The short documentary is embedded in The NY Times article that explains the whys and wherefores.
Basically 67 people who had never been on a ten meter diving tower are filmed making the decision to jump (or not).
It is more thought provoking than funny but infinitely amusing when you are not the decision maker.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/opinion/ten-meter-tower.html?_r=0
Consider every time you reach to move a piece then withdraw your hand...then reach again!
Very interesting !
( I know I would not be able ...)
I've done a walk in SA a few times known as Suicide Kloof (=gorge). You follow a mountain river down a valley and periodically have to jump over waterfalls into dark pools at the bottom. They get higher and higher, until the last is 17 metres at its highest point (you can jump from a slightly lower point on that one, but it's still terrifying). There's time on the way down to anticipate the impact; remember to tilt your head back if you don't want to flush out your sinuses, angle your legs slightly forward if you're a man who plans to continue his sex life, and remember gratefully that you're wearing your walking shoes so the impact won't give you a bastinado on the soles of your bare feet. I once saw someone dislocate his shoulder trying a cheerful wave before impact.
I've also seen it done by a pregnant woman, and she and her son are doing fine, by the way.
Once on a whitewater rafting trip one of the places where we pulled in had a large rock the top of which was a little over 6M above a deep pool. We had the option of jumping off. I remember that the brief free fall seemed endless. Can't immagine from 10M let alone near twice that.
The moment when you are irrevocably committed is special.
Phew! #:-S
Did that kind of thing when I was a teenager - can't recall how high exactly (e.g., struggle at times to recall what I did last weekend!) - might not have been as high (but close). I remember going through the same angst before finally committing with a jump ..... and an involuntary shout on the long way down. The pool attendants went absolutely mental (whistles blowing, shouting, etc.) - jumping was forbidden! They couldn't get it that I'm short sighted and couldn't read the signs - who swims and dives with glasses on?
Have never done it since. :-q
I don't think there's the remotest chance I'd ever be able to do that.
If I was in a burning building, with a deep pool below, I might consider it.
Cheers - Phil
Many years ago, just before my 21st birthday I fell about 30' off a cliff in Scotland.....
From then on every time I went climbing my mother would always say "Don't fall off" which I always thought was particularly unnecessary. Tried it once, didn't enjoy it.
Like Westmarcher, I used to do it regularly when a teenager but nowadays -more than forty years on- not a chance. I don't mind heights, it's the falling off and landings that are the tricky part.
MickS
In my early teens I would often jump off flat roofs or bridges...in case I needed to...(this was the '70,s !). Later, I could abseil a cliff (with safety rope!) or jump from a plane (the height is unreal...and someone shouts at you! lol). ;) 8)
By the time of the Bungee Jump craze I had more sense...or so I told myself. Think I maybe could have...for a very good reason...but would NOT have enjoyed it at all. :-[
Now, if I have to walk or drive across a high bridge, I HAVE to be as far away from the parapet as I can get...nearer gets too 'uncomfortable' :o. No way could I stand on a cliff top or glass floor...I'd freeze or hit the deck. :'(
Strange thing is...I think I could JUMP...but, getting me to the jump point would be a big no-no without a pointy thing repeatedly jabbed hard in a nasty place! :o
Thankfully, I have absolutely no wish or need to prove it! ;)
(Although, a tandem parachute jump with an attractive instructress.... ;) ) lol! :d
When I was about 9 or 10 our local pool had a diving area attached to the main pool. The top board was about 6 meters high. One Saturday afternoon the three of us went swimming after a couple of hour we were about to get out and decided to have one last jump of the 6 metre board ( You were allowed to jump)
The board was just a solid concrete board about 10 feet wide jutting out over the pool. We all jumped together and tucked up into a Bomb position just before we hit the water. When we surfaced their was a 2 foot high wave travelling across the pool.
We got banned!!! :d
Sounds like the Shrewsbury pool! ;D