NickDG

Yikes . . . Space . . . What a caper . . . Bro, please think, about how long you may have left before one of your compatriots gives you up. You already know you don't want any piece of this. If you think they are coming for you . . . get yourself to the American Embassy. The Ambassador is Linda E. Watt and she's from Atlanta, GA. She wouldn't turn out a Southern gent like you. U.S. Embassy in Panama City: Embajada de Estados Unidos Sección Informativa y Cultural Apartado 6959 Panamá 5, República de Panamá Panama City Phone: (011) 507-225-6988 Web Site: http://www.orbi.net/usispan/ Let me know if things go south (well, I guess they already did) and you need $50 bucks sent to your hotel . . . NickDG BASE 194

I'm so very proud of you . . . NickDG BASE194

"It's all the same thing . . . man" Janis Joplin, 1971 Nick BASE 194

That was I . . . Nick BASE 194

Dear Russel, We haven't met (but we will at Bridge Day) and my girlfriend mentioned I shouldn't say anything until I quit bawling like a baby, but, I just had to say you have my utmost respect, admiration, and support . . . NickDG BASE 194

Tom's already on the short list . . . Nick

Joy's already on the short list . . . Nick

>>Hey Nick, the aerobatic jump was from a well known Houston bridge. I'm unfamiliar with the "rodeo" jump shown. I heard BASE 38 refer to the one with Alan H. and George R. as daisy chain.

Yeah, like we didn't consider this 20 years ago . . . LOL! A good friend of mine did the test jumps on the "bail out pole" that was going to be installed into the shuttle after the first failure. The pole was installed in a Convair (an A/C that's still sitting up at Cal City) and in full astronaut gear he jumped it. While it worked okay during the tests it was never implemented. Unfortunately, a year later, and before we knew anything about line twists and a brand new canopy called a Stiletto, Bruce Gilkey rode one into the ground trying to kick out of line twists at Hemet, Ca. That day really sucked . . . Nick BASE 194

It's the same in Yosemite. Just having a parachute bumper sticker on your car will get you pulled over and a rig in your trunk can get you busted . . . I don't want to pile on, but Jason is right, not only were you robbing a bank in broad daylight, the bank you were robbing was Fort Knox! You're busted for trespassing on the bridge, as you said, but as far as aerial delivery I'm sure you had no intention of jumping, "Do I look that crazy to you, your honor?" You were just watching the others and wearing the proper safety equipment. You were an observer just like at the DZ. I know it can be hard, but you really should try and get a lawyer. Aren't there any on your DZ? The fines can be very stiff if they decide to make an example of you. And gee, I'm all up for BASE jumps done right, but couldn't you wait 37 more days . . . You can be a "crazy chick"", and you can "live it up," and I know you didn't think of it, but you are messing with Bridge Day . . . You're spitting in the soup we all have to eat later. The NPS hates the fact, no matter what they say publicly, that we jump on Bridge Day. They hate the fact that local financial pressure is the only thing keeping it going. We have them over a barrel and we are using that to make inroads in other areas. But, please realize how much you are jeopardizing our position. This is not so much aimed at you, but for others, as an educational thing. I hope you beat the rap, and I hope you come to Bridge Day. Someday, the NRGB will be open to BASE jumping everyday, I know that in my heart . . . Nick

During three or four Bridge Days in the mid-1980s Don "Jake" Jacobson, BASE 304, presented an inscribed plaque to a BASE jumper he felt provided positive support to the BASE community. He called it the BASE Fellowship Award. Past awardees are Phil Smith, Jean Boenish, and (for some reason) I received one too. There's also one other name I don't recall now. Anyway, Jake has retired from the sport, and I'm reviving the award this year and will be presenting it to someone at Bridge Day 2004. It's really no big deal, but it is an affirming way to say we are all brothers and sisters and to recognize those who go above and beyond the call of duty in service to the BASE community. I've already pretty much decided who's getting it this year, but you can still lobby for yourself, or someone else. No bribes please, I'm weak that way. . . Nick

Here's the photos I mentioned upboard . . . Nick

I know it's hard to understand. (Not your fault, you had to be there). Even Jane Fonda thought she was doing the right thing, and that's the best you can ask of people . . . no matter what happens later, the worst are the people who just go along. I don't agree with the distinctions between "legal" war and the atrocities that Kerry alluded too. All war is an atrocity. Killing people is just flat wrong. When Kerry came back from Vietnam the last thing he heard from his shipmates was, "John, get us the hell out of here." And he did that to the best of his ability. Nick

Let the Brothers Go . . . John Kerry was an involved member of his generation. During that same era I joined the Marine Corps at 17 years of age. I joined for the same reason Kerry did. It was just something you did. It was country, duty, honor, it was the American way . . . Four years later I'm handing out antiwar literature outside the gates of a Marine Corps Air Station. I was spit on and beat up. So what happened to me? At 21 I came to realize that war was wrong, that killing was wrong, that the military industrial complex was more interested in making money and letting the poor boys die for their bank accounts. And it's not just that war, but all wars that are wrong. Many in my generation got drafted or joined only to learn a thing or two about truth. If you are not of the Vietnam generation than you only know what you are being spoon-fed. And you sound like it. John Kerry simply did the same thing many of us did. He didn't "flip flop." He learned . . . I do understand that if you are 30 or younger, the lessons of Vietnam are like something from a million years ago. But I appeal to your sense of how much better we can be. We can heal, instead of kill. We can lead, instead of react. We can be that beacon of light that carried us throughout the 19th century. We are all in the same boat, the S.S. Earth, and we all have the same problems and wants. We want to raise our families in peace. We want to move forward in a way that doesn't make my lifestyle dependant on taking away from someone else's. But, when you defend shopping at corporate Wal-Mart, YOU are the terrorist and YOU are killing the planet. War is human kind's biggest failure. Do I know how to stop the Ganjaweeds slaughter of thousands of African woman and children, do I know why Chechen's think killing children will get there point across? No, but I do know if we came together as a planet full of concerned people we could probably stop those things. The United States has become a big bear that doesn't realize the footprint it makes in the world. We are only interested in protecting our own way of life. You can't continue to claim we are the best country in the world simply because you have a car, a job, and a small amount of freedom, and it especially sounds hallow from those of you that didn't fight, or even serve, for it. I can't believe we have become as stupid as we are. Please, instead of being so jingoistic, instead of just waving the flag, go down to your local VA hospital, volunteer, and listen and talk to the guys that came before you. If you are getting your information from corporate America you are being misinformed. The powers that be think you are idiots, to be lead around by the noses, and maybe they are right. After all it's you, the younger generation, that was so quick to swallow the Patriot Act, the lie that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, body fluid checks, red light cameras, and the list goes on. Freedom seems to be an abstract idea that really means nothing to you. I'm going BASE jumping tonight. And if a policeman catches me and demands to know what I'm doing I'm going to tell him to go fuck himself (or herself) and that I'm a living breathing human being with no limits. In a few hours I could be in a cell saying, "Hey, are you going to eat that apple?" And that's just fine . . . Freedom is the only thing worth fighting for. And that war is here right now, and right on our own doorsteps. And it's not some enemy thousands of miles away, they are right here in Washington, DC, the same place they have always been. Nick

Perris is a private airport, but you can call ahead and ask for permission to land there. Nick

Gee, it's tough to remember now, but when Norman Kent's "Ride a Cloud" movie came out (I think it was his first one) it featured what people were calling a "Rodeo dive." It was a female sitting upright on the backpack of a belly flyer. I can't recall what year that was, but the late 1980s sounds right. When I saw that 1988 bridge jump I immediately thought, "rodeo dive." When one jumper deploys another jumper's canopy (by virtue of their own deployment) that's called a "daisy chain" and goes all the back to the 1960s. You can see a three way daisy chain in the movie Carl Boenish filmed called the, "Gypsy Moths." Bob Sinclair also used something like that (a zap strap) during "buddy jumps" the precursor to AFF, in case his student didn't pull, way back in the early 60s. Using the name daisy chain though makes one think the lines are daisy chained. I was rigger on scene once when a pilot bailed out of a sailplane he'd just bought. The parachute he got with the deal was incorrectly field packed, it was closed correctly with the ripcord, but the canopy was just stuffed inside with the lines daisy chained. And the daisy chained were put in the wrong way or else it might still have worked. Anyway, I think the name "rodeo dive" came from skydiving, so maybe we should come up with something else. I remember Alan Hearthington saying he told the jumper above him, "I'm counting on you, buckaroo." Buckaroo? Nick

The latest from my girlfriend at JPL is there wasn't enough juice in the batteries to fire the pyros that would have released the drogue. Impact speed was 193 mph . . . Nick BASE 194

In light of recent launch and deployment methods some of these indeed need new names. Historically however, this was called a "Rodeo Jump." I've uploaded two new photos to my personal gallery here on DZcom (under NickDG), but they haven't been approved yet. The first shows a 1988 rodeo jump from a ship channel bridge here in SoCal, and the other, also from 1988, showing some early aerobatics . . . Nick

Yes, many people invest years of work in these programs and when they fail it's very devastating to them. This particular failure is going to be found way upstream from the parachutes. One problem is there isn't enough of a commitment to space exploration. NASA has all but given up on redundancy because they don't have the money. On the other hand, when you consider the success of the Rovers and Cassini missions they aren't doing too bad. You know, I was 15 years old when I watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon. I thought by now we'd be so far ahead, and it makes me sad to realize we are blowing off our greatest human asset. We are natural explorers. Instead, (I'm in the Bonfire topic) we have a moronic leadership ignoring the fact we are killing the planet, ignoring the fact millions need our help, not our bullets, and ignoring the fact that you can't let the National Deficit raise by 1.7 BILLION per day while lining their own pockets. We have the capacity to be so much better than this . . . Nick BASE 194

My girlfriend (an engineer at JPL) said the capsule was tumbling during re-entry (wasn't supposed to) and the accelerometer that fires the mortar that deploys the drogue couldn't figure out how fast it was going. Someone has to remove that line of code that says, "don't deploy the drogue unstable." Nick

>Wonderful post, sure brought back some lovely memories. I asked a while back where C-ya originated, was it his or borrowed, do you know?< Hi Joy, "C-ya," was already in the general language, of course, as the short form of "I will see you later," but it's connection to BASE jumping and its use as an pre-launch mantra began in Florida, and that's the first place I ever heard it used. Hewitt and all those guys were saying it all the time. While I don't think you can credit BASE jumpers with inventing it, you can say they gave it a better meaning . . . C-ya at Bridge Day! Nick

When Phil Smith jumped the Astrodome in Houston it was a day they are preparing the stadium floor for a motorcycle race. Phil, and Andy Smith, and Carl Boenish walked in dressed like construction workers. They made there way to the catwalk above the stadium floor for a look see. After figuring it was doable they came back in the next day or so and made the jump. (It was 192-feet, and very low for the times). Those jumps lead to two paying gigs. First they jumped into a automobile thrill show and later into an Astro's baseball game. In that one Phil and Andy wore big league uniforms and Phil jumped carrying the game ball. This was all in 1982 and is the first major legal public display of BASE jumping. BASE jumpers have always used inventive ways to gain access. My favorite was ARGON Helicopter Pad Inspection Services. "Hi, we're here to do the annual inspection on your helicopter pad." I think I still have that shirt somewhere . . . Nick

The First BASE Board . . . After reading through some historic BASE material I began adding some of Mike Allen's early BASE postings to Genie into my book. This is 1990 and back in the days when the next thing up from a local BBS (bulletin board system) is the commercial content providers like CompuServe and Prodigy, and this is also the days when the big debate is about the web going commercial. (It did of course, and, well, there you go. . . ) The first BASE Board came online in 1990 in the Aviation Section of Genie (that stood for General Electric Network for Information Exchange,) Roundtable #11. I was the Sysop and it’s the very first public bulletin for BASE jumpers. Of course, at the time you could count the number of tech savvy BASE jumpers on one hand. Yet, the board was visited by the rest of the aviation community and it's the first time a positive BASE message was broadcast on the internet. One of the first to appear online is Mike Allen, BASE 163. Mike died one night on Florida's Alligator Alley, in 1992. He was traveling between jumps, and he was hit head on by a semi truck. Aviation RT Category 11, Topic 21 Message 39, Thursday, April 24, 1991 M.ALLEN28 20:11 EDT "I'm alive and breathing! And this old gravity just keeps bringing me down. I didn't see much activity on this board and wonder just how many participate. It must be a really elite sub-species of BASE jumper. I'll throw my 2-cents in when something sparks a neuron. REMEMBER: Always practice safe BASE, and always know your partners!" C-ya, Mike That was the first time I ever saw anyone write "C-ya" on the internet and I remember thinking it was very cool . . . His next post is: "Ah, the moon is so big and bright tonight. It gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart to know people from all corners of the globe are jumping off of stuff. What a wonderful nutty world." C-ya, Mike And another . . . "Ahoy, matey and all that other Jolly Roger talk. Sounds like you had a great time navigating your way off those big secret cliffs. As you know my local fixed object aviation chapter has been practicing our flying technique quite diligently off a variety of short runway type launch points. I just love good aviation." C-ya, Mike And lastly: "I think I'm getting burned out on jumping all these Florida towers. Maybe I'm getting R.A.D.I.O.A.C.T.I.V.E. I'm developing a taste for microwaved foods. So, I think I'll head out to sunny California and jump her monolithic protrusions. Or maybe, launch off some small little coastal bridge and land in the surf. Or, plummet off a glassy downtown building in Los Angeles waving at myself in the mirrored windows as I go by. It would be great! I need to relax a bit anyway, so what the hell, I feel a BASE mission coming on!" C-ya, Mike. That was one of the last times I heard from Mike Allen. His niece Marah is now using some of Mike's video (he was an awesome camera person) to produce her film on BASE history. I miss him . . . Nick

This one is working: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996341 Nick

There's a link on this page, but the link seems to be down; http://www.newscientist.com I've had an old IBM 8086 running the SETI program for some time now. It's pretty cool. http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/download.html Nick