August 8th 1978 . . .
No one can say who made the first successful fixed object jump using a parachute because it's lost in a blur of history and misunderstanding. However, there’s a more recent date we can and should observe.
Twenty five years ago on August 8th 1978 (this Friday) a small group of jumpers stood atop Yosemite’s El Capitan. Several reconnoiters to the top, hours spent looking over the edge, calculations and reckoning all say it’s possible. There’s nothing left to do, but to do it.
Kent Lane stands and tightens his leg straps. He glances back at second off (to be) Tom Start, third off Mike Sherrin and fourth off Ken Gosselin, friends he’s known all his jumping life. And they are looking at him in a way he’s never seen before.
Quietly, “rolling,” is heard in the morning air as Carl Boenish’s cameras whirl into action and Kent takes a deep breath and a few steps, and disappears over the edge. And then, one by one, so do Tom, Mike and Ken. They all four track away from the big wall going ten to eleven seconds before using ram air canopies to land smoothly, no fuss, no muss, in the meadow below.
This is the day fixed object jumping became repeatable and the day it became a sport. Kent later said it is the most memorable jump of his career. He says he’s, “dosed by pure velocity.”
Carl’s films of that morning bowled jumpers over when he first showed them later at the drop zone. His films not only conveyed the magic and beauty of the whole thing, it also made it look rather easy and fun. Guys in the sport for thirty years are walking around saying, “Man, I never even thought of that.”
So I suppose as we credit Carl for giving us all a path to follow we must also acknowledge he’s also the first site blower, in fact he blew the whole frigging sport!
Be, I think, more concerned with saving lives rather than sites, places that in the long run never really go anywhere anyway. Happy Birthday!
Nick
BASE 194
