I was contacted about five weeks ago by a journalist from The Times who was interested in writing a piece on tombstoning. This had happened a few times before, but this time was different; he wanted to meet us and have a go. This sounded like a great idea, and from the initial conversation it sounded like it would be a well balanced article focusing on the fun you can have when tombstoning safely.
So Tom Whipple caught the train from London to Bournemouth, along with a video journalist (Ariadne Zanella) who was going to be documenting the day and creating a piece for TimesOnline. We were also meeting a photographer (Russell Sachs) at Stair Hole who would be capturing the day in pictures.
It was a fantastic day; sunny with maybe a little too much wind, but crucially the tide was at its highest while we were there. This allowed us to show Tom nearly all the jumping spots we use, and slowly build his confidence to the highest point on the day, 40ft!
Unfortunately we couldn’t go higher due to the choppy sea varying the water depth so much below us. But a 40ft jump from someone on their first day (having researched all the horror stories in the media) was a great result. I’m sure Tom felt safe at all times, and look forward to seeing the finished article in The Times newspaper and on the TimesOnline website.
Here is one of Russell’s pictures of the 40ft jump, and once the article is completed and ready for print we hope to be able to show more on the site. The Times are planning to release the article this summer.
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