NickDG

Just to be clear, I had nothing to do with the actual tar & feathering of John Vincent. All I did is write about how most in the BASE community (including me) felt about his actions. The sites that local crews (all over the country) had cultivated and protected for years were being threatened. And John finally burned the wrong crew. Now, it's totally up to Lyle Murphy if the video goes public or not. However, being the entire episode is legendary, maybe it's a better idea, that it should just stay that way.

Just saw on FB that John Vincent passed away sometime in the last year in (I believe) New Orleans. The post only said of his passing, "John was homeless in New Orleans in 2013 and died about a year ago." Also in the same thread, John's wife, Mary Vincent, confirms his death. As much as I didn't like how John conducted himself while BASE jumping - I wouldn't wish such an end on anyone.

This is a photograph of John Vincent at Bridge Day in the mid-90s or so. He was already known as a notorious site burner and I, and some others, had a serious talk with him. Yet, he was oblivious to anything except what brought himself fame and publicity. When John jumped the World Trade Center Tower in New York City he was so new at BASE he didn't even know how to pack. And the BASE rig he used he purchased new from us at Basic Research (now Apex BASE) when I was working there. Back then we sent out complete systems already assembled and packed. BASE packing was still a mysterious art to newer jumpers coming from skyjumping, so we thought we were helping as the idea was, you'd open the rig on the ground and carefully un-pack it to get some idea of how it all goes together. However, we heard later that John used the rig, to jump the WTC right out of the box without ever inspecting or re-packing it. That caused Todd Shoebotham some angst - and we immediately stopped sending out gear already packed. I've always felt a bit responsible for John's tar & feathering as prior to it happening I was bagging on him pretty good in my BASE magazine, The Fixed Object Journal. It was hard not to - as at the time - John was the poster boy for publicity seeking site burning gloryhounds. And, nowadays, I just figure he brought it on to himself.

>>The World BASE Association is here . . . ! The Yosemite Skydiving Association is here . . . ! The Cliff Jumpers of America is here . . . ! The Alliance of Backcountry Parachutists is here . . . ! Uhuck 2.0 - BASE United is here . . . ! Uhuck 3.0 - BASE Access is here . . . !<< Wow, that's something I wrote a very long time ago. Where did you find it? If I recall it right the context of this was, me saying, we are wasting our time trying to 'work' with the NPS in that way. The World BASE Association was mainly Jean Boenish after Carl Boenish died. The Yosemite Skydiving Association was the NoCal guys, Adam, Dennis, etc. The Cliff Jumpers of America is one I was involved with as director of publications. It was essentially the same Norcal people but with the addition of some Socal jumpers, myself, Anne, Todd, and some others. I don't know too much about The Alliance of Backcountry Parachutists. But I think they came about when the Potato Bridge and Moab started to become a thing. The Uhuck group had a website but I just checked and it's gone now. And, I don't recall hearing anything from them since about 2005. The bottom line is all these groups, on some level, were advocating for BASE jumping in National Parks and essentially they all failed. In my opinion - Jean Boenish had more of an effect on the NPS than anyone else since. A Park Ranger once told me, "She's a real thorn in our sides." There's no way I'll ever see legal (or not illegal, or what ever you want to call it) jumping in Yosemite in my lifetime unless we throw enough money at it. This has to be a federal court case, that we win, which causes a federal judge to order the NPS to allow jumping. There is no other way. The photo is the board of The Cliff Jumpers of America having a meeting in NorCal in the 1990s.

I don't know the particulars in Earl's case, but plenty of 'experienced' jumpers don't earn BASE right away as they lack one object category. And besides the clipping from a BASE Magazine shown below, Earl is also listed as 'BASE 300' on the unofficial BASE Number List I've been keeping since the 1980s. In any case - you don't have to have a BASE number in order to mentor somebody. If you really want confirmation on this check with the Rick and Joy Harrison.

Earl Redfern was/is BASE 300.

The Ten Million Dollar Broken Leg . . . Judge: Mr. Shyster, you may begin your closing argument. Plantiff's Lawyer: Ladies and gentleman of the jury. My client sits before you with a badly broken leg. And we have shown by direct evidence my client's injury can be traced directly to an initial low main canopy deployment on the part of the TI, the ongoing disregard of the DZO to ensure their TIs follow the rules, and the USPA which has a record of being laissez faire when it comes to regulating tandem jumping. We have presented indisputable evidence from the 'Snitch-O-Meter' that shows without a doubt the defendant in this case initiated main parachute deployment at 4,700-feet. And that is a full 300-feet below the prescribed 'safe' altitude. How far, ladies and gentleman, is 300-feet? It's the equivalent length of a football field closer to the ground than permitted by the rules. (The jury gasps.) And we offer this very late main deployment left too little time to set up a proper landing pattern and therefor my client is maimed for life. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Seriously folks, there is no issue with having too much information in this sport. But, that information in the wrong hands, like a sharp lawyer in front of a whuffo jury, may be a can of worms best left unopened. When it's video of a mistake we say the video malfunctioned. Are we going to start saying the AAD failed when it records a mistake? That's not going to fly.

I've read through the PDF twice and unless I missed something why was Garmashov revoked in the first place? It was Pooley who forged Garmashov's name to the tandem certification. And unless Garmashov told Pooley to forge his name, I don't get it.

When Mains started getting smaller in the early nineties I was jumping a Stiletto 135 with a Raven 170 reserve. And the thought struck me we are now building container systems the wrong way around. The smaller main should be in the top pack tray with the larger reserve on the bottom. I've always thought your reserve should be big enough to land you (in relative safety) if you're unconscious and the brakes are still stowed, but nobody thinks like that anymore. Of course, I'm also the guy who thinks 'gut' gear will someday make a return to the skies. Think about that in terms of modern materials and how much more we know now. Instead of packing two parachutes into a tight package on your back the two canopies could be 'spread out' to the point your rig profile, especially for freeflying, would practically disappear. We also learned, from BASE jumping, that parachutes tend to work better when not packed down to the density of a brick and stuffed into a small container you need a tool to close. Moe Villetto built a stealth BASE rig designed to be worn under your street clothing to get by security guards on high profile jumps. Like if you wanted to, I don't know, day blaze the Empire State Building. I think he called it, "The Blade." And as innovative, slim, and form fitting as that rig was - it's the various ways Moe is coming up with to pack a square that is interesting to me. He found ways to spread them out so it seems like they aren't even there. Another advantage to gut gear is you aren't grounded when your reserve needed repacking. You'd just borrow a reserve from somebody else. In fact why even own a reserve parachute at all? They should be hanging on hooks at the drop zone where you just grab one and pay the day rate. However, for the new 'Gut Gear' (we'd need a much better name) to work skydivers would have to give up using deployment bags. And that's okay, again BASE jumpers have been doing terminal speed openings for the last 40 years or so without deployment bags. And it works fine. You just need a Tailpocket on the canopy to control things. Also D-bags do cause malfunctions sometimes, so there's that. One issue I can see is that BASE jumpers, in general, are very careful packers while, also in general, skydivers are not. But that is somewhat mitigated by the fact skydivers hire professionals to pack their mains and those guys & girls can easily learn a new trick or two.

>>crap. can't easilly find the Apex BASE pilot chute black death chart.<< Wow, is that PC chart (the one with the skulls) still around? I created that 31 years ago for Basic Research (now Apex BASE.)

None of the below is gospel, just my take on how I remembered things . . . It's been a while since I've seen the movie, which I liked a lot, however it wasn't exactly the film it started out to be. I first met Marah Strauch, who created and directed Sunshine Superman, many years earlier. She had come across a carton of old BASE VHS tapes her deceased Uncle had shot. His name was Mike Allen, and he was BASE 163. I'm not certain if she knew her Uncle in life as he was killed in a 1992 automobile accident. However, looking through the box of tapes and photographs she felt a connection to her Uncle, not through parachutes or jumping which she knew nothing about, but through photography which they both shared a love. Trying to find out more about her Uncle she found me, and others, who knew and jumped with Mike. And when she phoned it was always, “Hi, Uncle Nick,” as we all became defacto Uncles to her and she a Niece to all of us. She began attending Bridge Days and other BASE events, always with her cameras, and she became a fixture in the BASE community. Around this time she starting talking about a film on the history of BASE jumping. And, of course, I was all for that. And she came to my home a few times to interview me, and I passed on all I had learned about the history of the sport. And not just me, she did that with many others who jumped with Mike. And like I'm want to do I emphasized the part Carl Boenish played in the development of BASE jumping, and how there had been plenty of parachute jumps from objects made prior to Carl's time that registered on the world only as inconsequential stunts. It took a combination of Carl's talent as a film maker and the majestic scenery El Capitan provided in 1978 to lite the fuse that detonated the bomb that became BASE jumping as we know it today. And Carl did that in something he called a simple film poem using little to no words. Of course, you can't make a movie over night (although I haven't seen 'Hex' yet) and at least four years or so went by as Marah sought funding, gathered more materials and footage, and kept interviewing BASE jumpers. Then she met Jean Boenish, who up to that point had been very protective of her late husband's legacy. Maybe a bit overprotective. I interviewed her for my BASE magazine and prizing personal information out of her was difficult, even though I knew her fairly well. She'd even jumped on me (gently) for using one of Carl's photos in a story about him I wrote without her permission. And I told her once, all of Carl's films and other works should be in the public domain or people are going to forget him. And when Marah came along I think Jean saw a way to solve that problem. Something between Marah and Jean must've clicked and Marah realized she now had access to all of Carl's films, and that was something no one else had. And I don't fault Marah in the least for it, but that's how the focus of the film morphed from “The History of BASE Jumping” to the “Carl & Jean Boenish Story.” I'm actually very happy the movie turned out the way it did. Marah gave Carl Boenish a foothold in history with her movie in a way none of us who knew and revered him ever could. And I know Marah also did a lot of work preserving Carl's films for future generations. But, I will say this - the broader view of BASE jumping history – the nitty gritty nuts and bolts part of it, well, that film hasn't been made yet. And I really hope someone eventually does make that film.

Not a physical copy like you asked about, but every issue of PARACHUTIST is online (for free) going back to 1957. They are here: https://uspa.org/p/Back-Issues

What bugs me is even a cursory search of the internet would have showed you the name 'BASELog" is the name of a logbook I designed in 1989. You really should have used another name, or at least asked my permission first. Here is the first BASElog and I've sold around 100 of these over the years. And I know a few people still using them. NickDG :-) BASE194

Back in the early days of the BFL we would joke about who would be BFL #420, and it seemed okay at the time as I, for one, never thought the numbers would ever get that high. There's absolutely nothing funny about it now . . .

The FAA has, or at least did have, a rule that if you're a certificate holder (pilot, rigger, mechanic, whatever) and you die, you have thirty days to notify them.

The FAA database is hopelessly out of date and chock full of dead riggers with seal symbols that come up as good if anyone checked. My good friend Frank Mott passed away back in the mid-2000s and he's still listed as an active rigger. His seal symbol is MH4. If you use it (Frank wouldn't mind) just anonymously send his widow 20 bucks.

Lisa is at my house. Afterwards we went out for Sushi and it only took her five minutes to have entire place in stitches.

I couldn't begin to tell you how many times John Sherman saved my stupid ass. I BASE jumped with Racers. And used it doing AFF Cert Courses. As you never know when that 2 or 3 seconds extra time John and Nancy crafted into that rig will save your life by basically making either container disappear. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3WvlG6F2aI NickDG

>>If it is a case of nobody manning the job, I wouldn't mind doing it

No Fear . . . At an early 1990s Bridge Day in West Virginia I was kind of shocked to see the first inroads of corporate tentacles into the sport of BASE jumping. Among the booths set up in a Fayetteville school gymnasium by a fledgling BASE equipment industry there is a new non-BASE related company called "No Fear" hawking their popular line of t-shirts. Most old school BASE jumpers who were there, including me, saw this as a sacrilege. They tried to give away a few shirts for free just to get the ball rolling. But when someone tried handing me one I said, "Get me one that says, "Big Fear," and I'll wear it. I wanted to say more, but it would have been pointless. These were just kids who answered an advert to come work for some "dynamic" new company. BASE jumping was still very much an underground activity in those days, and there was no graphical internet and certainly no YouTube. And except for Bridge Day we were still being chased in the middle of the night by cops and security guards. Or so we thought. The next day two BASE jumpers were handcuffed and arrested on the bridge for outstanding (BASE related) warrants. Believe me, if "Anonymous" masks were available in those days many jumpers would have been wearing them as BASE was still very much a combination of parachuting and bank robbery. But that wasn't my main beef with No Fear. Nobody owns BASE jumping. You can't rent it, bottle it, or sell it. Each of us during our active years as BASE jumpers are merely stewards of a pretty spectacular human endeavor. And it's a legacy stretching back to the 15th century when crude but effective parachutes are being jumped from tall stone towers in Europe. These devices were marketed as a way to escape the fires that often engulfed these towers which were filled with straw furnishings and where flaming torches provided the lighting at night. In more modern times like the 1980s and 1990s that legacy was bolstered by every BASE jumper who broke a leg (or worse) trying to learn something new from a piece of gear or a new technique. And those lessons were passed around the BASE community mostly by word of mouth. There was email in those days and internet bulletin boards were starting to appear but not many BASE jumpers were computer savvy enough to be using them. The very first email I sent was in about 1986 and it was to another BASE jumper. Our legacy includes many things which also means talking about Carl Boenish. And in the thirty years I've been writing about BASE jumping I seldom fail to mention him. I know many of the younger jumpers roll their eyes but in my way it's how I was paying Carl Boenish back for all he did for us. So it was in that frame of mind I stood there in front of that No Fear t-shirt booth and wondered, is this right? Is it something we should embrace or reject? What would Carl think if still alive? But this is almost ten years after he died and there were plenty of BASE jumpers on the scene who didn't care much for history and/or didn't worry about where BASE jumping was going. And I understood that way of thought. To many of them BASE jumping was just another cool thing you could do with parachutes and nothing more. So it was inevitable that corporate sponsors, for good or ill, would come into our world eventually. There's an old adage in advertising. You don't sell the steak, you sell the sizzle. And in a world going bonkers for extreme sports we had the sizzle. But we could stave it off for a while and that was the consensus of the staff manning Bridge Day that year. No Fear was just using us and the sport of BASE jumping for money. And it seemed dirty. So we fired the bridge day organizer who took it upon himself to allow them in. And that was his first and last year in that position. Now here we are all these years later so let's look back at how things turned out. (This is fun, isn't it?) BASE jumping isn't the sport it used to be, but neither is skydiving or anything else for that matter. And except for a few bumps, like when Redbull callously took axes to way more than a few trees at an exit point to get better film in the can, it hasn't hurt us as much as helped us. And we knew a long time ago that BASE jumping would never grow and progress if it remained underground. So it that regard its helped a lot. It used to be if you wanted to organize a BASE jump with permission you had to first explain what BASE jumping was, and that's no longer the case. I know Redbull, and other companies like them, use BASE jumping to sell their swill to teenagers, and I felt some joy when No Fear went bankrupt but in the end, I think it worked out for both these corporate entities and BASE jumping as one hand washes the other. NickD :-) BASE 194

Find an experienced evaluator in your area who might have video of past courses. If you can sit and have them explain what you're looking at it will really help. Here's a portion of a course I evaluated at in Lake Elsinore, it's a bit dated but it might help you out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3WvlG6F2aI NickD

Have fun tomorrow, Bill. Wish I could be there. When I look back on my own skydiving career I realize the three most important things have been the throw-out pilot chute, the 3-Ring release, and woman. And without the former two there would have been a lot less of the latter. NickD

Congratulations to Alan!!!! Proving less is more in first class non-glory hound fashion. NickD :) BASE 194

I went on my Meals on Wheels delivery route yesterday with a first time volunteer and we were chatting when she asked what brought me to California. I told her skydiving and she said, wow, my grandfather was killed skydiving. So thinking I might have known him I asked his name. Turns out she is Bob Buquor's granddaughter! Her Mother was just four years old when Bob was killed and neither of them knew much, if anything at all about Bob. The Mom did attend a Starcrest event in Bob's honor but that's all. I'm looking to put them in touch with anyone who actually knew (or jumped with) Bob. So please let me know if you can think of anyone. NickD :)

Sort of happened to me once. I was JM with a load of static line students in a C-182. We lined up for T/O and a few moments after the pilot put the power to A/C he passed out cold. I pulled the throttle back, pushed the student that was up against the panel to the side, and reached down with my hands to work the rudder and brakes. We ran off the RWY but I managed to get it stopped before we hit anything . . . NickD :)