Bungee jumping
Bungee jumping, also spelled bungy jumping, is an activity that involves a person jumping from a great height while connected to a large elastic cord. The launching pad is usually erected on a tall structure such as a building or crane, a bridge across a deep ravine, or on a natural geographic feature such as a cliff. It is also possible to jump from a type of aircraft that has the ability to hover above the ground, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter. The thrill comes from the free-falling and the rebound. When the person jumps, the cord stretches and the jumper flies upwards again as the cord recoils, and continues to oscillate up and down until all the kinetic energy is dissipated.
Etymology
The word "bungee" originates from West Country dialect of the English language, meaning "anything thick and squat", as defined by James Jennings in his book "Observations of Some of the Dialects in The West of England" published 1825. In 1928, the word started to be used for a rubber eraser.The Oxford English Dictionary records early use of the phrase in 1938 relating to launching of gliders using an elasticated cord, and also as "a long nylon-cased rubber band used for securing luggage".
History
Early tethered jumping
The land diving of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu is an ancient ritual in which young men jump from tall wooden platforms with vines tied to their ankles as a test of their courage and passage into manhood. Unlike in modern bungee-jumping, land-divers intentionally hit the ground, but the vines absorb sufficient force to make the impact non-lethal. The land-diving ritual on Pentecost has been claimed as an inspiration by A. J. Hackett, prompting calls from the islanders' representatives for compensation for what they view as the unauthorised appropriation of their cultural property.A tower high with a system to drop a "car" suspended by a cable of "best rubber" was proposed for the Chicago World Fair, 1892–1893. The car, seating about two hundred people, would have been shoved from a platform on the tower and then would have bounced to a stop. The designer engineer suggested that for safety the ground below "be covered with eight feet of feather bedding". The proposal was declined by the Fair's organizers.
Braked rope sliding
In 1963, Jim Tyson, a Sydney, Australia commando, slid down a catenary rope, from a cliff, across a Sydney-area river, braking with carpet, releasing mid-river, and swimming to an accessible river bank.Modern sport
The first modern bungee jumps were made on 1 April 1979 from the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England, by David Kirke and Simon Keeling, members of the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club, and Geoff Tabin, a professional climber who tied the ropes for the jump. The students had come up with the idea after discussing the "vine jumping" ritual of Vanuatu. The jumpers were arrested shortly after, but continued with jumps in the US from the Golden Gate Bridge and the Royal Gorge Bridge. The last jump was sponsored by and televised on the American programme That's Incredible, spreading the concept worldwide. By 1982, Kirk and Keelling were jumping from mobile cranes and hot air balloons.Colorado climbers Mike Munger and Charlie Fowler may have bungee-jumped earlier in Eldorado Springs, CO in 1977. Both were cutting-edge alpinists, preparing for a trip to Monte Fitzroy in Patagonia by simulating long falls onto a springy, nylon climbing rope. They scrambled up to a large tree at the top of the wall, above a severely overhanging climb appropriately named "Diving Board", and tied one end of the rope into the tree. With a piece of flat seat belt webbing around his waist and some homemade leg loops, Mike tied into the other end of the rope and, after no small amount of trepidation, he jumped. He then ascended the rope mechanically to the tree and untied, and then tied in and jumped. The total fall was about.
Organised 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, building public interest in the sport, and opening the world's first permanent commercial bungee site, the Kawarau Bridge Bungy at the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge near Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand. Hackett remains one of the largest commercial operators, with concerns in several countries.
Several million successful jumps have taken place since 1980. This safety record 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 a cord that is too long. The cord should be substantially shorter than the height of the jumping platform to allow it room to stretch. When the cord becomes taut and then is stretched, the tension in the cord progressively increases, building up its potential energy. Initially the tension is less than the jumper's weight and the jumper continues to accelerate downwards. At some point, the tension equals the jumper's weight and the acceleration is temporarily zero. With further stretching, the jumper has an increasing upward acceleration and at some point has zero vertical velocity before recoiling upward.
The Bloukrans River Bridge was the first bridge to be used as a bungee jump launch spot in Africa when Face Adrenalin introduced bungee jumping to the African continent in 1990. Bloukrans Bridge Bungy has been operated commercially by Face Adrenalin since 1997, and is the highest commercial bridge bungee in the world.
In 2008, Carl Dionisio of Durban performed a 30 meter bungee jump attached to a cord made of 18,500 condoms.
He currently runs the only Ocean Touch bungee jump in the World at Calheta Beach in Madeira, Portugal, and claims to be the only person operating in the bungee industry single-handed.
He holds the world record for being the only person to bungee jump while driving a tower crane at the same time, something that he has done hundreds of times since 2017.
Equipment
The elastic rope first used in bungee jumping, and still used by many commercial operators, is factory-produced braided shock cord. This special bungee cord 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 with exposed latex strands. These give a softer, longer bounce and can be home-produced.Accidents where participants became detached led many commercial operators to use a body harness, if only as a backup for an ankle attachment. Body harnesses generally derive from climbing equipment rather than parachute equipment.
The highest jump
bungee jumping with a height of 280 meters is the highest jumping platform in the worldIn August 2005, AJ Hackett added a SkyJump to the Macau Tower, making it the world's highest jump at. The SkyJump did not qualify as the world's highest bungee as it is not strictly speaking a bungee jump, but instead what is referred to as a 'Decelerator-Descent' jump, using a steel cable and decelerator system, rather than an elastic rope. On 17 December 2006, the Macau Tower started operating a proper bungee jump, which became the "Highest Commercial Bungee Jump in the World" according to the Guinness Book of Records. The Macau Tower Bungy has a "Guide cable" system that limits swing but does not have any effect on the speed of descent, so this still qualifies the jump for the World Record.
Kushma Bungee Jump is the world's second-highest bungee jump with a height of. It is located in the gorge of Kaligandaki River and world-first natural canyon bungee jump. Another commercial bungee jump currently in operation is just smaller, at. This jump, made without guide ropes, is from the top of the Verzasca Dam near Locarno, Switzerland. It appears in the opening scene of the James Bond film GoldenEye. The Bloukrans Bridge Bungy in South Africa and the Verzasca Dam jumps are pure freefall swinging bungee from a single cord.
Guinness only records jumps from fixed objects to guarantee the accuracy of the measurement. John Kockleman however recorded a bungee jump from a hot air balloon in California in 1989. In 1991 Andrew Salisbury jumped from from a helicopter over Cancun for a television program and with Reebok sponsorship. The full stretch was recorded at. 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. However, this jump is rarely available, as part of the Royal Gorge Go Fast Games—first in 2005, then again in 2007. Previous to this the record was held in West Virginia, USA, by New Zealander Chris Allum, who bungee jumped from the New River Gorge Bridge on "Bridge Day" 1992 to set a world's record for the longest bungee jump from a fixed structure.