Did you ever wonder what it was like to be a stuntman (or stuntwoman)? Well, now you can find out. StuntWorld Action Camp offers you the chance to try a number of different stunts. Chuck Borden, an active stuntman, leads all this insanity. A number of other stuntmen help out. The stunts vary from class to class; I got to try the following: Slide for Life. This is also known as a zip line. It involves hanging on a hand trolley from a wire, perhaps 10 or 15 feet above the floor. This is a pretty common feature of many outdoor adventure tours. While I wouldn't recommend it as a featured item, it was a good way to get everybody used to each other. Rappelling. If you've gone rock climbing or canyoneering, then you've probably already done this. I wasn't very excited by the prospect of this stunt, but it was better than I expected. We got to try different kinds of rappels. My favorite was rappelling upside down (think Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible) - very disorienting! Fight Choreography, aka Bar Room Brawls. I was even less excited about this stunt, but again I was surprised. I learned how to give and take fake punches and kicks, which was mildly interesting. The *really* interesting part involved furniture. I learned how to get thrown onto a dining table, and how to get thrown onto and over a bar. This was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, one of my falls was improper, and I broke a leg -- a leg of the dining table, that is. Sorry, StuntWorld! Wire Work. Well, rope work, actually. This kind of stunt is fairly new, and a little hard to explain. I was fitted into a variant of a rock climbing harness. In this case, the harness works right side up or upside down, and there were ropes connected to the harness at my left and right hip -- kind of like a swing, but with the ropes angled outward. I learned how to do such things as back flips and the old I'm-flying-like-Superman pose. If you've ever seen a movie where someone does an exaggerated leg kick, followed by a back flip -- well, I got to do that too. Hard to describe, but a lot of fun. If you have a tendency to get motion sick, consider taking Dramamine! The class is very expensive: $400 for half a day, or $725 for a full day. Was it worth it? To me, definitely yes. At that price, I probably won't be returning soon, but as a special one time experience, it was great! *The Fine Print* This is a very new venture; the class I attended was one of the very first held. Don't be surprised if things evolve as time goes by. One thing to keep an eye on is class size. The web site says that minimum class size is 8 people, with 20 as the maximum. My class had only 4 people, which allowed for lots of personal attention, and plenty of time for each of us to actually do stunts (4 stunts instead of the promised 2). I don't know what it would be like if there were 15 or 20 people in the class. It's very hard to find the building. The address seems easy, but the building is well hidden off the street, addresses are not consecutive or well posted, and there's no sign for StuntWorld. Make sure to get detailed written directions. read more

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