NickDG

Yikes, that one gave me the shivers . . . Well, that's not the way to have fun (these days) but, on the other hand going about it in that fashion has a certain amount of charm. It's Retro BASE, and it's how everyone in my generation did it. I knew at least as much, and probably less, than you, when I made my first tower jump. I'm glad you are okay. NickD

>>This is all great information. I really hope you are putting all of this into your book so that it is in one place,

Someone had the idea Jean would be upset to hear of this, not to worry . . . Jean knows, all the old-timers know, Carl Boenish isn't the first person to jump from El Capitan, yet, I suppose it's an easy conclusion to come to. Carl wrote of these 1966 El Cap jumps later in his BASE Magazine. (And as far as I've ever heard these are the very first El Cap jumps.) SCHOOL . . . In fact, Carl didn't even jump on the first load he organized there in 1978. He planned and recruited the jumpers, it was his idea and all, but his first priority was to film it. He didn't jump until the second trip some weeks later. We've known about Brian Schubert, and Michael Pelkey and another jumper, for a long time and if you look at the (old) Basic Research website, the story of the 1966 jumps I wrote has been in the history section there for over ten years . . . In 1966, everyone on the Elsinore DZ (and every other DZ) heard about these jumps when they occurred, including Carl Boenish. Years later, in 1975, Carl is in Yosemite filming skydiving from hang gliders over the Valley. He sees square parachutes flying around and he remembers again the story from 1966. The jumps he eventually organized occurred three years later in 1978. I call Carl, "the father of modern BASE jumping," because he brought modern gear and freefall techniques to cliff jumping, and showed through his films that these jumps were repeatable. All the fixed object jumps made throughout the world prior to Carl's jumps in 1978, and there are many, were stunt type jumps, done once and that was it. It was Carl Boenish who turned cliff jumping into something we understood as a sport, and then later, he turned that sport into BASE. NickD

Agreed. I'm always more scared sitting in a car than sitting in a rig . . . NickD

>>It sure would suck to be famous for this

>> I think BASE jumping is very related to music in the sense that both have an amazing ability to level my head when everything around me seems to be on the verge of coming crashing down.

I've been going to clubs now just to watch bass players and I saw this guy the other night laying it down and he's singing too. Gee, what planet do you need to be from to be able to do that . . . Oh yes, my humble attempts at playing bass has been all good, and I even learned a new word, a word I'd heard before, but now I know how to use it correctly. WooHoo . . . ! NickD

>>How many of the old jumpers, from the late 60's & 70's knew how to write? How many of them even remember the 70's?

The first time I visited I remember just seeing the sign that said "Lake Elsinore" as I drove along the road (no freeway then) was mystical. And yes, if someone called you a skygod, at that time, it was a good thing. After I made a jump or two, (I had maybe 90 jumps then) a skygod told me to go over the hill, to Perris, practice some more, and then "maybe" I could come back here and get on the hot loads. I think I probably just gulped and said, "yes, sir, wow, oh man, you really mean it?" And I was dead serious. NickD

Someone should write a book about the history of Lake Elsinore . . . NickD

>>The first two were Nick and Yuri

I'm already there . . . and you're on it. NickD

I picked up a bass guitar a few years ago and now I'm starting to see things in another prospective. It could be the structure, or the sweet moves, or even the mathematics and notational theory behind music in general, but I know now it doesn't matter if I came up listening to Janis and you came up listening to Snoop Dog . . . I just cranked it up and did a good job holding down the bottom end with 50 Cent. Really, I was slaying it, and now I realize why NASA sent music on that golden recording they launched with Voyager in 1977. No matter what planet you're from, and no matter how different you look, everywhere in the cosmos, everyone's gonna dig Elvis . . . . I'm thinking of that little tee/pee in AZ for New Years. Anybody want to go with me? NickD

The idea that, "any publicity is good publicity," originated in Hollywood. In the twenties and thirties there are Press Agents who did nothing but try to dream up ways to get their client's names into the columns . . . and it was always a matter of stretching the truth to complement the idea being presented, and this is the same thing. Our only problem, and it's so very sad, is the mainstream press is doing the same thing. Anyway, I'm comforted by the fact no one I know watches, "Access Hollywood," or "Celebrity Justice," and those type of shows because, if nothing else they comprehend they are being manipulated. In fact, when these type of shows began (in the early 80s) with "Hard Copy" and the like, where they first disguised nonsense and spin as hard news, (and later become the model for FOX news) I thought people would see thru this, and these shows would be short lived, but it's come to pass that most didn't "get it" and it's scaring the crap out of me. . . NickD

He did indeed go to jail over this for 11 years (or something). The parents of the molested child are trying to get the state to stop paying his teacher's pension while he's in jail. Of course, there is a small chance this isn't the same fellow . . . To steal a joke from RN's long ago troubles; What's Greg Yarbenet jumpng now? A one cell . . . NickD

Greg Yarbenet was working with a small model of a ram air parachute, and trying to figure out a way to slow down the opening. He took off his wedding band, slid it up the lines, tossed the whole thing up in the air, and the rest is history . . . Discoveries and inventions in aviation always seem to come to several people at about the same time. This is what happens when they all come upon the same problem at the same time. (There's still a good argument to be made for who actually first flew an airplane). The thing I always thought made Greg Yarbenet, was he probably could have patented his slider, and would have gotten money for every one produced since. But, he didn't. In fact he was very humble about it. Parachutist Magazine wrote that he said it was no big deal and that someone else would have thought of it eventually. I owned a Starlite (ouch), but I sold it and bought a Piglet . . . NickD

>>does anyone know this tandem master? he has some explaining to do.

(951) 315 3450 . . . NickD

Wasn't Leo the DZO in '77 - '78? And then he went to Hemet? Gary, and Indian Doctors, early 80's? (I swear, the day they came out to see what they invested in, one actually said, "Holy Cow . . ."). Mid-1980s is Deborah Blackmon and the old twins owned it . . . ? I'm so confused . . . NickD

I just saw a blurb in a nautical paper that a project, including 600 new homes, and a Marine Village (selling boats and other lake use stuff) has been green lighted in the Elsinore lake bed. http://thelog.com/news/newsview.asp?c=134819 Scary? Developers, before they disappear, are notorious for telling buyers near small airfields, "oh, that airport isn't used that much, and it's closing down soon." And that's how it starts . . . However, I know to never count out this DZ as it probably owns the record for coming back from the dead. There have been many grandiose plans for this area that never came to pass beginning with Jacque Istel's Sky-World. This was a planned mixed use aviation theme park, that after the floods, we took to calling Carp-World. Eventually Jacque fled to the desert and built Whacko-World . . .

That engine configuration caused pilots to remark, "I've got two turning and two burning." NickD

>>Story time all …

Hi Jason, Tell Eric to call me. He left his sleeping bag in my car . . . NickD BASE 194

>>Is the article next to the ad about a certain jumper taking a slider down rig to terminal in California and breaking a riser??? Yes . . .. I'll send you a scan sometime today. Tell him I said Hey . . . Nick

A classic with outstretched wings and Dutchboy haircuts. Lake Elsinore . . . NickD