All he could see were the rocky cliffs opposite and the blue sky above as he stood on the roof of the long-abandoned building in Xemxija.
“Every new jump brings an element of fear,” said Sacha Powell, before flashing a cocky teenage smile that suggested otherwise.
The sunburnt 18-year-old took a deep breath, then ran towards the edge of the roof and leapt.
For the umpteenth time that day, the 18-year-old Briton cleared the rocks below at Fekruna Bay and landed in the sea, to cheers from his fellow daredevils and the assembled crew of local teens.
Sacha is a member of the eight-strong Storror Parkour team based in southeast England.
Storror Parkour were in Malta recently to shoot their second cliff-jumping video – their first was filmed in Malta last summer and became a You Tube sensation.
To date, it has been viewed more than 78,000 times, but the footage of the young Brits leaping from cliffs and the 25-metre-high Azure Window provoked admiration and condemnation in equal measure, with critics in Malta claiming they were setting a dangerous example.
“It’s not reckless,” insisted Max Cave, 20. “Before any jump we check water, check the takeoff, make sure we can get out safely... we know what we’re doing.”
“We’re not stupid,” added 18-year-old Drew Taylor. “We want to keep living to have fun, so we’re not going to do anything we’re not 100 per cent sure about.”
Amazingly, the group – aged between 18 and 22 – only went cliff-jumping for the first time last summer when they filmed their first Malta video.
Before that, the highest any of them had jumped into water was five metres from a swimming pool diving board.
All members of the team are experienced parkour and free-running athletes. They are booked for professional media and performance work and travel around Europe shooting videos.
The acrobatic nature of parkour and free-running – leaping over, through and around obstacles and across large gaps – meant they took to cliff-jumping easily.
“On our first trip here we pushed ourselves and pushed each other.
“We started low and built up throughout the week,” said Max.
As members of the crew talk one by one to The Times, others are hurling themselves off the roof or doing back flips off the rocks.
They had a busy itinerary for the week ahead that involved filming stunts every day.
“This film will be even better than the last one because already we’re doing jumps that we didn’t manage till the very end of our last trip,” promised 18-year-old Toby Segar, before flinging himself off the rocks again.
Growing up together in West Sussex, the team said they don’t feel peer-pressured into doing jumps they are not comfortable with, though all named Sacha as the biggest risk-taker – he even managed a flip off the Azure Window for their latest film.
Are their parents concerned when they visit Malta to film heart-stopping leaps into the sea?
“They were quite shocked when they saw the arch (Azure Window) footage last time,” laughed Max. “But they are used to us doing parkour, so they trust us.”
What do they get out of cliff-jumping?
“It’s the sense of achievement,” said Toby. “Being able to overcome mental barriers. That’s what it’s all about.”
The team left Malta on September 4 and their latest Malta video will be released at 5pm today on www.youtube.com/storrorblog.
These are experienced parkour and free-running athletes. Do not try to emulate them.