The 101 story, 1,358-foot Princess Tower recently hosted nearly 600 BASE jumpers diving off the 99th floor as part of an event organized by Skydive Dubai in partnership with DreamJump, XDubai and Dubai Film.
The video shows some of the jumpers BASE jumping off the building with parachutes while others use a device for a new style or technique of rope jumping called “Dream Jump.”
The device consists of a zip line — about 10 kilometers long — that allows the jumper extended free fall to “90 percent of the height of the object from which the jump is made.”
According to the official website of Dream Jump, the rope jumping technique “is a patented technique of giving jumps from the height with use of assurance construction made of dynamic lines and pulley.”
“The basis of the Dream Jump construction is two dynamic lines loosely hung between two objects… to maximally elongate the Free Fall, to 90% of a height of an object, from which a jump is made. Long free fall gives a jumper infinite possibilities for acrobatics in the air.”
The video shows Dream and BASE jumpers diving off the top of the building and falling past the windows of astonished residents on their way down. They perform acrobatic stunts, including spins, mid-air formations and somersaults as they fall.
The YouTube video description says, “What sounds like a nightmare for most is still a dream for others; to BASE jump off the world’s second highest residential structure with the most qualified athletes in the world.”
According to the YouTube description, the purpose of the organizers of the event, dubbed “Dream Jump Dubai,” was to introduce jumpers to the new Dream Jump system. The technique was originally invented by Tomasz Zieliński as a way of maximizing free fall time for jumpers.
First Post reports that the jumpers expressed delight at the experience on Facebook.
The National quotes Nasser Al Neyadi, chairman of Skydive Dubai, saying, “I have base jumped in many countries but to have such an exciting event in Dubai is a dream come true.”
Residents of the building also enjoyed the spectacle. A resident, Saud Al Anazi, said, “It is an exciting spectacle to wake up in the morning and see people free fall past your balcony.”
The Dream Jump Dubai event was part of a project called “Dream Walk around the world in 80 jumps.”
