Deep-water soloing (DWS) (also known as psicobloc) is a form of solo rock climbing, practiced on sea cliffs at high tide, that relies solely upon the presence of water at the base of a climb to protect against injury from the generally high difficulty routes. Although this is viewed as a relatively new style of climbing, it probably originated in the late 1960s or early 1970s in Dorset, Southern England or Majorca. Real development of the style began in the mid-late 1990s, and is progressing to this day.
Normally a dinghy is used to pick up the fallen climber as a fall from a taller route can still knock him/her out, causing them to drown.
This type of climbing is most famously practiced on the coasts of Dorset and Devon, but also in the Calanques near Marseille, around the Southern Pembrokeshire coast, parts of Ireland, Sardinia, Majorca, Spain, Greece, and many other climbing areas.
The practice of Deep-water Soloing in Majorca has its roots in the late 1970s. In 1978, Miquel Riera became frustrated with the aid climbing routes in his local area, so he went to Porto Pi, Palma with his friends Jaume Payeras, Eduardo Moreno and Pau Bover in order to find routes that they could free climb. This became Majorca's first bouldering venue, and as time went Riera progressed onto the short sea cliffs near there. It was named "Psicobloc", which, when translated literally into English, means "Psycho Bouldering". During the 1980s psicobloc was overshadowed by sport climbing, which was growing greatly in popularity, but this did not stop Riera from continuing his obsession, as he put up many new routes and published articles in the Spanish climbing press.