Dubai: Dubai’s appetite for extreme adventure and sport will go a step further when a panel of experts demonstrate Dream Jumping at the Spearo Extreme Sports Expo being held at Skydive Dubai till October 11.
Dream jumping, or simply base jumping without a parachute, is one of the exciting features on offer at the Expo — the first of its kind being held in the region.
A dream jump involves jumpers leaping off of tall structures while connected to a patented system of dynamic ropes. The end result is a free fall that allows a diver to safely experience the feeling of a base jump without having to deploy a canopy.
Dream Jump was founded in Poland and since 2009 more than 20,000 dream jumps have taken place across Norway, France and Greece. And this weekend this extreme sport will make its Middle East debut.
Unlike bungee jumping which involves jumpers hoping up and down after each jump, the dream jump patented system provides jumpers with a longer free fall and with a landing very similar to that of a base jump without a parachute.
A team of five Dream Jumpers, inclduing co-founder Thomas Zielinski will be providing visitors to Dubai’s Spearo Extreme Sports Expo dream jump displays from a 60-metre crane that has already been set up at the Skydive Dubai.
Zarir Saifuddin, main organiser, SPEARO Extreme Sports Expo, is excited to have such an exciting addition to the expo. “Dream Jumps have taken rope jumping to the next level in both safety and excitement and now anybody can experience the thrill of base jumping right here. This is going to be huge for the region in the near future,” Saifuddin told Gulf News.
A former high-altitude worked, the 37-year-old squad leader wants to see his dream jumping go to the corners of the globe while also showing that this is a completely safe sport.
The dream jump system allows divers to have a longer free fall distance than in a bungee jump and have full freedom of movement during a jump to experience different acrobatics while in free fall. Due to the patented breaking system divers land similar to as if a parachute had been deployed and do not experience recoil as in Bungee Jumping.
The island of Zakynthos was their third destination this year, after the Verdon Gorge in southern France and Kjerag mountain in Norway. Coming up on their programme will be leaps at a cave complex in Croatia, a French viaduct, skyscrapers in Las Vegas and Johannesburg, and from the rim of the Grand Canyon.
“And who knows it can always be another jump from the world’s tallest building right here in Dubai,” Saifuddin added.
