Do You Dare?
(Cover Story for The Big Issue South West, 28th August 06)
In
the thick of the summer holidays, young Cornish people are turning to
a new craze to relieve their boredom. “Tombstoning” –
the name given to jumping from cliffs and piers into the sea – has
already caused several accidents and a death. It’s just a matter
of time before someone else gets hurt, say the authorities. Ruth Underwood
asks: So what's the draw?
In Portreath, Cornwall , on a stack of rocks known as “the horse”, three lads stand, deliberating, pointing at the water. Without further warning, one of them plunges twenty feet into the ocean beneath him in a “pencil dive” – the typical tombstone jump, with legs straightened and arms pinned to the sides. A few seconds later, he bobs to the surface, and swims back to the base of the rock, clambering up to begin again.
This is not an unusual sight on the Cornish coastline. In fact, it is becoming a more and more common one. But with a higher frequency of people jumping, comes a higher frequency of accidents. According to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), between 1997 and 2004 there were 1,266 injuries as a result of jumping into water. They also report an increase in the number of accidents since then.
Peter Bullard, Coastguard Watch Manager in Falmouth , explains the risks: “Invariably what goes wrong is that they don’t know the depth of the water, they might not know whether the tide is in or out, and during the course of the tombstoning they might not be aware that the tide is actually receding.”
Jo Stagg, spokesperson for RoSPA, illustrates the point: “The tide in the UK is such that the water depth can alter by as much as 45 foot. For example, at high tide you could be jumping 30 foot into 45 foot of water, but at low tide you could be jumping 70 foot into 5 foot of water. Inexperienced people might not recognise that.”
And it is not only miscalculation of water depth that is hazardous; what is in the water also needs to be considered. Bullard says: “They won’t necessarily be aware of what’s beneath the surface, whether there are sharp rocks, or whether it’s a dump area, where there could be a supermarket trolley or whatever. It’s the unknowns that will catch people out, not the act of tombstoning itself.”
The name “tombstoning” is not one that the enthusiasts themselves recognise – it is thought that critics coined the phrase to convey a sense of grim morbidity. To the youths actually doing it, it’s simply known as “cliff-jumping,” a name which, by comparison, makes the sport sound pretty harmless.
But according to Cathy Tisdale, Harbour Office Manager at Porthleven, this couldn’t be further from the truth. For her, it is as harmful as a sport could be. She says: “The dangers are, quite simply, death. When it comes down to it, you can’t get any worse than that.” Indeed, last June a man of 23 died tombstoning in Torquay.
Given the extreme risk, tombstoning might seem an entirely uninviting activity. But then in a place like Cornwall , where the outdoors beckons, it is just another way of making the most of the surroundings. And when the sea is flat and there is no surfing to be done, it is an obvious way to seek a natural high.
Thrill-seeking is certainly a passion that has infected Tom Branch, Jamie Langley, both 14, and Dominic Giles, 17 - the boys tombstoning from “the horse” in Portreath. They have been jumping for two years now, but have only recently started doing bigger jumps, of anything up to 40 foot. They do recognise the dangers of their hobby, as Jamie says: “There is a high risk that you’re going to do yourself some serious damage.”
But this will not stop them. Jamie says, “It’s worth it.” Tom nods slowly, in pensive support of his friend. “It is worth it,” he agrees. “It’s fun.” Far from putting them off, the danger in fact drives them on. Dominic says: “That’s exactly why you do do it – for the adrenalin rush.”
Tom seems the most fearless of them all. It is he who usually jumps first, which is the “precaution” the others take to ensure that the water is deep enough. He reels off a list of bones he has broken: both collarbones, both wrists, one of them twice, two toes and a thumb. All of this doing what he describes as “random extreme sports”. He adds, laughing: “I had to get helicopter lifted off the beach last year. I put up my power kite in strong winds, and it lifted me off the beach and threw me into some rocks.”
All fun and games for the reckless teenager, but as Cathy Tisdale points out, “They’re not only putting themselves in danger, they’re putting the rescuers in danger as well.”
Safety is not the only factor, there’s also a financial cost to tombstoning. Tisdale asks: “If they’re tombstoning around Rinsey Head and you have to call in the helicopter – who pays for the that? Who pays for the coastguard?”
And it is often the coastguard who is called upon. As Peter Bullard says, “There is a nuisance factor to it. If a member of the public sees kids jumping into unknown waters, they report it to us. We then have to send our volunteers to assess the situation. It’s a knock on effect, and there are resources being spent, but it is something we need to do.”
It is not just teenagers who tombstone, it is adults too. In the last six weeks, Dan Perkins, 25 from Leicester , and his friend Dom Lilly, 27, from Falmouth , have started not only to jump 50 foot from Rinsey Head, near Porthleven, but also to dive.
Dan describes his reasons for doing it. “It’s just a way of having a laugh with your mates, a bit of good clean fun. There’s also a sense of progression, and of going against your own bottle. It’s the same as anything, the first time you do it it’s going to be scary, then it becomes second nature. After that, you want the next fear element.” Which is when the heights get higher, and the jumps turn into dives. As Dom says: “It takes a lot of bottle to jump. The next step is to dive.”
They might be interested to hear about body boarder Harry Dixon, 22, from Sydney, who in August last year broke both his legs and shattered his ankle jumping from the same spot. He tells the Big Issue about the consequences of his accident. “I had my last operation about a month ago to remove the pins and plates from my ankle. I’m still not 100 percent yet. I couldn’t body board for about five months so I missed out on doing the world tour last year.”
Mickey
Smith, 25, a photographer and surf journalist from Penzance , was with
him when he fell. He had to pull Harry out of the water, stabilise him
and keep him conscious until professional help arrived 45 minutes later.
He describes how the incident happened. “Harry and I were jumping
around the headland. There are lots of crevices and gullies, and there’s
this crazy one that involves being super calculated to be able to survive.
There’s absolutely no margin for error.
“We were psyching each other up, laughing and climbing. But when we got to the top, he just launched himself straight off, without thinking. Straight away my stomach dropped, because the method for that particular ledge involves stepping straight off, no jumping. As soon as he jumped I started running down the rocks to get to him.”
Despite his accident, Harry, a self-confessed adrenalin-junky, says that in the future he might do it again, though he wouldn’t do any extreme jumps. Mickey agrees: “I still love launching off headlands with big open areas into the sea, but I’m not up for those tricky, crazy jumps any more. I have too many other sources of fun in my life to want to risk getting injured doing that.”
That said, Mickey doesn’t see the activity as a bad thing, if done cautiously. He says: “In coastal villages and towns, people want to find fun things to do in the summer, and jumping’s free, it’s healthy, and it gets you out in the sun. It’s an obvious thing to do and always has been. At least it means kids aren’t looking for rushes in drugs and booze.”
Peter Bullard agrees: “I think ultimately you can’t stop children from doing what children will do. We don’t want to stop people having fun. All we’re really saying is ‘educate yourself to the risks’. We just need to get that message through.”
He adds: “We were all young once. I’ve jumped off rocks in my time as well. But I like to think that when I did, I was aware that the depth of water was more than sufficient for me to jump into, and that there were no dangers lying beneath the surface.”
For more information about avoiding accidents in the water, go to: www.rospa.com/ruadummy2.