A while back we published a series of photographs taken by one of our readers as a man attempted to rappel from the middle of span of Vancouver's Lions Gate Bridge onto the deck of the Holland America Line cruise ship Veendam. At the time we said it was not clear whether the man was trying to board the ship or simply pulling the stunt for attention.

Well, it turns out the jumper he read our story and contacted us to explain the stunt from his perspective. Before allowing him to do so though, we want to make it very clear that we consider what he did to be illegal and very dangerous. In no way do we condone his actions.

The man's name is Dean Sullivan and he is a 36 year old, self-described dare-devil and stunt man. Apparently he did the stunt in order to attract attention in the hopes that it would somehow further his career as a dare-devil and stunt man. When we asked, he said that his plan was to board the Veendam "...until they kicked me off".

The following photos and firsthand description of the stunt were provided by Dean Sullivan:

Dean Sullivan Prepares to Lower Himself from the Bridge

Click on the image for a larger version

This was in no way some whimsical thing. I jumped off the Lion's gate bridge in Vancouver, BC, September 29, 2002. It was 270 feet above the water, and the plan was to jump onto an Alaska bound cruise ship with a rope - a static line to be exact. I packed 277 feet of rope into a custom bag. I had made this bag, the fourth prototype of it's kind. Before the stunt I practised with the other prototypes on bridges on Vancouver Island, with limited results. But this one worked, so I thought.

When I first jumped the custom bag would not deploy on the first two pulls. Then holy "sh**", I was flying towards the deck of the cruise ship at an incredible speed. Since the bag did not deploy on time, my descent was late by about two seconds. This made all the difference in where I was going to cut away, since the cruise ship is going about twelve knots.

I had a custom made cut away knife with a blade in a side plexy glass, strapped to my leg. If I had cut away at that time I could have hurt someone, and that was the whole deal, that no one gets hurt except for myself maybe. I would rather hurt myself than some one else. So I did not cut away, and I ended up hitting the netting surrounding the tennis court with my face.

This stunt was in planning for over two years, and included checking traffic flow charts, figuring out how to get to the center of the bridge on time, reviewing tide times, boat layouts, including where the mainstays were on the boat. The planning also included security proto calls for the port of Vancouver, and research on where people stood on the cruise ships leaving the port of Vancouver, (mainly at the bow and the stern). Itineraries for the cruise ships were studied, custom anchors for the bridge were built, two way radios had to be secured and of course the weather, and practice, practice and practice. The weather was perfect; it was overcast, which means less people on the deck of the cruise ship.

My driver got me to the middle of the bridge right on time. Anchoring to the bridge was great, but that two seconds where my bag didn't deploy right made all the difference for pulling off my landing spot and cutting away. So like I said I smashed into the netting, cutting my face pretty good, I was on the net for about two seconds, how ironic.

By then it was to late to cut away because I was attached to the bridge, the rope tightened and launched me off the back of the cruise ship like a missile. All along people were screaming, some in joy some in fear, I am sure. It is a cruise they will never forget.

So after I missed my cruise I was left about 140 feet above the water waving goodbye, and funny enough, the people on the ship were waving back at me. So I tied off and had a smoke, enjoying the view of the Burrard Inlet.

I could feel the blood on my face and I could hear the sirens on the bridge, so after my smoke I rappelled down to the water and waited, and waited I did. After all the research I had done there was always police or harbour patrol boats around the bridge when cruise ships were leaving.

Who would have known some one had broken into a boat in West Vancouver, so they were there. I had to lower myself into the water because my legs were falling asleep from being in the harness for over an hour, because the ship left late, according to the itinerary, and a water taxi came and picked me up.

Shortly thereafter the police patrol came and took me aboard their boat, cuffed me, gave me a blanket. I could see lots of commotion on the bridge and it was tied up for over two hours. The police brought me back to the port authority where paramedics were waiting. They gave me ice and cleaned up my face then I was taken to jail until the next day when I had to see a judge. I was charged with mischief, but the other five people with me were not charged.

Like I said, I have big ambitions of being a stunt man but apparently some people in the industry are not impressed with my stunt. I would strongly recommend nobody else try this as I have been doing this sort of thing for fifteen years and have received stitches as well as numerous broken bones. I also want say that I will never jump with people directly below me ever again. I wanted people to be happy and have something good to talk about, instead of all the negative things going on in the world lately.

Dean Sullivan
Contact Dean Sullivan

Dean Sullivan Swings Above the Deck of the Veendam

Click on the image for a larger version

Dean Sullivan Swings Below the Bridge after Veendam Passes

Click on the image for a larger version