If you see people flinging themselves off casinos Monday and Tuesday, don’t worry — they’re professionals.
Four athletes will B.A.S.E. jump off xxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx, the xxxx xxxxx, xxxxx xxxxx xxxx, xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxx and xxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxx
buildings.
B.A.S.E. stands for
Building,
Antenna, Span,
Earth. Jumpers use modified parachutes to slow themselves down and land safely.
Because it is illegal to jump off most of the objects B.A.S.E. jumpers covet, there are no reliable
records tracking the sport’s feats, but the athletes and organizers involved say this will be the first legal multi-tower jump in the United States.
“I think it says our city is easy to work with, ‘gets it’ and is willing to take a risk,” said Deanna Ashby, the director of marketing for the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority.
Which is not to say that Reno is promoting B.A.S.E. jumping, she said.
Energy drink Red Bull organized the stunt to promote the Red Bull Air Race, an aerobatics competition scheduled for the 41st National Championship Air Races and Air Show at Stead Field. Such extreme sports events mesh with Reno-Tahoe’s “America’s Adventure Place” tourism campaign, Ashby said.
For the B.A.S.E. jumpers involved, the opportunity satisfies a different dream.
“I’ve been drooling all over these buildings like Pavlov’s dog for years,” said Miles Daisher, who lived in Squaw Valley for 11 years until this year.
Two other jumpers have also been eyeing the buildings, he said. Shane McConkey, a Squaw resident and skiing superstar, and Charles
Bryan, a Tahoe-Donner resident and
skydiving pioneer, will jump with Daisher. Othar Lawrence, a world-renowned paraglider from Utah, is the fourth member of the team.
During an interview Thursday from his new home in Twin Falls, Idaho, home of one of the few bridges in the United States where B.A.S.E. jumping is allowed, Daisher acknowledged the illegal nature of the sport. He thought some of the hotel-casinos might have been illegally B.A.S.E. jumped before, although he declined to be specific.The buildings, which vary in height from the 270-foot xxxxxx xxxxxx to the 335-foot xxxx xxxxxx, present a challenge because most jumps take place from heights between 500 and 1,000 feet. Short falls leave jumpers with a tiny margin of error, he said.
Daisher said the team has taken precautions to ensure their safety.
Each team member jumps frequently enough to keep their skills honed; Daisher jumps every day. The team inspected each of the buildings and chose the jump sites based on factors such as wind direction and the availability of safe landing zones, Daisher said. They scheduled the jumps at times of day when the wind typically doesn’t blow too fast. If wind speeds exceed 20 mph, the team will delay or cancel the jump, he said.
“It’s always better to live another day than to jump when conditions aren’t safe or something isn’t right,” he said. “Momma didn’t raise no dummy. We wanna stick it.”
The parachutes B.A.S.E. jumpers use resemble skydiving reserve parachutes, he said. Compared to regular parachutes, they are larger, open faster and are more maneuverable.
“I’m going to point to where I’m going to land and then stick that spot,” he said.
Then, in a classic extreme sports moment, an idea occurred to him: a Keno board on the ground in which participants could bet on where he would land, with bonus spots for injuries or deaths.
“I’m going to talk to the casino owners about that one,” he said.
While official arrangements hadn’t been made for a B.A.S.E. jump Keno board, RSCVA and Red Bull officials said they lined up permission from the casinos and made arrangements with the Reno police department for the jumps.
Ashby and Red Bull anticipate national publicity from the event, especially with elusive but important young demographics. The new Red Bull Air Race will also attract younger spectators to the Reno air races, she said.
Red Bull, one of the first and most successful energy drink makers, benefits by having their products associated with cool, exciting sports and athletes, said spokesman Michael Ladinig. The company also sponsored the Pro Wakeboard Tour at the Sparks Marina and the Silver Belt ski competition at Sugar Bowl.
Red Bull is also supporting a free
American Motorcyclist Association supermoto event scheduled for Oct. 2 in Reno.
Supermoto combines off-road motocross racing with street motorcyle racing. The sport, big in Europe, has been making headway in the United States. When ESPN added supermoto for the first time to last month’s X-Games, the competitions were the buzz of the games.
The Oct. 2 supermoto course will create yet another juxtaposition of extreme sports with downtown Reno: the street loop carved out of Arlington, Island, Sierra and First streets downtown incorporates dirt tracks with jumps in a vacant lot along that route.
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