Where We’ve Been, Where We Are Today, and Where Are We Going?

[base428 1]

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.)

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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. <==For the media only

[TVPB 0]

Good thoughts MV. It was nice to see two veterans (sorry ) of the sport mention that jumpers are responsible not only for their own safety but for how the sport is treated by the general public. RH mentioned it in the last issue of Skydiving Magazine and MV mentions it here.

We should look at ourselves and not go on blaming other parts of society for our image!!!! Jumpers should not be offended by how parts of our sport are portrayed because sometimes its not that far from the truth!!!!!

Stay Safe
Have Fun
Good Luck

Stay Safe - Have Fun - Good Luck

The above could be crap, thought provoking, useful, or . . But not personal. You decide.

[The111 1]

Quote

Downhill skiers have reached speeds of 160 mph. They touch the snow every 100 yards or so.

Anyone have any more info about this? I've heard similar stats quoted in other discussions about landing winguits. I don't know much about downhill skiing, and I can't picture how this is done, but it's pretty hard to believe... at that speed the guy would have to be flying his body just like a skydiver, and he'd have to be flying it pretty damn efficiently to reach that speed. And I don't think most skiiers have the knowledge of how to fly like that. Anyone know of any websites with info about this type of thing?

EDIT: ooooh, after the recent thread about Wikipedia, I looked up downhill skiing on there and it is claimed to be the world's fastest non-motorized sport. I will be editing that.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[wzettler 0]

Not trying to turn the discussion away from BASE and Moe's speech but, here is a page I found that has the record speed...

I think when Jesus said "love your enemy" he probably meant don't kill them.

[Nonoski 0]

***Not trying to turn the discussion away from BASE and Moe's speech but..
***


Me neither, but :

Here there's a confusion between speed skiing, downhill skiing and ski jumping.

- In speed skiing, people (I mean the best skiers of the world) do reach almost 160 mph, but never jump (at this speed it would be suicidal to do so );

- In downhill skiing, people [...] reach no more than 90 mph and jump no more than 45 yards (but for a downhill that's REALLY fast and long );

- In ski jumping, people [...] can jump more than 220 yards, but I don't think they go faster than 60-70 mph...

[Zennie 0]

Hey Jason, thanks so much for posting this. I loved Moe's speech when he gave it and I told 460 about it when I got back from BD. I live near Rick Harrison and always love hearing from the "old schoolers" (who are not necessarily old PEOPLE). Their stories, opinions and lessons are priceless.

- Z
"Always be yourself... unless you suck." - Joss Whedon