JOY

Uhm... Must have been from a local A as you were leaving my balconey? Too many jumps for this short term memory! Look forward to the tapes. Thanx for your kind words, Drive fast, take chances, Joy [email protected]

Sorry from me too, Tom, will be more careful in the future, Joy [email protected]

Hey SPACE, I know they will see this message, hope it works... [email protected]

Half of the crew made it there today, 10 hour trip, the rest in two more, one flight from Atlanta canceled today because of weather.... Thanks to all of our Italian friends for their amazing hospitality, you know who you are! Look out, here they come, we should get some interesting stories from old and middle and new from this one, hope we hear great ones from you all! Zennie, the Old Folks in Houston are doing it again!!! Love you all, Joy [email protected]

I agree with Tom. My brother and I were there the same trip with Tom a couple years ago and it's truly an awsome place. When I was there, I knew that if this phenomenon were in the US, it would be in a National Park and we'd have to sneak in. It is an environmental treasure as it is so unusual. In any attempt to approach the locals, we have to be willing to work with jump times and times of the year to accomodate the birds. The sound of canopies alone may mess with breeding season and the more sensitive we are to these concerns now, the more the locals may trust us with their cave. Rick Harrison USBA [email protected]

Kudo's Stacy!!! Joy [email protected]

About the Family Tree. I hope everyone knows that Carl Boenish and the US BASE Association never pretended to be the start of BASE jumping. Carl was filming BASE in the late 70's and in Norway in 1980 and the Fins and Norges were some of the first doing tall cliffs. Carl was the world's most respected freefall photographer for over 10 years when he fell in love with BASE. He invented the word and the concept of starting a sport where people felt the experience of doing 4 different kinds of objects. Nowadays, there are other objects, but Carl is the man that got El Cap legal, Bridge Day legal and Canyon de Chelley legal before most people ever heard about BASE. He was a visionary that recognized that jumping off of fixed objects was the natural progression for a certain kind of jumper. The ones who wanted to remember the reason we all got in the sport in the beginning. I know many of the early Norwegian jumpers and I encourage everyone to learn more about this part of our history. Rick Harrison BASE 38 [email protected]

I appreciated the warm response from everlyone about my dad's passing. He had been quite a man in his younger days, flying military bombers under power lines in Vegas and the Three Rivers Bridge in Pittsburh. I think Randy and I got our BASE spirit from his side. We all know life is limited. Enjoy it when you can. BASE is the celebration of the human spirit. Thanks!! Rick Harrison, BASE 38 Director, US BASE Assoc [email protected]

After I broke both legs on a Houston building in 1983, I got a Nimbus IV due to the soft landings. It was a 9 cell, but longer front lines so it was slower. Opened like a cannon. Paraflite sent out 2 sets of supplemental instructions how to slow it downfor skydiving. On low BASE jumps it was great . Freefell a 172 foot bridge and saddled at 70 feet after a 1 second delay and an old 52" pilot chute. Fast open, soft landings and routine off heading openings, but it would fly backwards for 2 seconds before it began to stall. Rick Harrison BASE 8 [email protected]

Greetings all. I see now I mislead you all into thinking it was my father who passed when in fact it was Rick and Randy's Dad. The fact that I received support from you all when it was not my loss speaks volumes, there is no closer family than BASE. I have copied all of your letters, both from the Board and personal emails for Rick to see when he gets home and I am sure it will give him great comfort. Sorry for the misconception, Thanx to all. Joy [email protected]

Thank you all for your kind words. We are lucky to be a part of this supportive family! Rick will appreciate our friends, old, new, and some we haven't met yet when he returns. Love yall, Joy [email protected]

Rick and Randy's dad passed today, Morphine, no pain. Good Messages Appreciated... Joy edited by request of original poster ~TA [email protected]

The very first CREW on a BASE jump that I am aware of is Bridge Day 1983. Friend of mine in Houston, Kevin, did a dual with a guy from Louisiana. They opened pretty close, Kevin high man and the guy below yelled up "CREW" so Kevin got in line and they got together for about 3 to 4 seconds on a pretty clean 2 stack. Both made the land. Rick Harrison BASE 38 [email protected]

I do not post often, but had to get in here! Kudos to Jasons wife,I think I have a pretty good idea of what she's been through. Being a part of ground crewing for twenty three years has enriched my life greatly. I have done more daring things than I ever would have otherwise. Climbing up vertical poles nailed into the side of a cliff, which Smitty convinced me I could do. Sliding down from a bridge on very rough terrain using Carl's huge camera bag as a buffer, I only broke one lens. Running to get on board PM Magazine's helicopter and almost hitting the rear blades, they were invisable, it scared the pilot more than me. Many confrontations and made up stories with the law, even one night in jail. The alarm going off when I opened the door to the top of the Statue of Liberty. Being in a tiny row boat with a huge barge closing in. Filming a cliff jump when my dog broke his rope and took off to follow Rick, I didn't get the footage, but I got my dog! At the base of an antenna when Randy landed and forgot to send the elevator back down before he jumped, he had to climb back up with thunder storms looming. Looking the conductor of a train in the eye, trying to decide whether I could beat the train to get to the other side for the best shot. Getting tired of tying my self onto the water pipe on the bridge, so I got rid of the rope, dumb! Burning out the brakes on my car getting Rick to the hospital in downtown Houston, two bag ladies helped me get him in. There is more but Rick should be home from the local A soon. Ground crew rules, I love you all! Joy [email protected]

Another person in the world qualified on the same day, can you please email me the time of day you jumped? [email protected] [email protected]

Greetings all, We did receive additional patches from Jean, she may decide to take over the job of issuing them, but until then we will continue to take care of it. Anyone who has sent us $ for patches so far, have been mailed. We are off to Atlanta for the Holidays, back on the 28th. Happy Holidays!!! Joy and Rick [email protected]

We have had far more requests by email than the number of patches we brought home with us. For now, we will mail them out as we receive your letters in the mail, first come, first serve. Jean has another 200 patches, but is on vacation for four more days. These are more than enough to cover everyone who has responded so far, I just need to get her to mail them to me. I will keep a record of the details everyone sends, and reply to each one personally. As soon as we receive the rest of the patches, we will follow through. Please bear with us and know we are working on it! I will post again when we have the remaining patches. Joy [email protected] [email protected]

Sorry, no photo available, even if there was I would have no idea how to send it. We got our computer when Rick turned 50 and are still learning! I can assure you they are very high quality patches of the original BASE logo. Joy [email protected]

Hi Murray. This is Rick. Joy wanted me to respond. You are right about Carl's library. We spent two nights with her last month and one whole wall of Carl's old studio, in the garage, is full of shelves with at least 100 rolls of 16mm film. Of course most is skydiving, but out of the early Parachutist magazines until about 1981 half of them were Carl Boenish photos. He was a master of color, action and keeping his head still. I've never jumped with Carl that he wasn't sticking a camera on your helmet. I will again talk to Jean both about the patches and getting the film digitized. Carl's history really tracks the very beginning of both relative work and BASE jumping. Jean is a great idealistic person and it's hard to get her to trust anyone with the original film. I will work on it since I'm now having some of my old BASE tapes put on digital format so they don't continue to degrade. Blue Skies Soft Walls Rick Harrison BASE 38 Director USBA [email protected]

Wow! I knew I would get a response from my post but had no idea it would be so big! Sorry I didn't give the appropriate info on how to obtain a patch. I will mail them out on a first come, first serve basis until they run out. In that case, we will try to have them duplicated. To get a patch: Send us the date and name and/or location of your first or most memorable jump. If you have a BASE #, that is also acceptable. Be sure to include your address. The cost is $15 which will go directly to Jean Boenish. Mail to: Rick and Joy Harrison 7316 Houston Drive Hitchcock, TX 77563 USA Keep having fun, Joy

Greetings BASE jumpers, Just to let you know after a recent vacation in California we enjoyed a short stay with Jean Boenish. We were able to convince her to dig through an amazing garage full of skydiving and BASE memorabilia and find a box containing the original BASE patches. These are the patches that originally came with the staff T-shirts at Bridge Day in 1982, any of you who have seen them know they are high quality embroidered patches. We now have a limited supply if anyone wants one. They belong to Jean and she asks for $15 per patch. If interest is high, we will find someone who is able to reproduce them, already know of two sources that could help us with this. Please let us know if you want one, the only requirement is that you have made a BASE jump. [email protected] Happy Holidays! Joy and Rick [email protected]