If you haven't read about
Sibu BASE Jump 2009, you can
click here to see some of the BASE jumping action held at Wisma Sanyan, Sibu on 31st of October.
As promised, I shared some of the photos on the BASE jumpers participated in this very first event of its kind held at Sibu town. The participants came from all around the world including
Australia, Finland, Russia, United State of America and more.
[Some of the BASE jumpers took a group photo after their first jump]
I don't have detailed information about these jumpers as they were
not properly introduced or should I say no introduction at all either by the organizing committee or the press. This is one of the thing that I hope the committee will improve next time.
[Participants taking photo with VIPs after their first jump from the 27-storey building]
Luckily I
managed to approach few of the jumpers and talked a bit with them. From there I knew where are they actually from.
This one was from
Finland! I am pretty sure about that as he was the first jumper I talked to and I asked him after I shot this photo. He is a cute guy.
[A cute jumper from Finland]
This is a very nice guy from
Florida USA. Not sure about his name, but he showed his friendliness by taking photos with the local who approached him and requested for the favor. He kept promoting "Sky Frogs" which was printed on his t-shirt. Maybe I should Google for it later.
[Jumper from Florida, USA]
The one
wearing helmet and sun glass holding a blue parachute in the first photo of this post is from Russia. His name is
Max! He is the one
left a comment in my previous write up about
Sibu BASE Jump 2009. Too bad I don't have his close up photo.
The one with all
black t-shirt in the first pic is an Aussie. A very friendly guy who loves to interact with the people around him. Maybe you should tell me your name if you read this, friend? ;)
This following handsome guy should be from Ireland if I judge from his wearing, but I used to wear Man Utd t-shirt don't mean that I am a Red Devil player, do I?
[Are you from Ireland?]
This guy I am not sure where is he from, but he gave me the feel of "
Wolverine" look in the X-men movie! No detail explanation, that was just my feeling at that moment. He was friendly enough by lending his helmet to the kids when taking photos. I'll be extremely overjoyed and excited if I was the kid!
[The small kid wearing the jumper's helmet when taking photo with him!]
Neither I know where is the following jumper from but
his helmet attracted my attention. His one is other from others. The helmet looks like a bit small for his head, it is
white in color and with
Malaysia national flag printed on it. However I am sure he is not a Malaysian! ;p
[Is he the same guy with the jumper in the next pic?]
[Same white helmet, same shirt, same body shape but different canopy color]
He was
the first one jumped from the building bringing Sanyan's flag. I read from some
press saying that
the world record holder for the most BASE jump made at KL Tower BASE jump 2005 who is an Aussie participated in this event. Perhaps he is the one?
[Taking photo with local girls]
I am not sure really... just have a guess. But I think he got
more than one parachutes and
jumped more frequent than others because I saw a jumper wearing that unique helmet who made more than one jump (maybe 2) in very short interval.
[Taking photo with some local kids. See how happy their smile!]
Last but not least, this is
the photo I love the most with the Australia jumper holding his video cam attached on his helmet recording the moment of another jumper who was preparing to make the jump!
[The Australian jumper recording from the ground after touched down]
This is the last episode of my write up about Sibu BASE jump 2009. It is about parachute folding and packing after the jump had been made. A demonstration was held at ground floor of Wisma Sanyan after the jumpers had made their jump.
Folding or packing parachute is not as simple as what outsiders can imagine. It needs high level of skill and patient as there is no room for any mistakes. Improper folding may cause parachute fail to deploy and the consequence is not too hard to imagine.
Folding parachute in a way is similar to folding clothes, just that it requires much complicated steps as you need to fold it layer by layer, slowly, neatly and carefully. I guess these gentlemen are very good in clothes folding as their skill of folding the parachute is undoubted!
Deploying a parachute maybe just need a second, but packing it back will eat you more than 20 minutes. So, even you have the passion to do BASE jumping but don't have the patient to do a proper folding, then I think you can just forget about this sports.
The BASE jumpers performed on that day certainly have the 2Ps quality - passion and the patient. Although it was a lenghty process, but they seem enjoy it, not only the jumping part, but folding part as well.
When they are too tired, they may just take a nap on their beloved parachute. See what this gentleman did here! Fall asleep half way folding his parachute.
Hugging and kissing the parachute canopy is just a norm for BASE jumpers. This is the passion I was talking about! You treat the parachute just like how you treat your love one!
Haha! Just forget the previous 2 statements please. I was just kidding. Actually the friendly Ken Miller from Australia not falling asleep but tried to entertain the spectators by making some jokes. Whereas another jumper who the name is unknown had a very unique style when folding his parachute.
Stepping on the well-packed parachute doesn't mean the jumper was mad, but I think is a way to release the air inside the bag so that it was not that bloated.
It was really an eyes-opening experience for me watching the BASE jumpers folding their parachute and from there I realized that folding parachute maybe is not as risky as doing the jumping, but the skill level required are equally crucial.
