About Extreme Sports Bungee Jumping

The sport of bungee jumping is a well-known extreme sport. Essentially tying yourself to a rubber band and leaping from a bridge or crane only to be bounced back up before crashing to the ground, the sport is definitely a rush and may seem crazy to some. Here's some information that you may not have known about bungee jumping.

  1. Identification

    • Bungee jumping is essentially the act of jumping off a free-standing structure using a flexible, elastic cord to suspend yourself in air and prevent you from ever coming in contact with the ground. The sport is practiced for the adrenaline rush that is induced by freefalling straight toward the ground.

    History

    • Surprisingly, bungee jumping is actually an ancient phenomenon. The origins of the sport were in an ancient ritual on the Pentecost Island of Vanuatu. As a coming of age ceremony to prove manhood and welcome in the spring yam harvest, young men would leap from a platform in the trees suspended by the ankles with vines. Upon viewing a movie about this ancient ritual, a group from the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club jumped from the 245-foot Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, England in 1979. They used nylon/rubber cords and executed a 4-man jump wearing top hats and tails. While they were arrested for the jump, the sport took off from there with the club performing more jumps during the years to follow. The sport of bungee jumping was underway.

    Function

    • There are really only several pieces of equipment for bungee jumping. The elastic cord generally composed of multiple strands of braided rubber is the most recognizable. Cords may be sheathed in which braided rubber strands are enclosed in a cotton or nylon cover or unsheathed. Unsheathed cords provide more bounce. Additionally, a harness is used to properly secure the person to the cord around the ankles or body.

    Geography

    • Bungee jumping is practiced all over the world, although New Zealand is still most famous for it. A jump needs to be performed from a structure that allows significant clearance underneath so that one does not swing into a large, immobile object. Therefore, it is practiced on structures that hang or fly over large, open expanses. Common jump sites include bridges, cranes, helicopters and hot air balloons.

    Effects

    • Some off-shoots of bungee jumping have become popular extreme activities in their own right. Canyon swings, such as the Shotover Canyon Swing in New Zealand, allow you to not only drop but to then swing out over the canyon. Para-bungee is a form of bungee jumping that is done on a hovering parasail platform, practiced in Voss, Norway among other locations. Catapult or slingshot devices secure the participant to bungee cords and shoot him from the ground into the air where he'll reach apex and plummet back down bungee-style.

    Effects

    • Although bungee jumping sounds extremely dangerous, there have been very few deaths attributed to the sport and severe injury is also rare. Operators and jumpers practice extreme diligence in safety protocols to ensure that bungee is both safe and fun. The greatest risk of injury arises from lack of proper experience with safety and equipment.