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Enter the bungy zone

IF YOU are looking for a real weekend escape from both
your neighborhood and the bounds of mother Earth, take
a deep breath and consider entering the Bungy Zone.

By Timothy Renshaw
Managing Editor

I did, and a good part of me is
still out there.

You don’t reach the Zone via
pharmaceutical experimentation or
some Far Eastern meditation
technique; entry is gained in far
more mundane ways: if you are
on the North Shore you get there
on a B.C. ferry to Nanaimo from
Tsawwassen or Horseshoe Bay
and then take the Vancouver
Island highway south from
Nanaimo about 13 km.

The Zone is easy to spot:
southbound cars on the highway

. Slow down at the Nanaimo River
gorge to take in the sight of
human beings tossing themselves
off a speciaily constructed 140-
foot-high bridge.

It’s a great spectator sport; even
trains crossing the gorge stop to
allow their passengers to take in
the action.

But, of course, you are not go-
ing just to watch, right? You can,
but it costs $5 to enter the Bungy
Zone anyway, and while you are
there....well, it’s a once in a life-
time opportunity.

At least that’s how I explained
it to me during my trip into the
Zone.

I went initially just to watch, to
shake my head and mutter
“‘madness’’ to myself and ex-
change aghast looks with the other
enthralled spectators at the edge
of the gorge.

But then...

Well then, I was stricken with
what the locals might call Bungy
Fever.

I screwed up the courage and
walked onto the Bungy Bridge —
wife and children tugging at my
pant legs, beseeching me to stop,
to turn back, to have my life in-
surance policy updated.

The view from the bridge is
panoramic and sobering; the looks
on the faces of the juinpers range
from apprehension to terror as
they are lashed into bungy gear.

But the bronzed Bungy Zone
staff, muscles flexing, sunglasses
glinting, betray a nonchalance that
says 10 the watchers and prospec-
tive jumpers, ‘‘Folks, this is a
breeze...’’

And to show just what a breeze
it is, staff members make occa-
sional jumps with special
harnesses, performing barrel rolls,
double flips and other circus
manoeuvres, all the while bellow-
ing bungy! as they drop like
human cannonballs from the
bridge.

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But even they, | noted, launch-
ed themselves with some trepida-
tion.

And, for the first few jumps I
witnessed, the action looked any-
thing but a breeze to me. It look-
ed more like a deadly penance —
simulated suicide.

But then one considers that ap-
proximately 10,000 men and
women (2 75-25 ratio, according
to Bungy Zone manager Greg
Brown) have jumped safely from
the bridge since the Bungy Zone
opened on Aug. 4, 1990.

And the bridge, made of high-
strength structural steel, was built
specially for bungy enthusiasts.

And, too, safety precautions are
many: the wrist-thick bungy cord
is made of pure latex rubber;
jumpers are bound at the ankles
with a cushioning length of terry-
towel; a length of seat-belt maie-
rial is then lashed tight around the
towel and the bungy cord hooked
on with large stainless steel clasp.

Safe, safe, safe, you say to
yourself as you pace with indeci-
sion.

The $95 jump price can also be
a deterrent; it can also be a good
incentive: once purchased. a jump
ticket cannot be refunded, though
it can be sold to someone else it a
jumper is overwhelmed by fear cr
common sense.

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But Bungy staff report only
about a 1% ‘‘chickens’’ factor for
paid, weighed, tied and hooked
clients.

Other stats to ponder while you
consider going bungy:
ae youngest jumper: 14 years
old;
© the oldest jumper: 73 years old;

* most paid jumps by one person:
30;

* average gravity loading: 2.8
‘*‘gs'’ (for regular dopes like me,
that means your plummeting body
will weigh 2.8 times its regular
body weignt when you hit the end
of the bungy line.)

© approximate daily insurance cost
for the Bungy Zone: $700.

Still interested?

Oh, and you drop like a human
anchor at approximately 60 kph,
and your family is watching,
screaming for you to turn back.

Ready?

Ankles bound tight.

You’re next.

Hop through the gate.

Open your eyes and stare into
the abyss.

My Ged, my God! it’s a long
way down. But there is no turning
back is there, Bungy staff? None
at all.

So: One, two, three....bungy!!!

Dive into space, dropping at

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FOR LESS. |

‘Nednesday. August 21, 1991 - Nortn Shore News - 24

NEWS photo Tesry Peters

THIS INTREPID diver has taken the plunge and is entering the
mystical bungy zone. Managing editor Tim Renshaw takes
readers over the edge with his account of the ‘‘religious’’ ex-

perience.

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