A British holidaymaker who ended up dangling from a rock face after a parachuting accident phoned his girlfriend and told her not to worry before falling 180ft to his death.
Jake Simkins, 41, spoke to his partner, who is seven months pregnant, and sent her text messages as he spent three hours suspended from the cliff on the Greek island of Zante on Friday. Mr Simkins, from north London, had jumped from the top of the cliff at Navagio beach but after he opened his parachute he was blown back towards the rocks and his canopy became snagged.
Over the following three hours he phoned and texted his girlfriend at their hotel in Volima. He told her to stay calm and even joked that she should go sunbathing before the rocks gave way and he plunged to the beach below. A police spokesman in Zante, which is also known as Zakynthos, said: “He spoke to her on the mobile, told her everything that happened, while he was actually hanging from the rock cliff. He was even sending her SMS messages while hanging, hooked by his chute on the cliff edge.
“He was telling her to be calm, not to worry, was even advising her to put on sun tan oil and go do some sunbathing. Of course, he was writing all this before the rock broke lose and he fell to his death”.
Of course
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:13 pm
by dgs49
Is the implication that he knew he was doomed? Or that he was confident of a rescue? Did he try calling for help?
Maybe the Greek air force (one helicopter and a Piper Cub) was out of gas.
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:17 pm
by MajGenl.Meade
I was wondering - if it were me - what on earth would I say/text/SMS
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:00 am
by BoSoxGal
Apparently Greece is so broke the rescue personnel can't afford something as basic as rope.
Tragic.
I have to say, however, that I'm of the opinion that parents should give up incredibly life threatening extreme sports until the offspring are self sustaining. I hope at least he was well insured.
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:07 am
by rubato
Base jumping is a very high risk activity. Rescuing someone suspended from a cliff by parachute gear is not a trivial task. No one was obliged to save him from himself.
BASE jumping as of 2002 has an overall fatality rate estimated at about one fatality per sixty participants.[21] A study of 20,850 BASE jumps in Norway recorded a total of 9 fatalities over an 11-year period from 1995 to 2005; this accounts for 1 in every 2,317 jumps.[22][23] When ranked against other recreational activities, it has the highest odds of death, making it the most dangerous recreational activity in the world, with an injury and death rate eight times higher than parachuting from a plane.[22][23] However, 1 in every 254 jumps results in a nonfatal accident.[22]
________________________
yrs,
rubato
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:02 am
by Rick
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over,
Thought I'd something more to say.
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:20 am
by dales
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 5:51 am
by loCAtek
Okaaaaaaay, I'm still boggling from the Fire Brigade not having ANY rope...
...but for three hours, no one thought to ask one of the bazillion boats in the cove for some?
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:04 am
by BoSoxGal
I've always wanted to go to Greece; I'll definitely be adding this little isle to the list to visit.
No base jumping for me, however. No rock climbing, either - as I've no baby to bring along, where's the fun in it?
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 6:28 am
by Gob
You could always borrow one from someone else while you are there?
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:09 pm
by dgs49
Regarding life insurance, the other Person was described as the jumper's "partner." Partners are not next of kin. Being so negligent as not to have married the bitch (even after she got pregnant), and so colossally foolish as to have such a hobby, it is unlikely that he would have been diligent enough to have life insurance, or to have named her as beneficiary.
But don't forget: A marriage license is "just a piece of paper," with no real significance. I'm sure she will find that bit of wisdom comforting as she raises her child as a single mother.
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 1:43 pm
by BoSoxGal
Actually I was thinking about it and married or not, most typical life insurance isn't likely to pay out when death comes of being engaged in voluntary participation in ultra high risk extreme sports.
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:37 pm
by dgs49
Good point.
Is scooter aware of that?
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Tue Jun 26, 2012 2:44 pm
by Scooter
I'll be sure to keep it in mind if I ever decide to take up skydiving, base jumping, etc. Thanks for the heads up.
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:40 am
by rubato
dgs49 wrote:"...
But don't forget: A marriage license is "just a piece of paper," with no real significance. I'm sure she will find that bit of wisdom comforting as she raises her child as a single mother.
Mostly true in the 'red states' which have always had the highest rates of divorce.
"knocked up and married young" is a Red State thing.
yrs,
rubato
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 3:14 am
by oldr_n_wsr
I have to say, however, that I'm of the opinion that parents should give up incredibly life threatening extreme sports until the offspring are self sustaining. I hope at least he was well insured.
I stopped riding motorcycles for 20+ years after I got married. First I couldn't afford it then didn't really have the desire, then waited til the kids were in college (and had the money for them to graduate).
My daughter and my niece went skydiving this past sunday. They said it was the greatist thing they ever did. I was going to go but an AA buddy needed help moving on sunday and I told him two weeks ago I woudl help him out. Turns out he didn't need the help so I could have gone and jumped with them. Oh well, there's another AA friend who wants to go jump, maybe sometime later thisz summer.
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Thu Jul 05, 2012 4:52 am
by Gob
Skydiving is great fun.
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 3:58 pm
by oldr_n_wsr
I like the freefall part the best.
When the instructor tapped me on hte head (the signal he was going to pull the chute) I kept shaking my head "no". I wanted to fall some more.
Re: We are jumped all your base
Posted: Sat Jul 07, 2012 10:25 pm
by Gob
Before you jump
You wear the frown
Of someone who is stalling
There's no up there's only down
In the void of falling
All you need to do is take
One step into the sky
Give yourself to gravity
Give death another try
In free fall, free fall
The wind will take your frightened face
And force your mouth to smile
While destiny is on your case
The gods look up your file
The clouds are coming at you
Like a host of angels wings
For thirty seconds of freedom squared
You've cut the puppet strings
In free fall
