NickDG

Technically, someone who's made at least one jump, even a tandem, shouldn't be called a Wuffo. And for someone who's done a single tandem - they are more correctly called, "One-Jump Charlies." NickD

How I feel about sponsorship in BASE jumping has run hot and cold over the years . . . Since I pre-date the practice of corporate sponsorship, even at the drop zone, I first thought there is no way this can be bad. The first sponsored BASE jumpers appeared in the early nineties. These were in-house relationships between BASE gear manufacturers and jumpers they knew and trusted. The old Basic Research sponsored "Team Xstream" beginning in the early 90s and they had early success with the first "modern" paying BASE demo. Magic Mountain in Southern California hired them to jump from their Sky Tower on opening day. I crewed that jump and watched thousands of park guests, mostly teenagers, watch in awe. Prior to that - back in I think, 1989, Dennis McGlynn proposed the first "meet" to be held at Bridge Day. It was to be accuracy with judges and all that – and it raised a lively debate among us who were there. The old hands weren't sure, "Isn't that skydiving shit?" But the sea change in BASE was already taking place, and the newer guys were all for it. The BASE manufacturers then started sponsoring jumpers in those early meets but again it is still all within the BASE community itself. The jumps at Magic Mountain did not get much publicity outside of what Magic Mountain did with it. And that was the way we wanted it. We felt like we were walking a fine line – and were trying to fly under the radar a little bit . . . The roots of Team Xstream was the core of the latest team that did the recent Super Bowl jumps and they are still keeping a low profile. While everyone in the stadium saw it all, CBS screwed up the coverage and missed broadcasting the actual launches. All the TV viewers saw were canopies landing, just another garden variety demo. It also didn't seem like too many viewers wondered where the jumpers came from – after all – it is a covered sports stadium. Then the "just say no generation" came of age. Not having recreational drugs to treat their various neurosis like my generation did allowed some to see a void to fill and they did so with something that seemed innocuous, at first, energy drinks . . . But it proves the Madison Avenue adage that if you throw enough money and exposure at something it becomes popular because some people want & need a crowd to follow. The latest crop of sponsored jumpers are a mixed bag. And here's where I go off the rails on this. There's Troy's "GoFast" that is certainly corporate but Troy's a jumper and that whole company started by selling rubber bands. And the BASE jumpers he sponsors tend to be both good jumpers and ambassadors for the sport. Some other sponsored jumpers bring an "edgy-ness" to a thing that doesn't need more edge on it. I think they forget the point is – the thing we do – not who at the moment happens to be doing it. A little more humbleness would not hurt these guys. But I know humble won't sell soap and toothpaste. And then there's Felix. I don't know if you saw his recent interview but I've met him and he does talk that way. He's always been sort of an automaton, and sometimes I think Spacey Tracy built him out of Radio Shack parts. Did you notice how they never talked at the same time? I temper myself when talking about Felix because of two things. I don't say this about too many jumpers – but Tracy Walker has paid his dues in this sport, and as far as I'm concerned he can do whatever he wants. The second thing is what are we worried about? I mean, I don't get into how Felix presents what he does on a guttural level, but is it going to affect me? Even if Felix advocated kiddy porn and snuff films along with his jumps we only stand to lose the privileges we gave up freedom for in the first place – so in a way the more "they" clamp down on BASE the more freedom we get back. Since no one can stop us - the future – no matter what happens – is either going to be better, or much better, there's no third way . . . NickD

That's not quite true . . . As early as 1988-89 there were a dozen or so BASE jumpers communicating via email and the BBS (bulletin boards). From that came the first “BASE Board” I started it in about 1990 and hosted by GENie. Than as the web went graphical and become easier to use Mick’s BASE Board became the place to gather, but that was also the time the tone changed from humorous, insightful & witty to what we have today – too much noise – that often obscures the real stuff . . . I remember, and still have, many of those early messages archived. And I well remember my first post after seeing that it was read by 8 people. It was a heady moment . . . NickD

Look at the “Aviator” from Rigging Innovations. Especially since you are a jumper why go with a round canopy when you can have a square . . . http://www.rigginginnovations.com/aviator.htm NickD

One night . . . 400-Feet . . . NickD

More balls than brains (literally) . . . NickD

Localism . . . It's always been a problem in BASE and it always will be. Solar system wise - We are all locals . . . ! NickD

That's so cool, Jay . . . NickD

1. X-country with Video – Go for it. Put the camera inside your jumpsuit for the Hop & Pop the pull it out after deploying. If you use a camera strap put it on your weak hand. If you don't use a strap borrow a camera. Steer the canopy with your legs ala weight shift. Take long and steady shots figuring you are going to edit it later. Point the camera at yourself as the ground is going to be a long way away and not very interesting at first. Hold the camera up over your head and shoot down, put your feet out in front of you with the ground in the background and shoot them (works best if you wrote something witty on your new white sneakers). If there are other aircraft going up stay off the wind line or whatever jump run they are using, but stay way upwind. While videoing resist the urge to narrate. You can add that and music later, but nothing ruins a good shot like, "Oh wow, this is so f-ing cool!" 2. Talking Cypres - A Cypres does pop when it fires its cutter. People can hear that pop if they are under mains after snivelers or low pulls. I doubt you'd hear it in freefall. If you meant hearing something prior to that - there is nothing. 3. GPS – The military does it. I knew a fellow who built the boards they wore to mount the devices. Sometimes called HAHO (High Alt Hi Open) putting a team out above twenty thousand (sometimes way-above that) they can penetrate another countries airspace without the aircraft having to do so. Oh, and they do it at night. 4. Can you Hear me Now – Cell phone, I know they work in Cessna's at low cruising altitudes. 5. Round is Sound – The simplest and most elegant way is a static line gut gear T-10 jump. It's the way we taught thousands and thousands of first jump students. I know a guy here in Southern California who has a loft full of airworthy round stuff. PM if you want his number. Hey I just thought of something- why not combine all the above into one jump. The rounds have Sentinel AADs and they use 22-caliber blank rounds to blow the reserve ripcord out. You'll hear that one. The GPS won't help but at least you'll know where you landed, and you can video it. And this is where the cell phone comes in . . . NickD

In 1988 I created the very first BASE logbook. I ran a small ad in Phil Smith's BASEline Magazine and sold about twenty of them that first year. Back in that time having a hundred BASE jumps was a real big deal and the first guy who called to say he needed a second logbook was a pretty cool thing. I kept the very first "BASELog" and I'm saving it for the BASE museum . . . On this new logbook – keep it simple – my old design asked for so much information it took longer to fill out than it did to make the jump . . . NickD

Since I have only one of them - launching from buildings in the middle of the night is indeed, "BASEball," for me . . . NickD BASE 194

The un-Felix way to jump a building . . . http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1961143957719606952&q=base+jumping&hl=en NickD

>>I have never been to Yosemite, but it's on my life list.

The back side of El Cap is a parking lot, right??? NickD

This advice was in another thread but it's more apropos here: >>run for the border dude!!!

>>I believe Frank Gambalie jumped the other side of Half Dome.

It's tacky going around in your jumpsuit after you've finished jumping . . . NickD BASE 194

I just couldn't let the above pass without some mention. While it seems "normal" and the right thing to do, and while Ryan sounds like a great fellow who'd be fun to jump with, I swear I thought the last line was going to be, "And I like movies and skydiving on the weekends." I'm sure Ryan will find a partner in crime and all will be well, but it's kind of remarkable (in hindsight) that BASE has come this far . . . It used to be there was one "go to guy" in each state. You'd roll into town and bang on his door. And that assured him he could do the same to you. It was harder for newbies. There were more jumpers than that in each state, but most were underground types, and the term "mentor" is not invented yet, so there were even fewer willing to help or guide beginners. In fact there was a time when I recall thinking about someone, "Man, this fellow should be teaching BASE, and he isn't." But, more times it was, "Man, this fellow shouldn't be teaching BASE, and he is." In the mid-80s instructing BASE was a ballsy thing to do. Even then, ten or so years into the sport's existence, we knew how much we didn't know. Today people walk down from objects due to winds or other practical factors. In yesteryear it was perfectly acceptable to come down in perfect conditions with, "I don't know why I walked down, there was just something." I think most who survived the early days had this "danger sense" and I can only guess it was we knew sub-consciously we were lacking, especially on the equipment side. Maybe you had a pack job that seriously needed a tailgate, but tailgates were still years away. Or maybe this was to be your first 180 and object strike and in about 4-seconds you're going to be wishing hard for the vents that weren't yet available. But, in either case, you knew something was wrong. There will always be a need for that danger sense, no matter how good we get at BASE, but nowadays, I only walk down when it’s too windy or I just plain chicken out . . . NickD

That Yosemite thread being revived and now this talk off Half Dome got me thinking . . . I haven't researched it too well but I've been catching snippets in the newspapers about the plan to drain the Hetch-Hetchy reservoir in Nor Cal being on again. And there's another Yosemite like valley under that water. There's even El Cap and Half Dome "like" formations there. If they do drain it I hope the NPS doesn't get their hands on it. It should be left undeveloped and run by an elected citizen's committee. You'll be able to wander the valley in a pink tutu or BASE jump in a pink tutu – the only rule being no harm no foul. http://www.hetchhetchy.org/ NickD BASE 194

And by a nose too - look at the post times between yours and the next message down. I'd call it a tie, but I said first post wins . . . NickD

Although I worked for a few years restoring Helio Courier's, and made lots of jumps from them, the brute in that family is the Helio Stallion. Bigger than the Courier, and with a Garret or similar turboprop, it was STOL up the ying yang. Stallions flew in and out of dirt patches all over Vietnam for the CIA during WW II and two thirds. The last Stallion we had in So Cal used to be in San Diego and then we took it to Elsinore and it wound up in Perris where it crashed while descending. Probably the silliest thing I've ever done in my entire jumping career I did in a Helio Courier. Art Linkletter, a famous radio & early day TV personality, had a son who was a pilot and he owned a Courier. He dropped it off at our shop saying the turbo chargers weren't working right. After he left my boss and I grabbed two pilot's rigs and some o2 hoses and took it to altitude. We were right over the airport and just leveling off at Flt Level 20 (20,000-feet) when an oil line blew. We shut it down and prepared to go into the Helio Spin-Turn. This was something another owner showed us and something I've never seen done in another type of airplane. It's like a wings level spin, but you have complete aileron and rudder control and you come down not too fast but not too slow either. But, before that, I hit the push-to-talk. "Hey Boss." "Yeah?" "This is sort of an emergency, isn't it? "I'd say it is, yes." "Then I'm going to jump." "Okay." I took a few more breaths on the o2 hose, pushed open the door, and went. I felt a little loosy goosy at that altitude in my shorts in tee-shirt and awful cold too. After I got going it was fine and there I was holding my sunglasses on with one hand and flying with the other. The rigs had new Phantom rounds and I just repacked them so all I had to do was wait but since I had no altimeter I was paying rapt attention. The airport manager was a dickhead and is always giving the tenants here a hard time. I made dozens of night bandit jumps on this airport and he was always threatening to turn me in - if he could catch me. The winds were blowing a bit so I didn't want to open too high and also the lower I went the slower I'd be going which is always good with these light-weight rounds. I also wanted to land as close as possible to the manager's office. I got as big as I could and pulled the ripcord somewhere around 2-grand and got a brisk but otherwise fine opening. I missed the manager's office by about 50 yards, but I marched right in to let him know in case any wuffos called it in. We fixed the airplane and a few weeks later the owner lost control during a landing and rolled it up into a pile of junk. Art Linkletter also had a daughter who while tripping on LSD jumped from hotel window and is killed. The joke now was Art Linkletter and a son and a daughter and neither one of them could fly . . . NickD

Yes you did . . . SabreDave is our winner! PM me your shipping address. The log book will ship from Apex Perris on Monday . . . BTW, for those with Goggle Earth and Broadband take a look at the "other" side of Half Dome. Like the dark side of the moon it's seldom seen, but man, it looks as if you could skateboard right off! NickD

The first correct answer wins an Apex BASE Log Book. What is the name of this place . . . ? (See attachment) NickD

I doubt it's anything to do with a "boogie" or even BASE jumping as the writers of this riddle probably know zip about either. I think the smoke jumpers angle is the winner. In a whuffo's mind after the jump - the parachutes (always white to a wuffo) laying among the trees might suggest a "spring yard sale" if people sold their old bedsheets every spring. NickD