tombstoning.com

We had some friends visit us from London on the weekend, and they were very keen to join us for some tombstoning on the Saturday. The water depth wasn’t really in our favour as the only time we could make it down there was just after low tide. This did give us the chance to show them the ropes from smaller jumps though and after an hour or so the water was deep enough to start jumping from higher.

We also met a few of the guys from Jurassic Coast Kayak Tours who were visiting Stair Hole and taking part in some Coasteering at the same time. If you are interested in seeing the Jurrasic Coast up close then I highly recommend you check them out and book yourself a tour.

We have been contacted a few times in the past by TV, film or other media companies and organisations that are working on pieces regarding tombstoning and want our input. I had a brief slot on the BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast Show towards the end of last summer, along with Nick Biddlecombe, discussing the dangers and what we (my friends and I) were doing as a group to mitigate those risks as much as possible when we were tombstoning.

We have recently been contacted by a writer for a well known and respected news site, who is drafting an article regarding this ‘craze’ and wanted to be better informed before starting the piece. The thing that really stood out though, was this person wanted to join us for a day and take part in tombstoning to see how we prepare, check the area and finally, get jumping.

Understanding that people who tombstone aren’t idiots, but some idiots tombstone, was a refreshing change and we can’t wait to show someone new the experience and thrill we get tombstoning.

Photos and hopefully some video will be up shortly after the event, along with a write-up of how the day went.

A 14-year-old boy was in hospital last night with suspected spinal injuries after falling on to rocks while tombstoning.

See dailymail.co.uk.

In a Daily Post article following an investigation in to Tombstoning in North Wales, a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said…

“Go to a place where it’s safe.
“Local knowledge and experience is needed.
“Heed the warnings along the coast, piers and jetties.
“If you see anyone who is at risk in the sea or deep water you should call 999.”

In my opinion this is the kind of approach I think will work better. The adrenaline junkie character doesn’t like being told they shouldn’t do something because someone else (who probably isn’t an adrenaline junkie) thinks it’s dangerous. It’s that feeling that makes them want to try it in the first place.

But (unsurprisingly) not even your free-falling, base-jumping, solo-climbing, stuntman WANTS to be hurt.

They want to get to that fine line where they get their buzz, but don’t get hurt.

See the Daily Post for the full article.

UPDATE: Changed example pictures to a better match at high and low tides.

Water depth was the cause of the recent tombstoning incidents, and this made me think about if we had any pictures in our archive highlighting just how much the tide affects water depth. As one commenter on our first YouTube video put it…

thats the harsh thing with tombstoning, it all depends on the tide.
1day you could be fine the next its goodnight irene.

Below are two pictures (unfortunately from different angles) and a mock-up showing just how much the tide changes at Stair Hole. The first was taken back in 2006 when we first started taking a waterproof camera with us to get some pictures; the second was October last year. Each picture has a caption attached when opened.

The variation here highlights a couple of things…

• It has completely obscured a metre square section of rock around water level, which if you weren’t aware of, you could land on.
• Your falling distance and water depth are both affected by the tide. So at high tide it could be a 25ft jump in to 15ft of water, but the same jump at low tide might be a 30ft jump in to 10ft of water; much more dangerous!

To combat this I recommend using a website like EasyTide to check tide times.

If you pick a port very local to your jumping spot, although it can’t actually tell you the depth of the water, it can be a great reference. If you know a 40ft jump is always safe when the local tide buoy is at 2 metres then you can plan your trip to the coast without the chance of arriving at a really low tide.

Also if you go to a spot frequently enough you should start to recognise the tide state and depth by checking the water level against a familiar point on the cliff or wall.

Lastly, I cannot recommend enough, following the information already in the safety section about checking out the water below before making your jump.

This information will be added to the safety section, but I felt it important that it spends some time on the front page as well.

More information regarding one of the incidents on the 11th May has been published.

Mr Andrews, a builder from Plymouth, leapt off cliffs at Sharrow Beach in Whitsand Bay, Cornwall, on Sunday.

He downed six vodkas in a nearby pub to pluck up the courage to jump, then ignored coastguards who saw him on the cliff top and warned him to keep away.

A fast-ebbing tide had reduced the sea to a depth of just 3ft and he landed on sharp rocks, breaking his neck and damaging his spine in front of his horrified girlfriend Katie Hart, 22.

This is a truly terrible outcome for a day that started with people just having fun; and many more people could get injured if they don’t take the risks involved seriously. Trying my best not to sound insensitive, the warnings were there to try and avoid this kind of accident, but they were overlooked.

There are many comments on the article that give a good indication of public reaction to such events.

See the Daily Mail for full details.

Sunday was a fantastic day to start our 2008 tombstoning season. It was really hot with great visibility and a reasonable tide. We were in good company as well with DWS climbers, divers and canoeists all enjoying the same section of coast.

After years of using a trusty 35mm Canon Sureshot waterproof camera, it finally died and needed replacing. The replacement (a Vivitar ViviCam6200W) promised video as well as high res still images; and although I’m not as impressed as I hoped I would be, it’s not a bad start to our waterproof video recording. Check out the pictures and video.

All in all a great day out, and one we hope to repeat very soon!

This weekend it seemed everyone rushed to the coast to soak up some rays and have some fun. But tombstoning is already back in the news after two people hurt themselves in separate incidents yesterday.

BBC News: Man injured in ‘tombstoning dive’

We have briefly mentioned the dangers of diving or jumping off piers, and if you feel the urge to do so you really should check the water depth before you go for it. The safety section will have more information on the dangers of piers very soon.

BBC News: Man hurt in ‘tombstoning’ plunge

Jumping in to the sea from cliffs can be very dangerous. But you can make it much safer with just a bit of preparation. Checking the water below is a must otherwise you have no idea what you are jumping in to.

Dave Scullion, from Brixham Coastguard says…

Tombstoning is madness whichever way you look at it. An individual has no real idea what’s under the water they are jumping in and the tidal flows alter the depth of water dramatically.

I can fully understand his point of view; the more people he can deter from tombstoning, the less likely an accident is. But I disagree with the detail. An individual can have a very real idea what’s under the water they are jumping in, if they just check it out first.

The site has undergone a few changes in the last two weeks. Ok so it looks the same, but I was very happy with the look and feel and just wanted to sort out the folder structure and picture facilities. I have updated the site with a few pictures of recent visits to the coast, and will be adding older picture sets when I have finished preparing them for upload.

So during the winter months there will be more pictures appearing, but mainly showing outings during the summer of 2007. Check out the pictures of our November visit to Stair Hole to see how nice the weather was!

Here’s to a Happy New Year. Let’s hope 2008 doesn’t have as many tombstoning disaster stories as 2007.

It’s been a quiet month for tombstoning in the news (which is largely a good thing). As the days get shorter and the water is cooling down, holidaymakers are all retreating back to the comfort of their centrally heated houses. But some new pictures and hopefully the odd video will be making an appearance before the winter fully sets in. After all, we aren’t fair-weather sports addicts. If you’re wearing a wetsuit you shouldn’t be feeling the cold!

The safety section has more content on the way, but the slow load times we seem to be getting have caused us to rethink how the content will be split up. I have a few plans for the site to improve page load times and navigation, so things may look a little different in the coming weeks as well.