When ‘The Times’ newspaper came to interview us and take part in some tombstoning, we left the camera behind and focused on making sure everyone stayed safe. After all, they had brought a professional photographer to capture the moment. These pictures have been made available by the newspaper and were taken by Russell Sachs.
I was hoping to add a comment to the timesonline article, but couldn’t succinctly fit it in 300 characters. The Lulworth Estate has recently posted on the article and I am keen to offer a personal response.
Comment on timesonline:
This article is inaccurate. Stair Hole is NOT a safe place to
tombstone. There are many rocks just under the surface of and it is shallow. It is DANGEROUS on this coast and we hope there will not be an increase in deaths and serious injuries as a result of irresponsible newspaper articles.
The Lulworth Estate, Lulworth Cove, UK
I fully agree that Stair Hole can be a dangerous place. Some of the examples used on tombstoning.com clearly show rocks that are just below the surface at higher tides, hiding from un-prepared visitors to the area. This article shouldn’t be seen as a recommendation to jump from Stair Hole, making the assumption it is always safe; more an example of how tombstoning can be made safer by taking the necessary precautions.
I believe drawing attention to tombstoning and trying to educate people about the measures they need to take to improve safety is a better approach than trying to ban them from doing it; as with many other things in our society, banning something increases its profile and attracts the more rebellious to take part.
I feel incredibly privileged to have Stair Hole and Lulworth Cove so close to my doorstep, as I consider the Jurassic Coast some of the most beautiful in the country.
And through years of enjoying the area I feel confident in what is achievable on any given day, factoring in weather, tide depth, sea current etc.
My hope for the article was an attempt to promote all the necessary precautions that can make tombstoning as safe an activity as possible, so more people can enjoy the coast in a way the want to.
Regards,
Dan
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.
We had some friends visit us from London on the weekend, and they were very keen to join us for some tombstoning on the Saturday. The water depth wasn’t really in our favour as the only time we could make it down there was just after low tide. This did give us the chance to show them the ropes from smaller jumps though and after an hour or so the water was deep enough to start jumping from higher.
We also met a few of the guys from Jurassic Coast Kayak Tours who were visiting Stair Hole and taking part in some Coasteering at the same time. If you are interested in seeing the Jurrasic Coast up close then I highly recommend you check them out and book yourself a tour.
We have been contacted a few times in the past by TV, film or other media companies and organisations that are working on pieces regarding tombstoning and want our input. I had a brief slot on the BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast Show towards the end of last summer, along with Nick Biddlecombe, discussing the dangers and what we (my friends and I) were doing as a group to mitigate those risks as much as possible when we were tombstoning.
We have recently been contacted by a writer for a well known and respected news site, who is drafting an article regarding this ‘craze’ and wanted to be better informed before starting the piece. The thing that really stood out though, was this person wanted to join us for a day and take part in tombstoning to see how we prepare, check the area and finally, get jumping.
Understanding that people who tombstone aren’t idiots, but some idiots tombstone, was a refreshing change and we can’t wait to show someone new the experience and thrill we get tombstoning.
Photos and hopefully some video will be up shortly after the event, along with a write-up of how the day went.
UPDATE: Changed example pictures to a better match at high and low tides.
Water depth was the cause of the recent tombstoning incidents, and this made me think about if we had any pictures in our archive highlighting just how much the tide affects water depth. As one commenter on our first YouTube video put it…
thats the harsh thing with tombstoning, it all depends on the tide.
1day you could be fine the next its goodnight irene.
Below are two pictures (unfortunately from different angles) and a mock-up showing just how much the tide changes at Stair Hole. The first was taken back in 2006 when we first started taking a waterproof camera with us to get some pictures; the second was October last year. Each picture has a caption attached when opened.
The variation here highlights a couple of things…
To combat this I recommend using a website like EasyTide to check tide times.
If you pick a port very local to your jumping spot, although it can’t actually tell you the depth of the water, it can be a great reference. If you know a 40ft jump is always safe when the local tide buoy is at 2 metres then you can plan your trip to the coast without the chance of arriving at a really low tide.
Also if you go to a spot frequently enough you should start to recognise the tide state and depth by checking the water level against a familiar point on the cliff or wall.
Lastly, I cannot recommend enough, following the information already in the safety section about checking out the water below before making your jump.
This information will be added to the safety section, but I felt it important that it spends some time on the front page as well.
Sunday was a fantastic day to start our 2008 tombstoning season. It was really hot with great visibility and a reasonable tide. We were in good company as well with DWS climbers, divers and canoeists all enjoying the same section of coast.
After years of using a trusty 35mm Canon Sureshot waterproof camera, it finally died and needed replacing. The replacement (a Vivitar ViviCam6200W) promised video as well as high res still images; and although I’m not as impressed as I hoped I would be, it’s not a bad start to our waterproof video recording. Check out the pictures and video.
All in all a great day out, and one we hope to repeat very soon!
It’s been a quiet month for tombstoning in the news (which is largely a good thing). As the days get shorter and the water is cooling down, holidaymakers are all retreating back to the comfort of their centrally heated houses. But some new pictures and hopefully the odd video will be making an appearance before the winter fully sets in. After all, we aren’t fair-weather sports addicts. If you’re wearing a wetsuit you shouldn’t be feeling the cold!
The safety section has more content on the way, but the slow load times we seem to be getting have caused us to rethink how the content will be split up. I have a few plans for the site to improve page load times and navigation, so things may look a little different in the coming weeks as well.
This site was first registered on 24th August 2005. The roots of the name ‘tombstoning’ appear to come from coastal lifeguards referring to the sport as an easy way to earn an early grave. As names go it certainly grabs attention. I registered this domain after years of jumping from the Dorset coast in to the sea; thinking I would post some of my favourite pictures of the local cliffs (with me throwing myself from them) for friends, family and the odd person who liked doing it as well. The plan was to gather a list of places along the south coast and surrounding area where this sport seemed safe (your interpretation of safe may differ) to take part in.
Two years on and things have changed dramatically. The news is awash with stories of people drunkenly jumping from piers and harbour walls. Visitors to the sea side finding the nearest cliff edge and hurling themselves from it. General perception now frames tombstoning as a foolish, dangerous and ill-thought action rather than a well planned and calculated ‘extreme sport’…
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