Bungee Jump in Normandy, France (Souleuvre Viaduct)

Bungee jumping (or bungy jumping) is the sport that originated from New Zealand and was created by maverick daredevil A J Hackett, and his original jump from a bridge in Greenhithe, Auckland. The sport denotes jumping from a tall structure while connected to a large rubber cord. The tall structure is usually a fixed object, such as a building, bridge, or crane; but it is also possible to jump from a movable object, such as a hot-air-balloon or a helicopter, that has the ability to hover over one spot on the ground; fixed-wing aircraft are clearly unsuitable because they only stay aloft when moving rapidly forward. The intense thrill comes as much from the free-falls as from the rebounds.^[1] Download high resolution version (512x692, 75 KB)Bungee jumping in Normandy, France in Viaduc de la Souleuvre. ... Download high resolution version (512x692, 75 KB)Bungee jumping in Normandy, France in Viaduc de la Souleuvre. ... Viaduc de la Souleuvre is a well-known permanent bungee jumping facility in La Ferrière-Harang, Normandy, France. ... A J Hackett, pictured during an interview on Television New Zealand in October 2006 A J Hackett (b 1958) is a New Zealand entrepreneur who has popularised the extreme sport of bungy jumping. ... For other uses, see Auckland (disambiguation). ... Levitation is the process by which an object is suspended against gravity, in a stable position, by a force without physical contact. ...

When the person jumps, the cord stretches to absorb the energy of the fall, then the jumper flies upwards again as the cord snaps back. The jumper oscillates up and down until all the energy is used up. Bungee cord is an elastic cord composed of one or more elastic strands forming a core, covered in a woven sheath usually of nylon or cotton. ...

History

The word bungee (pronounced IPA: /ˈbʌndʒi:/) first appeared around 1930 and was the name for rubber eraser. The word bungy, as used by A J Hackett, is said to be "Kiwi slang for Elastic Strap".^[2] Cloth-covered rubber cords with hooks on the ends have been available for decades under the generic name bungee cords. For other uses, see Eraser (disambiguation). ... A J Hackett, pictured during an interview on Television New Zealand in October 2006 A J Hackett (b 1958) is a New Zealand entrepreneur who has popularised the extreme sport of bungy jumping. ... For other uses, see Kiwi (disambiguation). ...

View from the top of AJ Hackett Bungy Tower, Cairns, Queensland

In the 1950s David Attenborough and a BBC film crew had 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. This film inspired Chris Baker of Bristol, England to use elastic rope in a kind of urban vine jumping. The first modern bungee jump was made on 1 April 1979 from the 250ft Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, and was made by four members of the Dangerous Sports Club. The jumpers, led by David Kirke, 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. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1792x1200, 565 KB) Summary View from the top of the AJ Hackett Bungy Tower, Cairns, Queensland Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1792x1200, 565 KB) Summary View from the top of the AJ Hackett Bungy Tower, Cairns, Queensland Licensing I, the creator of this work, hereby grant the permission to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU... The 1950s decade refers to the years 1950 to 1959 inclusive. ... Sir David Frederick Attenborough, OM, CH, CVO, CBE, FRS (born on May 8, 1926 in London, England) is one of the worlds best known broadcasters and naturalists. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Pentecost Island Pentecost Island is one of the 83 islands that make up the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. ... This article is about the English city. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ... The Clifton Suspension Bridge is a suspension bridge, spanning the Avon Gorge and linking Clifton in Bristol to Leigh Woods in North Somerset, England. ... The Dangerous Sports Club, a group of adventurers and extreme sports pioneers based in Oxford and London, were active from the late 1970s for about ten years, during which they developed modern bungee jumping and experimented with a variety of other innovative sporting activities. ... Thats Incredible was a television show that ran from 1980 to 1984 in the USA. In the tradition of Believe It or Not and Real People, this television show had people perform stunts or descriptions and reenactments of allegedly paranormal events. ...

One of the first operators of a commercial bungee jumping concern enabling the general public to experience these leaps of faith was 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. Hackett remains one of the largest commercial operators, with concerns in several countries. The worlds first permanent commercial bungee site was the Kawarau Bridge Bungy at Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand.^[3] A J Hackett, pictured during an interview on Television New Zealand in October 2006 A J Hackett (b 1958) is a New Zealand entrepreneur who has popularised the extreme sport of bungy jumping. ... Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest urban area in New Zealand. ... Year 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar). ... The Eiffel Tower (French: , ) is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the River Seine in Paris. ... Queenstown is the name of several places in the world including: Queenstown, Ireland is the former name of Cobh, Ireland. ... The South Island The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. ...

Jumping from the Kawarau Bridge in Queenstown, New Zealand, April 2007.

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 (see below), 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. See also Potential energy for a discussion of the spring constant and the force required to distort bungee cords and other spring-like objects. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... For other places with the same name, see Queenstown (disambiguation). ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ... Potential energy can be thought of as energy stored within a physical system. ...

Equipment

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.

Looking down from atop the Verzasca Dam bunge tower near Locarno in Ticino, Switzerland

Image File history File links Img_1074. ... Image File history File links Img_1074. ... Location within Switzerland Locarno is a city located on Lake Maggiore (Lago Maggiore) in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino, close to Ascona. ... For the river, see Ticino river. ...

Highest Jump

The Guinness Book of World Records states the highest commercial bungee jump is off of the Bloukrans River Bridge, 40km 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 216m (709 feet). There is another commercial bungee jump currently in operation which claims to be slightly higher, at 220m (722 feet). 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 233m (764 feet).^{[citation needed]}. 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 World Records 2008 edition. ... The Bloukrans Bridge is an arch bridge located in Natures Valley, Western Cape, South Africa. ... Keurbooms River mouth at Plettenberg Bay viewed from the West Plettenberg Bay is a town in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. ... Verzasca dam is a 220 meter-high dam in Switzerland constructed from 1960-1965. ... 007 redirects here. ... For other uses, see Goldeneye (disambiguation). ... Macau Tower, Macau The observation deck, viewed from underneath A fountain in the shape of a lotus, the representative flower of Macau, outside the Macau Tower Macau Tower, also known as Macau Sky Tower, is a tower located in Macau, a Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of...

One commercial jump higher than all others is at the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado. The height of the platform is 321m (1053 feet). However, this jump is rarely available, as part of the Royal Gorge Go Fast Games - first in 2005, then again in 2007. Royal Gorge in 1987 The Royal Gorge Bridge is a tourist attraction near Cañon City, Colorado, within a 360 acre (1. ...

In popular culture

Bungee jumping from the Souleuvre Viaduct in Normandy

Several major movies have featured bungee jumps, most famously the opening sequence of the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye in which Bond makes a jump over the edge of a dam in Russia (in reality the dam is in Switzerland: Verzasca Dam, and the jump was genuine, not an animated special effect). Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 398 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2000 × 3008 pixel, file size: 1. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 398 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (2000 × 3008 pixel, file size: 1. ... Viaduc de la Souleuvre is a well-known permanent bungee jumping facility in La Ferrière-Harang, Normandy, France. ... For other uses, see Normandy (disambiguation). ... Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ... 007 redirects here. ... For other uses, see Goldeneye (disambiguation). ... Verzasca dam is a 220 meter-high dam in Switzerland constructed from 1960-1965. ...

It appears in the title of the South Korean film Bungee Jumping of Their Own (Beonjijeompeureul hada 번지점프를 하다, 2001), although it does not play a large part in the film. Bungee Jumping of Their Own (번지점프를 하다 Beonjijeompeureul hada) is a 2001 South Korean film. ...

In 1986, the BBC TV program The Late, Late Breakfast Show, presented by Noel Edmonds, was taken off the air after a volunteer for its 'Whirly Wheel' live stunt section, Michael Lush, was killed while rehearsing a bungee jump. For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... The Late, Late Breakfast Show was a BBC television gameshow broadcast live on Saturday evenings between 1982 and 1986. ... Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948 in Ilford, Essex) is a British television presenter, DJ, executive who made his name on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He is more recently known as the presenter of the television gameshow Deal or No Deal. ...

A fictional proto-bungee jump is a plot point in the Michael Chabon novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. Michael Chabon (born May 24, 1963) is an American author and one of the most celebrated writers of his generation. ... The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is a 2000 novel by Michael Chabon. ...

Variations

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.

"Twin Tower" is similar with two oblique cords.

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.

Safety and possible injury

There is a wide spectrum of possible injuries during a jump. One can be injured during a jump if the safety harness fails, the cord elasticity is miscalculated, or the cord is not properly connected to the jump platform. In most cases this is a result of human error in the form of mishandled harness preparation. Another major injury is if the jumper experiences cord entanglement with his/her own body. Other injuries include eye trauma ^{[4] [5]} , rope burn, uterine prolapse, dislocations, bruises, pinched fingers and back injury.

Age, equipment, experience, location and weight are some of the factors, and nervousness can exacerbate eye traumas ^{[6] [7]}.

In 1997, Laura Patterson, one of a 16-member professional bungee jumping team, died of massive cranial trauma when she jumped from the top level of the Louisiana Superdome with improperly handled bungee cords and smashed head-first into the concrete-based playing field. She was practicing for an exhibition intended to be performed during the halftime show of Super Bowl XXXI. The bungee jumping portion of the show was removed from the program and a commemoration of Patterson was added. In zootomy, several terms are used to describe the location of organs and other structures in the body of bilateral animals. ... The Louisiana Superdome, often informally referred to simply as the Superdome, The Dome or even the New Orleans Superdome is a large, multi-purpose sports and exhibition facility located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. ... A halftime show is a performance given between the first and second halves or the 2nd and 3rd quarters of a sporting event. ... Date January 26, 1997 Stadium Louisiana Superdome City New Orleans, Louisiana MVP Desmond Howard, Kick Returner/Punt Returner Favorite Packers by 14 National anthem Luther Vandross Coin toss Past Super Bowl winning coaches: Hank Stram, Mike Ditka, Tom Flores, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, George Seifert Referee Gerald Austin Halftime show...

References