Stu's guide to cliff jumping

i'm free! (ummm, actually not me ;) )

Cliff jumping is just about the most fun thing in the world. I love exploring, scrambling, and adventuring in search of  new leaps, but the high-point of the experience is definitely that moment when your mind convinces your body to throw itself off said precipice. If the battle between your mind and body is heated enough, your heart stops in a surreal moment i can only compare to an out of body experience. Is this real? Time stops and you wonder..... Splash! and you are reborn!

Cliff jumping must be just about the oldest extreme sport. Sometimes when i find a wicked remote jump with a nice take-off area and plenty of deep water, i wonder, how many before me have been standing where i'm standing, thinking what i'm thinking? Who was the first? How long ago? I picture Native American rites of passage or Viking sailors' feats of bravado, but most of all, i picture someone else as happy as i am to be experiencing the beauty of the sun on his back and the free path God has laid before him... 

Please note: Cliff jumping is an extreme sport and by nature is dangerous. You owe it to yourself to make it as safe as possible. I try to follow several common-sense guidelines. If you are new to the sport, i recommend starting slow, going along with someone more skilled, and coming up with your own guidelines. Just for reference, here are mine:

  1. Know your own ability. Don't push it.
  2. Take gradual steps. Before you jump off a 50 ft. cliff, jump off a 25 foot cliff.
  3. Always swim your landing spot before you jump. Check the depth, pick your target, and swim around for obstacles. Figure out how big your target is and make sure it is lots bigger than your margin of error. 
  4. Know your physics. Your fall will be parabolic. Throw small stones to imitate your leap, get an idea of where jumps that are too long or too short might land. On high jumps, it seems to me that most people travel less horizontally than they expect.
  5. Land with your feet together and arms crossed over your chest or firmly at your side. Arm-slap is extraordinarily common for beginners and provides quite a laugh for the rest of us.
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