64-705: Bloukrans Bridge Bungy is one of the world's highest commercial bungy jumping sites at 216 metres (709 ft) above the Bloukrans River . It is situated at Bloukrans Bridge on the N2 Highway at the border between the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape in the Tsitsikamma area of South Africa's Garden Route . It has been operated by Face Adrenalin commercially since 1997. In 1990,
128-477: A body harness , if only as a backup for an ankle attachment. Body harnesses generally derive from climbing equipment rather than parachute equipment. Milad tower bungee jumping with a height of 280 meters is the highest jumping platform in the world In August 2005, AJ Hackett added a SkyJump to the Macau Tower , making it the world's highest jump at 233 metres (764 ft). The SkyJump did not qualify as
192-525: A "Guide cable" system that limits swing (the jump is very close to the structure of the tower itself) 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 228 metres (748 ft). It is located in the gorge of Kaligandaki River and world-first natural canyon bungee jump. Another commercial bungee jump currently in operation
256-504: A day when he jumped from Bloukrans Bridge 107 times in nine hours on 11 May 2011. Scott completed the project to raise funds for local communities. The world record for the most bungy jumps in 24 hours was held by South African Bill Boshoff who performed 101 bungy jumps in 14 hours and 23 minutes at Bloukrans on 10 May 2002. The record stood until 16 August 2008 when Mike Heard broke the record with 103 bungy jumps within 24 hours from Auckland's Harbour Bridge. Veronica Dean-Boshoff set
320-436: A harness. Those bungee cords are linked to steel cables along which they can slide due to stainless pulleys. The participants bicycle, sled or ski before jumping. SCAD diving (Suspended Catch Air Device) is similar to bungee jumping in that the participant is dropped from a height, but in this variation there is no cord; instead the participant free-falls into a net. Untrained SCAD divers use a special free fall harness to ensure
384-401: A large tree at the top of the 210 m (700 ft) 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
448-564: A long-running series of humorous articles and correspondences in Devon dialect for the Western Morning News . These now preserve a record of the dialect as recalled with affection in the period. The tales perpetuate – albeit sympathetically – the rustic uneducated stereotype as the protagonist experiences the modern world. There is a popular prejudice that stereotypes speakers as unsophisticated and even backward, due possibly to
512-460: A reason for denigration and stereotype: The people of the South West have long endured the cultural stereotype of 'ooh arr'ing carrot-crunching yokels, and Bristol in particular has fought hard to shake this image off In the early part of the twentieth century, the journalist and writer Albert John Coles used the pseudonym Jan Stewer (a character from the folk song Widecombe Fair ) to pen
576-440: A slovenly and ignorant way. It is the remains of a language—the court language of King Alfred . Many words, thought to be wrongly pronounced by the countryman, are actually correct, and it is the accepted pronunciation which is wrong. English pronounces W-A-R-M worm, and W-O-R-M wyrm; in the dialect W-A-R-M is pronounced as it is spelt, Anglo-Saxon W-E-A-R-M. The Anglo-Saxon for worm is W-Y-R-M. Polite English pronounces W-A-S-P wosp;
640-591: 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 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. The word "bungee" originates from West Country dialect of
704-488: 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 1,200 metres (4,000 ft) high with
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#1732801963091768-422: A tower crane at the same time, something that he has done hundreds of times since 2017. 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
832-673: A world record for achieving 19 jumps in one hour on 9 May 2002. The operators of Bloukrans Bridge Bungy, Face Adrenalin, employ 60 people from neighbouring communities – Coldstream, Thornham, Storms River, Covie, and The Crags - as part of the Bloukrans Bridge Bungy operation. A significant percentage of turnover has been paid over to the local community trust since 1998. 33°57′55″S 23°38′50″E / 33.96528°S 23.64722°E / -33.96528; 23.64722 Bungee jumping Bungee jumping ( / ˈ b ʌ n dʒ i / ), also spelled bungy jumping ,
896-420: A world's record for the longest bungee jump from a fixed structure. In "Catapult" (Reverse Bungee or Bungee Rocket), the jumper starts on the ground. The jumper is secured and the cord is stretched, then released and shooting the jumper 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
960-538: Is British comedy which has brought them to the fore outside their native regions, and paradoxically groups such as The Wurzels , a comic North Somerset/Bristol band from whom the term Scrumpy and Western music originated, have both popularised and made fun of them simultaneously. In an unusual regional breakout, the Wurzels' song " The Combine Harvester " reached the top of the UK charts in 1976, where it did nothing to dispel
1024-432: 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
1088-475: Is also similar to Low German. However, recent research proposes that some syntactical features of English, including the unique forms of the verb to be , originate rather with the Brythonic languages . (See Celtic language influence below.) In more recent times, West Country dialects have been treated with some derision, which has led many local speakers to abandon them or water them down. In particular it
1152-450: 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
1216-746: 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. Previous to this the record was held in West Virginia, USA, by New Zealander Chris Allum, who bungee jumped 251 metres (823 ft) from the New River Gorge Bridge on "Bridge Day" 1992 to set
1280-435: Is believed that the various local dialects reflect the territories of various West Saxon tribes, who had their own dialects which fused together into a national language in the later Anglo-Saxon period. As Lt-Col. J. A. Garton observed in 1971, traditional Somerset English has a venerable and respectable origin, and is not a mere "debasement" of Standard English: The dialect is not, as some people suppose, English spoken in
1344-635: Is just 13 metres (43 ft) smaller, at 220 metres (720 ft). 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 216-metre (709 ft) 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
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#17328019630911408-544: Is less common. It is notable that "coombe", cognate with Welsh cwm , was borrowed from Brythonic into Old English and is common in placenames east of the Tamar, especially Devon, and also in northern Somerset around Bath and the examples Hazeley Combe and Combley Great Wood (despite spelling difference, both are pronounced 'coombe') are to be found as far away as the Isle of Wight. Some possible examples of Brythonic words surviving in
1472-408: Is possible to encounter similar accents and, indeed, much the same distinct dialect, albeit with some similarities to others in neighbouring regions. Although natives of all these locations, especially in rural parts, often still have West Country influences in their speech, their increased mobility and urbanisation has meant that in the more populous of these counties the dialect itself, as opposed to
1536-618: Is quite a common suffix in West Country place names (not so much in Cornwall), and means "valley". Owing to the West Country's agricultural history, the West Country accent has for centuries been associated with farming, and consequently with a lack of education and rustic simplicity. This can be seen in literature as early as the 18th century, for instance in Richard Brinsley Sheridan 's play The Rivals , set in
1600-534: Is the highest commercial bridge bungy in the world. In 2008, Carl Dionisio of Durban performed a 30 meter bungy jump attached to a cord made of 18,500 condoms. He currently runs the only Ocean Touch bungy jump in the World at Calheta Beach in Madeira, Portugal, and claims to be the only person operating in the bungy industry single-handed. He holds the world record for being the only person to bungy jump while driving
1664-426: Is the most frequently reported complication. Impaired eyesight secondary to retinal haemorrhage may be transient or take several weeks to resolve. In one case, a 26-year-old woman's eyesight was still impaired after 7 months. Whiplash injuries may occur as the jumper is jolted on the bungee cord and in at least one case, this has led to quadriplegia secondary to a broken neck. Very serious injury can also occur if
1728-573: Is the usual spelling in New Zealand and other countries. 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. The first modern bungee jumps were made on 1 April 1979 from the 76-metre (250 ft) Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol , England, by David Kirke and Simon Keeling, members of
1792-401: 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,
1856-530: The Bloukrans River Bridge became the first African bridge for bungee jumping. Face Adrenalin founded by Devan tuohey has been operating the Bloukrans Bridge Bungy accident free since 1997. Mohr Keet set a Guinness World Record as the oldest person to bungy jump when he jumped from Bloukrans Bridge on 6 April 2010 at the age of 96. Scott Huntly broke the world record for the Most bungee jumps in
1920-632: The Cornish language ), has the most substantial Celtic language influence because many western parts were non-English speaking even into the early modern period. In places such as Mousehole , Newlyn and St Ives , fragments of Cornish survived in English even into the 20th century, e.g. some numerals (especially for counting fish) and the Lord's Prayer were noted by W. D. Watson in 1925, Edwin Norris collected
1984-620: 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
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2048-531: The Welsh Marches . Some modern-day revived Cornish speakers have been known to use Cornish words within an English sentence, and even those who are not speakers of the language sometimes use words from the language in names. Brythonic languages have also had a long-term influence on the West Country dialects beyond Cornwall, both as a substrate (certain West Country dialect words and possibly grammatical features) and languages of contact. Recent research on
2112-589: The West Country and its dialects were largely protected from outside influences, due to its relative geographical isolation. While standard English derives from the Old English Mercian dialects , the West Country dialects derive from the West Saxon dialect , which formed the earliest English language standard. Thomas Spencer Baynes claimed in 1856 that, due to its position at the heart of
2176-456: 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. The land diving ( Sa : Gol ) 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
2240-439: The "simple farmer" stereotype of Somerset and West Country folk. It and all their songs are sung entirely in a local version of the dialect, which is somewhat exaggerated and distorted. Some words used aren't even typical of the local dialect. For instance, the word "nowt" is used in the song "Threshing Machine". This word is generally used in more northern parts of England, with the West Country equivalent being "nawt". Although
2304-648: 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, 46-metre (150 ft) nylon climbing rope. They scrambled up to
2368-761: The Anglo-Saxon word is W-O-P-S and a Somerset man still says WOPSE. The verb To Be is used in the old form, I be, Thee bist, He be, We be, Thee 'rt, They be. 'Had I known I wouldn't have gone', is 'If I'd a-know'd I 'ooden never a-went'; 'A' is the old way of denoting the past participle, and went is from the verb to wend (Anglo-Saxon wendan). In some cases, many of these forms are closer to modern Saxon (commonly called Low German/Low Saxon) than Standard British English is, e.g. The use of masculine and sometimes feminine, rather than neuter, pronouns with non-animate referents also parallels Low German, which unlike English retains grammatical genders. The pronunciation of "s" as "z"
2432-643: The British Isles respectively. The West Country accent is probably most represented in film as " pirate speech " – that cartoon-like "Ooh arr, me 'earties! Sploice the mainbrace!" way of talking is very similar. This may be a result of the strong (both legal and outlawed) seafaring and fisherman tradition of the West Country. Edward Teach ( Blackbeard ) was a native of Bristol, and privateer and English hero Sir Francis Drake hailed from Tavistock in Devon. Gilbert and Sullivan 's operetta The Pirates of Penzance may also have added to
2496-614: The British kingdoms in those districts. From Wessex, the Anglo-Saxons spread into the Celtic regions of present-day Devon , Somerset and Gloucestershire, bringing their language with them. At a later period, Cornwall came under Wessex influence, which appears to become more extensive after the time of Athelstan in the 10th century. However, the spread of the English language took much longer here than elsewhere. Outside Cornwall, it
2560-612: The Creed in 1860, and J. H. Nankivel also recorded numerals in 1865. The dialect of West Penwith is particularly distinctive, especially in terms of grammar. This is most likely due to the late decay of the Cornish language in this area. In Cornwall the following places were included in the Survey of English Dialects : Altarnun , Egloshayle , Gwinear , Kilkhampton , Mullion , St Buryan , and St Ewe . In other areas, Celtic vocabulary
2624-437: The Devon dialect include: Some of these terms are obsolete, but some are in current use. Some dialect words now appear mainly, or solely, in place names, such as "batch" (North Somerset, = hill but more commonly applied to Coalmine spoil heaps e.g. Camerton batch, Farrington batch, Braysdown batch), " tyning ", "hoe" (a bay). These are not to be confused with fossilised Brythonic or Cornish language terms; for example, "-coombe"
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2688-411: The English language gradually spread into Cornwall after approximately the 13th century, a complete language shift to English took centuries more. The linguistic boundary between English in the east and Cornish in the west shifted markedly in the county between 1300 and 1750 (see figure). This is not to be thought of as a sharp boundary, and it should not be inferred that there were no Cornish speakers to
2752-571: 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". "Bungy"
2816-600: The Kingdom of Wessex, the relics of Anglo-Saxon accent, idiom and vocabulary were best preserved in the Somerset dialect. The dialects have their origins in the expansion of Anglo-Saxon into the west of modern-day England, where the kingdom of Wessex (West-Saxons) had been founded in the 6th century. As the Kings of Wessex became more powerful they enlarged their kingdom westwards and north-westwards by taking territory from
2880-452: The Somerset city of Bath . As more and more of the English population moved into towns and cities during the 20th century, non-regional, Standard English accents increasingly became a marker of personal social mobility. Universal primary education was also an important factor as it made it possible for some to move out of their rural environments into situations where other modes of speech were current. A West Country accent continues to be
2944-499: The accuracy of the measurement. John Kockleman however recorded a 670-metre (2,200 ft) bungee jump from a hot air balloon in California in 1989. In 1991 Andrew Salisbury jumped from 2,700 metres (9,000 ft) from a helicopter over Cancun for a television program and with Reebok sponsorship. The full stretch was recorded at 962 metres (3,157 ft). He landed safely under parachute. One commercial jump higher than all others
3008-437: The correct falling position. Free-style SCAD divers do not use harnesses. The landing into the huge airtube framed net is extremely soft and forgiving. The SCAD was invented by MONTIC Hamburg, Germany in 1997. Bungee jumping injuries may be divided into those that occur after jumping secondary to equipment mishap or tragic accident, and those that occur regardless of safety measures. In the first instance, injury can happen if
3072-585: The dam later makes an appearance as a Roadblock task in the 14th season of the reality competition series The Amazing Race . A fictional proto-bungee jump is a plot point in the Michael Chabon novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay . In the film Selena , in which Jennifer Lopez plays Selena Quintanilla-Perez, her character is shown bungee jumping at a carnival. This actual event took place shortly before Selena's murder on 31 March 1995. In Valiant (comics) #171 (January 8, 1966),
3136-403: The deliberate and lengthened nature of the accent. This can work to the West Country speaker's advantage, however: recent studies of how trustworthy Britons find their fellows based on their regional accents put the West Country accent high up, under southern Scottish English but a long way above Cockney and Scouse . Recent polls put the West Country accent as third and fifth most attractive in
3200-563: The east of the line and no English speakers to the west. Nor should it be inferred that the boundary suddenly moved a great distance every 50 years. During the Prayer Book Rebellion of 1549, which centred on Devon and Cornwall , many of the Cornish objected to the Book of Common Prayer , on the basis that many Cornish could not speak English. Cornish probably ceased to be spoken as a community language sometime around 1780, with
3264-545: The jumper's neck or body gets entangled in the cord. More recently, carotid artery dissection leading to a type of stroke after bungee jumping has also been described. In the film GoldenEye and its associated videogame, James 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). The jump in
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#17328019630913328-687: The last monoglot Cornish speaker believed to be Chesten Marchant , who died in 1676 at Gwithian ( Dolly Pentreath was bilingual). However, some people retained a fragmented knowledge and some words were adopted by dialect(s) in Cornwall. In recent years, the traffic has reversed, with the revived Cornish language reclaiming Cornish words that had been preserved in the local dialect into its lexicon, and also (especially "Revived Late Cornish") borrowing other dialect words. However, there has been some controversy over whether all of these words are of native origin, as opposed to imported from parts of England, or
3392-399: The name suggests, running along a track (often inflatable) with a bungee cord attached. One often has a velcro-backed marker that marks how far the runner got before the bungee cord pulled back. This activity can often be found at fairs and carnivals and is often most popular with children. Bungee jumping off a ramp. Two rubber cords – the "bungees" – are tied around the participant's waist to
3456-490: The native population of the West Country , an area found in the southwest of England. The West Country is often defined as encompassing the official region of South West England : Cornwall , and the counties of, Devon , Dorset , Somerset , Wiltshire , Bristol and Gloucestershire . However, the exact northern and eastern boundaries of the area are hard to define. In the adjacent counties of Herefordshire , Worcestershire , Hampshire , Berkshire and Oxfordshire , it
3520-460: The participant to the ground. "Bungy Trampoline" uses 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 the 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
3584-453: The people's various local accents , is becoming increasingly rare. Academically the regional variations are considered to be dialectal forms. The Survey of English Dialects captured manners of speech across the South West region that were just as different from Standard English as any from the far North of England. There is some influence from the Welsh and Cornish languages depending on
3648-534: The roots of English proposes that the extent of Brythonic syntactic influence on Old English and Middle English may have been underestimated, specifically citing the preponderance of forms of the verbs to be and to do in South West England and their grammatical similarity to the Welsh and Cornish forms as opposed to the forms in other Germanic languages. Bos: Cornish verb to be The Cornish dialect , or Anglo-Cornish (to avoid confusion with
3712-435: The safety harness fails, the cord length is miscalculated, or the cord is not properly connected to the jump platform. In 1986, a man died during rehearsals for a bungee jumping stunt on a BBC television programme , because the cord sprang loose from a carabiner clip. Injuries that occur despite safety measures generally relate to the abrupt rise in upper body intravascular pressure during bungee cord recoil. Eyesight damage
3776-407: The specific location. In literary contexts, most of the usage has been in either poetry or dialogue, to add "local colour". It has rarely been used for serious prose in recent times but was used much more extensively up until the 19th century. West Country dialects are commonly represented as " Mummerset ", a kind of catchall southern rural accent invented for broadcasting. Until the 19th century,
3840-897: 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 (see below), and there have been fatalities. A relatively common mistake in fatality cases
3904-606: 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
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#17328019630913968-597: The tree and untied. Then Charlie tied in and jumped. The total fall was about 40 m (130 ft). 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 (including the Eiffel Tower ), building public interest in
4032-519: The two boys from Worrag island in "The Wild Wonders" in a circus story, jump from high up and seem ready to crash to their deaths, but are stopped by elasticated ropes tied to an ankle of each one. In the video game Aero the Acro-Bat , Aero will perform bungee jumping to obtain items like keys to open gates in a level. West Country Dialects West Country English is a group of English language varieties and accents used by much of
4096-544: 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
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