November 21, 2009 George Foster

‘Bombing’: The Flying Squirrel – A Question of Style?

A friend of mine, Sam Hill, once introduced me to the lifestyle choice that is ‘bombing’ into water. The topic came up whilst sat atop Carreg-y-Barcud in Pembroke debating the chances that another friend George had at hitting the water stylishly should he peel off the E8 he was on and all his gear rip. Having gone through all the options for a successful ‘bomb’ in the event of an unsuccessful ascent Sam summised that the only way he could save face, should he come off said E8, was to execute a perfect ‘Flying Squirrel’ (think crane versus tiger in Kung Fu)….arguably the most dangerous of all ‘bombing’ techniques currently known to man.

The ‘Flying Squirrel’ has minor regional variations, however the principal and universally acknowledged method has the following basic structure in common……..perform a cliff-top exit in the approved manner before drawing the legs back behind you, bent at the knees, grasping the ankles with your hands (like a limbless sky-diver), chin up, facing forward to effectively crater into the water at a seemingly death-defying rate of knots with the chest, abdomen and groin areas taking the full impact of splashdown (a la the squirrel shown below – seen here moving into the tuck position).

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