Keeping a promise

[MT]

Here's some advice, never promise anything you don't want to, regardless of what your wife / girlfriend is doing at the time

I promised that I would quit BASE once we were due to have a child, well the time has come and while on one hand I'm over the moon at the prospect of having a child on the other hand the idea that when I visit France again I wont be free to lep off what I choose is quite saddening

I am sure many other BASErs have faced this situation before, I empathise with you.

I am quitting BASE as I do reckon that it would be a bit unfair to risk leaving a child fatherless. That said, I hope my child doesn't mind me scowling at him / her all the time This is my personal decision and it has a lot to do with the woman I chose to marry. To those of you with wives who love you for who you are, warts and all, you're very lucky, I don't for one second think adventurers should all stop once they have children, just wusses like me (more afraid of my wife than I am of a 300' cliff).

I never did that many jumps over the past five years and I haven't actually jumped in quite a while anyway, but it wasn't for the want of trying.

Who's going to jump the E exit point I found in Ireland? 320' overhung, reasonable landing area! 10 minute walk to exit point, hadn't walked landing area the day I found it, shoulda feckin' jumped it anyway, too late now.

To all you current BASE jumpers & upcoming BASE jumpers, remember most of these objects aint going anywhere in a hurry:

Don't be afraid to climb down
Take your time packing
Ensure you aren't so petrified that you wont be able to deal with the inevitable problems you WILL encounter
Most of all, live the life most of us are either too afraid to or unable to due to other commitments.

MT (over and out - other than possibly Bridge Day)

_ASE (never found myself close to a building tall enough)

[Mac]

u.

I am quitting BASE as I do reckon that it would be a bit unfair to risk leaving a child fatherless.

I have often try to imagine how I would react when I have children, my GF also asks me if I would continue to jump with kids. You know I still cant come up with an answer to that. I understand that leaving a kid fatherless is not a nice thing to do, We accept our risks, some of us are lucky enough to find a woman also choosing to be accepting of our risks, but the kid has no choice to whom he has be born to. I can understand your thinking on this. But saying that, this is also "what i do", and I dont know if giving it up is something that I may later regret. Its a tough choice man!

All I have to say is, nice work in having the balls to stand up and make a decision. Hanging your spurs up after making a bunch of jumps is nothing to be shamed of, you have had your time and you now feel its time to leave and experience something else truely amazing - bringing up another human being. Nuff Respect in your choices!

Who's going to jump the E exit point I found in Ireland? 320' overhung, reasonable landing area! 10 minute walk to exit point, hadn't walked landing area the day I found it, shoulda feckin' jumped it anyway, too late now.

Can you PM me with details, I am based in the UK so Ireland aint that far away for me! I would appreciate any data you have on this object. Thanks.


Again, kudos for having the balls to stand up and make a tough choice! - Have years of fun with the kiddie!

Cheers!

Michael

[ZegeunerLeben]

I don't for one second think adventurers should all...just wusses like me...

>>You're not a wuss. I heard once that: "There are no cowards in BASE-jumping, only those who live to jump again another day and those who will not". There's nothing wrong with your decision to hang it up...there's worse ways to get out of the sport. Good Luck and Congrats!

[Faber]

congrats on your dessision,its a hard one to take but i truly understands you.

I myself has 2 kids and my gf has 2 kids aswell

look forward to get the new exitments of kids,they are way fun

Oh yeah if you handle the info of that cliff to Mac,im sure we will jump it

my best whiches for your new adventures

[hamsandwich]

A thought for many on here...

Once your child was let's say 16-18 years old, do you hope they would choose to base jump? Would you like to jump together with your child?

-a

[Faber]

A thought for many on here...

Once your child was let's say 16-18 years old, do you hope they would choose to base jump? Would you like to jump together with your child?

-a

As i started Skydive same month as i got my first kid and 2 years after(and 1 kid more)i took up BASE,in the mean while did i have an injury from BASE,from i can only thaks my gf and her dad that im alive today(my gf aint my kids mom).
I have often thourght if i should BASE while haiving kids,i also thourght if they one day want to jump aswell.
My conclusion is that i live my life the way i have chousen to,it makes me happy that way.IF my kids do the same(skydive after 16 years BASE after 18years of old)then its their choice,i as a father would be werry sad if any things happens to them,but knowing they have the strength to choose the way of life THEY want can only be their dessision,if it makes them happy it also does me happy(thinking hobbyes)..

A kids biggest loos will always be their parents as an adults biggest loss always will be their kid(s),but sometimes you´ll need to look at your self and rember that you want to live your life so does they...

Im not saying that i would be happy if my kids start BASE jumping but i would respect their choice as they respect that i keep jumping after my injury.

Its all about life and making desissions

[Faber]

ps i would only jump whith my kids aslong they dont look cooler than me

[Thor]

I aggree with everyone else's responses here and would like to offer my congratulations to you as well. I have a child and a wonderful wife, but I'd be lying if I told you I haven't asked myself alot of the same questions you've probably asked yourself recently. BASE is about a lot of things, but one thing we can all aggree on is that it is a very personal journey and most of us choose to take that journey for very personal reasons as well. It's just the same when you come to the point in your journey when you ask yourself if you want to continue, or choose a different path. Both choices depend on a lot of inward questions and the answers to both should be respected.

Climbing down from an exit point is difficult, but climbing down from the journey itself is a much more complex issue. Kudos on making a tough choice and sticking to it.

[Crater Nate]

My father took me on my first base jump (BD 99). It was one of the greatst moments of my life. I took him to BD 04 for my btothers first base jump. How many fathers can say "See ya later Mom, the kids and I are going Base jumping." I love my family.

Crater Nate

[xof711]

Congrats on the baby MT!
Don't get too desperate Bro, maybe one day you'll find yourself in Crater Nate's father's shoes ah!

I have a question for you... would you have decided to quite BASE jumping even if you had not made that promise to your wife / Gf??

You have decided to make her happy, you can be proud of your decision.

We'll BASE for you Bro!

D.

[MT]

Surprised no-one called me a pussy yet, that should get you all going.

To answer your questions.

1) Would I bring my child BASE jumping or mind if they took it up? My wife would kill me if I did that, but if my child chose to BASE jump once they hit 18, I'd probably join them. I most certainly wouldn't try to stop them. I started high diving at the mature age of 7 and my parent let me at it. No point in trying to change a persons will, you'll only make them angry at you.

2) Would I have quit even if I hadn't promised my wife? Yes, this choice is for my child and her.

To the rest of you lucky f*****s; enjoy this great sport to its fullest, but don't push the envelope beyond your capabilities.

Have to add a view I've always held but have kept to myself.

The prerequisite of having a few hundred skydives is very misleading. The only relevance is in canopy control, tracking and fear control - all of these can be learnt within 100 + skydives. Far more important is the type of person you are and how you react to emergencies - hard to gauge this.

A story:

After about 120 skydives I had a 180 degree off heading on a cliff, wind blowing me sideways towards a big outcropping of rock. My reaction despite everything I'd read and practised was to pop the toggles and turn towards the cliff and into the wind. My reasoning - had I hit the rear risers and tried to turn I had two problems 1) The low flying speed if I'd turned into the wind combined with what would have become a headwind would have backed me into the outcropping 2) If I had turned away from the wind I'd have been flying with a tailwind directly towards the outcropping. By popping the toggles I got enough forward speed to fly away from the outcropping.

When I landed, my jumping partner said he was sure I was going to strike the cliff, he also said the time from off heading to correction was seconds at most. So I had weighed up all the pros and cons of what I had learned and disregarded them to chose a better option no-one had ever taught me, all in a second or so. What I am getting at is that when considering BASE ask yourself a few questions:

How do react to pressure situations? For example have you ever being in a near miss car crash? Did you crawl into a ball like a baby, or did everything slow down and did you seem to be even calmer than usual? (while your passenger froze rigid).

How fast are your reaction times? To know this, try a few other sports that require fast reaction times. Skiing, downhill mountain biking, surfing. All of these require split second reaction time to avert crashes, although if you do crash you'll more than likely walk away with little else than bruises.

While this little story is merely my interpretation of what I consider important in BASE, it is just a little bit more to think about. In reality most people who want to BASE have that imbalance that causes a rush of calm in a pressure situation. However, there are that select few who want to BASE because they think it's cool and they want to tell their friends about it. These people rarely try any other extreme sport because let's face it, skiing in a snow plough isn't exactly extreme and to get to the level where you are attacking black slopes with gusto takes too long. In BASE if you are determined enough you can find yourself lepping off a cliff within a year (even less) of thinking of it. The lep, opening and landing are relatively easy, it's the what if's that require skill.

Okay, I'm meant to be out of this sport so I'll sign off once again.

Martin (Couldn't resist starting one more flaming thread)

[Mac]

nice points!!


love ya work!

[Thor]

MT,
You probably wont see this post since you're "meant to be out of this sport" , but the part of your post where you mention the difference between people like us and "normal" people in a situation like a car crash reminded me of some parts of the book, "Falling, How Our Greatest Fear Became Our Greatest Thrill" by Garret Soden. Since you're going to have some time on your hands now that you'r not jumping, you might want to check it out. In fact most of the people reading this forum would get some insight from this book as well. I'm not the type of person that typically reads anything longer than a magazine article, but I couldn't stop reading this book. Every time I turned a page, I kept thinking, "Yeah, that makes sence. That's exactly the way I'm wired."

Just a thought. Good luck in the new chapter of your life.... er, um, I mean you're a pussy!

[xof711]

Got your point MT... Chance is always a factor, no matter how many jumps you have, how many different Xtrm sports you do... But Chance doesnt eliminate the risk of a malfunction. Only clean packing and a brain between your ears instead of in your pants will minimize those risks ;-)

You can always visit my website for a trip down memory lane!

www.xof711.com

Enjoy!

D.