Rauk

It took me a while to articulate this the way I wanted, here goes. I came into this experience with little knowledge of what BASE really was or how it was going to effect my life. It was mainly just a next step, and it became something that will never truly leave me. It has become part of who I am and has made me the person that I have become. It has instilled more confidence in me than anything that has ever touched my existance. I never imagined that things like this were possible, let alone that I would be able to do a lot of those things. I owe BASE my life, literally, because I would still be a marginally overweight, money addicted person who is looking for something to fill the hole I have inside myself. I stopped believing in amazing (even magical, as corny as it may be) things. BASE made me feel good. It felt right. It made me believe again. It made me believe you could do the things everyone else says were impossible. I realized that money wouldn't always be there, and I realized that the hole I am trying to fill may never be filled, and that is okay, because maybe it is the end that fills it. I think all of us who are fortunate enough to take from this what I have, owe it to themselves to help people along the path, to find, maybe, what they have found. BASE scares me, and when people want to take it up, I want to tell them how dangerous, scary, and deadly it is. I want to tell them about cutting signatures and email addresses out of logbooks, shaking the hands of dead people. I want to tell them about the addiction of it all, the downward spiral that some people find. Then I remember what it would be like if I hadn't done that first jump a little over a year ago, and I think about how different I would be without all of it. The way I express my feelings, the things I tell people, the decisions I make, are all effected by the fact that I may not walk away from this or that jump. I may not even survive. I left my house once to go downtown, solo, to do two jumps off of two different B's. As I left my house, a thought flashed through my head. Not a thought like those crazy things we all think sometimes that you brush off as sub-concious, but a real thought. I thought,"What if this is the last time I leave my house?". I'll never forget how that felt, or what it made me realize. It made me appreciate life and the people in it so much more. I think what it has done, truly, is made me in a lot of ways a better person. So seriously, thank all of you, I have learned more from everyone I have met along the way than you all could ever realize. I can't even thank all of the appropriate people, there are too many, and not all of them are here anymore. I could never keep something this amazing from anyone who truly wants it, not with how much I love it, not with how much it has made me love. I can only hope everyone in the world can find that in something, someday. Thanks again. Adam Foster BASE 921

They really do, and I mean, what a public service, right?

I knew I took up the wrong sport... damn!

Yeah, I just found out I won't have a job by the 7th, so we will see if I can get another by then. I don't know I have always had a problem with dirty windows.

I have been itching for Moab myself. Only five hours from me so maybe I will meet you out there. I will send you a number.

please... don't... just kidding Jimmy

We're all guilty... well at least I am

Sorry to cut our conversation short man. Maybe in Moab. What was the wind like when you attempted this? It would speed you up considerably depending on which direction (as I am sure you know). Keep in mind though, that with most B's, and E's you are going to be jumping with little to no wind at all (especially wind blowing you back into the object). Anyway, just a thought, talk to you soon. Have fun Adam

I continue jumping for a reason different than the one in which I started. I asked myself A LOT if I thought I was jumping for the right reasons, whether I did the manuever I was doing becasue I wanted to or because everyone thought it was cool. Then one day I was thinking about jumping, or something I had done, and caught myself smiling for no reason...

You guys are quite honestly two of my favortie people in the world. I won't get all gushy here, but I miss you guys, we need to jump soon. There are some buildings with your names on them... seriously... I used spraypaint...

Looks like he could have waited another second or two...

I don't know if this will have a negative effect or not... what I do know is that there are jumpable/jumped sites within sight of this bar, not to mention all the other work I (and Pete) have put in on objects that you can't see but share the same zipcode. I personally care less about this, I will keep jumping whether they know I am doing it or not, but there is something to be said about educating the enemy... peace

Dude, if anyone we even know attends, Radix will be on the menu for sure, don't worry about that.

I have had three jumps with line twists (all in Idaho thankfully) and I had enough time on all to just kick out of them. I thought a lot about my process for this though. I didn't really think about getting above the twist, but I would imagine that if I was staring at an object it would make me think differently as well.

"If it was 300 feet to impact, he could have used a 42" PC and taken a 1.5 to 2 second delay and been just fine." Dude, speaking of all this, I did a jump from our 300' B, it has that "alternate" landing to the right of the corner we jumped. That makes it 240' to landing, I took a 1/2 second or so off the corner, had a 50 degree right and landed on the 240' landing. It was reasonable, too, I didn't even bat an eye. I was really surprised that on a half second hand held jump with a 42" PC, I was fine at 240' (inadvertantly, but it sure answered a lot of questions I had on accident).

I didn't know what a vented canopy is for a long time, there flame me too. how goes the journey for jumps out there man? lucrative I hope. If you ever get to Denver, remember, fun to be had. Adam

When will this be?

"Also, they do not, as a rule lock down the rotation of the horizontal boom at night. As long as it can't hit another building it's free to move with the wind." That really is something! I thought I was crazy for a time, but then I remembered reading this, and thought, no shit, they better get to the end of that thing. It was interesting watching it move very slowly back and forth, thanks for the info Nick, it helped out last night. Adam

I got one B, a couple other people got an O. Very interesting I might add. Oh, and Calvin, congrats man, excellent jumping my friend.

That's the ticket. It had the differences in pilot chutes regarding why a 52" works differently than a 48" and why. That is the one though. thanks

Send good vibes for us here tonight, I want to have a merry double "B" Christmas...

Yeah, I talked to M.T. about that not long ago, and his thoughts were that a 46" will pretty much do the same for you as a 48", considering less fabric to need inflating.

Have a blast, man. Thanks for the well wishes, and the same to you. Hope to see you soon, and hope the holidays treat you well. Adam

I agree. I did quite a few with my 46" PC and it works just fine. Haven't stowed a 48", but seeing the 46" I don't htink it would be a problem.

Ah, but thinking more, it wasn't the pc that hesitated, it was a hangup on the stow.