This account is testament to the intelligence of the people I used to play with, this happened over 6 years ago in my teenage years when people are prone to be more reckless, a fact I should have bore in mind.

Our gang consisted of 5 members (none of which i'll name, i've used a psuedonym for myself) and on this sunday afternoon we had taken it into our brains that, since we live near the sea, it would be a good idea to play on the high cliffs (measured over 100ft).

Since we had our bikes we took turns in riding up to the cliff edge and braking at the last moment, the object being to leave it to the last possible moment. After the first accident, one boy almost flew off the cliff, we made it safer by tying rope round our waists to seperate pegs anchored securley in the ground. This, we thought, would avert trouble. Uh huh.

One of the boys had a bike that squeeked terribly when he braked and it was getting on everyones nerves, therefore he removed the squeeking in a very ingenious way; he oiled the brakes. Some of you might already realise this presents another problem but he didn't see it.

when it was his turn again he rode up to the cliff with a ironic cry of "watch this!", indeed we did watch him, watch him apply the brakes, the look of terror, and then watched him dissapeer from sight as he sailed over the cliffs.

The rope did it's job though and halted his descent but becasue it was longer than everyone elses it recived the strain of 60ft of falling teenager, and so did his waist around which the rope was tied. the impact of stopping broke several ribs and almost cleaved him in two, he fainted (not surprising).

At the top of the cliff we four remaining kids phoned for help, but the place was so remote or our batteries so dead we couldn't get through. Instead of running for help we decided to winch him up our selves. we set about digging the peg out the ground that he was attached to, when it finally came free there was only one person holding it and he subsequently was pulled over the cliff by the weight of the first boy. Sensibly we still had our harnesses on and the 45 foot drop this boy endured mearly knocked him out. Meanwhile the extra 45 foot slack in the cord let the first boy plunge into the ocean where he unfortunatley drowned.

The last three up on the cliff decided to leave their other comrade to get help from the coast guard, half an hour later a large sea king helicopter hovered over the cliff to lift the last cliff goer off the side of the cliff.

(at this point it should be mentioned that the knot tied around this boy's waist had come loose making him grip onto the rope for dear life)

The static electricity built up by the whirling helicopter blades against the air is massive and each heli carries a cable to earth themselves after a flight. As that cable approached the boy, heedless of people shouting at him from the helicopter, he tried to grab onto it, to get to saftey. When he did grab hold of the cable the electric shock he felt blew him against the cliff and he consequently fell into the sea.

Fortunatley for him he didn't drown but was airlifted to hospital where he made a full recovery.

Six years later I still have that burn mark on my hand where I touched that earthing cable, but even so I owe my life to the work of the coastguard that day. So thankyou to the coastguard, helping idiots like us stay alive long enough to tell the story to other idiots.

Cheers!

------------END OF LOG-------------

Submitted on 02/24/2007

Submitted by: Alexander Anderson
Reference: Personal account

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Graham said:
Neutral: Personal Account
It's an amzaing story, Alexander but you don't mention any ages. I wonder - were any of you uner 16 at the time?

James said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Playing "chicken" by 100' cliffs...it's a wonder you're not ALL dead! An EXCELLENT PA, Mr. Anderson! I'm sure the "Coasties" are still making jokes about you to this day! BTW we're a bit less stringent on age when it comes to personal accounts!

Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Wow! What a story! Great write up, Alexander. Sorry that your friend died in this one.

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