BASE Jumping
Who says that man can’t fly?
It's a crisp morning in West Virginia, he begins his climb at 5:30am in semi-darkness - a danger he has become accustomed to as a BASE jumper. Reaching the top of the bridge he can hardly see 30ft in front of him because of the fog. The sun suddenly emerges and a Peregrine Falcon surrounds him screaming for him to get off his bridge. It all begins to get real as adrenaline starts to rush around his body and he prepares himself to jump. He counts to two and clears his head. Who would have guessed that the only thought to remain would be, “I’m scared of heights” and he was grateful for the fog.
BASE - an acronym for all the objects you can jump off; Building, Antenna, Span (bridges), Earth (for example, cliffs) - jumping is not just one of the world’s most dangerous and illegal sports but to some it’s more. “BASE jumping is my life. You’d be forgiven for thinking it was escapism, but it’s really not.” Explains 24 year old Redcoat, who acquired his codename in America after the red coated English soldiers who once occupied the continent.
Whilst most boys dream of being firemen or footballers, after spotting skydiving on the TV, Redcoat knew that one day that would be him. That day came in 2005 when he passed his AFF skydiving training course and started living his dream. “I don’t chase dreams, I tackle them and wrestle them into submission.” It was purely circumstantial that he got into BASE jumping after moving from Cambridge to America in 2007. With only 142 skydives under his wing he made his first BASE jump on 4th May that year - A BASE jumper is required to have 200-500 skydives before partaking in the sport because of the immense skill needed to land safely.
Looking out from the top of a 300ft gospel radio antenna onto a graveyard, it’s a full moon, the perfect eerie setting. A train passes below and the sound of dogs barking can be heard. The fear is intense. Imagine that you’re in a tiny room with 1000 people all screaming information at you, but you can’t understand it because they’re all shouting at once. The panic and intensity makes you dizzy. This is how he felt, standing at the top of the antenna before making the first of his daredevil jumps that would lead to his addiction to challenging himself.
“So there’s me making my first BASE jump… It wasn’t even BASE gear because in BASE jumping you use specialised gear so I’ve got this f***ing piece of c**p on my back which isn’t actually ideal.” The fundamental difference between BASE jumping and skydiving is the height that you jump from - a skydive can take place at approximately 12,000ft where as a BASE jump could be between 200ft-1500ft. A BASE jumper doesn’t have time that a skydiver does and so the equipment used is different. Skydivers use a smaller parachute to add speed - they also have a reserve parachute - where as a BASE jumper uses a bigger parachute to slow and control the landing. A BASE rig does not include a reserve because if the first chute fails there isn’t enough time to open another one. “It only takes me fifteen minutes to pack an ordinary parachute and an hour and fifteen minutes to pack a BASE parachute, it has to open cleaner… And I’m a fast packer.”
Because he got into BASE jumping early it caused a stir in the BASE community where he received good advice but mainly hate messages. “When a group as dangerous as BASE jumpers say you're being reckless you’ve got to believe it. At first it made me more determined to be the ‘renegade’ and just blaze my own trail. Then I stopped being angry at them. I realised they knew what they were talking about, so I went the old school route and worked hard on the ground for BASE jumpers who slowly taught me."
BASE jumping isn’t all nice skies and colourful parachutes, being one of the most dangerous sports no one escapes without a near-death or dangerous experience story: “There have been times when I’ve thought ‘ha, I nearly died!’ Once I was flying with this guy called Big Eric - he’s called Big Eric for a reason - and when I went to fly over to him his foot caught me square in the chin. I was seeing stars and I started tumbling through the sky like ‘oh my God’ and I was on the verge of loosing consciousness. I just opened my parachute and thought, ‘Jesus that wasn’t fun’.” Laughing at the concept of being immune to the fear of death, Redcoat says, “I’m very scared to die. I want to live to a ripe old age and die in my sleep dreaming of 20 year old girls in mini skirts.”
Although it takes a lot of training before you can be considered for BASE jumping, Redcoat performed his first jump with a man called Potato Head - he got this name after being knocked out by a potato fired from a spud gun. “I remember when I landed from the jump he looked as high as me, ‘did you see God?’ he asked with a big grin on his face. You really do think you’re going to die.” He now jumps with a number of friends, one being a doctor who has ‘DNR’ - Do Not Resuscitate - written on his parachute because he thinks it’s his own fault if he dies. Redcoat believes it’s quality not quantity that’s important in life. “I’d hate to get to 80 years old and say ‘f***ing hell…I just played World of Warcraft my whole life’ and plop my clogs.”
The sport is not just about throwing yourself off objects, the views are spectacular too, recalls Redcoat. “If I could jump off anything it would be El Capitan - a 3000ft cliff in California first jumped in 1966 - it’s the birth place of BASE jumping but it’s off limits, it’s illegal to jump.” A lot of the experience is about the climb and journey to the object as well as the jumping, so Redcoat rock climbs and hikes in his spare time too. The jumps have to take place at night or in the early hours of the morning to avoid being caught, which adds to the danger and thrill of the sport.
When asked what his family think about his sneaking around at night and diving off bridges, he starts nervously clicking his pen and replies, “They hate it, but they’re proud at the same time because there’s only ever been 1300 people that have ever completed BASE and got their BASE numbers. So, my mum knows it’s a big deal to me and my dad doesn’t really care.”
Being unable to sit still for very long the idea of settling down and having children isn’t really thought about, “I don’t think it’s fair to bring any kids into the world and then BASE jump. I’ve got friends who’ve got kids and BASE jump… I just wouldn’t want anyone to have to explain to my kids that ‘hey your daddy was one selfish little b*****d, he couldn’t stop jumping so now you don’t have a daddy anymore.’”
There are a few places in the world where BASE jumping is legal. In Idaho, America for example there is one bridge which isn’t privately owned, so you are allowed to jump from it. There is also no law against jumping off mountains in Switzerland and a few other places in Europe. However, a lot of the fun in BASE jumping is knowing that you’re doing something that you’re not allowed to do. Now, on the rare occasion that he does skydive, Redcoat likes to break the rules to make it a bit more fun. “I like to sneak beer onto the plane and then jump off and drink it.”
Seeing as he spends a lot of his time in freefall, Redcoat doesn’t believe that if man was meant to fly he’d have wings. “If we were designed to stay on the ground we’d have roots.” He adds that there’s nothing unnatural about being in the sky and describes what it’s like to jump, “When you step off is the best part, you haven’t quite been grabbed by gravity yet but you’re off the object and you’re suspended in this space between ‘oh f**k’ and ‘oh f**k’ pretty much.”
First impressions aren’t always everything but at least he caught people’s attention. “I kind of walked into the party as the c**t! It took a long time to build up my reputation.” In the last 10 months he’s made approximately 60 BASE jumps and doesn’t plan on stopping there. In fact he’s been invited to jump in the next UK Pro BASE competition. Redcoat made a big entrance into the world of BASE jumping and when the time comes, he won’t be leaving unnoticed.
© 2009 Lucie Cohen