Monday, December 30, 2013

Different Risks

What drives people to partake in Extreme Sports? I am not a risk taker. Doing something where the outcome may be a catastrophic injury or death is too daunting.

Last night I watched a clip about wingsuit flying. The zippered outfit the participant wears looks like a squirrel disguise or bat disguise.

According to qualified instructors, you must have at least 200 hrs of free fall parachute jumps under your belt before you take wingsuit flyinglessons.

According to one expert and aficionado over 3000 people "fly" off mountains or any man made high edifice a year. 3% die.

One man in the clip is a professional skier who also is fearless flying in a wingsuit. When he was asked about the death of one of his jumping partners he said, "He didn't release his parachute early enough."

Just like that. Several other deaths occurred this year because flyers attempted to fly too close to cliffs.

It's also risky to write or take a stance or loveā€”just a different type of risk. And it, too, is exhilerating.

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