You tell me

[oldbastard 0]

In the old days skydivers existed as an entirely separate class of people. They were people who didn’t belong to society or its beliefs. They were a person who would rather give up the house, car, and 2.3 kids to live a life that seemed reckless to most. They existed on a single notion that whatever awaited them after life was brought a little bit closer in the sky.

That’s not to say that that doesn’t exist today. You can still find those people – they’re the ones with the rusted out camper at the end of the dz. They’re the ones with names like Carbone or Bird – they’re the ones that eat high off the hog when it’s blue skies and scrounge when it’s gray. They’re the ones who search for the meaning of it all.

When I visit the dropzone today, I see a lot of young well dressed kids pulling up in nice cars and pulling out brand new rigs. I see students huddled together telling their friends on the other end of their cellphones that they’re now only minutes from jumping out of a plane. I see them when they’ve returned from their ride and are watching themselves on the monitor as they throw out signs and gestures to their videographer.

So what I wonder, is how did this sport change so much? Was it all the television ads or all the Xtreme sport shows that featured skysurfers alongside skateboarders and BMXers or has the passion that once pushed someone to test their limits grown scarce?

Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not trying to put anyone down. Anyone who returns for that second jump is okay in my book. I just wonder if what brought them to the dz was the result of a search to find their inner selves or just something they’ve always wanted to try.

Of course there are a few I see that make me think that passion is still there. Occasionally, I see a middle-aged man standing over some older looking gear neatly making each fold and carefully measuring each stow. He might ask around to see if he can find someone who wants to make a jump but usually he’ll manifest himself and wait quietly for the plane. Then there are that small percentage of freefliers who you know by name because their also dz residents. But, if you ask me, the most passionate are often not even on the dropzone.

If I had to pick the most passionate – I’d have to say it’s the base jumpers. They test the limits more than any of us. Hell they often begin their journey where we bail. Us skydivers reach two thousand feet and we’re either under canopy or pull’n. Whereas basejumpers begin there jump from well below. Yeah, I’d have to say basejumpers are some of the truest skydivers out there – pushing even closer to that great beyond. The hard-core ones, not the ones who buy their little ticket at bridgeday and stand in line at the fair to make a jump… but the ones who are out there when the rest of us are sleeping. The ones who climb through that misty fog and catch that first hint of the approaching sunrise – the ones who put it all on the line to capture that feeling… that feeling of truly being alive. That feeling that comes only when you realize how insignificant your life is and how funny those ants scurrying down that highway with their cellphones really are.

[mdbase 0]

Quote

.
That feeling that comes only when you realize how insignificant your life is and how funny those ants scurrying down that highway with their cellphones really are.

Oldbastard, that was an awesome piece!

-Bryan

I love base like a fat kid loves cake

[freakydiver 0]

I started out as the poor kid barely scraping by in the sport a decade ago. Since then I've gotten married, acquired a house, almost have my first child and drive a relatively nice car. Trust me - I still fuckin jones when the sky is blue and dig seeing my friends huckin and doing the airplane thing. I am no different than I was when I lived in the rusty camper at the DZ. Just because I look young and have a nicer newer rig shouldn't make you think otherwise of me. I'll still jump with anyone both on my belly or "freeflying" or whatever the fuk you wanna call it (its all freeflying in my book). Just because I have a house and a car and a newer rig (first one in ten years) doesn't mean I don't search for the meaning of it all, it doesn't mean I don't care. Take care not to judge based on the outside of someone - you may miss that chance to get their take on the sport or maybe just life in general.

Also - I would tend to disagree with you to some degree that it is the base jumpers that are most passionate anymore. While in my book, the most passionate jumpers I know are indeed base jumpers as well, more and more skydivers that are becoming base jumpers really have no clue what they are doing and do it for the "cool" factor. Most of them will never do more than a handful of jumps, most of them will never really understand how dangerous what they are doing is, they will never see the malfucntions that someone whose been basing for 100s or 1000s of jumps are. I think a great deal of the basers today are just hopping on board with the newest thing, similar to the freefly push we saw in skydiving the past few years...

I think to really get the jist of a jumper sky or fixed, you have to sit with them and digest their belief system. You have to see if they are kind with their knowledge. You have to see if they introduce themselves off the bat and make the effort for a new person on a DZ, now THOSE are the real patriots of this sport and that is what I miss.

Just my one cent...

-- (N.DG) "If all else fails – at least try and look under control." --

[FrogNog 1]

Did the people doing skydiving change, or did different people arrive?

The guys who gave everything to jump - how many of them were there? I'm saying it's possible they still exist, but now a lot more people skydive, too. And in a sport like skydiving, which is not cheap, to get more people means either convincing more people of low means to become super-humble just for jumps, or convincing more people who have lots of money to put some of it toward skydiving. Obviously they'll bring their BMWs along and buy new rigs that don't smell like 10 years of military service.

Some dropzones still have that "back in the day" feel, though. You could try going there.

-=-=-=-=-
Pull.

[NathanL100 0]

All those people that come out for one jump and talk on their cell phone, yadda, yadda... are the ones paying for that nice plane for you to jump out of and all the other bullshit you take for granted around the dz. Running a dz isn't cheap, hell I wouldn't want to own one, so don't "poo poo" the customers who make ends meet for the dzo. Stop kidding yourself and realize that a dz is a "for profit operation" and your everyday "hardcore" skydiver isn't the one producing the profitability, however small that may be.

Base # 942
The race is long and in the end, its only with yourself.

[RayLosli 11]

In the old days .....
They were people who didn’t belong to society or its beliefs.
They were a person who would rather give up the house, car,
and 2.3 kids to live a life that seemed reckless to most.
They existed on a single notion that whatever awaited them
after life was brought a little bit closer in the sky.
...........................................


Old Bastard.....you left out one thing ?

And Fathers told there family members that they would
rather there daughters grow-up and be a Whore, rather
than get Married to a Skydiver.

[Jasmin 0]

I'm not sure that's entirely true, but its not far off the mark....

xj

"I wouldn't recommend picking a fight with the earth...but then I wouldn't recommend picking a fight with a car either, and that's having tried both."

[Skinflicka 0]

I think you touched a raw nerve with our neon pink pansies, Old Bastard.

Why not take this one across to Blinc and compare the different flavors of response?

$kin.

Prizes to anyone who gets to read my posts before Mr Aiello's son, Tom deletes them.