JFK 0 #1 February 9, 2005 Hi. I am writing this down more for myself than anyone else. Take it as it is... a story. This is a story about AIR, one of the four Elements. Air has always been in my mind. I remember these days when I was ski racing, going at speeds exceeding 100km/h on steep slopes, flying between gates, feeling the wind on my face and hearing its noise. I used to play with kites, learning from them how air was allowing them to fly. Learning to find the right time to get out and play with them. One day one of my uncles started to speak about these guys jumping from the cliff right above their factory. He was a paraglider at this time. I was pretty scared about the idea of jumping from a cliff, but I was sure these guys were playing as I was playing with my kite. I was 14 years old and these games were not really for me at this point. I was living in the Alps and paragliding sounded already quite exciting. My uncle taught me how to kite the paraglider but I didn't make it to the course... Money was an issue but my mum was the biggest one... Skiing was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed being in the nature every weekend. School was almost over and I had to find something to do of my life. Army was a good opportunity and I passed the test to enter the fighter jet pilot school. I was still young and didn't realize at this point what life was about. I got controlled positive to cannabis in some other medical exams... Never got any news from the army... Well, if I couldn't make it to the army I made it to a computer science university in the big city (Paris). Cities are great for a lot of things, but coming from countryside, I felt trapped by concrete pretty quickly... Roller-skating was the only thing that could try to replace downhill ski racing. Every Friday evening we were roller-skating thru Paris for two hours with hundred other guys, here to satisfy their needs: speed, weight loss, meeting people, training... whatever the reason was, it was a good one. One day I saw an advertisement about a university skydiving club. Was pretty interested by it but was lacking time and money to start. Few months later, I was back at my home place for summer holidays and we decided with a friend to visit the local dropzone. It was an awesome experience. Skydivers telling us about their passion, about flying, showing us videos, seeing landings and all these things shared with a so wide smile... We were both scared about doing it but we supported each other, worked to get the money and 3 months later we were both in the plane for our AFF. My first skydive was an amazing experience. I was finally there, in this element my kite was flying in, in this element I had dreamt about flying in. AIR Adrenalin was there, like in every new situation experienced by our body, but it was not the main reason I got hooked up to skydiving. I was feeling so free in the air, able to play with it, enjoyed it so much and in security. I learned to fly my canopy, discovered new falling positions, learned tracking, and practiced for wingsuit flying. I made my first wingsuit flight last summer. What an awesome sensation... Now I really enjoy flying in the morning, waking up in the sky as a bird would do... Skydiving is fun and I wish I will be able to skydive for a long time. But since I was more aware of my body in the air, my interest for BASE jumping grew even more. I came to Finland a year and a half ago. Here I met some BASE jumpers. I got to know them and to realize that BASE jumping was not possible in Finland. Well... Too bad... I told myself I would wait until I would be back in my mountains. Six months ago, a friend of mine, from France, got really involved in BASE jumping, not as a jumper but as an analyst. She is doing researches in sports. She started to follow/ground crew a lot of BASE jumpers in France. She shared with me her experiences and my feelings towards BASE started to kick me in my stomach. Thanks to her I started to meet the right persons who were ready to give me advices. It was almost like if BASE would call me and open its arms to me. I made my decision thinking of every aspect of my life, past, present and future. I was feeling ready. I started to learn about BASE jumping as much as I could. Reading, asking, talking. I might have bothered few people with my questions. I thank my Finnish friends for spending time showing me how to pack, allowing me to practice packing. If racing thought me one thing, it was that physical and mental training are really important. Board diving was a really nice experience for me and I learned a lot about my body in zero speed environment. I got really interested in this sport that I now practice. I was then ready to make my first jump. Not really in fact... At this point, 3 weeks before my first BASE trip, I met a really nice girl. I didn't want to hide BASE jumping to her as it was already part of my life and she had the right to know about it before starting anything together. As much time I spent with her as much I felt how important she was to me. She was stressed about my first jump and I can't blame her for that. But I can thank her for supporting me in my experience. She never said, at any time, that I shouldn't do it. She accepted me as I was and was helping me in my choice. The trip started and we flew with a friend of mine to my parents place. Packing in the evening took a long time as my friends were giving me advices. Finally after agreeing on the schedule for the next day, everyone went to bed. I was pretty excited and anxious; I didn't really felt like sleeping. I took a pen and paper and wrote a letter to my parents. I also wrote one to my girlfriend. It was pretty hard to write them but I really felt happy afterwards. If BASE jumping taught me at least one thing, it is how important it is to share every moment of your life with the ones you love, to give them as much as you can and to be tolerant to avoid any useless conflict. I spent most of the night in a weird state of mind... anxious, sleepy, stressed, awake.. The next morning in the car I was trying to relax and visualize my jump, trying to get used to this idea. All my fears went away when I saw the bridge, this masterpiece 120m above the ground between two hills. We hiked up there with my friends, got ready under the bridge and started to walk on it. I was not thinking anymore, just following what I practiced mentally so many times, almost by instinct. We stopped in the middle of the bridge; my mentor checked me, my gear and the PC in my hand. He gave me a go and I climbed over the rail. I was there... stepping on a 20cm wide ledge... 120m above the ground... facing mountains and a lake... cars passing by in my back... Only one choice, the one I made, the one other made before and other will make in the future: Taking my responsibilities and doing what I wanted to do and I prepared myself to do. 3...2...1...BASE!! I screamed it so loud, exorcising myself, that they could hear it from the landing area. One second later I was throwing the pilot chute. When I swung under the opening canopy I felt a really deep feeling. It was not being relieved because the canopy opened; it was more a feeling of life, of happiness. My friend jumped after me and we both congratulated each other, him for his first BASE of the year and first B, and me for my first BASE ever. I called my girlfriend to speak with her about my experience. She was relieved and glad to hear me on the phone. I had another jump this day later in the afternoon, but during the whole day and the whole evening, I couldn't get rid of the huge smile on my face. This evening all the tension was gone. I had a good night of sleep and went back the next day to the bridge in a really higher mood and ready to continue my training and work on my position. I had four other jumps and my mentor congratulated me on my position. My last jump was the best one in the way that I started really to feel myself in the element and my position allowed me to make a good 2 seconds delay. Six jumps in two days. Not bad... and enough for my first trip. I spent the rest of the trip ground crewing my friend on the well known cliff over my uncle's place and spent time with my family. Now I am back in Finland. Time to go back to work after such nice holidays. I am still excited about BASE jumping and I am looking forward to learn more and practice to be able to enjoy the element as I learned to enjoy it skiing, kiting and skydiving. Julien.JFK #1013 PM Me No Adrenalin.... No Fun! "Minds are like parachutes the Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yarpos 4 #2 February 9, 2005 felicitations Julien great story, thanks for sharing it in English Steveregards, Steve the older I get...the better I was Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pbla4024 0 #3 February 9, 2005 See you soon in our gorge. Fido Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TomAiello 26 #4 February 9, 2005 Quote...It was almost like if BASE would call me and open its arms to me. And that, pretty much, is what it's all about.-- Tom Aiello Tom@SnakeRiverBASE.com SnakeRiverBASE.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
maretus 0 #5 February 10, 2005 Quote My friend jumped after me and we both congratulated each other, him for his first BASE of the year and first B, and me for my first BASE ever. Just picking on you... But it was my first S, not my first B. :) Quote I thank my Finnish friends for spending time showing me how to pack, allowing me to practice packing. ... My friend jumped after me and we both congratulated each other, him for his first BASE of the year and first B, and me for my first BASE ever. .... I spent the rest of the trip ground crewing my friend on the well known cliff over my uncle's place and spent time with my family. Huge thanks to you dude for me being able to be there for your first jumps and for GC'ing for me when I was doing that E later. I really felt priviledged to be there. You really made good ones and the whole trip was absolutely amazing. Just good time, fun jumps, absolutely beautiful places and good friends. Basically just what BASE is all about. For everybody who is interested, there are couple of holiday pics and couple of videos from that trip in http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/masaari/ranska/http://www.ufufreefly.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JFK 0 #6 February 10, 2005 QuoteQuote My friend jumped after me and we both congratulated each other, him for his first BASE of the year and first B, and me for my first BASE ever. Just picking on you... But it was my first S, not my first B. :) Sorry dude :), my mistake :) I wrote Bridge and then shortened it.. QuoteQuote I thank my Finnish friends for spending time showing me how to pack, allowing me to practice packing. ... My friend jumped after me and we both congratulated each other, him for his first BASE of the year and first B, and me for my first BASE ever. .... I spent the rest of the trip ground crewing my friend on the well known cliff over my uncle's place and spent time with my family. Huge thanks to you dude for me being able to be there for your first jumps and for GC'ing for me when I was doing that E later. I really felt priviledged to be there. You really made good ones and the whole trip was absolutely amazing. Just good time, fun jumps, absolutely beautiful places and good friends. Basically just what BASE is all about. For everybody who is interested, there are couple of holiday pics and couple of videos from that trip in http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/masaari/ranska/ Thanks to you dude and you're really welcome. Jul.JFK #1013 PM Me No Adrenalin.... No Fun! "Minds are like parachutes the Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shunkka 0 #7 February 10, 2005 nice one guys ------------------------- "jump, have fun, pull" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thijs 0 #8 February 10, 2005 Thanks for sharing jfk Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lego 0 #9 March 14, 2005 Congratulations on your first jump, dude!lego Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
