History Of Bungee Jumping
The word bungee first appeared around 1930 and was the name for a rubber eraser. The word bungy, as used by A J Hackett, is said to be "Kiwi slang for an Elastic Strap". Cloth-covered rubber cords with hooks on the ends have been available for decades under the generic name bungee cords. In the 1950s David Attenborough and a BBC film crew brought back footage of the "land divers" of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu, young men who jumped from tall wooden platforms with vines tied to their ankles as a test of courage The first modern bungee jumps were made on 1 April 1979 from the 250-foot Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, by David Kirke, Chris Baker, Ed Hulton and Alan Weston of the Dangerous Sports Club. The jumpers were arrested shortly after, but continued with jumps in the US from the Golden Gate and Royal Gorge bridges, (this last jump sponsored by and televised on the American program That's Incredible) spreading the concept worldwide. By 1982 they were jumping from mobile cranes and hot air balloons, and putting on commercial displays. Commercial bungee jumping began with the New Zealander, A J Hackett, who made his first jump from Auckland's Greenhithe Bridge in 1986. During the following years Hackett performed a number of jumps from bridges and other structures (including the Eiffel Tower), building public interest in the sport, and opening the world's first permanent commercial bungee site; the Kawarau Bridge Bungy at Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand. Hackett remains one of the largest commercial operators, with concerns in several countries. Despite the inherent danger of jumping from a great height, several million successful jumps have taken place since 1980. This is attributable to bungee operators rigorously conforming to standards and guidelines governing jumps, such as double checking calculations and fittings for every jump. As with any sport, injuries can still occur, and there have been fatalities. A relatively common mistake in fatality cases is to use too long a cord. The cord should be substantially shorter than the height of the jumping platform to allow it room to stretch. When the cord reaches its natural length the jumper either starts to slow down or keeps accelerating depending upon the speed of descent. One may not even start to slow until the cord has been stretched a significant amount, because the cord's resistance to distortion is zero at the natural length, and increases only gradually after, taking some time to even equal the jumper's weight.
Equipment for Bungee Jumping
The elastic rope first used in bungee jumping, and still used by many commercial operators, is factory-produced braided shock cord. This consists of many latex strands enclosed in a tough outer cover. The outer cover may be applied when the latex is pre-stressed, so that the cord's resistance to extension is already significant at the cord's natural length. This gives a harder, sharper bounce. The braided cover also provides significant durability benefits. Other operators, including A J Hackett and most southern-hemisphere operators, use unbraided cords in which the latex strands are exposed. These give a softer, longer bounce and can be home-produced.
Although there is a certain elegance in using only a simple ankle attachment, accidents in which participants became detached led many commercial operators to use a body harness, if only as a backup for an ankle attachment. Body harnesses are generally derived from climbing equipment rather than parachute equipment.
Retrieval methods vary according to the site used. Mobile cranes provide the greatest recovery speed and flexibility, the jumper being lowered rapidly to ground level and detached. Many other mechanisms have been devised according to the nature of the jump platform and the need for a rapid turn-around.
Variations of Bungee Jumping
In "Catapult" (Reverse Bungee or Bungee Rocket) the 'jumper' starts on the ground. The jumper is secured and the cord stretched, he/she is then released and shoots up into the air. This is often achieved using either a crane or a hoist attached to a (semi-)perma structure. This simplifies the action of stretching the cord and later lowering the participant to the ground.
Bungy Trampoline uses, as its name suggests, elements from bungy and trampolining. The participant begins on a trampoline and is fitted into a body harness, which is attached via bungy cords to two high poles on either side of trampoline. As they begin to jump, the bungy cords are tightened, allowing a higher jump than could normally be made from a trampoline alone.
Bungee Running involves no jumping as such. It merely consists of, as the name suggests, running along a track which is usually inflatable with a bungee cord attached. One often has a velcro-backed marker which is used to mark how far the runner got before the bungee cord pulled back. There is always a competitor alongside.
Usually there should not be any accidents in bungee jumping at all. Most common are minor traumas such as gripping the elastic rope while rebounding. But severe accidents are possible due to incompetence of the main crew responsible for the jumps. There are operators who do not observe certain norms in bungee jumping such as using a particular cord about a certain period mostly of 7 months - inadvertence, which may cause even the break of the cord. Also the performer should be very well tied to the harness. In unusual weather some cords do not behave properly which may lead to something serious. The inexperienced jumper is not enough well informed about what he is about to do and so he does not have control over the situation. There are restrictions concerning the wind speed and the position and angle of the crane and the cage at crane sites. It is possible to hit the crane or the platform from where the jump was performed. Sometimes even the worst is possible. But with the competent crew such things are impossible.
Medical Reference
There are certain physical condition under which a person should not attempt to jump: these include high blood pressure, pregnancy, neurological disorders, epilepsy, bone disorders, prone to faint or blackouts. There are several unusual states people feel when bungee jumping due to the unnatural conditions they have experienced. Most common is dizziness from the fall and the state of weightlessness. Also headache may occur and sometimes leg numbness. Among the usual musculoskeletal traumas are pain in the neck and in the back. Ankle traumas are also quite often. An interesting occurrence is the blurred vision, which sometimes may develop into temporary blindness. This is caused by the bursting of blood vessels in the eye triggered by the increased pressure during the jump.This picture shows the burst blood vessels after a bungee jump. The vessels recover after a while but if they are near the retina, it may be detached leading to partial or even total blindness. Another serious injury may occur when hitting the water surface with face first. But with professionals by your side you should not have serious injuries.
Accidents Usually there should not be any accidents in bungee jumping at all. Most common are minor traumas such as gripping the elastic rope while rebounding. But severe accidents are possible due to incompetence of the main crew responsible for the jumps. There are operators who do not observe certain norms in bungee jumping such as using a particular cord about a certain period mostly of 7 months - inadvertence, which may cause even the break of the cord. Also the performer should be very well tied to the harness. In unusual weather some cords do not behave properly which may lead to something serious. The inexperienced jumper is not enough well informed about what he is about to do and so he does not have control over the situation. There are restrictions concerning the wind speed and the position and angle of the crane and the cage at crane sites. It is possible to hit the crane or the platform from where the jump was performed. Sometimes even the worst is possible. But with the competent crew such things are impossible.
Highest Jump
Bloukrans Bridge
The Guinness Book of World Records states the highest commercial bungee jump is off of the Bloukrans River Bridge (Picture on right), 40 kilometres east of Plettenberg Bay in South Africa. This jump takes place from a platform below the roadway of the bridge, and the height from the platform to the valley floor is 216 metres (710 ft). There is another commercial bungee jump currently in operation which claims to be slightly higher, at 220 metres (720 ft). This jump is located near Locarno, Switzerland and takes place from the top of the Verzasca Dam. This jump was prominently featured in the opening scene of the James Bond film Goldeneye. In December 2006, AJ Hackett added bungee jumping to his Macau Tower facility in Macau S.A.R. China, making it the world's highest commercial jump at 233 metres (760 ft). The latter of these higher jumps does not qualify as the world's highest bungee as it is not strictly speaking pure bungee, but instead what is referred to as a 'Decelerator-Descent' jump. The bridge at Bloukrans and the Verzasca Dam jumps are pure freefall swinging bungee from a single cord, while the Macau Tower jump has a secondary cable which controls descent and trajectory, thereby failing to take the place in the record books.
Guinness only records jumps from fixed objects to guarantee the accuracy of the measurement. John Kockleman however recorded a 2,200-foot (670 m) bungee jump from a hot air balloon in California in 1989. In 1991 Andrew Salisbury jumped from 9,000 feet (2,700 m) from a helicopter over Cancun for a television program and with Reebok sponsorship. The full stretch was recorded at 3,157 feet (962 m). He landed safely under parachute.
One commercial jump higher than all others is at the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. The height of the platform is 321 metres (1,053 ft). However, this jump is rarely available, as part of the Royal Gorge Go Fast Games—first in 2005, then again in 2007.