Suspended jaccuzzi

http://jaccuzzi.ch/html/affichjacc_264_e.html

by henridf • 12 years ago

225 100 12 years ago

aerique• 12 years ago

Ah, humans. What will they think of next?

alexivanovs2• 12 years ago

Those are some high spirited friends, wish you could order them in mail just like that. But anyway, what about the permissions, is everyone going to start doing this now?

Carrok• 12 years ago

With the amount of effort clearly involved in such an operation, I think it is fairly safe to say that no, everyone is not going to start doing this now.

alexivanovs2• 12 years ago

It's all about scale.

TeMPOraL3• 12 years ago

Until someone decides it's time to dirsupt the jaccuzzi industry and starts a bridge-breaking start-up.

mseebach3• 12 years ago

What a kill-joy. Rules! Permission! We can't just have people running around doing epic shit! What if everybody did it?!

TeMPOraL3• 12 years ago

Yes. What they did here is the very essence of hacking.

noelwelsh• 12 years ago

I like that they're all wearing helmets while in the jacuzzi. Because, you know, it would be completely irresponsible not to. (They're probably more worried about knocking a helmet off the side by accident, if they were taken off, than the utility of wearing a helmet should the cables holding the jacuzzi break.)

tlrobinson• 12 years ago

It looks like they all have safety harnesses/ropes. I'd be glad to be wearing a helmet if my jacuzzi were to suddenly drop out from under me.

SideburnsOfDoom• 12 years ago

The real issue is that a jacuzzi full of water weights a lot. The bridge is not designed for holding such a large load on the edge. A helmet won't help you for this, and a harness and rope attached to the bridge at the same point as the jacuzzi may not either.

donny554• 12 years ago

The helmets may be worn to protect from objects falling from above.

verytrivial• 12 years ago

I would assume this was to protect against falling champagne flutes.

fla• 12 years ago

One can't image how hard a small little object falling from a few dozen meters can hit you. That's what the helmets are for ;)

PJDK• 12 years ago

The reason is that there are lots of people on the edge of the cliff fiddling around with carabiners and other bits of gear and it's quite easy to drop one by accident. Being hit by a lump of metal is pretty unpleasant. Climbing helmets are designed to divert glancing blows from falling objects, not save you from falling.

Often with sports climbing you'll see the person belaying (at the bottom holding the rope) wearing a helmet, while the person half way up the climb isn't - the risk is the climber will drop something on the person at the bottom.

easytiger• 12 years ago

Are the side walls of the bridge specified to take directional load like that?

diarmuidie• 12 years ago

I thought the same thing.

It seems like it would have been a better idea to bring the cables/ropes in through the hole at the bottom of the wall, rather than over the top. The lateral compressive load would then have been taken up by the bridge itself, rather than the walls.

jacquesm9• 12 years ago

Exactly. Really really dumb this.

jacquesm9• 12 years ago

Spectacularly dumb idea to hang that much weight (6 Tons!?) from the top of those walls. Those walls are clearly meant for vertical loads. And a much better option (if you feel you have to do this) was available so I really don't understand what made them choose this particular setup. Anybody with an ounce of structural engineering knowledge would have looped the cables through the drainage ports.

Right now this looks like a Darwin award candidate. They're very lucky that those walls contained enough rebar vertically to withstand this load, it's at the worst possible attachment point and at the worst possible angle (especially for the inner wall).

Edit: looking more closely at the picture it seems as though the cables under tension are actually running through the drainage ports of the back wall, the ropes at the top seem slack or loaded both top and bottom of the opposite so there is in fact mostly compressive load on the front wall and about 50% of sideways load on the opposing wall. Still, that structure was definitely not meant to be loaded like this.

gambiting2• 12 years ago

Yeah, in this picture you can see the cables running through the drainage port: http://jaccuzzi.ch/photos/700/1754_264_seb_7_.jpg

So I "think" most of the load would be applied vertically, but that would be my biggest concern still.

stolio4• 12 years ago

To be fair those walls were designed to take horizontal wind loads, too. 100mph wind translates to 0.17psi[0] which is ~220 lbs/square yard (of course you assume the force happens halfway up, not at the top of the wall!) If the ropes were spread out over 5 yards then that span should hold ~1500lbs against the face of the wall.

If that thing weighed 6 tons they may have made it out of the "designed to handle" range and into the "safety factor" range of inward forces on those walls. Surely those drainage ports weren't designed to handle upward loads?

I really can't believe some of them took their harnesses off while in the pool.

[0] https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/wind-speed-100mph-to-p...

jkot2• 12 years ago

To make it even worse ropes go over top of second side wall.

cmsmith• 12 years ago

No, but they are designed to take a lateral load from a vehicle impacting them. In the US currently that load is about 4.5 tons at any one point. In a bridge like this where the parapet walls are an integral part of the structure, that would likely not be the limiting case and the walls would be even stronger than that.

Some more evidence that they had considered these things would have been nice, but civil structures are quite a bit stronger than people here seem to be giving them credit for. For example, the vertical design load from people walking on a bridge like this is something like 100 lb/ft^2. Meaning the bridge is designed to hold one jacuzzi every 10 or 15 feet, depending on how wide it is.

2810• 12 years ago

What about hot air balloon jaccuzzi?

draugadrotten• 12 years ago

Jacuzzi on the torch of the statue of Liberty

jacquesm9• 12 years ago

Good luck lifting 6 tons with a hot air balloon. (That's what this contraption weighs). Even a small one would be out. A four person hot air balloon can lift about 1 ton max, including all the gear, gas, burners etc. That leaves very little room for deadweight such as water, on the plus side you wouldn't have to take any ballast at all.

amelius• 12 years ago

How about 6 balloons then?

schainks• 12 years ago

Of all the gear and prep that was needed, they even made sure there was pie and cake. Really important. Really.

ck22• 12 years ago

Meanwhile today in Syria...

azinman2• 12 years ago

lol... but seriously it is amazing the heterogeneity of realities at any given time.

ck22• 12 years ago

9 million people made homeless and millions of orphaned kids is a hell of a reality.

That's like every single person in NYC being made homeless.

shittyanalogy• 12 years ago

Some people do things. Some don't. Do you do things?

digi604• 12 years ago

they also did one on top of Mont Blanc (highest mountain of Europe): http://jaccuzzi.ch/html/affichjacc.php?id=112 and inside a cave where you need to dive to reach the spot: http://jaccuzzi.ch/html/affichjacc.php?id=171

jkot2• 12 years ago

MB is not highest mountain in Europe, but in EU.

felixvolny• 12 years ago

I'm from Europe and this is news to me. The caucasus isn't in Europe, you know?

unklefolk• 12 years ago

I didn't realise this. However, it would seem that it isn't as clear cut as you suggest:

(From Wikipedia):

The generally accepted highest summit is Mount Elbrus (5,642 m or 18,510 ft) in the Caucasus, appearing on both the Bass and Messner lists. However, because the location of the boundary between Asia and Europe is not universally agreed upon, its inclusion in Europe is disputed: if the Kuma–Manych Depression is used as geological border between Asia and Europe, Caucasus and Elbrus lie wholly in Asia. If the Greater Caucasus watershed is used instead, Elbrus' peaks are wholly in Europe, albeit close to the border with Asia. Mont Blanc (4,810 m or 15,781 ft), lying on the border between France and Italy in the Graian Alps, is seen by some to be the highest mountain in Europe.

folli• 12 years ago

Their other project, jacuzzi on the Mont Blanc (highest summit of the alps) is equally crazy: http://jaccuzzi.ch/index_e.html

20 sweaty alpinists in one tub :)

arethuza4• 12 years ago

I noticed the other people hanging about on the summit of Mont Blanc looking slightly miffed - not sure if this is because they are unhappy at finding a party on what they were expecting to be a peaceful mountain top or disappointed that they aren't getting an invite to join in!

paganel• 12 years ago

not sure if this is because they are unhappy at finding a party on what they were expecting to be a peaceful mountain top o

I may sound like a hater, but I would certainly understand the frustration of those having climbed Mont Blanc only to find a bunch of party-people in there (if that really was the case for their looks).

And a serious question: How do these people have money and especially free time for this?

Later edit: Before people start down-voting me, I found this comment of a guy who was among the "other" people on the top of Mont Blanc (meaning he was not invited to the jacuzzi party). He pretty much disapproves of it all, with quite good reasons (text is in French):

Me trouvant avec mes deux clients au sommet du Mt Blanc ce 13 septembre, je ne peut que vous faire part de notre consternation devant la débauche de bruit et d'agitation ridicule qui polluait l'endroit ce jour-là. Est-ce paraître pisse froid que de ne pas partager votre enthousiasme pour cette réalisation qui contribue à rabaisser un sommet majeur au rang d'exutoire de nos névroses et théatre de nos délires les plus vains ? En a t-il subi, ce pauvre Mont Blanc, des idées absurdes : la tentative de descente en voiture, celle en poële à paella, une autre en VTT et j'en passe. Victime d'égos surdimmensionnés, les sommets phares sont chaque jour dévoyés par des personnes donnant de l'alpinisme une image aberrante (CF la tentative de l'ascension de l'Everest...en short ! Vous y verra-t-on bientôt en mailot de bain ?).Promotion dont nous nous passerions bien à l'heure ou nos effort tendent à rendre à ces montagnes leur véritable statut. Mes clients n'avaient-ils pas le droit de jouir au terme d'un effort que vous avez vécu, d'un sommet conforme ou presque à leur idéal ? Il me semble que cette façon de s'approprier un lieu au mépris des nuissances causées à l'égard des autres personnes qui le fréquente, celà sans autre objectif que de s'offrir un délire de potaches se situe à la limite del'incivilité. Salutations. Denis Crabieres, guide de montagne, secrétaire du syndicat national des guides de montagne

namdnay3• 12 years ago

or because they'd been training for 6 months to make the big climb and they were suddenly confronted with the fact that for these guys it's so easy they brought a jacuzzi up with them ;)

dvdplm• 12 years ago

I for one wonder if they had sex in there. And if they didn't, I totally don't get it.

foxhedgehog• 12 years ago

This seems risky.

stickfigure• 12 years ago

I applaud their chutzpah. However, my crew would not be wearing swimsuits!

I don't think I could bear to take off my harness, though. Getting clothing off would be a conundrum... either that or a very cold descent.

gonzo• 12 years ago

cut the clothing off, while you're in the harness.

4ndr3vv• 12 years ago

Relevant Mr Bean link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3smh7055cTQ

JonnieCache• 12 years ago

I was thinking that. Whats the point of doing all that rigging just to leave your trunks on.

Might get some serious nylon burn though, as you say.

huuu• 12 years ago

Reminded me of extreme ironing :) https://www.google.com/search?q=extreme+ironing&tbm=isch

jacquesm9• 12 years ago

Some of those pictures give me vertigo, something I'm not normally sensitive to. That's on par with 'wetriffs'.

kieranajp• 12 years ago

Before I clicked this, I thought 'suspended jaccuzzi' was the name of a startup.

mbrundle• 12 years ago

Me too, I thought it was a startup called Jacuzzi that had just been kicked out of China.

icebraining3• 12 years ago

China is .cn, .ch is Switzerland,

josefresco• 12 years ago

I assumed 'jaccuzzi' was some sort of new programming language or framework that I missed out on, and that "suspended" was referring to a specific implementation clearly superior to non-suspended jaccuzzi ;)

rahvin• 12 years ago

Well to be honest, even though it is not a programming language, I would argue that this jacuzzi implementation is clearly superior to a non-suspended jacuzzi.

Malic• 12 years ago

I thought 'suspended jacuzzi' would have been the name of a IDM musical duo.

ohashi2• 12 years ago

On the frontpage the domain is showing as jaccuzzi.c (no h), is that a bug?

icebraining3• 12 years ago

Appears fine to me. Maybe a rendering issue?

DanBC• 12 years ago

You have a plugin causing that.

Someone posted an imgur screenshot to HN with a title something like "bug on HN today". This was within the past day or so.

The Algolia search is fucking hopeless so I can't find the submission now.

redox_• 12 years ago

Hey Dan, what kind of problem do you have with the search (we recently fixed the back button + are also working on the small 320px screens support). I would be happy to improve it.

Kluny• 12 years ago

HackerNews, where you can't just vent because the developer will show up to shame you. Thanks redox! (not sarcasm)

organsnyder• 12 years ago

Are you using Hacker News Enhancement Suite on Chrome? I'm seeing the same thing with that configuration, but not when it's disabled (or on other browsers).

ohashi2• 12 years ago

Yeah that must be it. Thanks

jtheory• 12 years ago

The question that keeps running through my head -- how do you get back up onto the bridge, once you've left the jacuzzi?

Pulled up by winch?

Hand over hand climbing (ouch) or manually but assisted by equipment (e.g., I can imagine one-way sliders on the rope that'd let you climb with leg power)?

I did my share of rappelling when I was a teenager, but never had to climb back up the way I'd come with nothing but the rope....

tomkinstinch2• 12 years ago

Such imagined one-way leg powered rope sliders exist[1]! They work well, but surely would be tiring and—after exiting a jacuzzi into a windy void—I'd have to imagine quite cold.

1. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascender_%28climbing%29

BuildTheRobots3• 12 years ago

You don't actually need the hardware -very similar results can be achieved using a spare piece of rope and a prussic knot*.

((I really hope I got the knot name right.))

pmr_• 12 years ago

Ascending single or double ropes is most often practiced in rope access, tree climbing, caving or technical climbing. Ascending a single rope will often involve a Jumar [1] and a camming device placed on your foot or chest. Ascending a doubled rope can be done with just the rope using Blake's hitch or some extra material and a Prusik knot.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascender_(climbing)

nhangen2• 12 years ago

Am I the only one that doesn't understand the point of this exercise?

acadien• 12 years ago

I think its called "enjoying life", totally overrated from what I've heard.

nhangen2• 12 years ago

I can enjoy life just fine without a jacuzzi hanging on a bridge.

stolio4• 12 years ago

This reminds me of the article on bullshitting the other day. On the one hand this is useless play time that wastes resources. But it's also quite a big project. Everybody who took part in planning and executing it gained a lot of experience in project planning and management, the dynamics of working with people, how to work with their peers.

No matter what random challenge tomorrow brings this group of people is probably better equipped to deal with it than most social groups who have never tackled anything like this together. Of course they may not be great at handling the mundane, and that might be what drives them to hang jacuzzis off bridges.

Suspended jaccuzzi

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