Friday, November 19, 2010

JUMP AT YOUR OWN RISK

I have been lucky working onboard passenger cruise ships to see and experience many things some of which were considered wild, others were wonderful and the few were risky and frightening.

One of the most thrilling and craziest thing I’ve ever did was bungee jumping high above a flat solid ground somewhere in the cold wilderness of Akureyri, Iceland.

After having the initial briefing on the ground and harnessed up, I joined the jump instructor in a small cage to head up to the jump site at the top of the boom of a high crane. Feeling confident and exhilarated about this new experience, I glanced at the equipment and the elastic cord attached to my harness by which I was to be suspended. I’ve bungee jumped before in other places in the world but this time my heart started beating faster for completely different reason. The elastic cord which was to hold my dear life for a few minutes on my descent looked to me somewhat old and heavily frayed. I wondered if it was just the hallucinating effect of the great height I was at that time.

Standing on the platform moments before my jump, I asked the jump instructor how often they changed the elastic cord. The man pondered for a few moments and answered brusquely, “Isn’t it obvious? Whenever the cord breaks.”

No comments: