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From: florman@randvax.UUCP (Bruce Florman)
Newsgroups: net.rec.skydive
Subject: BASE jumping
Message-ID: <104@randvax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 11-Mar-86 16:01:11 EST
Article-I.D.: randvax.104
Posted: Tue Mar 11 16:01:11 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Mar-86 07:46:24 EST
References: <1420@poseidon.UUCP> <178@valid.UUCP>
Organization: Rand Corp., Santa Monica
Lines: 76

> So, as long as we are promulgating discussions, how about
> this and other BASE activities (legal or otherwise)?  Is there not a
> canyon bridge where it is legal once a year?  Just how risky (i.e. stupid)
> is it?  Or is this something frowned on discussing here...
>
>                               Mark Papamarcos
>                               Valid Logic
>                               {hplabs,pyramid,..}!pesnta!valid!markp
>
> P.S.  Yes, I'm just a beginner, and wouldn't even CONSIDER doing anything
>       this crazy, but that doesn't mean I'm not interested.

    There is a bridge across the New River in W.Va. that is closed to traffic
one day every year (sometime in the early October I think) and the local
townfolk have make a day of it watching all sorts of loonies (both skydivers
and bungee jumpers) hurl themselves off.  They've been doing it for about
three years now.  Each year it seems to draw a hundred or so jumpers, some of
whom make several jumps.  As far as I know, there has been only one fatality.
That was due to drowning rather than impact.  There have also been a number of
injuries, due primarily to the poor landing area: a rocky sand bar (sandy rock
bar?) surrounded by deep water and tall trees.
    I've never been there myself, since it's 3000 miles away, but I've seen
most of the videos.  A friend of mine did the editing for a couple of them,
and I can send you his address if you're interested in getting a copy.
    There are a couple of other bridges in the U.S. which are easily high
enough to jump from.  There is the Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado, which I've
not jumped from, and the Foothill Bridge in Auburn California, which I have.
The Auburn bridge is not quite as high as the New River bridge (approx. 750
feet vs. approx. 830 feet) but the landing area is vastly superior.  There are
reasonably large landing areas on both sides of the river which can be reached
after exiting either side of the bridge.  The river itself (the North Fork of
the American River) is neither as wide nor as deep as the New River, although
the current is probably a little faster.
    I have jumped the Auburn bridge six times.  Even though it's not exactly
legal, it's not *exactly* illegal either:

    I had been told by a friend before my second trip there that there was no
law against jumping off of the bridge.  Believing this to be true (well hoping
anyway), four others and myself made a jump at three in the afternoon on the
Sunday of Memorial Day weekend 1984.  There must have been 200 wuffos there,
making it one of the largest demos that I've ever done.  Four of us landed on
the East side of the river and one, after going off the bridge waaay head
down, kicking his deployment bag and opening with a half dozen line twists,
landed on the West side.  We were all whooping and hollering, and the crowd
seemed to think that it had been a great show, but when we got to the end of
the fire road where we had parked our truck, there stood four park rangers
(the land under the bridge is part of a state park).
    They were quite polite and friendly, asking us questions about our gear
and about skydiving in general, but they wrote each of us a citation that
ended up costing us 85 bucks apiece.  Each of us, that is, except the guy
who had landed on the other side of the river.  He saw them stopping us, so
he stashed his gear under a bush, accepted a Lowenbrau from a wuffo, sat with
his feet in the river and laughed at the rest of us.
    As it turns out, there is no law against jumping off the bridge.  The
problem is that it's illegal to land an aircraft in a state park without
written permission, and under the definition that's on the books, a parachute
qualifies.

    I jumped from that bridge on four more occations (at more discreet times)
and made one jump from a 1400 foot television tower.  However, I have since
retired from BASE jumping.  My last one was more than a year ago.  They are
very thrilling, but also extremely dangerous.  Two of my friends have been
seriously injured doing BASE jumps (one after making nearly fifty without any
problems) and three friends of friends have been killed (including Carl
Boenish, who pioneered the activity and had done hundreds successfully).
    If you do someday consider making a BASE jump, talk to someone who has
done them before.  If you do it somewhere other than New River on Bridge Day,
you should also give thought to the legal implications.  Not so much about
what will happen if you get caught (I don't have to tell you to worry about
that), but rather, think about what happens when you kill yourself and your
family sues the owners of whatever it was you jumped off of for not stopping
you.  There is a matter of "right and wrong" to be considered.


                                        Bruce Florman, D9019
                                        Santa Monica, CA