DA Form 71, 1 August 1959, for officers.)

The Police State Bridge Commission is attacking the Constitution that we all swore to defend and that is why many of us feel it is particularly egregious that a demo team selling itself as military veterans who swore to support and defend the Constitution would "cross a picket line" composed of those who are in fact trying to do that very thing.

Carry on.


44

82d Abn/4th Mechanized Inf. (Ret.)

How are they attacking the Constitution?

Not necessarily defending them Robin, at a certain point they'll probably do what I would and tell you to go fuck yourselves. They're big boys. But thanks for making sure that thing I read 26 years ago makes sense now. You kill me sometimes with the theatrics. Makes me smile.

I'm defending the event in Twin, which is a solid piece of economic protest.

I just have a grasp on perception. This entire exercise will once again alienate ANYONE who may have been sympathetic to our cause.

Let's see...couple hundred BASE jumpers bashing the RWB. Not reality, perception. And the sheep don't give a fuck about your grasp of the oath of office.

Like I told Jason, keep pressing. Your anger will lose the best outlet it's ever had, because motherfuckers like me - will walk. And since it'll be me and not a broke dick old T-10 pilot fighting off the Jack-booted zombie apocalypse, you probably want us on board.

That and we happen to be the ones trying to put cool shit together for Twin, so...

Captain Harvey,

With all due respect, maybe you should step away from the keyboard until you aren't so... lathered up.


44

This?

This is baseline yo. You haven't ever seen me lathered up.

It's my moral obligation to point out stupidity.

I unfortunately have to chew on fucktards all day. It's peacetime.

I rest my case.


44

+1

I completely support you Jason.

Making a parachute jump at Bridge Day completely undermines a BASE jumper boycott!

I don't care how well intentioned ( and, errh? patriotic you portray,...) This Demo team. They are obviously not brothers and it's their egos ( like so many of us that jump in front of whuffos ) that motivates them. It has never been any different with any jumper I've ever known. So Bullshit!

Parachutists that have any respect for their brethren and the history of bridge day wouldn't make a jump there, if they do they are just scabs....

Regards, B.

It's already been decided by a group of 400 ish people that our civil liberties are being violated by participating in an event here. Where lies the confusion that having some "patriotic" group driven by contract, money, and ego going against what 400 people stood up to undermines the integrity of the group as a whole. These are liberties that the veterans swore to defend and protect upon an oath to the Nation and here they are going against that oath.

Just out of curiosity, was there a Bridge Day before BASE jumper participated?
Was there ever a year where jumps did not take place due to bad weather or other issues?

First thing - Jason I support not jumping at BD if they don't change the fingerprint demand.

But in response to the comment that the vets jump for their ego? I challenge you to find one base jumper with a smaller ego. I don't say this as an insult as it does require a large ego to think you are good enough to jump off shit, into shitty LZ's again and again.

I am a loner, pretty much not known by many base jumpers. So maybe that alters my perception but personally I would never expect other jumpers not to jump because of my opinion. Jason did a fantastic job for many years, and it's over now. But if someone else steps up and runs with this, I would be willing to bet jumpers will show. Read back on this post, not realy a lot of different voices "speaking" for the silent majority of jumpers out there. Just to be clear- I will not go to BD 2015 for any reason.

While I am ranting- is organizing a big event at twin really a good idea? The bridge is not illegal, does not have limited access, so there is no huge draw to get me there when I know it is gonna be swamped. If the "party" gets out of hand, how much will the public, local traffic tolerate before they try to shut the bridge down for good? Is it really worth the risk? Cause I gonna say base jumpers did a fine job killing Yosemite and every other NP with their parties there.

I just want to know when registration is. If no other jumpers are going I'm going to get 10 rigs and just turn laps.

Solidarity be damned.

Bridge Day has included jumpers since the beginning. 2001 was the only year I know if where no jumps took place after the event was canceled (9/11). Even when the LZ was under water in 1989, jumpers landed on the road. From my Bridge Day History page:

The idea of "Bridge Day" was formulated by Glenn Lukacs (Member of the Executive Board of Directors of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce) and Doug Mattie (Executive Director of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce). The Chamber of Commerce was looking for a way to increase awareness of the outdoor recreation available in the area. Glenn was part-owner of a raft company, and stated that many people actually stopped on the Bridge to look over the edge. The idea was to close half the bridge down and allow people to walk on the bridge for a day. They anticipated 8000 people that first year, and were surprised when more than 40,000 attended.

Dennis Wood, Miguel Fernandez, Ken Hamilton, Andy Macintyre, and Bob Wolf are the first five jumpers to legally jump the bridge on Saturday, November 8, 1980. Earlier in the day, Ken and Miguel had parachuted from a Cessna 206 and landed on the bridge surface. Ken suffered serious injuries when jumping from the bridge after experiencing deployment problems and landing in the rocks (he later recovered). Then Governor Jay Rockefeller was unable to attend the event and he subsequently sent DOH Commissioner Charles Miller to tell the crowd that Bridge Day would be an annual event. Over 5000 certificates were handed out to people who completed the 3030' walk across the New River Gorge Bridge. From 1981-1982, there were only 10-15 jumpers due to a well-kept secret.

I made a bunch of BASE jumps with Bob Wolf in the 1990's. His "first ever Bridge Day" stories were priceless.

Breaking the boycott is a douche bag move.
I'm sure the vets couldnt give a fuck, I wouldn't expect them to.
They would need to spend a lot of money to make up for the missing base jumpers and like all things American it's the money that talks.

I think if its done rite it can be a huge revenue spike for twin, but if it goes to shit, your rite... it could leave a bad taste in the mouths of twin locals. I think it needs to be looked at more as a group thanks to twin for being so accommodating threw out the year rather than a base party / event. as a community that is lucky to have Idaho on our side, I think it's owed. Its more than likely going to shift a lot of peoples plans to head over to Idaho also, locals here are mixed, some want to continue with a spring trip to TF and avoid the potential cluster, others (myself and a buddy i talked to last night about it) are pushing their trips back to October now. Ide be interested to see if the number of visitors to TF for the year changes, or just the months in which people visit. WV made the event a public event that drew tourism, sure, base jumpers were the entertainment, but the state made it into more than just a base party. Will TF be associating any public festivals with this to draw in spectators, or will TF be primarily a BASE boogie?

Your concern is valid vis a vis Twin and the organizers there need to keep a handle on that, but if it did get out of hand I think the locals would only shut down big events, not the routine jumping that has proven itself over several decades.

Re: Yosemite and NPs generally: Yes, the jumpers contributed to their own demise, but only in small part: It was the expressed, written and acknowledged policy and goal of NPS to shut down jumping by "legalizing" it in an administratively impossible way -- the whole program was literally designed to fail so that, as Yosemite superintendent Bob Binnewies said in Nov 1980 Audubon magazine: "We had to open it up to be able to manage it at all. Now that we know the results, our management ban will stick."

Moreover, this is not the 1980s, where skydivers thought they were at a boogie showing off their mad skillz to the whuffos; we now have about 15 years of legal events all over the world (not counting Bridge Day), and a distinct "legal jump" culture has grown among base jumpers so that they generally act right when involved in legal events as guests of various cities, states/provinces and countries.

Bottom line: I have confidence in the Twin organizers, and in jumpers themselves, to protect and preserve their access to Twin by acting right during the big event.


44

Thanks for the history.

Quite cool they built a public event around BASE and not just added BASE as an attraction at a later date.

It looks like this year could really set a precedent so long as no one jumps.

Laters,

Julian

Integrity issues aside, as someone pointed out earlier demo skydives are pretty gay compared to all manner of Basejumping antics. And if having the skydive demo team keeps them from hustling up a sports drink BASE team so much the better for the cause.

You know, GreggB, that's darned good thinking.

Go for it, AVG! We luv ya. Fergit all that other stuff.... we was DRUNK!


44

I been saying!

Jeebus.

 TL;DR version of this thread...

BDC: we are all fags, give us your fingerprints so we can beat off to them.
WVSP: fuck you, jumpers!!!
Base jumpers: Fuck you, BDC! Fuck you, cops!
Base428: I am NEVER going to think about BD again.
BDC: Hey who wants money to jump?
AVP: uh, that is our job, we're available.
Base jumpers: hey, don't break the boycott!
AVP: That's your boycott. whatevs
Base428: I am still NOT thinking about BD!!!! I am done with it!
Base jumpers: what do you mean, not everybody sees this exactly the way we do???
AVP: nailed it
RobinHeid: (archived here for large file sizes)
Base428: Nope, still not thinking about BD ever again!
West virginia citizens: Our party sucks now, wtf. Well, at least we can see a couple demo jumps.


Base428: Still not thinking about it!!! Nope!



NPS: *toasting champagne glasses* hey we got rid of those fucking BASE jumpers


Apologies to all, I am pro-boycott, and I love each and every one of you <3
But this thread needs to die

Done.

Peace out.


44

Perfect summation.

Motion carries.

They hurt the BASE jumping scene while it was still starting out in the wilderness in Australia too. The Aussies still suffer.

I have little BASE experience here (so take what I say with a grain of salt), but I am a life-long resident of WV (live 20 minutes from the bridge).
The way I see it, I am with most of the BASE jumpers here. I will be at Twin this year in support of their welcoming to our community and situation. As far as Fayetteville goes, and the AVP Parachute Team, who cares. I'm sure one sky jump from a few members of this team is not going to be enough to wow the crowd like we do and will ultimately cause the death of such large crowds to the event. I'm sure your locals will still come year after year, but like I see it, and most of the people that I have talked to in the community, we (BASE jumpers) are what make bridge day, well bridge day. So, just let the BDC do as they please this year and we'll do our thing in Twin.

WTF?!? Why did they have to kill the hot vampiress?

There goes my post dinner self abuse session.