Month: January 2017

*Warning: This post contains extremely graphic photos at the bottom*

The Laguna Jumper known on the internet as “8Booth”, gained notoriety back in August for a video that shows him hurling himself off El Moro’s 100′ cliff, narrowly escaping the rocks below.  The video has garnered almost 4 million views since its debut, sparking both praise and scorn.

Since the first jump, 8Booth proceeded to unleash video after video of his patented hurl.   Apartment buildings, cliffs, hotels were conquered one after the other throughout Southern California, until on October 29, when 8booth was unmasked by authorities and arrested for multiple accounts of trespassing.  His identity revealed, the rampage was over, right?

Wrong.

On the night of December 28, he scaled a three-story building next to the Pacific Edge Hotel in Laguna Beach and attempted to jump into the small pool below.  The video, which hurts to watch (so you should watch it), shows him hurling himself off the building and landing on pool’s edge before accordioning into the water.  As he crawls out the pool, you can see that his feet are shattered.  Immediately, he went to the hospital (but not before collecting his camera), where he underwent surgery.  He has since set up a Gofundme page to help cover his medical costs.

We caught up with 8Booth in the hospital.

Surfheater: What went wrong on that last jump?

8Booth: Lots of things were not up to par with my style. First off, I found this drop like two days prior when I did the previous pool drop. I like to look at things a good while to get a feel and understand them. It was at night which didn’t help. It was also a much larger gap than I anticipated so when I jumped it I knew I was screwed. I felt though at this time I should have stopped because I felt like I was in debt with the universe. I was letting my ego get involved which is never a good thing to have involved when doing these kinds of things. Main reason was gut feeling. I didn’t feel 100% about this jump. Every jump I do besides El Moro was at 100%.

Surfheater: What did you break and how is the pain?

I broke my heels and ankles. Bi-lateral breaks on both feet – I’m not sure what else. My bones popped through on my right foot – as you can see from that picture (below).

The pain I’m in is pretty bad. Luckily my friend just dropped me off a big bottle of 100 milligram Tramadol he picked up in Mexico, which is helping tremendously. If I don’t take meds the pain in pretty intense. I have metal rods in both feet going under the knuckles of the feet sideways. It’s so gnarly. The hardest part is just passing the days in bed. Super hard to move around since I can’t put pressure on either foot

Man, scoping jumps is a process. Sometimes, it’s as simple as looking at something and knowing. All of my jumps where I’m [jumping] from a building were first time attempts. I don’t feel there is a need to do the same thing twice on camera. I think thats why there is such a big variety in my selection. I don’t know, I felt it was time to start seeing what was possible. I’ve wondered about El Moro my whole life and I’ve heard nothing of anyone jumping the top. So I hit it, I don’t know. That was heavy. Also I had the clip for a while before posting it.

Surfheater: What did your dad say to you at the hospital?

That’s a random question. I wonder why you ask that because both times he came in he was acting like a total dick to me. He didn’t even ask how I was doing of even say hi for that matter. He got all mad at me, which in turn, got me all heated and told him to leave on both occasions.

Surfheater: You mentioned to KCal9 you were thinking of jumping the Golden Gate Bridge. What motivates you?

The Golden Gate Bridge is insane. It’s 220 feet up with a 2% survival rate. I kind of joke about it because I know how big it is and Tosh.0 made fun of it and I think it would be savage to shit on his face. Who knows though?

Continue reading “The Laguna Jumper Interview: “When I Jumped It I Knew I Was Screwed” (Exclusive Photos)” →