NOW IS THE TIME TO FIGHT!!!

[guest]

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Jan Davis and Tom Sanders both suffered terrible losses last Friday. Jan lost the ultimate; Tom lost his wife and best friend. I understand through the grapevine that Jan was a tremendous person; a wonderful soul. I did not know her, but I 'knew of' her - just like I 'know of' so many of you. I consider you all brothers and sisters, so for Jan's death and for Tom's pain I am deeply saddened. I did not know her and I am poorer for that.

But _Our Sport_ lost Jan on Friday, too. _Our Sport_ lost a sister. Together we have searched our souls to figure out why. Those with the facts will report to us shortly; UNTIL THEN, let us NOT ask why it happened nor how it happened - ask yourself what YOU can do to turn this into something positive. Do NOT let this be your undoing! Already there is quarrel among our ranks. Channel your anger and sadness to productive work! Each of us has attributes which, if coordinated, could be utilized to achieve THE WORLD!!! ... why have we yet to achieve access?

DO NOT return to the underground!! DO NOT take lackluster solace in night jumps from some obscure tower in the middle of nowhere! Stand UP!!! FIGHT! not amongst yourselves!!! Against THEM! - Against those who would have you remain underground!

Use your energy to _educate_ the non-jumper rather than turn them away - we might need that person on _our side_ someday. Non-jumpers do not understand us and we must NOT expect them to understand us. I am convinced many of them do not realize their indiscretions when they happen upon this board looking for answers to questions that they have - and that by asking them they sometimes REALLY PISS US OFF!!! They don't realize, as we do, that now is an inappropriate time for some of the ludicrous questions and opinions they manage to form. But don't miss out on the opportunity to educate them as best you can: we need them. Send them a copy of your first jump story. Tell them about YOUR dreams, YOUR passion. If they are obviously biased against us, abandon them - there is no hope for some. Rather than trying to beat a point into those that will not side with us, turn to the one who is not a lost cause... and tell them about BASE jumping.

Also consider this: this board is publicly available. We have a tendency to discuss things in a manner which is quite 'normal' to us, but to an outsider our normalcy could be mistaken for madness in our speech. I am well aware of our relationship with the rangers, but the public viewers who occasion this site may not be fully informed, if at all, and phrases like "nazi punks" and "sieg heil" (which, in my opinion, are appropriate and befitting) may overshadow the points we are so desperately trying to have everyone hear and understand: that BASE jumping IS A LEGITIMATE SPORT and IT HAS A RIGHT TO ACCESS. Might it not be better to post highly descriptive stories of malicious ranger encounters to make our point? Post them with links from the main page so the stories do not get lost to the archives. Sign your name on them. Write a ranger story as a submission for the Journalism contest. This board and the net is the medium for us to organize. Mick has started and built upon this great medium for us, let's use it to prosper - not to seal our own fate with a few misplaced or overused words.

I find myself looking for things to do to help. Today I am writing this letter as a battle cry. Tomorrow I will go through _every_ Yosemite morning report (already downloaded) to compile a list of deaths due to some use of the park besides BASE jumping. By the following day I will have finished a letter I started to Dennis. Friday, I have a photo-shoot to do the t-shirts I mentioned in an earlier post. Perhaps someone out there among us has done some research tasks already, which leads me to my next concern: what HAS been done? what NEEDS to be done? who is doing it? I realize that the CJAA has been working hard to promote our sport (I am not a member of any organized BASE jumping movement beyond this forum at this time). What can I/we/you do to help them? What can we do to help ourselves? If it has already been done, let's not waste time doing it again. We must determine what information we need, organize what information we have and find ways to get what we don't have. We must choose a course and pursue it.

We often talk about 'a plan'. We hear, "stick with 'the plan'". We take great care in planning access to objects, type of jump, time of jump, length of delay, packing considerations, weather, getaway, bail. Why do I feel like we don't have a carefully considered plan for winning access? I haven't personally seen one. Perhaps I'm not "in the know". But I know one thing: there are a whole lot of jumpers who need something to do. If we have enough time on our hands that we can post about petty minutia, then we certainly need something to do. If we could employ the same enthusiasm, the same passionate approach, and the same attention to detail that we utilize to get our highly-prized BASE jumps, we would certainly be a rich lot!

Do not let Jan's death discourage you from our goal. In battle there is loss. Mourn her death, but redirect the anguish and the anger and the sorrow to a focused, thoughtful and reasoned process of achieving access.

NOW IS THE TIME TO FIGHT!

Gardner Sapp
BASE 311

[guest]

Mr. Sapp, you are certainly no sap. Yours is by far the most eloquent, focused, hard hitting post so far on this subject. All I can say is WOW.

Totally excellent job, brother

[guest]

Gardner Sapp has said it all. Where do we go from here sisters and brothers ?

Earl

[guest]

I have made only 2 base jumps, El Cap being the first. With this goup of skydivers needing a leader I think you have found one in Gardner Sapp. Blue skies
EFS 4evr