So I am incredibly scared of heights. I used to avoid them when possible, however, I have wanted to overcome my phobia for ages now. Fortunately, the perfect opportunity presented itself to me in Queenstown, NZ when I was offered a Canyon Swing. At 109m high, 60 m of free fall, reaching 150Kph with a 200 M arc I thought what a better way to conquer my fears. So on 3/20/2013 at 3:15pm I got on the bus with a few friends and rode up to the canyon that I sould be throwing myself off of. I would love to say I was brave enough to do it solo but I wasn't, so my friend Rob helped me out by going tandem with me. We decided to go backwards which has a 4 underwear raitng and is described as very scary on the (poop your pants) rating scale. The ment responsible for our harnesses joked around with us saying that things looked alright, asking if there was more duct tape but there wasn't and "oh well, it's good enough", saying he was still a little drunk from lunch...It all seems funny now but I wasn't laughing then. They had us inch over to place our heels over the edge and at this point my whole body was shaking and I was nauseated. They lean you back for a photo and tell you stay nice and stiff and just lean back. Then they bring you back to standing at which time you count down from 3 and jump. I knew that Rob was going to jump and when they counted down I had to just shut my eyes and go with the flow. My eyes remained closed for the three seconds of free fall but then I opened them up to the amazing view. I was still very shaky and was just kind of laughing at the fact I just jumped off of a cliff. I am glad I did it but will probably not be doing it again. I kept thinking about Austin's bungy jump video to find the courage to do this and it definitely helped. I am still a little scared of heights but now I have a new perspective and I am better for the jump and for knowing Austin.
-Rebecca Crastnopol (Austin's Water polo coach at BU)
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