Starting a new thread:" BASE Jumper of the Year 2002", Vote for who will be the BASE Jumper of this Year, you must vote for someone that is a BASE Jumper and makes BASE Jumps. We will notify this Board with the results. Cal Plaza #7
Starting a new thread:" BASE Jumper of the Year 2002", Vote for who will be the BASE Jumper of this Year, you must vote for someone that is a BASE Jumper and makes BASE Jumps. We will notify this Board with the results. Cal Plaza #7
I have two nominations:
1) High Profile: The Russian Extreme Project. Those guys are doing some cool shite.
2) Low Profile: Basefreak. That guy does cool stuff, always welcomes people to his sites, helps other people out, and seeks no publicity or recognition. Very cool, very low profile, very skilled.
Just depends on what your in it for, I guess.
--Tom Aiello
tbaiello@mac.com
Is that Cal Plaza I or Cal Plaza II? I don't even think that 7 people made it off of CP I total, so you must be CP II #7. CP II is the taller of the 2, about 780' from the launch point to the landing.
That building was the best year of my life, I ended out with 27 off of it. My buddy DN did the most off of it with 35. God I'd love to do that building again. I didn't even know that we were keeping numbers on that building, I wonder what my number is.
[h2]Lets get 5+ names and create a POLL.[/h2]
My Vote goes to Tracey Walker aka> Space, if he still Jumps anymore ?;-)
Hello Kieth, To anwser your questions, we were jumping off Cal Plaza at night during the second week of February 1985 from the unfinished 41st floor. Mark Hewitt BASE #46, who at that time was living in that area, unofically awarded the Cal Plaza numbers. Mark intruduced us to the "Line Mod". It was a year or so after the Crocked Bank era.
Tom Aiello !
paraguay dude
Good Idea . . .
In 1986 or so Don Jacobson began bestowing the "BASE Fellowship Award" at Bridge Day. The award wasn't for any particular jump or jumps but more for that persons overall betterment of the sport.
Phil Smith, the holder of BASE number 1 received the first one. (A more humble or soft spoken BASE jumper would be hard to find). Jean Boenish got the next one (mostly for putting up with so much B.S.) and some guy out in California who published a BASE magazine got the third one. (Okay, it was me).
One suggestion:
Don't limit this to today's crop of BASE jumpers. Doing so will just further the myopic view too many present day jumpers hold. There's an unbroken chain that begins with Kent Lane's 1978 leap from El Capitan that leads us right to the very last BASE jump made.
BASE jumping has a history rich in unforgettable people who showed remarkable courage and foresight. They pioneered and conquered most of what we can take for granted, and many paid for it with their lives. This was a time BASE jumpers would stand around a crater and say, "Jesus, we never thought that could happen."
Don’t break the chain . . .
And don’t call it, “BASE Jumper of the Year.” That sounds too skydiving.
Try:
“The BASE Prize,” or “The Medal of Flick,” or, well, you get the idea.
Nick
BASE 194
:P
Bill Dause ?
hmmmmm
I didn't know that Bill Dause made BASE Jumps, I thought he was a Skydiver.
Slim
Thankyou "X",
But I don't know I'm really that deserving. I haven't been able to put as much in as I would like to in the last year as I continue to recover. I have made the odd hop and assist teaching new jumpers but there truly is an unsung hero on the scene that I would like to bring to the fore.
Many of the US BASE scene may not know of my fellow Australian jumper - ALAN SCOTT officially the Australian BASE Assoc (ABA) Secretary or Fast Al as he prefers to go by.
In the last year he has done more selfless acts contributing to BASE than anyone I have come across. Due to the relative small BASE community in Oz it has a more family comraderie. Al has been at the helm throughout the last year building this network. Our politics are minimal - we just want to get out there and hammer the objects.
My own gratitude to Al after my cliff strike for his support and help while in hospital and getting out go far beyond the few words of this post.
He has touched many of the new jumpers in this country who he has personally driven to objects and provided his best gear just so that they aren't going off doing their own thing and getting hurt. No money has changed hands for this training. This is an average of once a week over the past year. Many of these people own him dearly not realising the effort he has made.
While there are many jumpers who have also made sacrifices similar, I mention it, as it is only background to what he has really achieved in the last year.
For those that have enjoyed the "FIST FULL of F1-11" video. This was compiled by Al late last year. He contacted BASE jumpers young and old to put this together. He then organised the biggest video launch for a BASE video this country has ever seen. It was held in a massive trendy bar right in the middle of Fox studios Sydney. Huge displays were set up running through the history of BASE in Australia. Anyone who had made a jump in Oz in the last 20 years knew someone in the displays, on the video or hanging around in the hundred strong crowd or so that attended. A top notch production all round.
Next on Al's list of events was organising a Europe trip for all the hangers on and regulars with not much to do to join in and have fun. Not a big deal but invaluable for the newbies with no direction or knowledge of objects and places to go. He is the psuedo ABA travel agent now.
Next was the Yearly Accuracy Day to focus on safety by accurate landing - so what you may say -we did that last year - also organised by guess who.
Two months later was Al's Australia's first official BASE National Championships. Organising trophies, transport, judges, and competition for all made for a great WE. Of course in true BASE fashion he was one of the winners! No one begrudged him that though - that's BASE!. But we'll see who is there next year - as long as he still is willing to organise.
And finally the biggest event of them all which has been confidential til now. Australia's first BASE Balloon Boogie. Al purchased his own Balloon, rope and rented basket. After travelling around outback NSW to discover a property to fly it he flew in a pilot from OS who he had personally gone to meet to set everything up.
The ten or so people who attended the WE made over 200 jumps from 600 - 1200 feet. On the ground a PA system was set up for music during the fervour (courtesy of Al's business). He even organised a fireworks display to finish the day on Saturday night. It was the biggest event this country has ever seen. I have not seen similar in the US either. All jumpers got to practice their aerials without a chance of object strike and landing accuracy was thankfully irrelevant. Al created the safest BASE opportunity for all of us to have a go extending our skills.People learned to go stowed or slider up or to throw that crappy gainer. Sorry Pedro!
It would be easy to assume Al must make money out of it but he doesn't. All these events have cost him. He is not financially well to do either. He just loves to make things happen. He rings up after a recent success and starts the conversation with "Slim I have thought up another great idea for wasting time and throwing all my money at......."
We laugh but it's true. Australian BASE jumpers have all benefited by having Al around to sort us out. We're a strong BASE nation, even with only a small population, because of guys like him.
If anyone travels to Oz jumping you are going to come across this rugged individual. Appreciate what he does as he won't feel good unless he has helped you in some way.
If there is an Award for contribution to BASE I don't think any Australian would argue that "Al's the man".
Luv SLIM
Ahah, you were doing CP#1, who was the guy that was jumping the racer with the pullout and blew the exit and reached for his pilot chute and things went to hell and he hit the building and got hung up by his foot?
We were doing the CP #2 building during 1989 and 1990, it was one of those instances that god reaches down and touches us with a good one and the construction company goes broke (haleuja!) and leaves this fat juicy deserted construction project for our personal use for almost 2 years, thank you god!
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