Re: The scariest video I have ever watched
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Phil1</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Back in about 1977 or 1978 I was down in Z-hills doing some skydiving. There were some word or mouth stories going around about base jumping including jumping off radio towers. There was a tower this size(about 1800') about 1/2 hour drive from the DZ about smack in the middle of Fla.
So after a night of drinking a buddy and I decided that what the hell, lets go do it. We had all kinds of advice from all kinds of sources. "Take a lunch because it will take over four hours to climb". "Wear your harness in case you fall, that ways you can deploy instantly."etc.,etc. Well I thought that there was no way it could take four hours. I figured 2 hours max. I had my should straps on but leg straps undone to allow for free movement. I figured if I fell inside the tower I'd be bouncing off the bracing steel, inside the tower, all the way to the bottom.
I had my good old reliable "UNIT" canopy for which I packed the slider down at the links. As this was before BASE jumping gear i also had a round reserve in my tandem container.
So at about 0430 I set off up the tower.There was just a low 3' fence around the tower and it was a crystal clear December night with visibility unlimited and a wind under 5 kns. After about 20 minutes I was up about 700' and thought that I better take a rest
in case I "powered out' and was too tired to make it to the top. Well to make a long story short it took about 45 minutes to make it to the top. It was quite easy.
So there i was at 1800' in the pitch dark waiting for dawn so I could jump! But that was actually the neatest part. i could see both coasts in the moonlight. There was a continuous show of aircraft, meteors and other neat sights to see. After about an hour and a half the sun finally showed up. As i didn't want to attract attention I didn't yell to the ground to my friend who was to take pictures of the jump, until I left the tower.
It was fairly light when I checked my pilot chute handle for the 50th time, yelled "yee-ha"(or something like that, it was a long time ago) and off i went.
What was most distinctive about the jump was the guy-wires that support the tower at 120 degree corners of the tower. They were braided 11/2 inch steel cables and were spaced about every 300' down the tower in groups of three. As I accelerated during the about 5 second free-fall the support cables were whizzing by in my peripheral vision.
Out with the pilot chute,..whuff a nice soft instantaneous opening, on heading, off with the brakes, now what about the little clearing in among the 3'-4' scrub brush?
I had time for a 360 turn line up for landing and was on the ground. My friend comes running up, i think more excited than me.
He and another guy jumped of the same tower two days later.
My first and only BASE jump.
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and then a little leprechaun came out and showed me where a secret tunnel was that led to a cave filled with swedish cheerleaders. and then........if you really did this, sorry ..and much respect.but i just cant help doubting..just sayin