Rope Swing Into Water

Jul 10, 2018  In the catalog of human sensations, few rank higher than swinging from a rope and plunging into a cool river on a sweltering summer day. Here's how to set up your own.

I have never swung from a rope swing into water. Upon discovering this was the case, I was very surprised this was an event I had never experienced up to this point in my life. As someone that grew up on a body of water and spent the majority of my youth on the lakes and rivers around my hometown, it seemed I would have had more than enough exposure to such an event; however, it simply never occurred.

Realizing this is probably something everyone should experience in their lives, I asked Ryan if we could make the experience possible during my trip to visit him in the north woods. Indicating he too had never had such an experience, Ryan stated it was definitely possible and set to work locating some of the best rope swings around the town of Luck. Following a little research and planning, Ryan tracked down one of the highest rope swings in the area, which set our plans for Saturday afternoon and gave me a chance to finally experience the thrill of swinging from a rope swing into water.Clam Lake. After a late start to the day, Ryan and I hitched up his boat and made a trip to Clam Falls, a lake just east of Luck. Once on the lake, we took a quick spin around the horseshoe shaped pocket of water resting in the midst of dense forest. As we drove I was taken aback by the absence of human activity on the water.

With the exception of the park containing the boat launch we used earlier, there were nearly no structures on the lakeshore. Additionally, we only encountered one other boat as we drove around the lake. In response, I pointed out the absence of activity and shot Ryan a skeptical comment about the rope swing. In return, Ryan confidently assured me it would be worth the trip. Continuing, we wrapped around the central bend in the lake and skirted along the shoreline. Moments later a towering pine tree cocked at a 45 degree angle over the water came into view. “There it is!” Ryan said as we approached the tree.

Confused at first, I looked along the shoreline for some indication of a rope swing buried in the tree line. I searched to no avail until my eyes finally caught a glimpse of s skinny purple line dangling from a position nearly three quarters of the way up the large, angled pine tree. At nearly 20 feet off of the water’s surface, the heavily secured rope dangled fell in a straight line toward the water, resting motionless just above the reflective surface of the lake. As I looked over the sight of the rope swing I noticed three knots tied down the length of the rope that appeared to correspond with three locations along the top side of the tree’s trunk. Realizing these locations along the tree provided suitable launch pads for swinging into the water, I immediately focused on the higher points on the rope.

With the middle of the three knots corresponding to a location about 12 feet above the water’s surface, it was clear we were in for a ride, and I was ready to go. After Ryan pulled the boat to the shore, I was quick to disembark and start my ascent up the tree trunk.

I found the climb surprisingly easy given the rough bark surface and routine placement of trimmed tree limbs. Excited by the prospect of my first swing into the water, I scurried up the tree until I reached the location of the purple rope. After taking a quick look at the water below me to gauge my height, I slowly reached around the tree and grabbed the rope swing. Once secured, I pulled the rope toward the top of the tree and started a coordinated movement back down to the tree’s midpoint. With Ryan watching on from the docked boat, I ran my hands to the rope’s second knot and glanced back toward the shore. “Alright, here goes nothing!” I said looking at Ryan. “You going?” he said with a hint of hesitation in his voice.

“Yeah, it’s now or never.” I said pulling the rope closer to my body and checking my grip. Confident I was positioned correctly to take the leap, I took one last look at the water and took a deep breath. Then, in one fluid movement I kicked off of the side of the tree and let the rope carry me outward. A split second after leaving the tree I felt my speed increasing under the weight of gravity. The arc of the rope led me through a trough before I could recognize what was happening, which introduced a noticeable feeling of lift into the air.

The rush was undeniable, and I had yet to free my grip. Still accelerating, I held onto the rope a moment longer until I noticed the water’s distance increasing steadily. In turn, I eased my grip on the rope and let the momentum of the swing carry me outward. The rope quickly fell away from my body, leaving me airborne over the water for a brief moment. With my body suddenly descending at the speed of gravity, I tucked me legs and burst through the surface of the water.

Completely submerged, I quickly found my way to the surface and let out a loud celebratory call. In a matter of seconds I had encountered one of the most simple, yet most entertaining activities I had done in some time. As I swam back I found myself laughing in excitement from the experience. “How was it?” Ryan asked in anticipation. I withheld my answer for a short while as I pulled myself up along the side of the boat.

“You want an honest answer?” I asked with a grin on my face. “Yeah” Ryan said wondering where I was going with my statement. “It was freaking amazing!” I said before letting out another laugh. On cue, Ryan looked up at the tree and said, “Alright, I’m up.” Over the next few minutes he followed my course up the tree, located the rope, and made his descent back to a suitable jumping position. He took a brief moment to think about his takeoff position before lining up and launching off the center of the massive tree.

I watched on smiling as he swooped through the air and launched outward over the lake. As he flew, Ryan bellowed a celebratory call over the quiet lake. I listened to the sound echo briefly before the splash of Ryan’s body against the water consumed the air. “Incredible!” Ryan yelled as he surfaced from below the water. Centering himself after taking the swing, he swam back to the rope, gripped it, and dangled in the water for a few minutes. Eventually swimming back to the boat, Ryan let out an excited remark.

“Totally worth it!” he yelled as he toweled off. I immediately replied, “You bet it is.

Now it’s time to do it again.”. Over the next few hours Ryan and I swung several more times and spent some time in the water.

We shared stories and cracked jokes as the day carried on, leading only to a quickly approaching evening. With the sky growing dark, we finally decided it was time to head back to. As we rode back to the boat launch on the opposite side of the lake I took one last look at the rope swing that had occupied the bulk of our afternoon. I briefly thought about why it had taken me 30 years to give swinging from a rope swing into water a try before correcting my thought process. In that moment I realized that although it took me a long time to make it happen, there was probably no better way to experience swinging from a rope swing than to be with a lifelong best friend on a beautiful summer day in the north woods.

From this day forward it is something we will always carry with us, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Madison, Wisconsin, United States 'When is the last time you tried something new?' It's a question most people have to think about before they can answer. For any number of reasons, we often rely on the familiar and avoid exploring the unknown. But that's not me. I'm tired of the routine.As a result, I decided my 30th year would be one of new experiences.

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I intend to see, learn, or do something I have never experienced each day over the next 365 days. In what is bound to be one crazy experiment, I hope to take away as much as possible from my 365 day journey of exploration for self-discovery.

Rope SwingThis evening I was watching American Ninja Warrior on TV with my son. The contestants are very skilled athletes. I’ve not watched the show religiously, but the few times I have seen it, there is an ever changing range of obstacles to overcomeOn this particular episode, one of these obstacles involved swinging on a rope from a raised platform with the intention of getting safely across a pit.This made me think.

What is the optimal strategy for letting go of a rope to maximize the horizontal distance travelled?Let go too soon, and you might have a lot of horizontal speed, but you’ll be a long way from the landing zone (and be low down when you release). Let go too late, and whilst you’ll be closer to target (and higher), you’ll have low horizontal momentum. Somewhere in between there must be an optimal release point.Image:What is the optimal strategy for letting go of a rope to maximize the horizontal distance travelled?If anyone has played on a rope swing over a river or pond, it’s the same problem. Where should you let go of the rope so as to get as far out into the water as possible?It’s not a trivial problem. In fact (as we will see), the math is quite complicated and depends on many variables. Where should you let go?Imagine you are standing on a platform holding onto the end of a a taut rope. You grab the rope, lift up your feet, and swing out over the lake.

If we neglect the effects of air resistance, assume the rope has no mass and acts like stiff pendulum, and say that you didn't have any forward momentum before you lifted up your feet, at what point should you let go of the rope to get the greatest distance away from the platform by the time you hit the water?After your lift up your feet, you'll swing like a giant clock pendulum, accelerating downwards. You trade your gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy. At the bottom of the swing you'll be travelling the fastest and then, as you gain altitude, you trade the energy back and you start to slow down again.At some point, you'll let go and the horizontal component of your velocity will keep you moving forward.

Gravity will pull you down from the height you've achieved, but you'll get some assistance from the vertical component of your velocity. Wheeeeeeee!Before letting go of the rope, you'll be describing a circular arc. After letting go you'll be on a parabola (more of this later).

The distance you travel will depend on both the height of the platform and also how far above the surface of the water the end of the rope is (again more of this later).Let's tackle this problem in stages No height differenceWhen we are hung on the rope, we are constrained. There is nothing we can control, the tension in the rope provides the centripetal force required to pull us in a circular arc.

We can, however, elect when to let go. This will be at a certain angle and there will be a correlated velocity. Ignoring this correlation for a moment, what is the optimal angle for departure if there is no height difference?This is a classic physics (ballistics) problem. It's equivalent to asking the question about what the optimal angle is to throw a spear (or fire a canon), to get the greatest distance. If a projectile is given an initial velocity v, what angle θ results in the greatest distance R?As we are ignoring air resistance, the only force acting on the projectile is gravity. The horizontal component of the velocity remains constant, and integrating this over time gives the distance R.

The equation for the horizontal distance travelled can be described by:In the vertical plane, the component of velocity is initially upwards, then is decelerated by gravity. This gives us another equation which we can rearrange to get the time of flight t which we can substitute back into the first equation.The equation above gives the distance travelled R as function of the angle of launch θTo find the maximum, we take the first differential with respect to the angle and set this to zero to represent the turning point. (The second differential is negative, showing this point is a maximum turning point).The only 'sensible' angle for this turning point is π/4 which is 45°. This is the optimal angle.If there is no difference in altitude between the launch point and the landing point, the furthest distance is obtained by releasing from an angle of 45° Height DifferenceIf there is a height difference, things get a little more complicated.

Now there is an additional variable h:The equation for the horizontal component remains the same:The projectile, however, now needs to travel in the vertical plane by distance h.(We're going to take just the positive root, as this is the only one that is sensible!