Coasteering

May 5, 2009 12:42 AM

Coasteering is a sport that involves throwing yourself into a wave as it hits a cliff.

More precisely, coasteering is a hybrid sport involving the traversal of a coastline without mechanical aids, usually by some mixture of jumping, walking, climbing and swimming* - like parkour on the ocean's edge. The sport originated in Wales with strong commercial support, but has since spread as far away as Sardinia. It hasn't reached California yet.

posted by twoleftfeet (35 comments total)

Coasteering: because something's gotta be the world's dumbest sport.
posted by zardoz at 1:00 AM on May 5, 2009 [7 favorites]

I wonder when the first drowning will happen.
posted by Pendragon at 1:03 AM on May 5, 2009

Why do lemmings come to mind when I watch these clips?
posted by Chan at 1:07 AM on May 5, 2009

I wonder when the first drowning will happen.

Already.
posted by twoleftfeet at 1:08 AM on May 5, 2009

suicide fail?
posted by From Bklyn at 1:12 AM on May 5, 2009

Hmm let's not get too melodramatic on this one. I used to do this when I was around 12 years old on holiday in North Wales. The Irish Sea is cold, powerful and undoubtedly dangerous but that does not make this a death trap if done in the right area. If one knows the coastline and what is underneath the wave at the time of jumping (ie you have seen the cliff face at low tide) then this is perfectly doable. I used to wait for the wave to come in the inlet and then jump whilst the water was highest and then grab the seaweed on the rocks for dear life as the water came out. I would never do this on my own and there were always some older guys around who would lend a strong arm to pull me out.
posted by numberstation at 1:21 AM on May 5, 2009

lolwut
posted by Captain Cardanthian! at 1:37 AM on May 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

The BBC article says that bouyancy aids are standard equipment. I wonder if that's a good thing. The last place I would want to be when being pounded into a cliff face by a wave is on top of the wave.
posted by rdr at 1:59 AM on May 5, 2009

This is what happens when you live in a country where Scrabble is not practical.
posted by srboisvert at 1:59 AM on May 5, 2009 [30 favorites]

Nature is so entertaining. Until that time it isn't.
posted by StickyCarpet at 2:00 AM on May 5, 2009

If you're looking for a picturesque way to break your back, this has got to be up there in the top 3.
posted by MuffinMan at 2:15 AM on May 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Before you jump in, be sure to toss a few Darwin awards into the drink. The longer you spend in the water chasing after them, the better your odds at winning!
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:16 AM on May 5, 2009

I saw a couple of teenagers doing this at a remote beach south of Sydney.

We were on a two-day hike, and late in the day we rounded a headland to see two black-wetsuited figures standing on a rocky outcrop below us. The next time we looked, there was nothing but enormous waves and sea spray and the occasional hint of a head bobbing in the water. We were convinced that they'd been swept off the rocks, and we hurried down the hill, worried that they'd drown before we reached them. I'm not even sure what we could have done to help - the beach had no lifesaving equipment or mobile phone reception and we were several hours' walk from the nearest road.

But by the time we reached the shore, the kids were back on the rocks, laughing and jostling and pushing each other into the surf. They were jumping off the outcrop and letting the waves swirl them around and wash them back to the beach through a channel between the rocks and a cliff. They weren't wearing helmets or buoyancy aids - just 3/4 length wetsuits and cocky expressions. I guess I must be getting old, because it was the first time I've ever wanted to shake a young person by the shoulders and say, "Kid, don't you realise you could die doing that?!"

Still, aside from the almost-drowning bit, it does look like fun...
posted by embrangled at 3:34 AM on May 5, 2009

I'm part of an inshore lifeboat crew. Here is the "bearing down" procedure used for rescuing people stranded or injured in the kind of environments illustrated above.

1. Drop anchor a couple of hundred metres from the shore. Check it is holding fast.
2. Go hard astern towards the shore letting out the anchor rope a few metres at a time. Raise one outboard engine so that you still have it left to escape if the other hits a rock. Place somebody at the stern measuring depth as you reverse. Hold on tight at the surf breaks over you and the boat.
3. As you get near the shore you should be able to control your positioning sufficiently accurately to pluck any survivors off the rocks. Leave bodies probably. The anchor rope acts as a spring with the force of the outboard pulling it back to its full elasticity.
4. Punch back out through the surf line and recover the anchor.

Was not able to find any examples of this on youtube - a shame as it would make interesting viewing. It is quite commonly used by the RNLI.
posted by rongorongo at 4:09 AM on May 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Misadventure.
posted by orme at 4:37 AM on May 5, 2009

I used to do this on the Maine coast during clambakes. When I was, like, 10. What on earth were my parents thinking?
posted by rusty at 6:00 AM on May 5, 2009

From the death link: "The jury heard the weather was poor and returned a verdict of misadventure."

That's the coolest jury verdict form ever.
posted by craven_morhead at 6:40 AM on May 5, 2009

Is the point that you're sort of going back and forth, up and down in the water? And not drowing or getting knocked in the head? That's about all I can see in the clips. I guess I'm trying to figure out the parkour connection here.
posted by jquinby at 6:42 AM on May 5, 2009

Is the point that you're sort of going back and forth, up and down in the water? And not drowing or getting knocked in the head?

Yeah, I'm not getting the fun part either. It just looks incredibly frustrating, to be honest. (Forward 3 feet, back 4! Forward 4 feet, back 3!)
posted by availablelight at 6:47 AM on May 5, 2009

From the website front page photos: "coasteering: some text to go in here". Couldn't have put it better myself.
posted by Kwine at 7:41 AM on May 5, 2009

Futzing around in the ocean is fun. It's huge, it's powerful, and it tosses you around like a ragdoll in relative safety (relative to, say, a tornado). The sheer amount of mindless energy is awesome. The fun, for me, comes from the experience of something so much greater than you acting on your body and the g-forces that you rarely ever experience. It's like a rollercoaster that never ends and that has no set track - chaotic and unpredictable.

This looks like a reasonably safe way to enjoy it. It's probably safer than the time I tried to teach myself to surf in 6 foot waves (didn't learn to surf, but got the crap kicked out of me by the ocean repeatedly) or the time I played "try to stay in one place [futilely]" alone at night in the surf of an unfamiliar beach in Costa Rica. I'm older and wiser now, so I see the value of the flotation vests and helmets. That said, when I go to Wales next month, I might just stick to the beach.
posted by whatnotever at 8:28 AM on May 5, 2009

This is what happens when you live in a country where Scrabble is not practical.

Wrong. When they jump into the sea, do they shout: "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch represent!"?
posted by lalochezia at 8:52 AM on May 5, 2009

From the death link: "The jury heard the weather was poor and returned a verdict of misadventure." That's the coolest jury verdict form ever.

Um, not really; death by misadventure is a pretty common term in UK law.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 9:07 AM on May 5, 2009

I guess I'm trying to figure out the parkour connection here.

If parkour is an activity with the aim of moving from one point to another using principally the abilities of the human body then coasteering would be parkour where the two points are on the ocean's edge. You can find coasteering videos of people moving along the shore, but it isn't as much fun to watch as people jumping into waves.
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:41 AM on May 5, 2009

I do not say this lightly: This is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen.
posted by msali at 10:43 AM on May 5, 2009

Surely no dumber than shirling, msali?
posted by Meatbomb at 11:16 AM on May 5, 2009

I love the shore, especially around cliffs and I often wondered what it would be like to do dive into a wave. But the little voice in my head always said "Don't be a fucking idiot" (and yes, it is foul mouthed. But doesn't wear a mini-skirt).

Apparently some peoples little voices are broken.
posted by Bovine Love at 12:20 PM on May 5, 2009

We had a deal, kyle. Common =/= uncool, necessarily.
posted by craven_morhead at 12:44 PM on May 5, 2009

Fair enough, go ahead and enjoy it.

(My point was more that to the jury returning the verdict, "death by misadventure" wouldn't be a novel or cool phrase; it's commonplace in UK reporting.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 1:10 PM on May 5, 2009

This is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen.

The Welsh also invented bog snorkelling and they hold regular championships for it. Dumbness is relative.
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:55 PM on May 5, 2009

Nothing to do with the actual sport, but coasteering sounds like shutting off the car engine at the top of a long hill, and seeing how far you get. Probably equally dangerous, too.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 3:53 PM on May 5, 2009

This is about as much like parkour as purposefully throwing yourself down a set of stairs and cheering is.
posted by blackfly at 7:01 PM on May 5, 2009

So, let me get this straight - Coasteering is jumping into a raging torrent and allowing yourself to be dashed on the rocks. For fun.

OK. No.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 10:08 PM on May 5, 2009

Looked at it again. God that's STUPID!
posted by The Light Fantastic at 10:12 PM on May 5, 2009

I did this in the Galapagos Islands where there is another "toilet". Once you jumped in there you had to wait for the water to rise high enough to climb out again. The water was turbulent, but not to the point of dashing you into anything. It was quite like swirling around in swimming pool sized toilet. I had a blast. An added bonus were the sea lions swimming around with us.
posted by hellboundforcheddar at 12:58 PM on May 6, 2009