A FRENCHMAN is hours into his world record bungee jump attempt in Perthshire.
The 44-year-old Parisian Francois-Marie Dibon aims to beat the record for the most bungee jumps in 24 hours.
Dressed in black and white, Dubon took his first jump from the Highland Fling Bungee platform below Garry Bridge in Perthshire at 10.10 am this morning.
The record Dubon is attempting to surpass today is currently held by Kiwi Mike Heard, who managed to set 430 jumps at Auckland Harbour Bridge in 2017.
Before taking his first jump, Dubon, who had a fear of heights well into his thirties, told broadcasters he felt "happy and in the present."
Dibon said: “I wanted to have a re-set after combining work and exams. I knew the fear I had but I like to try to overcome fear. To be honest, the first bungee jump I ever did was terrible. It was a ‘potato jump’ and I am glad there is no video evidence of it! So, I wanted to go back immediately, to do it again- and do it better.
“I have said before, when doing bungee jumping, ‘I could do this all day’. Well, now I am putting that to the test. I will get very tired at some point, but we can rest a little. I hope we can make this record. We will see. I would like to bring the record to Scotland and this incredible team around me.”
Laurie ‘Loz’ Thomas, Jump Master and Operations Manager said: “We have been talking about the record for some time now and we were looking for someone who could jump. Francois came here a few years ago, did about 30 jumps, and we thought: ‘Who is this guy?’ We knew we had our man. He is a great person to work with. Hopefully, as a team, we can do this.”
Dupont will take on food and water during his 24 hours and will break periodically by taking micro naps. As well as, this the jump-masters from Highland Fling Bungee will be working in four-hour shift patterns to assist the record.
