Wow that was just awesome. Most climbing comps are utterly uninteresting to watch.
And, I have heard both reasons for water jets in high diving. I think i remember that they add air into the water to make it softer and let the falling person better judge the distance. In high diving I think it is more a matter of the former, and in this I think it would be the latter, since at the comp the jet isn't really near enough or strong enough to the impact point to do much else of anything.