NickDG

Drill, or not, (see below text) it appears like Chuck Sweeny’s long ago BASE jump made it into the security manuals. Chuck is alone and jumping in Los Angeles one night in the early 90’s. The site is a building under construction and the available launch points aren’t ideal. Chuck builds himself a small launch platform from whatever is laying around on the top floor of the building. He later said he inadvertently made a lot of noise, but all remained quiet in the dark street below. After a short freefall Chuck navigates his canopy down the street and around the corner where his car is parked in a large fenced in lot. The trouble begins right after landing when Chuck is startled by the shouts of several people running towards him. Thinking, he told me later, “it’s a bunch of security guards who’ve finally had it with BASE jumpers,” he jumps into his car and heads for the exit of the lot. The problem is the group is between him and the exit. So he floors it. It’s then the bullets start ripping into his car. The shooting stops as the pursuers dive out of the way and Chuck (who’s practically hiding under the dashboard) makes it into the street, then around the corner, and finally out of there. “I was pretty shook up,” Chuck said, “I was shaking so bad I could hardly drive, but I was too afraid to stop.” At home, with the car safely hidden in his garage Chuck counts dozens of bullet holes, and then the phone rings. “Hello?” “Is this Mr. Chuck Sweeney?” “Yes?” At about the same moment there’s a knock on the door. Putting the phone down Chuck opens the door, and is tackled by several men and handcuffed, then hustled into a waiting van outside. It’s then Chuck learns he’s in the custody of the United States Secret Service. It turns out, and unknown to Chuck, that the first President Bush is spending the night in a hotel across the street from the building Chucked had jumped. The fact Chuck could have been loaded up with explosives and flown his canopy right into the President’s window is not lost on the Agents. When all is said and done it became the King’s X. The Secret Service won’t press any charges, they are very embarrassed by the entire episode, if Chuck doesn’t pursue any counter charges himself. And that was the end of it, except as I wrote at that time, “Terrorist BASE jumpers will from now on be part of equation for the Secret Service. And now, just the other day, we get this . . . Nick >Police Investigate Parachute Reports On DNC Eve Officers Providing Few Details Of What May Have Been Drill POSTED: 6:09 am EDT July 26, 2004 UPDATED: 8:04 am EDT July 26, 2004 BOSTON -- State police are still investigating reports that parachutists landed near the Fleet Center Sunday night, but there is little information about what may have been only a security drill. Gail Huff Reports On Parachute Incident The Fleet Center is the site of the Democratic National Convention, which begins Monday night. News Center 5's Gail Huff reported that military police called in reports just after midnight that two parachutists had landed in the yard of the Charles River Park condominium complex. Additional reports indicated there were also parachutists on the top of the Tip O'Neill Federal Building located next door to the Fleet Center. Before police helicopters arrived, officers on the ground covered the area, sending officers to the roofs of the buildings. SWAT teams went to the top of the federal building. All available state and local officers responded, some with K9 units. Nothing was found and state police said no one was arrested.

>>I am totally agreement with you that what we love, he pimps. Do you do Tandems, AFF? The romance is going away. It is becoming mainstream.

>>>Felix/RB has brought to the Publics attention BASE more than any other factor if I am not mistaken. whether this is good or bad is an individual decision. BASE is actually being perceived as a sport now and more acceptably legally due to the publicity and the skills of such as DW, JC, SM, and numerous national associations. Take care

MDBASE said . . . >I love base like a fat kid loves cake< That's a Nugget . . . Nick

Analyze This . . . Dr. Holder, a Chiropractor (no less), says: "As they jump off the bridge, their bodies start producing chemicals that are just like opiates," says Jay Holder, president of the American College of Addictionology & Compulsive Disorders. "It is just like if someone stuck a needle in their arm with heroin. There is no difference in how they feel. It's the same uncontrollable addiction." What a bunch of baloney . . . In order to rationalize behavior whuffos can't understand they generalize. BASE jumpers come in all flavors, just like regular people. Some are blathering idiots a week before and a week after a single BASE jump. Others, can knock out BASE jump after BASE jump as easily as bending down to tie a shoe. Here is my list of some BASE jumping types: (Not putting the knock on anyone, as we all go through these stages). Stage One: The New BASE jumper – This person started about two years ago and thinks Dwain Weston invented BASE jumping. They don’t get the big fuss over Felix. They regal all they meet with video and tales of their daring do. Many burn out in this stage and never go any further, either from a minor injury, someone(s) they know dies, or they find a easier way to get the attention they crave. This is the group that causes the BASE community the most trouble by burning sites and talking to the media as if they speak for all of us. (Gee, it would be refreshing, just once to hear, “Well, I can’t speak for the entire BASE community, but in MY case . . . blah, blah, blah . . .”) Stage Two: Getting in the Game – In about the fifth year or so some jumpers carve out a niche for themselves in the BASE community. They become “instructors” or go into the gear side of things, some with organization skills run our biggest BASE events. These folks are at the top of their form. (Also in this stage some people “Get out of the Game” but continue to BASE jump, and they just keep it to themselves). Stage Three: You’ve Seen it All – If you manage to be around the sport twenty years or more you see BASE jumping for what it really is. Now, I could tell you “Stage One” folks what that meaning is, but I wouldn’t want to ruin the ending for you . . . Nick

>>>A Little History - The Flatbed Ten Jason Bell (BASE428, D-16725)

>How far out is it? An order of magnitude? Have >there been more than a million base jumps yet? >Nick and Craig, over to you. In a purely non-statistical sense, although it seems very real to me, I know more dead skydivers than BASE jumpers. I wouldn’t want to be the keeper of that list . . . Death is like a wave that stays just ahead of the skill and technology level. At first making it to 100 BASE jumps is everyone’s goal. And very few did it without a major plaster drama. Ritchie Stein made his 300th BASE jump (when only one or two had that many) standing on a 300-ft. microwave tower in the desert with a round parachute saying, “All I know is when you make your 300th BASE jump, you’ll still be scared.” Carl Boenish, in a stretch, and not seeing the future clearly just this once, said in a 1984 interview, “Within ten years they will be blocking the streets below the World Trade Center Towers in New York City every Sunday morning and hundreds of BASE jumpers will rain down.” The hard reality of BASE jumping hadn’t sunk in at that point. It’s still too fresh and new to have any boundaries. My thoughts on how truly dangerous BASE jumping is haven’t changed since the day I made my first one. Your personal risk level (the only one that counts) is determined by how current you are balanced by how often you do it. That will always be the way of it. I don't think there’s been a million BASE jumps made yet, but I'd say we are closer rather than further . . . Nick

“Johnny Hangs-Up on Crane after Night Building Plunge” Like most pieces written by whuffos it's the same story over and over. It's like they have this template and they plug in new names and sites. The rest is filled in with death, death, and more death . . . To a degree we’ve been reading this same story for over twenty years. BASE jumping occupies a position in atmospheric sport that is least understood. Where we see joy and progress in pure human flight, the whuffos can’t get past seeing themselves tumbling to a tragic and terrible end. However, there are advantages to this exposure. When was the last time you met someone who didn’t at least have some idea what BASE jumping is. This exposure (yes, even the unabashed self promotion we get from Felix) is what mellows the powers that be. It’s partly the reason for the potato bridge, the many high profile BASE events, and the softening of the NPS. We now have the ability to state our case for permission to jump without starting from scratch. Some may not see that as improvement, but twenty years ago trying to explain jumping off a building (in the middle of the night yet), to a cop or a judge, who has no idea what the hell you’re talking about, and well, after about the tenth time it starts to sound far-fetched, even to you. Karin and Jeb are assets to BASE jumping and surely deserve some time in the light. And these soft pieces balance out the “Johnny Hangs-Up on Crane after Night Building Plunge” stories that appear from time to time. There was a time when participating in stories like these would get you grief in the BASE community, but that time is past. BASE jumping isn’t a secret anymore . . . Sometimes the people who love me say I should write about other things besides parachute jumping, but jumping is what I know best. So yes, I cringe when I read whuffo pieces on BASE. If these talented writers would stick to what they know, instead of just throwing stuff out there (that further the stereotypes) there would be a lot less books in your local bookstore, but they would all be worth reading. Nick

Get on it now and you have chance of being BASE number 1000 . . . A friend of mine had a tower in his back yard, too. He’d climbed it so many times when he was a kid that now he only climbs it in ice-storms, until he discovered BASE jumping. The begining is the best. Nick

Look at the upper outboard trailing edges of the canopy for line burns as you might be getting tail flutters. (Your uppers momentarily (are maybe) sweeping across the top surfaces in the corners). Check the tailpocket Velcro as it won't last as long as you would hope, and it’s not enough that you can pick up the tailpocket and the lines don’t fall out, as the snatch force of a BASE pilot is awesome. And check for general slump and dump in the tailpocket itself. When we first started to pack for BASE we are thinking open, open, open, and it’s funny now in a way, but as we came to terms with what reefing actually is, we started thinking don’t open, don’t open, don’t open. In order for reefing to work correctly, and I know it’s scary, you almost have to put another wrap in for Jesus, and not leave one out . . . Nick

These canopies are Para-Flite's larger version of the Cruisair-Cruislite family of canopies and are based on the same Lisserman Airfoil. The MT-1s have some additional load tapes installed, but just imagine really big Cruiselites. Para-Flite sold these to the U.S. military and foreign governments. When BASE jumpers of yore had no choice but to jump skydiving canopies the Cruislite is probably the least popular 7-cell behind the Pegasus (Peggys), Units, and the Furys. Cruislites had a reputation for 180s on short BASE delays and at least a few chilling videos are circulating, at the time, showing them doing so. However, these are the days when skydivers mostly began BASE jumping whenever and however they pleased, so skill levels may have played a part. I made about 50 BASE jumps on a Cruislite and they land like crap and I always took a good pasting downtown. Although I know what Tom means by serious BASE jump (and I’ve often hunted for a better term myself) it’s better, especially in the beginning, that you consider all BASE jumps serious. You have the time, so save your pennies, and buy BASE gear. There is an undeniable comfort factor in setting up your gear the same as the experienced jumper next to you, and when you have weird gear no one can help you with complete authority. Nick

From 2001 . . . #56 Thierry Van Roy, April 2, 2001 Age: 39 Cliff Jump Impact Lauterbrunnen, "La Mousse" (Mossy). Thierry had 100 plus skydives and about 240 BASE jumps (fifty jumps are from cliffs.) He is doing a 3 way, launching first, on his back (video person above him filmed the whole jump). Thierry took too much time to come back to a good position facing away from the wall. He attempted to make a quick quarter turn and deploy, but impacted before complete deployment of his canopy. Two days prior to his death, he did ten jumps in the valley, and witnesses attested to the fact that he is really very tired. He is passionate for the sport and loved the people who -like him- jumped for their own, and not for the show. His many friends miss him deeply. The report also included the following: "Just a few words about this site La Mousse. It is high and you can fly 9 to10 seconds if you track like hell. But the pure vertical is not more than 6 seconds." http://www.basefatalities.info/ Nick D BASE 194

From the NPS Morning Report: Nick D

To further illustrate the old school paranoia of pins . . . #22 Robert Morris, Jr., BASE 275, June 10, 1990 Age: 23 Building Jump (Mellon Bank Building, 792-feet) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA Total Malfunction and Impact Robert is jumping a skydiving rig (Wonderhog) with a belly band and an empty reserve container. His curved pin is primed half way and he's using a 52-inch BASE pilot chute. After landing, a previous jumper said he watched Robert go somewhat head down and throw his pilot chute early. Robert then towed his inflated pilot chute to impact. The speculation is he tightened his belly band down (after a final gear check by the jumper who went first) and this put too much tension on the main closing pin. Combined with an early pilot chute throw and the associated lack of snatch force this may have caused the pilot chute in tow. The irony here, according to the first jumper, is they had both recently discussed purchasing Velcro closed BASE containers but that the cost was an issue. Nick D

Some timeline stuff might be helpful when looking at pin and Velcro rigs. Early BASE jumpers didn’t feel the need for different from the drop zone gear until their abilities started outperforming the stuff being jumped. Progress, at that time, is the measure of going lower and lower. This journey thru sub-terminal velocity is what produced the single canopy Velcro closed BASE container. Master Rigger Jim Handbury, didn’t build the first Velcro closed parachute container, but at the request of Carl Boenish, at Lake Elsinore in 1983, he did build two rigs, that became the parent rigs of the classic Velcro closed BASE containers we have today. Carl’s dilemma is from talking a friend into tethering a hot air balloon 300-feet over the lake and then realizing his gear, the gear he’d done all his fixed object jumps on (he hadn’t named the sport BASE yet) was way too complicated for the task at hand. These would be round jumps into water. Carl’s skydiving-BASE jumping gear is a dual canopy spring loaded ripcord activated pile of hesitation waiting to happen. He’s two sentences into explaining the situation when Rigger Handbury holds up his hands and says, “I know just what you need.” The next day he presented Carl with two rigs, the other one being for Jean Boenish. They are single canopy four sided container and harness systems closed by their own bridles. The Velcro part is just two inches wide and didn’t shrivel. As an afterthought Handbury told Carl, “just hold the pilot chutes in your hands.” The reason experienced BASE jumpers resisted pins, at first, is it seemed like going backwards and they weren’t ready to abandon a rig that saved them countless times. It took until BASE gear manufacturers proved new materials and know-how, gained mostly the hard way, that a current and up-to-date BASE jumper can use a pin rig to advantage in almost every case. Nick D

"May your 52, inflate for you, so that in your burble it will not stay..." Hey Zennie, I hope you'll also recall the last part of that line. As I remember it's; "Copying this tape will make bad karma and cause you to bounce . . . Ha Ha Ha!" Believe me, you don't want Mark on your case. Nick

There is much discussion in the early 1980s as to the validity of even issuing a Night BASE number. Most thought, gee, all BASE jumps are at night . . . Nick

It's cool they did a 42-way VRW formation and it's coming closer to what Pat Works' saw as a 3D Ball that graced the cover of "Parachutist" back in the early 1980s. I remember I'd see Fritz sitting in the Bombshelter at Perris arranging and re-arranging the salt & pepper shakers on the table and he was, oh, so serious . . . Every ten years seems to add so much to the story of true human flight that it's almost freaking frightening. Nick D

I had a similar thing happen twice on a Stiletto. (I had also reached 2000 plus jumps without an un-intentional cutaway) The first time - I opened with a couple of twists but the canopy was stable. When I reached up to try and clear the twists the canopy took off like something possessed. The canopy went into a violent spin inducing more line twists and placing me almost horizontal to the horizon. I reached for the cutaway and reserve handles but the twists were now traveling down through the risers and I couldn’t pull the cutaway handle. I dropped the reserve handle that I had removed from its pocket with my left hand and used two hands on the cutaway. Then the yoke of my rig (an early Reflex) began to tighten around my neck. The twists are now travailing into the harness and I feel like I’m being strangled. I pulled with all my remaining strength and if the cutaway didn’t come I was going to roll the dice on the reserve handle before I passed out. At that point I finally managed to cutaway and after that it all went normal. The next time it happened I opened, looked up, saw about three lines twists and just chopped it. Since that time gear manufacturers have addressed the hard cutaway problems to some extent with short cutaway cables and hard housings. Small canopies are something we still haven’t come to terms with yet as a sport. A small canopy will, sooner or later, inevitably bite you right on the a$$ . . . Nick D

Canuck, I can understand how you feel right now, and maybe you’re riding out a bit of buyer’s remorse, but after that rig saves you a few times you’ll be so in love you won’t care what it says, except from then on you’ll always equate whatever it says with LIFE. Here’s how I got my first BASE rig . . . I bought one of Hank Asciutto’s old piggyback Piglet systems and for two days sat on a wooden packing table at Elsinore with a seam ripper until all I had left was a harness. Then even though I was a rigger I took the harness to another rigger friend of mine who I knew sewed better than me. While that is going on I dragged out every canopy I owned to decide which would be my new BASE canopy. I had a serviceable Raven I, a ragged out Cruiseair, a pretty new Cruislite with a hundred jumps on it, a very old Strato Star (not that it matters as they are very hard to blow up) and a good Piglet II round. I had a freaking quiver of canopies. I dropped the almost new Cruislite off at my friend’s house and a week later he called me to come pick it all up. I almost ran off the road in my old blue ’67 Ford Fairlane racing through the dark on a back country two laner through Vista, California that summer in 1987. I walked into my friend’s living room and it sat there all black, packed, and wicked looking. My very first Velcro closed BASE rig. This was the TOOL! My friend smiled like only a young Todd Shoebotham could. This is the key. No more BASE jumps using my Racer. This is going to unlock the world . . . Nick

All BASE jumps are dangerous so either, if prepared for correctly . . . NicK

The most important elevator tip is to send it back down before you jump. And don’t get greedy as they’ll hold only so many . . . We tried five (two inside and three on top) and that’s too many . . . ! NicK

>>the only movie where Deborah did a nude scene. She looked good.

In a City Where Nobody’s Been Popped, Lately . . . “Getting arrested for BASE jumping is liner to your location and proportional to what’s going-on there. Sometimes, if the heats off, everybody shakes their heads and laughs and you walk with a hand slap, unless they see you again.” That’s something I wrote 14 years ago, but that was before the war . . . Nick D

Not in America, but . . . Steve, BASE 344, is an American living in Panama in 1994. His apartment is on the 19th floor and he makes many jumps from his balcony, and many more around the city. The police never bothered him, but they did like to watch. Nick