fastphil

Mike Sisemore jumped with us at Spaceland quite a bit. I always considered him one of the best...

I told all the guys (4 of us) to buy good beer and no cheap stuff, so they'd drink more and pour less. Sounded like a good idea, but I'm not so sure it worked. I was soaked! Very cool, four at once. You joined a select rank, there was a time when the SCR meant more than a USPA liscence, and would get you an invitation on jumps. the Bob Buquor awards were an indicator of "seasoning", and everyone chased these (and other) numbers. I have SCR, NSCR, SCS, SCSA, NSCSA, WSCR, NWSCR AND BASCR...

Congrats, Steveorino. We used to require two cases of beer from new recipients, one for pouring on them and one for drinking. We also once built an eight way around a guy on his first jump, please don't let the DZO find out...

A few years of marital bliss should have you back down below 2 grand... LOL

On the Antenna: Nick makes it sound overly simplistic, and it was, but a lot of thought went into early jumps. Time frame was pre BASE, and Phil (Smitty) was chasing his first fixed object jump at El Cap and I was not, and I was somewhat pissed at myself for not tagging along. I was also somewhat pissed at the logistics of having to travel 2000 miles to make such a jump and also pissed at the egotistical USPA types that were pressing for control of these jumps. Because of this I was contemplating another avenue. You see, a picture had been in the back of my mind, a picture that I had first seen a year or so earlier, one that I just could not forget. The picture was of Owen Quinn at the World Trade. The Antenna: The antenna was right near my house. I knew well of it, but never thought much of it, at least not until now. Now I was right beside it, looking at it thru the open door of a Cessna 206. On the way to a demo jump south of Houston, while flying about 1100 feet AGL, I looked out as we were passing right beside the antenna, checked my altimeter, and had a sudden sense of what we were missing out on. I think only a day or so later I was on top of it. I had stashed my bicycle in the weeds, jumped the fence and helped myself to a dose of altitude. This antenna was the coolest place to hang out, not flying and yet still far above the ground, with a platform big enough to have a party on. I couldn’t get enough. The Plan: Smitty and I were both pretty experienced airmen, he more so than I, and we both had jumps from planes and helicopters at about that altitude, so we had a pretty good feeling for the jump. However, slowing us down, Carl (Smitty had called him and told him of our impending jump) had asked us to wait till he could get to town to film. This gave us the opportunity to invite another Phil on the jump, but added a week for our sometimes bizarre planning. Although we would wait for Carl for filming, our overactive minds decided we should make a test drop from the antenna just to see how it went and mostly just to have something to do. So we hit the tower one evening with a 24’ flat circular reserve and a back pack with about 50 pounds of barbell weights. At about 450 feet up the 1100 foot ladder we had enough climbing with the heavy baggage and decided we were high enough for what we wanted. After a little rigging we climbed to the outer edge of the tower and away dropped our little static line dummy, stringing out into a perfect deployment and drifting quickly away right between the guy wires. The full moon made the white canopy almost glow. The location of this antenna was well out in the countryside, and a couple hundred yards off a little used road, and although we could see and watch for traffic on this road for quite a ways a car we had not noticed came into view just as soon as our test canopy opened. Why this was such a concern was because the wind was drifting the canopy along and towards the road, and what made this even worse was the fact that that one lone car happened to be a police car. With things now beyond our control we just stood and watch from our 450 foot perch; the canopy drifting, the police car patrolling. You know how sometime you can watch two moving objects and just know they will meet at one point, this was one of those times. And to top it off the moon made it so bright it seemed the driver would surely spot our canopy in the air. Well, after a few tense moments and to our surprise our drop missed (barely) the car, drifting directly over it by only 20 feet or so and landing on the side of the highway, not even spotted by the car’s occupants, thus delaying our arrest until another venture. Anyhow, we three Phils finally jumped the antenna about a week later (was my gold wing freefall), with Carl, Jeanie and my girlfriend Kathy filming, those were the days…

Is that a bad thing? Is there something wrong with me for never having done a Static line jump? S/L looks scary, BTW. I like to deploy my own canopy. I know a lot of new jumpers who never did a tandem, and I know some who did recurrency jumps with TMs after they had done a couple of hundred jumps themselves. Tandem is getting more and more common, so more and more skydivers will have done it. Not a "bad thing", I think it's called progress...

Congratulations, ladies...

And what about grips? Now that's what I'm talken about.

So... two pack jobs must mean a jump in between. Very cool 460.

hmmm... I love the thrill of takeoff while sitting next to an open door.

Got your BASCR yet??? There's an institution that recognizes free swinging merit...

This is how I remember it (see pic). Hippie skydive chicks were "Snoots", an all girl team "Snoots are for Toots" even had their own T shirts at the Turkey Meet, although I don't think the shirts were tie dye. Picture is Spaceland chicks (snoots), and they are hot...

They still make paper grocery bags???

Never know WHAT yer gonna see at Oshkosh! Or smell...

Here's one you should like; built for flyin low, and just like God intended...

I see where you're going, been there. You run into a diversionary sport, and it's not like you quit BASEing or jumping, or whatevering, it just gets to the point where you haven't been out for a while. At least that's the way I explain it, but I never say I quit. I've been mixing wind and water lately, but want to get into paragliding...

hmmmm... the good ole days; is that what they were like???

Oh yeah, the beer was a good response...

"oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck, oh shit" is not the correct response for that situation...

I think that's pretty unfair to Tom, and a mischaracterization of what's going on. Because the money is not his primary motivation, he can be much more selective as to who he takes on, and make sure that when the novice is released back into his natural habitat he's really prepared for it. That's being responsible. Catch and Release?? I'm sure that's good for business...

I agree with all of Tom's points. The growing pains within BASE exist because the sport is so easy to practice, making it very easy to get over your head. Most extreme sports require not only skill, but much talent in order to even get into harms way, but with BASE most anyone can put on a rig and step over the edge, letting the odds, and not skill, determine the outcome. Still I see it pointless to be against growth of the sport, as that won't keep it from happening, and it may keep some future BASEer from enjoying it. And I might add deaths are a flimsy reason, it's not like humankind is in danger of extinction. Yes, let BASE grow and become a viable way to commute to work...

Hula hoop dives are a lot of fun...

Few people like change...especially the old farts. It seems to me that you and Professor Kallend are among the forsaid few. I hate old farts that wont change their minds.

Old fart! Those titles went out years ago. Owch, mine says "Expert". It is surprising to me, all the strong feelings over night jumps...

Back in my early jumping days, the Piglet was definitely the weapon of choice among the low-pull crowd. kevin Yep, I remember some of the Piglet crowd. You could sometimes get a closer view of their deployment if you were on the ground then if you were jumping with them and watching from under canopy...