Scad Diving (
Not for the faint hearted !!!) |
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| SCAD stands for Suspended Catch Air Device, and if you want to feel the power of complete free fall then this is the one for you. Scad diving is two seconds of pure terror. It's one of those must do things. It originated in Germany and I guess they just thought bungee jumping was to safe!! It's relatively new but is growing in popularity immensely during the last couple of years. Basically you go up in the crane to about 160 feet and then dropped into the net below. This gives the person being dropped an acceleration of 0.60mph in a split second towards the ground. Oh did I mention that when they let you go your not attached to anything until you land in the net. Complete freefall. |  |
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Okay so I have to admit this was definitely a bit worrying. I paid my £30 and handed my ticket to the guys who were running it. Of course the first thing you have to do is fill out their forms for insurance purposes and dot down a signature. Once completed I was put into what can only be described as a huge padded harness which made me feel like I was about to fall out of a plane rather than a crane. |  |
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I was the first to go so I was attached to the bottom of the cage in the falling position before leaving the ground. I have to say I felt fine until we started to lift off. The crane then lifts the cage to the correct height which also lifts the net into position. This is when the nerves begin to jangle a little. When everything is in line and correct and all the safety checks have been made the man with your life in his hands releases you. |  |
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Agggggggggg is the only way I can describe the falling without swearing! You can't see where you are going, when you will hit the net nothing. And I don't think my heart beat or I drew a breath on the way down. One thing was for sure the adrenalin was pumping and all sorts of swearwords were going through my mind. |
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Then suddenly you hit the net and a sigh of relief hits you. I made it! The landing is a little softer than I thought it was going to be but the falling lived up to everything I was expecting. To find out more about where you can have a go at Scad Diving visit the Drop ZoneUK site and check out where and when they are in your area. Click on the logo below. |
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T.Bawn |
