MyTwoCents

Definitely agree, which is why I mentioned safety. I only sleep with people I trust (which I do not take lightly), and even so use all precautions (condoms, regular testing, etc.), and request my partners do the same. I know people that call themselves monogamous that, over their entire life span, have been orders of magnitude more promiscuous than I could be called. I value safety, respect, honesty, enjoyment; in that order.

I don't condone cheating; it equates to lying, the doom of any relationship. Nonetheless, lifelong monogamy as the default is a myth. Not saying that it can't happen for people, but why not acknowledge the fact that it's possible to love more than one person? We've, by and far, gotten over homosexuality being a big deal in the society we live in. Polyamory will be the next big thing, on the entire spectrum from monogamy, to open sexual relationships, to deeply connected loving relationships with multiple people. I have friends that I don't sleep with, and friends that I sleep with. Love and intimacy is entirely orthogonal to it. My girlfriend once found a great new restaurant and I was happy for her. The next day she had a great lay with a great guy. I was happy for her. Jealousy, insecurity, and other people telling you how to live your life is so last century... That said, there's no reason to cheat and lie. Love the people in your universe; be honest, respectful, kind, fair, committed, and safe.

If I remember correctly it was Andy who started the thread. Among other things, he mentioned that he did his first jump from an antenna without an FJC, he said that "his bridle ripped clean off", he thanked Potato Head (who has a known reputation), and he chose the word "sick" to describe his first jump. All those indicate a strong desire to be flamed. For somebody with 3729 posts on these forums, that should be blatantly obvious. That doesn't necessarily justify the flames, but right or wrong is not the issue here. If you travel to a war zone you may end up getting shot. Are you gonna complain you didn't deserve the bullet, or realize you may have been at the wrong place at the wrong time? If you can't stand the heat, get away from the fire. If you need a pat on the shoulder, post the video on YouTube.

Sometimes, in the morning, I'm still in bed even though I have to pee really bad. I want to go to the toilet because it's starting to hurt, but it's nice and warm under the blankets and I think to myself: "I will not let my life be dictated by my bladder!" Anybody else ever have that problem? I hate it. I wonder if I should just pee in bed instead.

I've got three years of gymnastic trampoline training and a season of platform diving. People ask me why I don't do aerials in BASE... Well there you go. I'm happy to see this video made it here, because too many close calls never see the light of day. I've done my fair share of stupid shit, so maybe this is hypocritical; but damn there is no excuse for this guy's complete inability to stop after his second flip. Not in a BASE environment. I used to go to Twin Falls to make some jumps. Nowadays I just go there to see ten-jump-wonders do their first gainer. It's more entertaining.

Isn't it equally selfish of you to expect another person to continue living for your sake? At least those that commit suicide act on their own. Those that judge, act on others. Especially from BASE jumpers I expect some level of understanding for a person's right to choose life. I don't recommend suicide, but at least I'll respect it.

www.proximityflyingfatalities.info anyone? I think we're in the low tens right now. This sucks, Obi struck me as a super smart and low key guy. I was looking forward to meeting him some day.

High five!

You mean a weeks vacation and a credit card? Used to be making friends, becoming a trusted individual, months of ground crewing, finding and having gear modified, and learning how to rig it. Definate improvement. Come on, that's not fair. You know the latter is obviously better. But an FJC is still better than taking them to your local span twice and them getting impatient and starting to huck the local cliff. In my opinion, credit-card or not.

Very impressive. A testament to the fact that the sport can be practiced with reasonable safety. It's not often we see numbers like these.

That many over how many days? Wow...

who are you to think everyone should put a specific amount of energy into anything and why do you think you should have to get along with someone or they shouldn't enter BASE. I said no such thing. I merely stated my own personal preference, and in the context of this conversation about mentorship I don't think the above two requirements are necessarily out of line. Are they? Again, I don't see where I do such a thing. But I'm open to having them pointed out to me. I have never pushed my values, morals and ethics on to you if I recall. I merely made the decision to not jump with you. Although I admit that the way I chose to communicate that to you (i.e., behind your back) was not the most mature I could have chosen, I have never pushed my style of jumping onto you, and have also said that I'll have a beer with you any day of the week. Perhaps unrelated to the topic at hand, but you must admit that I have, on multiple occasions, commended you on your skydiving skills. You are, by all measures, a better skydiver than I am. You may also be a better BASE jumper. I won't judge that, and it doesn't matter to me either way. You do, however, jump in a different fashion than I do. And that's fine. One more time, I don't think I've ever set there is only one way. I think some ways are better than others, but I've never forced anybody to take my way. One may bring up the BASE WIKI, but I'm just throwing the information out there, in a take-it-or-leave-it fashion. People are welcome to ignore it, or interpret it in their own way. I don't see how my contribution to the wealth of information out there should be construed as something negative (except for the total secrecy argument, but surely you can't align yourself with that based on your comment above). I somehow feel this post has gone more personal than is ideal, and I apologize for that. However, your post made particular statements about my dealings with other people in the sport that I don't think I'm guilty off. There are multiple jumpers in my local scene who practice the sport in ways that I don't. That's fine, they can do their thing, I can do mine.

Vancouver is a hop-and-a-skip away on the ferry. PM me some references and background and we'll work something out.

Because the Perrine bridge (legal, huge landing area, water) does have some advantages that do get people up to speed quicker. I have a decent first-time freefall slider down bridge within a four hour radius, but even there we'll be able to crank out two jumps a day at the most. At the Perrine I can crank four jumps a day over a three day weekend and get somebody up to speed quicker. Say all you want about patience and so forth, but at the end of the day there are some advantages to compressing the learning of basic skills in a short period of time. More importantly, to me, is the level of commitment it shows if somebody is willing to do an FJC. And I'm not even talking about the Perrine advantages listed above or getting additional teaching from somebody other than your mentor will be at home. I'm talking about having to travel a number of miles, pay some money, and demonstrate that you're taking this seriously. Maybe that is shallow, but somebody that is willing to admit to me that FJC plus traditional mentoring is more valuable than traditional mentoring alone, that's worth something to me.

We're damned if we do, damned if we don't. No matter what we do, we can't win. Given the Perrine is here to stay for the foreseeable future, I think we're better off with structured courses like the one Tom is providing, than not having courses at all. Let's say there are ten people with a potential interest in BASE, but unable to find a mentor. Taking the Perrine as a given, here's what happens if FJCs didn't exist: Three of them have a desire but never jump. Four of them will join friends to the Perrine and learn there. Three of them will buy used BASE gear somehow and go at it alone. With courses, you'll get this: Two of them have a desire but will never jump. Two will join friends at the Perrine and learn there. One will go at it alone. Five will do a course at the Perrine. So even though the net result of doing FJCs is a more rapid growth of the sport (two instead of three people didn't jump), I also think that the overall result is better for the sport; we now have five people with at least somewhat of an understanding and only one going at it alone, compared to the three who would go at it alone otherwise. Again, we can't win, no matter what we do. It's all about minimizing damage. As for the ego part that Chachi brought up. I do think there is some truth in that. We do like to think of ourselves as particpating in an elite sport. I know I do... Personally, I like to see two things in prospective jumpers: 1. A desire to put as much or more effort into their preparation as I did and do. 2. A compatibility on a social and personality level. Take the cross-section of those two characteristics, and the number of people that I would be happy about entering the sport shrinks rapidly. My two cents...

Plus, let's be honest, if people stopped dying this sport would become a hell of a lot less interesting. I'm not looking forward to the time I'm forced to pick up shark-fucking.

Have you considered wearing helmets for urban jumps? I know there are sometimes reasons why a helmet is to be avoided for security reasons, but this didn't appear like one of them.

I insist you come visit me when you're in Vancouver. I got another visiting jumper in town. SkyDeamon might join us as well, and we can flick our local legal. You're also welcome to stay. PM me. (Happy now Mac?)

NYC

Dude, why do you always have to be such a fucking dick? We've had this conversation before. I've bragged on these forums and you didn't give me shit. Why do you go on to criticize others. I'm sorry we can't all be the underground god that you pretend to be. Let us bask in our own glory and share in the awesomeness that BASE is. Do we really have to drag this up again. Didn't you quit BASE for a while? Tom, you can delete this post and ban me. Mac knows I love him anyway.

Or in the link in the post above...

He did. His anchor series is a must have for any climber, albeit not without controversy. Perhaps because he also wrote an great story about Carl Boenish' last jump.

Joel's side of the story is remarkably absent in this thread. I gotta hand it to him, he barely started his BASE career and people already talk about him. Why does nobody ever talk about me?

That's not BC. It's not even the same continent or season...

Pete, send me a PM with your email address. You can't receive PMs it seems.