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Stag parties and employers keen for their staff to bond are following extreme-sport junkies to Britain's cliff faces for a spot of "coasteering" - the word preferred by the established outdoor pursuit firms that offer supervised jumps into the sea.
The adrenalin-fuelled practice is known to aficionados as
tombstoning and is fast becoming big business in Britain, despite a spate of deaths.
A cottage industry has sprung up catering for those who love nothing more than hitting the water at high speed at the end of a 10m drop. Thrillseekers try to achieve the maximum depth possible by entering the sea feet-first with arms crossed and legs together.
At around £80 ($225) for a day spent jumping off increasingly vertiginous cliff faces, confrontation with gravity and salt water has rarely been more expensive.
But such is the demand for the experience that signs are appearing along the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales warning that the sport has created potential for overcrowding on some routes. About 100 companies are thought to be offering coasteering in Britain.
The surge in popularity of tombstoning has prompted fears that the unregulated industry could fall victim to cowboy operators. "Coasteering is already the most popular activity in Cornwall, on a par with surfing," said Ian Anderson of the newly established International Coasteering Association, set up to promote the sport.
Four years ago, Anderson's company, based in nearby Newquay, helped 500 people to jump off cliffs in southwest England. This year, it has already sent 3000 into the sea and has hundreds more bookings.
But without a national regulatory body, companies are having to develop their own guidelines on an ad-hoc basis. Anyone organising cliff-diving events only needs a lifeguard's certificate to set up a business.
"Just having a lifeguard's certificate is simply not enough to ensure safe cliff-jumping," Anderson said. "For the big companies that offer coasteering, it takes a stringent course to be a tour guide."
In Devon, several companies providing excursions aimed at the corporate market have set a height limit on jumps of 7m. But a number of newer firms are allowing groups to leap from 12m, raising concerns about the impact on jumpers when they hit the water.
In July, 38-year-old John Castleman drowned when he jumped into the sea off a pier in Clacton, Essex. Delwyn Jones, 46, was killed in June, after jumping 9m on to a bed of rocks in Glamorgan. This month, 16-year-old Sam Boyd was killed after jumping from a harbour wall into the sea in Somerset.
The teenager's family issued a statement asking young people to learn from the tragedy: "We now wish there was something that could be done to prevent another child from dying like Sam did."
Various theories have been put forward to explain the sport's new-found popularity. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution and the Great Britain Diving Federation believe the growing interest in cliff diving could be linked to the shortage of diving boards.
"Over the past 30 years, we have seen around a 70 per cent decline in the number of pool diving facilities open to the public, taking away the only safe alternative to cliff jumping," the two bodies claim.
And the advent of internet video sites such as YouTube has led to the sport becoming a cult phenomenon, with people posting clips of their jumps online.
These segments, which show leaps from popular rock faces such as Cudden Point in Cornwall and Durdle Door in Dorset, carry congratulatory comments from fellow divers and advice on prime locations.
Cult extreme stunt TV shows such as Jackass and Dirty Sanchez have also popularised the sport. In the US it is banned in many states and some enthusiasts fear similar measures may be introduced in Britain.
At Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, a poster campaign has been launched to persuade youngsters not to jump into the harbour. Images include one of a boy floating face-down in the sea with the slogan: "We'd hate to say we told you so".
Research suggests the typical cliff diver is 28, male, lives or holidays in southern England, and will jump from an average height of 9.8m.
"Obviously there are exceptions to the rule - a 14-year-old girl and three men in their 40s have also been victims of this tragic activity - but this profile does seem to reflect the typical person involved in the tombstoning incidents the RNLI has encountered recently," said Steve Wills, its beach safety manager.
"Worryingly, this year so far there have been at least five deaths that we know of from tombstoning. Compare this with only seven deaths from tombstoning over the six-year period between 1997 and 2003, and we have a serious situation."
There are fears that increasingly negative headlines generated by tombstoners could affect the legitimate coasteering industry.
"If we get sufficient negative press, people just won't coasteer any more," said Richard Best, owner of the north Devon outdoor adventure company Breathingspace.
There has been only one recorded example of someone dying while on an organised coasteering trip in Britain. Best said his company always put the safety of its clients first.
"We inspect the jump area, have mountaineers leading the tours, and insist on wearing wetsuits, helmets, foot gear and buoyancy aids," Best said. "Without these it is simply not safe."
- Observer
