Wingsuit Base Jumping
I’m guessing the long-term survival rate in the sport of extreme wingsuit base jumping is pretty low.
Exhibit A: Pioneering Michigan-born birdman Clem Sohn (1910 - 1937). As the old saying goes, it wasn’t the fall that killed him; hitting the ground did.
Exhibit B: French birdman Leo Valentin (1919 - 1956), whose death was also the result of wardrobe malfunction (if one considers functional primary and reserve chutes essential apparel.)
That being said, watching these modern wingsuit flyers skim the cliffs of Norway at freefall speeds exceeding 100 mph is beautifuller than bowling, more excitingful than golf, and a heckuva lot zippier than watching baseball with a beerless fridge.
Zoom zoom, indeed!
One final note: it’s well worth your while to watch this video full screen.
wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.
Tip of the hat to stunt pilot Paul Johnson for forwarding the video.
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That was beautiful!
I had no idea they got that close to objects.
Steep learning curve with a huge fail rate, I bet.
I think I’ll keep trying to dream I’m flying.
But I would like to go and watch. That has to be a rush all by itself.
Yeah, it’d be scary enough to watch…I’m thinking standing on that mountain parkway watching some guy barrel in toward you at 100 mph would get plenty of adrenaline pumping. But it is pretty to watch. I’ll stick to roller coasters at this point, though :-)
I went looking for more on this “sport” and came across some fatality reports.
They are pretty interesting and removed any remaining fantasy
I may have had to give it a try.
The stories are near the bottom of the page.
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safety/detail_page.cgi?ID=506
I’m back again, Joe.
I can’t get enough of this video and others on the web.
Are you thinking of doing this?
From what I’m hearing hear in Utah, lack of air density keeps flyers from doing the same kind of flying here.
Also, a 200 pounder like myself would not have a very good glide ratio.
I’m going to go watch these guys at a low altitude somewhere.
No way am I thinking of doing this, Xman! I had a chance once to do a tandem parachute jump…I carried a friend out to a field where folks were jumping…a plane was repeatedly carrying people up for $10 a ride…and I’d always thought I’d want to do it, but it was shortly after a friend of another friend had hit a tree after her parachute failed to open and had survived for days in a coma with only a sliver of her brainstem attached…after that and having kids and family that depends on me, I figure I’ll stick to rollercoasters (something I love) after that.
It was in the late 70’s that I took a skydiving course at the Antioch, Ca airport. Two days, 3 jumps.
I went out of the plane first on a static line and am told I immediately went into the fetal position. With the “tug” I regained my senses, got out my camera and snapped away until a large spinning arrow on the ground made me wonder. I looked up and lines were wound round and round many times not allowing a full open. Got it fixed. Came down hard.
As I gathered my chute I watched a girl from my plane drift away and land on a hillside and rolled down it like a log, wrapped in the chute. Learned later she broke her back/coxic.
Jump 2 and 3 didn’t go any better for me, so I decided sport wasn’t for me either.
Joe, I can totally feature you and Xman doing this sort of thing. And maybe Pelmo, too, after a bit too much single malt Scotch.
On an entirely different note, here’s something you might find interesting, if you haven’t yet seen it.
I posted before reading the most recent entries. This is a dangerous sport for sure. Sad outcomes are regular happenings, I reckon. Pushing the envelope is to be fully alive, I suppose, until it pushes back.
My scuba diving instructor told us in our first class, when asked about the dangers, to take up skydiving if we wanted to do something safer. That made his point, I guess, but it reminded me of the quote about “…lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
Hey Indigo,
Great link to the Bush/Cheney hits teams. It makes me sick and mad.
No wonder certain people call us the Great Satan.
Gotta love that Seymour Hersch!
I wish we solved problems like this the way the Chinese do.
I’d would be nice to see a Hollywood ending to some of our bad guys (watched Enemy of the State last night again).
I’m going to post the article on my subversive blog at http://www.ObamasEar.blogspot.com.
I’m with you on the scuba.
I’ve had a couple near death dives, but I feel quite competent and comfortable…and when free diving with the rip or with seals, etc. I feel like I am are flying.
I’ll never go to the moon, but I think the sea-scape is a lot better anyway…plus I can hunt creepy edibles.
I’m headed to No. Cal for the abalone opener in April. I assume it still opens in April.
Abalone? Can I come along?
Figure you must be ok - the way I got here was the Just Peace highway (ie. semi-random internet links from… well, where did I start? jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com? no, not this time - but that’s a good place for others to do so.)
peace (naw, that’s outdated)
Just Peace!
everywhere
Sure…anyone against racism, sexism and militarism is welcome.
My feelings exactly, Xman. Hersch is a true American hero…not many with his record of gutsy investigative reporting. I need to go back and try to get the audio link to work, that had to be some discussion.
So, abalone diving is ok these days? Just not commercially, or what? I thought they’d shut it down. Good news if they’re coming back strong. Sort of like Texas redfish, I reckon. There was a lot of concern for the future of Ca. abalone when I lived out there, but it’s been awhile.
Sounds like a ton of fun, good luck!
Yes, Ab diving is doing okay I guess, but bag limit is 3 now and a max of 24 per season. Used to be 4 and unlimited. You still have to free dive to get them in Northern California, so it helps the Abs a bit. I think in Socal, they still let you use tanks…so there are very few.
Don’t think they are coming back strong. I think there is a big concern that young are not being produced in large enough numbers.
Here is a sobering Ab diver fatality list. I have dived/dove almost all these places. I’ve seen a lot of dumb behavior, but also been dumb myself a few times when over confident and feeling bullet proof.
http://sonic.net/~rocky/deathidx.htm
Here’s a bit about the Ab Fishery issues:
http://www-csgc.ucsd.edu/NEWSROOM/NEWSRELEASES/AbaloneSizeLimits.html
Interesting info, thanks. There’s a spot north of Santa Cruz that I thought would be perfect for abalone. Tidal pools and kelp in a sweeping rocky bend in the coastline. Problem is the rogue waves that the area is famous for, I guess they’d tend to rock your world in a bad way.
Ever encounter any Great Whites?
Your spot sounds like a good one.
Never saw a real rogue wave that affected my diving…but I’ve seen a couple people pulled off rocks and almost off rocks by some big waves. Waves are easier to handle when you are in the water than on the shore in the danger zone.
Oh, I have rescused a few peole who had to learn the hard way about diving in rough water too close to rocks. Everyone fights the wave and that is a sure way to die.
Anyway, basically, anywhere there is kelp, there are Abs in No. Cal…in my experience.
I only ever saw one Great White. It was at Salt Point in the South Gerstle Cove.
Made my heart leap, but then I realized it was dead and rocking in the surge about 10 feet down…wrapped in a fishing net. Don’t know why I didn’t go over closer to investigate. It was spooky.
I’ve been body slammed by mottled white/silvery colored seals…at least I think they were seals, since I’m here to tell about it. You only really see a flash of whatever hits you.
I did dive once at the Diablo Canyon Nuke power plant. The plant discharges warm water into the ocean and it attracts a ton of sharks.
I went with a buddy and dove it. Got surrounded by fish (which we were going to spear) and then about 30 sharks…which I guess came in for the fish. We decided not to put any fish blood in the water. They started getting pretty brave after a bit and I got sideswiped a few times and we were afraid if one of them took a nip, others would too, so we got out.
Pretty exciting. I have some 126mm photos somewhere.
I have a bunch of Hawaii and Mexico sharks stories, but I was never hurt or apparently in any danger…except for one I thought was dead laying on a wharf that a Hawaiian fisherman had put there as he unloaded his boat…and I almost got tagged as I walked by it. He really tried for my leg. He may have been about 10 feet. It could have been bad. I remember the incident and his gnashing teeth like it was yesterday and it was in the late 70’s.
WoW!
I guess I should write a book.
As I was reading that, I was thinking “”man, he should write a book…”. I had to laugh when I saw the last line.
The reason a big wave could be a drag in the spot I mentioned was it was like a flat-top reef, just barely submerged at low tide, with big deep pockets and pools shot through it. Very odd, and the surfers had to range several hundred yards out to get away from it. They avoided it like the plague, for fear of getting rolled through it. Very beautiful spot, but strangely configured.
I used to walk the cliffs to see the whales, and there were little shrines and crosses for others who ignored the warning signs of rogue waves. Not smart, but the thrill of a whale swimming by and looking you in the eye is worth it in my book.
You really should write a book.
I get the picture, now. Yeah, sounds like a bad spot alright. Just because I may have not been popped, doesn’t mean I haven’t made some bad decisions on my dive spot choices. I have….but sometimes the water, the structures, just look too cool to resist.
I have to check out the statute of limitations on a few things before I decide to write a book. heh heh.
Sorry for hijacking your blog, Joe. It’s just that I like your place.
Yeah really, before Joe starts yelling at us, I just want to add that what Hersh says on this mp3 is amazing and infuriating.
Roger that!
If Rush Limbaugh publicized this on his show, there would be fewer Republican voters.