Acrobatic Bungee Stunt Jumping

Acrobatic Bungee Stunt Jumping

Animated Flips The following are my opinions on stunt jumping. I'd like to hear yours. Bungee stunts are to a regular bungee jump what skiing off cliffs is to skiing down a groomed intermediate run. It introduces more danger but the rewards and challenges are greater.

With a background as a professional diver, Craig Lindell of ThrillSport has done more than anyone to advance the possibilities of bungee stunt jumping.

Definitions:

Initial Jump: the period of time starting from leaving the jump platform until the first full extension of the bungee cord.
Rebounds: the period of time starting from full extension of the cord, through recoiling of the cord, free-fall, until full extension of the cord again.
Front-Flips: rotations or somersaults of the jumper's body done head over heels on an axis (line) from one side of your waist to the other, with the top of your body moving towards the direction you are facing.
Back-Flips: rotations or somersaults done head over heels on an axis from one side of your waist to the other, with the top of your body moving towards the direction you are NOT facing.
Twists: rotations on an axis from the top of your head to a point between your feet.
Inverted: an upside down body position, while attached by ankle harnesses.
Pogo: a right side up body position, while attached by ankle harnesses, holding the bungee cord, with the weight on your feet in a standing position.
Seated: a sitting body position while attached by a chest and waist harness, with the bungee cord attached like an umbilical cord.

An infinite variety of acrobatic stunts are possible in bungee jumping. All-rubber cord is better for stunt jumping than sheathed cords because of the lower G-forces involved and bigger rebounds.

You don't have to hold the cord while doing flips on the initial jump in a chest and waist harness, (the cord will stay tucked under your arm) so you can tuck tighter and greater number of flips are possible.

Ankle harnesses allow for a greater variety of tricks (e.g. twisting rebound flips and getting in the pogo position) and most people would say look better (you look more graceful ending up in an inverted position than a seated one). You must hold the cord with one hand by your side (at your center of rotation/gravity) when doing flips on ankles off the platform, this results in a higher degree of difficulty.

Doing a double flip on the initial jump, coming into a pogo, and then letting the cord yank your feet up from under you just before the cord goes slack on the first rebound is an amazing feeling. It pulls you into back-flips so fast that it takes all your strength to hold a tuck. You spin so fast that the world is a blur, I love it.

A difficult maneuver is going into flips on a rebound from the inverted position. As the cord recoils from full extension you bend forward at the waist then forcefully extend back just before the cord goes slack. With the rotation initiated you then pull into a tuck and spin away. Timing is everything. Extend too soon and the cord will hold your feet stopping your rotation. Extend too late and there is no resistance, so you can't initiate the rotations. Both mistakes result in the dreaded ball-sniffer where your head is tucked into your crotch, but you just fly through the air looking stupid.

While doing rebound back-flips on ankle harnesses you can also do a half twist (or one and a half, two and a half, etc.) then grab the cord and come into a pogo, the possibilities are endless.

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