Jump off a pier

“So I figure I'll have to jump at this point if I'm wanting to move from first base with Sansa. I look over the edge and it's about 15 feet (roughly 5 meters) or so down to the water. The water is grayish brown and I haven't the slightest clue as to how deep it was, but hey I'm 16 and there's a super hot girl waiting for me to do something super cool. So I stand on the edge and take a second to ponder the style of jump I will preform. I think about doing a full on head first dive but change my mind and stick to the ole' legs first fingers on the nose dive. Up up I go and the down into the water with a splash. I'm now in the water and I noticed something wasn't quite right but I'm not sure what it is. I look up and my spectators all have a look of horror on their faces. I'm thinking to myself this isn't good but I'm a fucking optimist so I brush it off and start swimming back to shore which is a good long way off. As soon as I kick my legs to swim I notice one of my feet feels a little weird, it's not really responding and kinda just dangly. I roll over in the water and now understand why Jon, Sansa, Brandon and Jeyne look like they had seen Ghost, the water had turned a very dark blackish red where I had jumped in.”

“At the race briefing the day before SwimRun USA last summer, in the Casco Bay Islands, Maine, we were told that the first swim started with an optional 15 ft. jump off a ferry pier. In my mind’s eye I was ALL IN. I imagined myself running and jumping off the edge of the pier into joyful free fall without a care in the world. Reality was a little different. [...] As we approached the pier, it was clear that no one was jumping off the 15ft dock, and most people were either heading down the ramp – so not jumping at all – or towards the more reasonable 12ft dock. Kelly and I followed to the latter. A few things raced through my head before we jumped like “what if I lose my googles?” “Is the water cold?” And “Holy crap this is higher than I thought”.”