I recently visited Tim Ciccone’s blog and saw a video on wingsuit base jumping!! Check it out
After watching this video I had this unbelievable desire to do this. Ya I know what you are thinking. If you have been around me over the years I have turned down many different activities that are about a fraction of intense as this is. This sport is very dangerous and dangerous!! I even went to youtube typed in wingsuit base jumping crashes in hopes of deterring this weird desire to do this activity. I watched about 10 videos and afterwards I still wanted to do it. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t like roller coasters, I have been skiing once, and never have been off a diving board, but I still want to do this.
I was so excited about this I started telling some people around me about it. Not one person thought I would. I got combinations of eyes rolling, and people saying, “You will never!” I will never! Who tells me how to live my life! Not you. God does. One of my favorite verses ever is that of John 10:10 “I come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly.” When I showed my mom this video she said, “Why are people like that? Why can’t they just enjoy walking in a park and enjoy life through the nature God has given us?” I was a little frustrated that no one understood, but then I realized something. For some people that’s what works for them. God will bless their life through the simple things of life. They will have fulfillment in walking in the park, or a rollercoaster, or jumping off a diving board. They will have adventure and excitement, but it will be of the most basic kind. At least through my eyes and through these eyes I look at wingsuit base jumping and I feel freedom. A true sense of living life, and living it with abundance.
Again if you know me, which I am finding out that many people don’t :) I have a very logical mind. I think through most things in hopes understanding the situation, and this is no different. I have started doing research and have found out that it’s going to take a lot of work, so here is a bit of information for the people that might share this same desire to push life to the extreme:
Start off by becoming highly experienced and proficient at skydiving by acquiring AT LEAST several hundred jumps. You can then start learning how to fly wingsuits on normal skydives. You can also start doing regular BASE jumps (without wingsuits). Once you have about 50-100 wingsuit skydives and 50-100 regular BASE jumps, you can then start flying a wingsuit on BASE jumps. After you become HIGHLY proficient at wingsuit BASE (several hundred wingsuit BASE jumps), you can then maybe start trying to proximity fly like these guys. It's not a "just for the experience" or a "bucket-list" thing. It requires an investment of many thousands of dollars and a strong dedication for many years. You also have to keep in mind that it's one of the most dangerous activities, and that many of the greatest wingsuit BASE jumpers are already dead or will be dead within a matter of years. If you truly desire to do it, then go for it, but it's not something that you can just rush into.
I thought this person had a great perspective on the sport. Some of the best things in life take time and a dedication that few people have. I hope that this info has been helpful for you.
My first New Year resolution has been made, and will be my New Year resolution every year until I save the money to go to Norway or any where to start the process of wingsuit base jumping!! I have put a plastic container next to my bed and taped to the outside wingsuit base jumping. I have started putting money away in hopes of one day flying! Being closer to God then I have ever been! Seeing the world like I have never seen it! Living life to an abundance I have never know. One day I’ll fly…and that day I’ll say I told you so.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dude we're goin to Norway. Lets go buy ourselves a couple Vampire III's. Catch you later...Birdman.
ReplyDeleteSo when I posted that comment, it made me type in one of those weird verification codes. And guess what it made me type.
ReplyDeleteWings
Its a sign.
HAHAHAHa that is the funniest thing i have ever heard. You are right it's a sign. One day you and i will fly. See ya...Birdman.
ReplyDeleteRalph Sweatte wrote at 1:54pm
ReplyDeleteI am now a follower!! Thanks for the Blog. This video, and your words, remind me of what I sometimes forget in my effort to follow Christ. I think we need to base jump with Christ. Only it doesn't require 100's of hours in preparation, as the old Nike commercial went "Just Do It". Well, the analogy is not quite "correct" still, my insane ... Read Moredesire is to become a pilot. Something I only really wanted to do after spending a day at the KC Air Show last year, and seeing the crazy air acrobatics of the aircraft. Waaayyy kewl. I only have one thing to say about wing suit, parachuting, base jumping. That is CRAZEEE. So, perhaps some day we can combine our urges. I'll fly, you jump. Oh, I promise a safe landing.
I thought this is was really cool what Ralph wrote, so i posted it. Ralph is too cool!
TJ and Greg: You'll never do it. 1. You can't afford the suit. 2. You will NEVER jump off a cliff that high. 3. You have to have a special "flying" license to do that...do you have one of those?
ReplyDeleteYep, I'm the guy your gonna have to tell "told you so" cuz I'm debbie downer on this one.
That is crap Tim! 1 getting a flying license is easy! 2. We will jump!! 3. A starter suit is only like $500 bucks. Not that much! The most expensive is like 1500 dollars. Not that much.
ReplyDeleteThe text you will get when you least expect it:
Hey guys this is T.J. and Greg check this video out. http:/www.youtube.com/tj&gregliving life!!
I love that... i've never been off a diving board. That struck me as one of the funniest things I have heard in a very long time.
ReplyDelete