Bungee Cord Breaks

By Miss Cellania in Everything Else on Feb 23, 2009 at 9:29 am

49-year-old Mark Afforde couldn’t resist a second bungee jump from the 200-foot high Canyon Creek Bridge near Yacolt, Washington. At the bottom of the drop, the bungee cord snapped, and he fell the last 25 feet into shallow water.

“I was just along for the ride. I had no idea what was going on,” he said.

“I heard and saw the snap. I definitely felt the impact, and I was underwater. Once I checked and made certain I could still move and everything was working I felt I needed to get out of the water.

He was able to walk to shore, and paramedics took him to Southwest Washington Medical Center in Vancouver.

Afforde, who was not seriously injured, says he would bungee jump again. He wife feels differently. Link -via Arbroath

PS: He was on an outing with his co-workers from Boeing. Leave your puns in the comments.

Tags: Accident, Bungee

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David N.
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 9:45 am
Make sure you send this one over to Boing Boing!
foodtown
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 9:50 am
amazing

maybe it’s safer to be on the land
Padraig
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 9:51 am
Well, I guess the cord went “snap”, not “boeing”.
SenorMysterioso
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 10:17 am
I jumped once at a place that had a safety bag under the jump but it was actually really boring. It’s stories like this that keep me from trying a real jump. I remember when bungee was a huge trend and there were a lot more stories of chords snapping, wrapping around necks and people jumping with too long of chords. I wonder if there are less stories like this because its become safer or because less people are jumping these days.
Chris
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 11:12 am
Ah, I can’t help but imagine the people who jump off of perfectly functioning bridges would not hesitate in saying “Wow, look! A dirt floor! Move that table out of the way so we can eat off of it!”
Johnny Cat
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 11:18 am
Oh, snap!

Yeah, I’ve been on that bridge (it’s actually in Washington, not Oregon) and have wondered if it got a lot of bungee jumpers.
seb
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I guess he wasnt boeing back up har har har get it boeing,.. going…..
twodollars
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Yacolt is in Washington State, not Oregon.
Miss Cellania
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Ooops! I’ll fix that. The newspaper is in Oregon.
Mouserz
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Who is “he wife”?
Edward
Feb 23rd, 2009 at 7:22 pm
At the furthest extension of the cord, your velocity is zero. For a moment, you are motionless over the water. If the cord breaks instead of pulling you back, it is no worse than a 25 foot dive.

Now, if it breaks right after you are launched back into the air … well, I hope that your heirs own the video rights.
Jim R Feliciano
Feb 24th, 2009 at 1:10 am
Listen to the wife.
She wins.
It is a rule.
Oomi
Feb 24th, 2009 at 3:40 am
I remember vividly the pain of hitting water after jumping from a diving board, and that was perhaps 10-12 feet. 25 feet? Yow..

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