base428

Hey Lew, I've also been laughed out of a few insurance offices when I told them I wanted insurance to cover my business. I do BASE jumping videography, photography, and I run the BASE jumping at Bridge Day. It's all part time work, but nobody will insure me. Erie Insurance won't even insure a machine shop who makes parts that go in an aircraft (basically, they won't insure anything even remotely related to flying). Oh well.....that Ritz $200 deal sounds better everyday for the uninsurable people like us. Good luck with your new 10D (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Hey Lew, how did you get them to replace it? Their policy excludes fire from what I found on their site. --- Our Expanded Service Policy provides your equipment with coverage from almost every possible occurrence (except fire and theft) while you are using your equipment.... --- Just curious how cool they are if I were to bring back a flattened 10D that went in. Thanks. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Here in good old West Virginia, where some boneheads think it's really cheap to live, it's $1.99 for 87 octane, $2.19 for the good stuff. I had to laugh this morning....the GoMart near my house recently installed a 90' tall gas price sign. The only problem is that it won't accept the "2" in $2.19. There isn't enough room since the "2" is much wider than the "1". Stupid bastards. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Email Ed at Tequila Shot Films (xbiged@hotmail.com) and he can answer you. I believe he'll still make you a VHS copy if you don't have a DVD player. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

I was referring to the DVD. They only made DVD's this year - no VHS. Cya....I'm off to the post office. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

I just received 30 copies of the Bridge Day 2003 video late yesterday. I'm beginning to ship the video to everyone who ordered from my website. I'm sure Ed is doing the same for anyone who ordered the video directly through him at Bridge Day. I got to watch about 10 minutes of it late last night. Very good camera work and an interesting overlaid ground POV in the lower left corner. Great work Ed Dickinson, Lew, and Tequila Shot Films. BDay 2004 registration starts July 1st as usual. Cya there. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

I'm not sure who that lucky bastard was. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Sorry folks, I've got you all beat. I've got about $43k on two credit cards right now. It was up to $46k not too long ago. I just got done building a house and we already borrowed the max, so we had to whip out the cc's. Perhaps I should put up a Paypal "Donate" button so you all can help me pay it off? (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

If I had a dollar for everytime I was asked this question......hmmmm. Contractually, the video was supposed to be done in January. It was promised to me in February. It is now May. I feel bad for taking pre-orders based on Tequila Shot Film's estimated ship dates. This is making me and my company look bad as well. Ed, what's the latest? EDIT: Ed just called me and said I'll have my stock later this week. Cool. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Looks like Oprah might have some BASE video on today at 4pm titled "Faced Death and Lived to Tell About It". The previews showed Bud's crash into the Tombstone talus where he broke his femur. This might be our second helping of BASE carnage on TV in the last 2 weeks. BASE jumpers sure are selling a lot of BASE carnage video as of late! (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Where We’ve Been, Where We Are Today, and Where Are We Going? By Moe Viletto (posted, with Moe's permission, for newbies and old timers to digest. This is a transcript of a speech Moe gave at the Bridge Day 2003 Saturday night party.) ----- Where We’ve Been?.....Key People, Leonardo DaVinci, Frederick Rodman Law (who jumped from the Statue of Liberty in 1912 and later the Bankers Trust Building and then the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City), Carl Boenish (the father of our sport), and Jean Boenish of course, Phil Smith (BASE #1), the Harrisons, Richy Stein, Mark Hewitt, Marta (everyone knows Marta – no last name necessary, like “Cher” or “Madonna”), Kent Lane (the first to jump El Cap), and many others helped in the very early pioneering of BASE. Where We Are Today?....Bridge Day 2003. 24 years at this site. Yahoo! Where Are We Going?.....We’re Going In! In 2002, we lost over a dozen fellow jumpers. In 2003, we lost eight jumpers. First let me say there is a science to our sport. 32 years ago when I started jumping, it was a 10 year science. If one survived for 10 years, a know-it-all attitude could develop. If this same person was active for another 10 years and was mature enough to grow, he would realize that he didn’t know it all, and that this is a rapidly evolving sport. If he eeked out the next 10 years with maturity and growth, it would be quite easy to somewhat predict the next 10 years. Skydiving has progressed so fast that now the sports science is about seven years, due to more knowledge and practical experience. So I’ll attempt to give you an overview of where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going. Sport parachuting splintered off into many different facets. In the 1980’s, BASE was being pioneered by a dozen or so people, some of which are still active and lucky to be alive (and some not). In the seriousness of it all, broken bones and lives are part of the price of progress. This original group was part of the “no fear” generation, the pre-extremers. The bungee craze was in full swing as well as AFF and the public had this “here’s my dollar, here’s my life” carnival ride attitude, expecting the instructors to keep them alive. After Carl Boenish said “the world is jumpable”, the USPA was part of a program where we could jump in Yosemite under rules and guidance. We lasted TWO WEEKS! We broke the rules. Part of which was trying to drive a truckload of jumpers part way up El Cap. At this point, skydivers and the USPA didn’t want to have anything to do with BASE jumpers. USPA was already trying to clean up their own public image of barnstorming lunatics and crazies. Not much has changed. We continued to step on our own collective dicks. It makes me wonder if our two prime (currently) legal sites will survive. Moab and the Perrine. Moab is full of high energy, high risk sports. The community has accepted us. If we don’t respect the nearby off limit sites, we lose respect in Moab. The Perrine is an excellent training ground and just downright fun. Two rules – Don’t stand on the rail and don’t jump the local cliffs. The attitude of “rules are for those who want to be ruled” gains us no credence. The science shows we will always have the “me first” BASE jumpers. The science shows we will always have jumpers trying to jump way beyond their abilities. Much of this stems from lack of education. Early magazines such as BASE Magazine, BASELine, and the Fixed Object Journal helped keep us informed. Today, it’s Skydiving Magazine and more so Mick Knutson’s Baseboard. Videos abound and objects can be jumped anywhere. Skydiving from aircraft is a great model for us to study for a better understanding of our own science. We got all caught up with AFF, “Accelerated Frap Factor” as I call it. The focus was on freefall. We’ve been neglecting canopy control courses for years, as we continue to eat it under high performance canopies. Nothing wrong with canopies, just a lack of proper and continued instruction. Peer pressure and no fear attitudes are bouncing the newbies everywhere. This weeding out process doesn’t help our sport. In BASE jumping, we pretty much have the gear end figured out. Using it at the appropriate time and place is another story. Legal sites and the locals need to be treated with respect. That goes for the environment as well. I just returned from a Euro tour of climbing, mountain biking, hiking, and BASE jumping. Where was all the trash? At the BASE sites. During the Carl Boenish era, we bounced one or two a year, sometimes zero. As BASE specific gear manufacturers tested and developed equipment in the dark, instruction came from the manufacturer or a buddy with under 100 jumps. As time went on, anyone with a credit card could get gear and instruction continued to be at a minimum. Today’s BASE introductory courses teach the students about evaluating the jump with a site specific eye, to not litter, ethics, and packing. But when a student has the opportunity to make a jump that he may not be ready for, going for it seems easier than remembering what their instructors said. BASE jumping started growing in leaps and bounces. This not only attracted more of the “no fear” types, but individuals who could see the future. This next 10 year cycle of science sparked an offshoot from the US BASE Association called the Cliff Jumpers of America Association (CJAA). We don’t own towers, bridges, or buildings, but we should have access to mother earth. Cliffing would open up many new sites, but the soreness still existed in the parks. The cliffers know that hardcore BASE jumpers and pretty much themselves would continue to leap from anything doable. They knew what they did in the city would give them an image not welcome in the mountains. Years later, some of these folks and new hardcore followers formed the International Pro BASE Circuit (IPBC). Keyword – PRO. Only the best of the best would compete. This group took a big step forward in promoting our sport. Still, problems arose. How can you not let your good buddy make his first cliff jump in the meet? He’s got 13 BASE jumps. Was he a pro? Not then. Fear oozed out of him on his first jump, which he nailed. On his second one, he yahooed the exit, thumbs up at the camera, and bounced off the wall. Today he is a competent BASE jumper. He was lucky – he lived, he learned – we learned. But we made the rules and broke them. A group invitational to a foreign country to jump a building legally, where some stepped off another site illegally. See the science working? A friend of mine took a one year BASE course….not by choice. A respected quality skydiver and rigger, he ended up breaking his leg on his second jump. This bridge has probably injured more people than any other site. A hairy training ground for sub 10 second canopy rides, thermals, and boulders. Twenty two years into my career, I got my first injury there. Some people had multiple injuries there, from multiple trips. Anyway, my friend spent the next year packing, ground crewing, watching videos, and doing everything and anything BASE except for jumping. Today, he’s one of the sports top notch jumpers. He went to school for a year. I’m not picking on any of these people. I’m trying to use their experiences as lessons to be learned. More skydivers started BASE jumping. A know it all attitude accompanied some of them and they got injured or died. Attention to wind conditions and packing procedures were different in BASE, but often neglected. As we go full circle, now the skydivers were giving BASE a bad name. So this forced our training up a notch. Progress slow, but progress. Equipment advances like ram airs, large pilot chutes, ZP, shrivel flap rigs, the line mod, and tail pockets made us much safer. Now, we are at the same point in our skydiving model. We pretty much have the gear figured out, but we lack complete follow up instruction or we don’t do or not do what we’re taught. Along with proper gear, Carl taught us to hand hold our pilot chutes. But as delays got longer and acrobatics came to life, stowing went through its evolution, and still is. Pilot chutes DO malfunction and WE can malfunction them. In the late 1970’s, balloon suits slowed us to 70-80 mph. Stuntmen were hitting airbags at those speeds. Was landing in the future? With today’s winged technology, landing will become a reality. We are at a time where horizontal speeds have overtaken vertical speeds. We’ve gone from swooping mountains under canopy to swooping canyons with wingsuits. Downhill skiers have reached speeds of 160 mph. They touch the snow every 100 yards or so. They are landing all the time. Lugers, and my favorite, skeleton, which is like luge, only head first and belly down on a high tech Flexi Flyer. These guys crash at 100+ mph. As long as they stay in the track and don’t tumble, they more often than not walk away unscathed. Will a groomed slope be our first runway? Will a stabilizing drogue deploy on touch down, space shuttle style? Helicopters splinter our sport in another direction. Launching from an aircraft allows us to wing down canyons and through waterfalls. Single parachute jumps have become the norm, aircraft or not. Wingsuit popularity will bring on wingsuit related fatalities. With the increased safety to and from the site, the workhorse ability and the comforts of the para pack will come to light. Hardcore jumpers need a quiver of equipment. Velcro and pin closed rigs, higher performing canopies where the object is of no safety concern, but penetrating mountain wind is. More two parachute systems will come of age. What will be the next big boom? Hopefully none of us! I believe it will be a privately owned operation. Like our model of skydiving. The wind tunnels on dropzones are evolving into training on all levels. The privately owned tower, the valley with a footbridge, the private cliff is the wind tunnel of BASE. There would be rules. Don’t follow the rules you can’t play. Just like dropzones. A more structured learning environment would exist and gear could be tested in a controlled environment. What will happen to BASE jumping if 911 happens again? General aviation shuts down, aircraft cost more, insurance goes up and more federal regulations will ensue. Skydiving continues to become a rich man’s sport. So these are just my opinions. That’s all they are. I’d like to leave you all with some advice, though. “Even when we think we’ve found the best answer, we need to keep questioning and searching, because that ‘best answer’ was only the best in its time”. Know when to say no. Know fear. Jump for yourself and don’t try to land (a wingsuit) on Bridge Day. We ain’t there yet (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Yep, it's in the markup help file....but it's new and everyone over at the bonfire got all excited that inline attachments are now possible! (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

The Bridge Day Safety Video was born from this document: [URL "http://bridgeday.info/malfunctions.html"]Bridge Day Malfunctions[/URL] and it contains a fair amount of answers to your questions. [inline icarusvx_1LR.jpg] Malfunctions suck. Good luck. PS. I bet your wondering how I did the inline attachment! (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Holy crap....did you guys see the name of the seller? That's STEVE BALL. Steve Ball is an old BASE jumper friend of mine who I haven't seen for over 5 years and he also is the guy who has the lowest ever BASE jump at 63' from a cliff. It's probably not the same Steve Ball I know, but could very well be??? Very weird. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Vertical Visions sells it for Johnny. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

I wish I had an old issue of the Fixed Object Journal to read more on history like this.....the only problem is that everyone paid for their subscription, but didn't receive anything. Hmmm..... If you jump a high profile object in a National Park at 11am at the start of rafting season, you deserve to be ridiculed. Fortunately, newbie punks often turn into great jumpers because they learn from the mistakes they've made. BASE jumping will always be "my" sport and I'll always refer to it as such. It's OUR sport and we can control 99% of those who participate through our own unwritten rules. That's the benefit of no formal regulation.... (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Rauk, does it make things better by saying "sorry"? I don't think so. I believe we are TOO EASY on the newbie punks that infiltrate our small sport. The rangers at NRGB are having a field day busting stupid punk daytime jumpers in the last 6 months. The tally so far is 10, I REPEAT, 10 arrests in the NRGB area in the last 6 months (that I'm aware of). Ignorance of local rules is not a defense either! No mercy for rule breakers and site burners. MH, tar and feather this punk.....it's about time we take back our objects from the newbie losers. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Email the guy who is making the video and ask. xbiged@hotmail.com (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Personally, the whole jump # thing is too much for me. I can just see the newbies rushing to their computers each Monday morning in order to update their jump numbers. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

I watched a guy fall about 15' from a bridge I-beam and land on his back. Luckily he had a rig on his back, inside his stash bag. He was trying to access the bridge by walking a narrow I-beam at night. He had some internal injuries and coughed up blood for awhile, but he's fine. I believe the soft rig on his back might have saved him from further injury. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Only one design had "Bridge Day" on it. (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

By a margin of 4:1, the NRGB design was selected for the 2005 West Virginia quarter. See attached pic. I think anyone who gets busted jumping off a bridge in the future should pay their fines with West Virginia quarters!!!!! (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Actually, my wife is probably Ground Crew #49 or another high number. We realize others have done it long before her, but it's kinda neat to joke with her about having her Ground Crew number. It shows appreciation for her hard work over the last 11 years (although, she's had a slow last couple of years!). (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

I always tell my wife that she is "BASE Getaway Driver #1", since she's ground crewed for all four objects. She's the best.....you should have seen her hanging out of the window on the 34th floor just to get video of our jumps! Thanks to all GC! (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.

Look what you started, MH! We went from a secure website question that didn't ever mention the NPS all the way to the tainted bowels of previous NPS/Jumpers battles. If you don't like the NPS......DON'T JUMP IN NATIONAL PARKS! Or quit complaining about it and DO SOMETHING to make it legal (besides moving out of the US). (c)2010 Vertical Visions. No unauthorized duplication permitted.