Forward motion, headfirst & horizontal to gravity!

May 2009 Blog Posts (7)

An International Victory for Free Flowing Stretches of Whitewater

Recently while browsing the internet, I found some great news from the area of China that I used to live in. For a long time, a hydroelectric company and government officials had moved ahead to build a dam downstream of the famed Tiger Leaping Gorge on the Yangtze river. The rationale for this dam was that it was needed for both additional hydroelectric power and to provide flood control to support a dam downstream at the city of Pan Zhi Hua and the massive 3 Gorges Dam.

While most… Continue

Added by Kevin Yount on May 29, 2009 at 5:00pm — 2 Comments

Paddling flat water in the Ski to Sea

I have a whole new appreciation for whitewater. It moves. Flat water moves, but at such a slow pace, it seems to take forever. We had a tiny, tiny rapid near the start of the race, but most of it was what I called class 0, or even negative 1. The only hazards were low hanging branches, and not being able to steer the canoe properly. We only rode up a bank once in a steering mishap. The branches that were over the quicker flow near the banks were thin and easy to navigate, yet, this was… Continue

Added by Rochelle Parry on May 26, 2009 at 5:00am — No Comments

Empathizing with "spongers" & the best training for riverboarding

So I went bodyboarding today in Dominical, Costa Rica. It's a well-known surf town in Costa, as you can surf pretty much every day, year round. It's not always big, but there's always waves, somewhere in the area. And when it does go off, it's huge.

I like to surf. The stand-up kind. I kinda learned how during my time living in San Diego, and have gotten better down here.

I like to swim, too, and go out and attempt to bodysurf. Dom isn't really a good place for that, as… Continue

Added by Josh Galt on May 26, 2009 at 1:30am — 3 Comments

The Cheat Fest Weekend.

Each year during the first weekend of May, whitewater users in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions converge on northern West Virigina for American Whitewater's Cheat Fest, hosted by Friends of the Cheat. The festival highlights efforts to protect the water quality of the Cheat watershed and protect access.

Bryce and I went up on Friday night to board for the weekend. We were thrilled that it rained most of Friday night even if we were sleeping under a leaky picnic shelter behind a… Continue

Added by Kevin Yount on May 22, 2009 at 2:00am — 1 Comment

UCWWF

So what does that stand for, University of California World Wrestling Federation? Nah, it's the Upper Clackamas White Water Festival, of course! It was their 25th year, and it was quite a turn out. The event had racers for every craft imaginable, even ones that were probably probably never intended to navigate holes that could eat a cow. There were, however, no inflatable dragons, at least during the time I was watching.

I left my hometown of Bellingham at 7:20am on Friday and made… Continue

Added by Rochelle Parry on May 19, 2009 at 12:35am — 2 Comments

Vampire 3 First Flight!!

After a frustrating few weeks of waiting for my work schedule and the weather to cooperate, I was finally able to make it up to Skydive Ogden to take the new "Face Level" suit for its first flight. Since my focus for the past few years had been on wingsuit BASE jumping, I had to jump through a few logistical hoops before I was able to get in the air. Earlier that day I had to renew my membership with the United States Parachuting Association,… Continue

Added by Neil Amonson on May 3, 2009 at 4:30pm — 3 Comments

Katherine Melo Bodyboarding video

http://waves.terra.com.br/novo/layout4.asp?id=36045&sessao=8

The big close-out maneuvers must have been a thrill to watch in person.
That lip looked scary to me!

Added by Rochelle Parry on May 1, 2009 at 9:30pm — No Comments