rfarris

Wow!! No one wants free gear? Guess I’m gonna have to jump San Antanio myself 971

It’s been a great run. How can you describe it? I’ve been out of the sport for 20 years! I served in the US Army, and I can say that my BASE brothers were closer to me. im approaching 60 years old now. I can still out climb you 30 year olds!! I have new gear that’s never been jumped. if you help me get one more jump, i will give you all my gear BASE 971 I’m in San Antonio

I’m gonna be in the area October 2-8.. I’ve opened and jumped many objects in the Cedar Hill area in the past 20 years. Looking for locals. 971

I’m going to be up in the DFW area next week. I haven’t jumped there in years!! I’d love to hook up with current locals.. BASE971

I found myself sitting on the curb with about six police officers staring at me like I was a circus freak the other night. There were several ways this could have turned out, but the fact that I was friendly, didn't try to run, and didn't act like an idiot, probably saved my ass. A concerned citizen saw me, thought I was committing suicide, and called the police. By the time I came back from shutting the elevator down, I was surrounded. I explained myself, told them who I was and what I was doing, and all I could do was wait for the outcome. I was reminded of the fact I had just committed a federal offense since I was on a television tower. Long story short, they told me it wasn't their call as to whether or not I went to jail. So they called the tower owner to see if they wanted to press charges. You know what the station manager's main concern was? He told the police to let me know that I had just been exposed to enough rays that I would probably be sterilized and that I may need to go get checked out. They were more concerned about my health than the fact I was trespassing on their tower. The police told me I was free to go, "we appreciate your cooperation". I have a feeling if I had ran and they had to chase me, it would have turned out different. So yea, being the rebel idiot may work if the circumstances are right, but if you are caught, you are caught. Be polite, take responsibility for your actions, be willing to accept the outcome, or just jump the legal stuff. Just my opinion. Rod

Hi Mac, I haven't posted here in ages, so take this for what it's worth.... Most of my jumps now days are from 1700+' elevator towers; I'm lazy. I just got back from making a jump as a matter of fact. From what I can remember from the last time I made a skydive from a plane (about 2 years ago), tracking from a plane in no way is similar to tracking on a BASE jump. Can you really tell how well you are tracking from thousands of feet in the air? I can't. I guess I probably hold the same body position in both situations; toes pointed back towards the tower, feet about 2 feet apart, arms straight and about 18 inches from my hips on either side, palms facing the ground and hands cupped. My pelvis is cupped also, as if I was laying on one of those exercise balls. I tend to have my chin on my chest because I like to watch the lights between my legs. It's a visual thing. I start all of my tracking jumps from a gainer because I feel I am in better control of my body position once I rotate around to belly to earth. I try to be in my tracking position when I am in a position to where I am on my back and I am looking back at the tower. Then once I rotate to my belly to earth position, it's just a matter of feeling the relative wind on my stomach and making the necessary body position adjustments to stable my self. From this position, if I don't feel like I'm getting the seperation from the tower like I want, I will rotate my shoulders up more towards the horizon, and drop my feet lower, while still maintaining the cup in my hips. But hey, usually from 1700+' towers, there is enough tail wind that tracking is not that big of a deal anyway. Rod

Still missed here as well.... Got your message last night Blair. Thanks man. Happy New Year to you too. Rod

Which was his our standing jump order by the way. His reason for this, especially from a new object, "you go first man. Depending on how your jump goes, I may be climbing back down". One night we were about 1/2 way up the "wheel" when a car pulls up and parks below. We see two people get out and make a mad dash to the ladder and they start climbing below us. We get off the ladder and onto a resting platform to wait for them. They finally get up to our level and Tom yells "BOO". These kids almost fall off the ladder they were so scared. Turned out to be a couple college kids messing around. Tom makes a friendly deal with them something like, "you don't tell anyone you saw us, and we won't kick your asses...fair enough?". He had a way with words. Anyway, I jump first as usual, then he. Tom has a nasty what looked like a 270 off heading, we're at 300'. I always argued it was 315'. Tom insisted on 300'. He lands smack in the middle of a group of trees. I run over and there he is suspended in this tree about 15' up. Not a funny situation, but I couldn't keep from laughing. This was his first jump back from the bulldozer landing a couple weeks earlier. Long story short, after about 45 minutes of struggling to get his canopy out, he sends me into town to buy a pruning saw so we could cut some of the limbs to free his lines. It was a mess. The lady at the cash register says "doing some late night pruning sweety?" I get back out to the site about an hour later and here is Tom all sprawled out on his back with his head on his stash bag(canopy inside), sound asleep. Yea, the bulldozer landing. Here he is laying in the front end loader, and his Blackjack draped on top of the tractor...he deffinately could hit just about any target he wanted to. I tell these stories remembering some of the "lighter sides" of our jumps together, and I know he wouldn't mind, but in all seriousness, Tom was a great teacher and was always about making sure the jump could be done. I had the privilege of learning from Tom Manship, not just about BASE, but living your life to the fullest and having fun. Rod

Someone started a thread "it's hard to find a mentor".... It's even harder to lose one. That phone call is one I hope to never ever receive again. You were my mentor, my BASE brother, but most importantly, my good friend. Thanks for the memories. Rod

B-5 (2 different objects, opened both solo) A-90 (9 different objects, from 250'-1700', maybe 1/2'ish solo) S-2 (BD'02) 1 object E-5 (TB'04) 4 exit points 102 total. No broken bones, and record still clean. (Knocking on wood) Have quit jumping 3 times. I guess it took 2.5 years to complete, in the order of S.A.B.E

Good to cya again Dennis...Hell, you are almost a "local" now. Have to admit, the 300'er after the car wash re-pack job was scarry. Wish I could've hung in there for the 3rd jump of the night. Glad to hear the jump from the tall one went well for the new kid. Cya next time through. Rod

Aw yes...decisions, decisions, decisions...do you do the crane, or the building. Right, Hookitt? They won't be there forever. Rod

After watching some vid's I took from the Turkey Boogie, mostly from one exit point, I found something interesting.... I filmed a half dozen jumps from this particular exit, and all jumpers had the same exact conditions, a cross wind to the left from the jumpers perspective. Each jumper's pilot chute all did the same thing after being released. They immediately blew to the left. What I couldn't understand is why three of the jumpers had 90 lefts, and 3 of them had dead on headings. After several rewinds and slow motions, I realized one difference. The jumpers who had the off headings all had their sliders on and were tied down. The on headings all had slider off. Is this coincidence, or could sliders on and tied down induce off headings? Rod

Yes you did

WOW!! What a great time. Many thanks to Jimmy and Marta, and most especially thanks to those who reached down and grabbed my hand and helped me up to the top. This was my first trip, and I'm at a loss of words trying to describe it. If I may, I attached a few "generic" stills.. I have many more. Thanks again, and congrats to the Texans and their qualifying BASE # jumps, myself included. Rod Edit: The moon shot I took just outside Vertigo after registering for the Boogie.