Thread: Veendam - Bungie jump?

I am trying to wrack my brain.

Wasn't there an incident about 2 or 3 years ago about someone using a bungie rope to jump from the smoke stack on the Veendam?

No, it was not from the smoke stack on the ship.
I think you might be thinking of this. The nut case tried it from from Lyon's Gate Bridge in Vancouver.

Maybe that was the case.

Do you remember if the Veendam was passing under at the time?

For some unknown reason this popped into my head last night.

Originally Posted by Krazy Kruizers

Maybe that was the case.

Do you remember if the Veendam was passing under at the time?

For some unknown reason this popped into my head last night.

That would be a novel way to board the Veendam.

Hope he had all his documents in order.

Was he trying to get to a door to weld it shut

Jim

I like the part about him lighting up the cigarette. Here you go !

Bridge Jumper Attempts to Board Veednam
As Holland America's Veendam passed under Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge yesterday, a man attempted to rappel from the middle of span onto the deck of the cruise ship. It is not clear whether the man was trying to board the ship or simply pulling the stunt for attention.

Unfortunately for him, he miss-timed his descent and bounced off the netting covering the tennis court, struck his head of the aft railing, and was left dangling in mid-air. The blow to his head did not appear to cause any serious injury as the man was later seen lighting up a cigarette as he slowly swung under the bridge after the ship had passed. He later lowered himself to the water where he was picked up by a passing water taxi, which turned him over to a police boat that had been called to the scene. The man was eventually arrested and charged with "criminal mischief". As a result of the incident the southbound lane of the bridge was closed and the departures of the Norwegian Sky and the Amsterdam were delayed slightly.

The man's name is Dean Sullivan and he is a 36 year old, self-described dare-devil and stunt man. Apparently he did the stunt in order to attract attention in the hopes that it would somehow further his career as a dare-devil and stunt man. When we asked, he said that his plan was to board the Veendam "...until they kicked me off".

This is a statement from Dean Sullivan


This was in no way somewhimsical thing. I jumped off the Lion's gate bridge in Vancouver, BC, September 29, 2002. It was 270 feet above the water, and the plan was to jump onto an Alaska bound cruise ship with a rope - a static line to be exact. I packed 277 feet of rope into a custom bag. I had made this bag, the fourth prototype of it's kind. Before the stunt I practised with the other prototypes on bridges on Vancouver Island, with limited results. But this one worked, so I thought.

When I first jumped the custom bag would not deploy on the first two pulls. Then holy "sh**", I was flying towards the deck of the cruise ship at an incredible speed. Since the bag did not deploy on time, my descent was late by about two seconds. This made all the difference in where I was going to cut away, since the cruise ship is going about twelve knots.

I had a custom made cut away knife with a blade in a side plexy glass, strapped to my leg. If I had cut away at that time I could have hurt someone, and that was the whole deal, that no one gets hurt except for myself maybe. I would rather hurt myself than some one else. So I did not cut away, and I ended up hitting the netting surrounding the tennis court with my face.

This stunt was in planning for over two years, and included checking traffic flow charts, figuring out how to get to the center of the bridge on time, reviewing tide times, boat layouts, including where the mainstays were on the boat. The planning also included security proto calls for the port of Vancouver, and research on where people stood on the cruise ships leaving the port of Vancouver, (mainly at the bow and the stern). Itineraries for the cruise ships were studied, custom anchors for the bridge were built, two way radios had to be secured and of course the weather, and practice, practice and practice. The weather was perfect; it was overcast, which means less people on the deck of the cruise ship.

My driver got me to the middle of the bridge right on time. Anchoring to the bridge was great, but that two seconds where my bag didn't deploy right made all the difference for pulling off my landing spot and cutting away. So like I said I smashed into the netting, cutting my face pretty good, I was on the net for about two seconds, how ironic.

By then it was to late to cut away because I was attached to the bridge, the rope tightened and launched me off the back of the cruise ship like a missile. All along people were screaming, some in joy some in fear, I am sure. It is a cruise they will never forget.

So after I missed my cruise I was left about 140 feet above the water waving goodbye, and funny enough, the people on the ship were waving back at me. So I tied off and had a smoke, enjoying the view of the Burrard Inlet.

I could feel the blood on my face and I could hear the sirens on the bridge, so after my smoke I rappelled down to the water and waited, and waited I did. After all the research I had done there was always police or harbour patrol boats around the bridge when cruise ships were leaving.

Who would have known some one had broken into a boat in West Vancouver, so they were there. I had to lower myself into the water because my legs were falling asleep from being in the harness for over an hour, because the ship left late, according to the itinerary, and a water taxi came and picked me up. Shortly thereafter the police patrol came and took me aboard their boat, cuffed me, gave me a blanket. I could see lots of commotion on the bridge and it was tied up for over two hours. The police brought me back to the port authority where paramedics were waiting. They gave me ice and cleaned up my face then I was taken to jail until the next day when I had to see a judge. I was charged with mischief, but the other five people with me were not charged.

Thanks for getting the story.

Sending you a frubal.

Thank you.

Wow!! I look for a hole in the netting when I get on next week !