A. J. Hackett | |
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 Hackett in 2017 | |
| Born | Allan John Hackett May 1958 (age 66) Pukekohe, New Zealand |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Commercialisation of bungy jumping |
| Relatives | Margaux Hackett (daughter) |
Allan John "A. J." Hackett ONZM (born May 1958) is a New Zealand entrepreneur who popularised the extreme sport of bungy jumping. He made a bungy jump from the Eiffel Tower in 1987 and founded the first commercial bungy site in 1988. His daughter is freestyle skier, Margaux Hackett. [1]
Hackett was born in Pukekohe, and grew up on Auckland's North Shore. [2] He attended Westlake Boys High School between 1972 and 1974, where he played rugby union. [3] He left school at the age of sixteen to serve an apprenticeship as a carpenter-joiner. [3] During this time he took up snowboarding and skiing. He moved to Perth where he sold encyclopaedias for four months, later returning to New Zealand to set up a construction business. [3]
Inspired by the Vanuatu ritual called land diving and the Oxford University Dangerous Sports Club experimental jumps in the 1970s, Hackett and fellow adventurer Chris Sigglekow, sought ways to make bungy jumping safe. Using a mathematical formula developed by New Zealand's Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, he created a super-stretchy elastic bungy cord in the mid-1980s. [4]
In November 1986, Hackett, along with Sigglekow, performed his first amateur bungy jump from the Upper Harbour Bridge (Greenhithe Bridge) in Auckland, [3] [5] citing it as "one of the most riveting experiences of my life." Following this Hackett made jumps from a bridge in Hamilton, the Auckland Harbour Bridge and other bridges in the North Island. [6] These first jumps were made using a parachute harness; however, Hackett created a method where the harness was tied to the ankle and demonstrated its use by jumping off the Auckland Harbour Bridge a second time. [6]
Hackett travelled to Paris in 1986 as part of the New Zealand Speed Skiing Team. While there he jumped off the 147 metres (482 ft) Pont de la Caille and a cable car at the Tignes ski resort. [6] He made what became a famous bungy jump off the Eiffel Tower in Paris on 26 June 1987, [4] receiving a brief jail sentence for the illegal feat and generating international attention to the sport. [6]
Back in New Zealand, Hackett launched his own company, AJ Hackett Bungy, and created a site on the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge in Queenstown in 1988 to become the world's first commercial public bungy. [7] [8] He later expanded his company by founding bungy sites in Australia, France (Souleuvre Viaduct in Normandy), Germany, the United States, Mexico, Indonesia, and Macau. [2] [6] [9] [10] He is credited with launching New Zealand's adventure tourism industry [11] and helping to develop a safe code of operation for bungy jumping in use internationally. [2] [3] Hackett initially partnered with Henry van Asch, but the two split in 1997 with van Asch taking over the New Zealand-based business. [12]
In 2006 Hackett published his autobiography, Jump Start, which chronicles his bungy jumping adventures. [4]
Hackett is widely known for his many bungy stunts that have earned him Guinness records and personal milestones, including:
On 6 November 2007, Hackett was honoured by New Zealand television show This Is Your Life . [13]
His company, AJ Hackett Bungy, was recognised by Westpac Queenstown Chamber of Commerce with a Business Excellence Award in the large business category. [14]
In the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours, Hackett was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to adventure tourism. [15]
BASE jumping is the recreational sport of jumping from fixed objects, using a parachute to descend to the ground. BASE is an acronym that stands for four categories of fixed objects from which one can jump: buildings, antennas, spans (bridges) and earth (cliffs). Participants jump from a fixed object such as a cliff and after an optional freefall delay deploy a parachute to slow their descent and land. A popular form of BASE jumping is wingsuit BASE jumping.
The Eiffel Tower is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889.
Bungee jumping, also spelled bungy jumping, is an activity that involves a person jumping from a great height while connected to a large elastic cord. The launching pad is usually erected on a tall structure such as a building or crane, a bridge across a deep ravine, or on a natural geographic feature such as a cliff. It is also possible to jump from a type of aircraft that has the ability to hover above the ground, such as a hot-air-balloon or helicopter. The thrill comes from the free-falling and the rebound. When the person jumps, the cord stretches and the jumper flies upwards again as the cord recoils, and continues to oscillate up and down until all the kinetic energy is dissipated.
The Sky Tower is a telecommunications and observation tower in Auckland, New Zealand. Located at the corner of Victoria and Federal Streets within the city's CBD, it is 328 metres (1,076 ft) tall, as measured from ground level to the top of the mast, making it the second tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere, surpassed only by the Autograph Tower in Jakarta, Indonesia, and the 28th tallest tower in the world. Since its completion in 1997, the Sky Tower has become an iconic landmark in Auckland's skyline, due to its height and design. It was the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere from 1996 to 2022.
The Macau Tower Convention and Entertainment Center, also known as Macau Tower, is a tower located in Sé, Macau. The tower measures 338 m (1,109 ft) in height from ground level to the highest point. Its observation deck features views, restaurants, theaters, shopping malls and the Skywalk X, a walking tour around the outer rim. It offers the best view of Macau and in recent years has been used for a variety of adventurous activities. At 233 meters (764 ft), the Macau Tower's tethered "skyjump" and Bungee jump by AJ Hackett from the tower's outer rim, is the highest commercial skyjump in the world, and is also the second highest commercial decelerator descent facility in the world, after Vegas' Stratosphere skyjump at 252 meters (827 ft).
The Auckland Harbour Bridge is an eight-lane motorway bridge over the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It joins St Marys Bay on the Auckland city side with Northcote on the North Shore side. It is part of State Highway 1 and the Auckland Northern Motorway. The bridge is operated by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA). It is the second-longest road bridge in New Zealand, and the longest in the North Island.
The Kawarau River is a river in the South Island of New Zealand. It drains Lake Wakatipu in northwestern Otago via the lake's Frankton Arm. The river flows generally eastwards for about 60 kilometres (37 mi) and passes through the steep Kawarau Gorge until it joins Lake Dunstan near Cromwell. Before the construction of the Clyde High Dam, the Kawarau joined the Clutha River / Mata-Au in a spectacular confluence at Cromwell. The Shotover River enters the Kawarau from the north; the Nevis River enters it from the south. With many rapids and strong currents, the river can be dangerous and has claimed many lives. It is popular for bungy jumping and kayaking.
Lake Wakatipu is an inland lake in the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the southwest corner of the Otago region, near its boundary with Southland. Lake Wakatipu comes from the original Māori name Whakatipu wai-māori.
The Nevis River is in Otago, New Zealand. It flows north for 40 kilometres (25 mi) through rough country before meeting the Kawarau River, of which it is a tributary. A prominent rock outcrop close to this junction is known as the Nevis Bluff.
The Upper Harbour Bridge is a motorway bridge in west Auckland, New Zealand. It is technically two bridges, spanning the Upper Waitematā Harbour, and connecting Hobsonville and Greenhithe. It is an important connection for State Highway 18, and became even more important as a component of the Western Ring Route when the route was completed on 2 July 2017.
The Nevis Bungy is a bungee jumping platform in the Southern Alps near Queenstown in New Zealand's South Island. It is the third highest bungee jumping platform in the world at a height of 134 metres. It is suspended by high-tension cords, which are fixed at both ends on either side of the Nevis River valley. Its glass floor allows spectators to watch others jump. This makes it a main tourist attraction for those visiting Queenstown.
The Kawarau Gorge is a major river gorge created by the Kawarau River in Central Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. The towns of Queenstown and Cromwell are linked by State Highway 6 through the gorge.
The Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge spans the Kawarau River in the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The bridge is mainly used for commercial purposes by the AJ Hackett Bungy Company for bungy jumping - the world's first commercial bungy jumping site. The bridge carries walkers, runners and bikers on the Queenstown Trail over the river.
Bloukrans Bridge Bungy is one of the world's highest commercial bungy jumping sites at 216 metres (709 ft) above the Bloukrans River. It is situated at Bloukrans Bridge on the N2 Highway at the border between the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape in the Tsitsikamma area of South Africa's Garden Route. It has been operated by Face Adrenalin commercially since 1997.
The Queenstown Trail is a cycle and walking trail funded as one of the projects of the New Zealand Cycle Trail (NZCT) system in Otago, New Zealand. It links the towns of Queenstown, Arrowtown, the suburb of Jack's Point and the area of Gibbston. It is at least 110 km in length but is not linear and instead follows the terrain often near rivers and lakes to link key places in a series of tracks that also access public land. In some places it also passes through private land such as working farms and users are encouraged to stay on the trail. The trail is a joint venture between the Government, Queenstown Lakes District Council and the Queenstown Trails Trust.
Trojan Holdings is a major privately held New Zealand tourism company, based in Queenstown.
Sir John Stratton Davies is a New Zealand businessman and a former mayor of Queenstown. Through Trojan Holdings Ltd, he is a major owner of South Island tourism companies.
Naturism refers to a lifestyle of practising non-sexual social nudity in private and in public, and to the cultural movement which advocates and defends that lifestyle. Both are also known as "nudism". Naturist organisations have existed in New Zealand since the 1930s. Although not a daily feature of public life, social nudity is practised in a variety of other contexts in New Zealand culture.
The 1984 New Zealand bravery awards were announced via a Special Honours List on 13 December 1984, and recognised ten people for acts of bravery between 1982 and 1984.
Margaux Hackett is a New Zealand freestyle skier who competes internationally. She represented New Zealand in the slopestyle and big air events at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.
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