Extreme Individual Sports, Base Jumping

One of the most daring extreme individual sports by far is base jumping. Some of these daring extremists are called other names such as daredevils, nutters or total loonies. Base jumping is very simple to understand, in layman's terms, you strap on a parachute, and throw yourself off of a cliff top or a high building, sounds like a silly idea when mankind has strived to invent stairs, lifts and escalators. It may sound like an insane thing to do, but to adrenaline junkies, it's the "in" thing to do. To the rest of us, the nearest thing to the rush they feel is like going on a massive roller coaster.

Base jumping is an extremely dangerous sport with participants being seriously injured and killed during jumps. The word "BASE' comes from four different types of object which base jumpers jump from, they are Building, Antenna, Span, Earth. The sport itself is only called "base", and there are courses for first time jumpers. Some people who wish to take up this very dangerous sport, begin preparing themselves by parachute jumping or bungee jumping, although according to most base jumpers, it still does not prepare you enough for the thrill of jumping from a fixed object. A derivative from base jumping is Wingsuit Base Jumping, this is where your jump suit has webbed like wings under the arms and between the legs, like the flying monkeys in the jungle, and this allows you to glide your body through the air, but still hurtling towards the ground at a high velocity.

 Many base jumpers jump from very tall buildings within a city, these are usually illegal, as apparently you need permission to throw yourself off of a secure building. Although it is illegal, it does happen quite often, and by the time the police have been informed and arrive on the scene, the elusive Base Jumper has vanished. This also applies to bridges and most other man made objects. If you are approached to do a promotional jump for a company, you could actually get permission from police and local authorities for base jumping from certain buildings or bridges, obviously with certain conditions. You can actually get insurance for Base Jumping, it may cost a bit, but there are specialised insurance companies who will help you out, I think they only take annual payments and not monthly premiums, I have no idea why.

Well I think the first item is obvious, yes, its a physiatrist, the second thing is a parachute, which without one the sport would not be called base jumping, more like suicide. A helmet is also required, head trauma is a nasty thing to happen to anybody and it does happen in most sports, so you will always need to be as careful as possible. The harness for strapping you into a parachute and other related safety gear, a stash bag for your belongings and loose objects. And very importantly, a necessary piece of equipment for a professional base jumper is the helmet attached camera, so he can record his jump and put it on youtube.

 There are lots of videos to watch how these extremists prepare for their jumps, but only physically, mentally depends on the individual person. There are courses for base jumping from qualified jumpers, theses courses are a must for any person who is considering taking up this sport. There are many books available as well, covering all aspects from mental readiness, equipment, to practice jumps and safety precautions.