Base Jumping
Base jumping is jumping from some kind of 'base' through the sky to another 'base', all while wearing a wingsuit and other specialized skydiving equipment.
Some people think it is even more exciting than skydiving from an airplane – especially if you think you’re a bird. It is not always the safest thing to do but for those who do it, it's a thrill that can be addicting.
BASE jumping is an extreme sport involving the use of a wingsuit and a fast-opening parachute with the parachute unopened at the jump. BASE is actually an acronym for the four kinds of fixed objects from which you can jump:
Building
Antenna
Span
Earth
The term was invented by a film-maker named Carl Boenish , his wife Jean Boenish, Phil Smith, and Phil Mayfield. Carl was the real engine behind today's modern BASE jumping. In 1978 he filmed the first BASE jumps from El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The base jumpers used ram-air parachutes and the freefall tracking technique.
BASE jumps had been done before that time but the El Capitan jump was the first visible evidence on video of what is now called BASE jumping. BASE jumping is alot more dangerous than similar sports such as skydiving from aircraft, and is currently considered by many to be the 'crazy-man's sport.
BASE numbers are awarded to those who have made at least one jump from each of the four categories. That's the challenge. There are many obstacles standing in your way when you try to BASE jump from most tall skyscrapers in the United States.
When Phil Smith and Phil Mayfield jumped together from a Houston skyscraper on January 18th, 1981, they became the first to be designated (BASE #1 and #2 jumpers, respectively).
They had already jumped from antennae, bridges and cliff-rocks and mountains. Jean and Carl Boenish qualified for BASE numbers 3 and 4 soon after.There’s another level of base jumping award offered called Night BASE for those who do each of the jumps at night. Night BASE jumping became an attainable goal when Mayfield completed each category at night, becoming Night BASE #1, with Smith qualifying a few weeks later.
In the early eighties, almost all BASE-jumps were done with standard skydiving equipment that included two parachutes (main and reserve), and deployment components. Later on, faster specialized equipment and jumping techniques were innovated that were specific to the special needs of BASE jumpers. It continues to develop as more people learn how to do base jumping.
