Archive for August, 2008

MIf he’s successful, the 31-year-old trial lawyer from Des Moines will be the first American to achieve both feats. Only three others have done it, an accomplishment known as the peak and the pond.

“It’s a challenge that’s been floating around in adventure circles for a while now,” Wittmack said in a telephone interview from England while waiting for seas to calm enough for his attempt.

If the weather cooperates, Wittmack plans to dive into the waters of the English Channel about 10 a.m. Friday at Shakespeare Beach in Dover. He hopes to climb out of the channel on the French coast about 12 hours later. For Wittmack, it’s his latest venture into the world of extreme sports.

On May 22, 2003, he reached the summit of Mt. Everest. He trained seven years for the climb and once there, he found himself in what he said were the worst conditions ever recorded on the mountain.

“I spent three days without food or water and a day without oxygen above 20,000 feet,” Wittmack said.

The conditions in the English Channel should be considerably better, but not without risk.

“We expect the water to be up to 67 degrees this week — at that level hypothermia is still a major concern,” said Wittmack.

Wittmack, who swam for Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, began training for the channel swim about three years ago. For the past six months, he’s been training four hours a day, most of it swimming. He has been swimming every other weekend in either Lake Michigan or Lake Superior, and he’s competed in a 12{-mile race in Key West, Fla.

He said his experience on Everest inspired him to attempt the channel crossing.

“I realized after that that my body was predisposed for climbing at higher elevations,” he said. “After Everest I wanted to try something that would be as great a challenge and I decided on the English Channel.”

Michael Reed, president of the Channel Swimming Association, confirmed Wittmack would be the first American to accomplish both feats. The other swimmers were from Britain, Greece and Mexico.

Wittmack said plenty of people in adventure circles consider the dual challenge, but few have attempted both.

“The reason it’s difficult is because of the body’s physiology,” he said.

Wittmack said climbers, such as himself, tend to be shorter with less body fat and a high weight-to-strength ratio. By comparison, long distance swimmers tend to have higher body fat, which makes them more buoyant, and taller with longer limbs to help propel themselves through the water faster.

Randy Clark, the manager of the exercise science laboratory at the University of Wisconsin Hospital Sports Medicine Center in Madison, Wis., said that while mountain climbers and distance swimmers tend to have different physical characteristics, there is an underlying similarity.

“There is some cross over in physiological and psychological makeup,” he said. “Anybody that is able to climb Mt. Everest or do anything that is highly physically demanding over a long period of time, it takes incredible cardiovascular fitness, and I would say the same about swimming the English Channel.

“You can’t underestimate the need for incredible cardiovascular fitness to pull off either of those events, let alone both,” Clark said.”

Wittmack arrived in England nearly two weeks ago and in his first practice swim in the colder water his legs “seized up.”

Oh, Oh, that doesn’t sound too good……….but less us hope he is better acclimatised when he sets out and to give you an idea of the challenge that Charlie has set himself I have included this YouTube video of Edward Williams’ Channel crossing in August 2006 – great commentary and love the opening line to the video – PAIN IS TEMPORARY – GLORY IS FOREVER.

Good luck Charlie.

Thanks to Michael J. Crumb of the Chicago Tribune.com for the article and to edward5930 for the video.

“It’s bungee jumping for rich people” says John Logsdon of the Space Policy Instute, whilst talking about space tourism.

This is our slightly off-the-wall article for the week!

In Mojave, California the space tourism race marked a milestone as British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and American aerospace designer Burt Rutan waved to a crowd from inside the cabin of an exotic jet that will carry a passenger spaceship to launch altitude.

The photo-op was the public unveiling of the White Knight Two mothership before a crowd of engineers, dignitaries and space enthusiasts at the Mojave Air & Space Port in the high desert north of Los Angeles.

White Knight Two, billed as the world’s largest all-carbon-composite airplane, is “one of the most beautiful and extraordinary aviation vehicles ever developed,” Branson proclaimed.

Space buffs are scoffing that suborbital flights are really just a ’sideshow to the large-scale exploration of space’. Now that tourism down here on terra firma has been conquered (or nearly) some people are looking ahead to the ’space race’, and … colonization.

Imagine floating out there in space, at zero gravity, and gazing back at the small brightly coloured ball that is our planet.

According to the Space Tourism Society, millions of people would love to have this experience and they intend to “make space tourism possible, to as many people as possible, as soon as possible”.

On 28th April, 2001, Dennis Tito, a Californian based multi-millionaire, became the first ever space tourist. Launched into space in a Russian Soyuz capsule, Tito proved that travelling beyound earth’s gravity was not just the province of a select few, but that anyone with drive, determination and, at this point in history, a LOT of money, could become an astronaut!

As of 2008, orbital space tourism opportunities are limited and expensive, with only the Russian Space Agency providing transport. The price for a flight brokered by Space Adventures to the International Space Station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft is now $20 million. Flights are fully booked until 2009.

Space tourism will rank as THE ultimate status symbol.

Once travel to orbit becomes a commercial service, the question of how to get to space will be mainly one of saving up for a ticket – or looking for work in one of the many space hotels that will be built. Space offers unique pleasures including the view, and zero gravity activities that provide a whole range of things to do on an orbital holiday – including space sports.

Space tourism, still a fledgling industry, born out of necessity, yet driven by the same curiosity and ambition that took us to the Moon – appears to be here to stay. In Russia, Europe and the United States, private companies are already vying to become space tourism leaders.

I think a trip to space would most certainly classify as an extreme vacation – perhaps THE extreme vacation.

Extreme winter sports enthusiasts are being urged to check their travel insurance policies before heading overseas, as many will not cover skiers for off-piste activities, experts have warned.

High-adrenaline sports such as heli-skiing or glacier skiing are becoming more popular with those looking for a bit more excitement from their winter sports holidays, although Peter Gerrard, researchers at price comparison site moneysupermarket.com, has warned that some insurers will not cover you for certain sports.

“Some insurers cover you off-piste, some will cover you a certain number of metres from a run, others won’t cover you at all,” he said.

He also warned that skiers whose holiday is cut short because of the weather can also claim on their travel insurance for piste closure, but that they should always check beforehand to see what they are entitled too.

He added that, while many policies will pay out around £20 to £30 for each day of closure to cover travelling costs, “many insurers only pay out between January 1st and April 1st, which is no use if you are planning to ski over Christmas”.

Thanks to WorldFirst for this great advice and for your pleasure and enjoyment I have included a YouTube video by jogirl75 of the kind of activity that may well have your insurance company quibbling over a claim – but looking at the almost tangible excitement on the faces of those individuals in the video as they ski on Mount Cook in New Zealand, having been dropped at their start off point by helicopter, it sure looks like a run that you could not afford to miss. So just don’t have an accident!

Here are some suggestions on what kit to purchase if you are getting into kite surfing. We would like to emphasize that you should rent or hire the kit for as long as possible before launching into what can soon add up to significant expenditure. Make sure that you are committed to the sport and the initial enthusiasm does not wane. Further you will find that as your competency increases so does your appetite for newer and better equipment. It is therefore better to learn using someone else’s kit – until you have a proper understanding of the exact kite and board that will suit your level of skill.

I’ve also included a video by genocide696 of world champion Aaron Hadlow strutting his stuff on a Flexifoil – which just goes to show that even world champions take a few tumbles in getting to be a world champion. Thanks also go to Dan Doubleday of 2Atricles.com for the article on what kit to buy.

You have done a kite surfing course or two and understand the danger. You have been out on a few day trip by yourself and rented the equipment. Now it’s time to sort yourself out with your own gear but with the initial high cost you want to break it down into affordable chunks, so how should you buy your kite surfing gear?

Any purchase you make should first be selected on safety and quality. Failure of any kite surfing gear while racing across the sea at high speeds is never what you want. The order of gear listed here is only a suggestion in which you should purchase the stuff you need. Obviously getting the lot at one time could save you money, by asking for a discount in the store, but you should also consider looking at used gear. Sometimes you could save a large amount of cash on an item and the saving opens up your choice on another item.

The first item you should look for is a Wet suit. You can spend long periods of time in the water sorting out your lines or you may lose your kite and have to either swim to shore or to the kite both of which may be a long way off. A wetsuit not only provides add thermal protection in can also provide extra buoyancy. When looking for your wetsuit also look about for some water shoes for added comfort on cold days.

Most kite surfers now wear crash helmets when trying out new locations or stunts. If you are unsure of what is exactly below the water surface this piece of equipment could save your life. If you are surfing close to rocks, same thing and if you are trying out something you have never done before there is always a possibility your board will attack you.

Depending of your level of skill or even the location your are kite surfing you may want a life jacket to keep you afloat and help while swimming for your kite, or to the shore.

You will want a board-leash very early in your purchasing list as this is the only thing that keeps your board on your feet should you fall off it. This will save you watching your board sail off into the sunset while you sit on the beach!

All kites should have a safety release system attached, never buy a kite with a working safety release system. This is a strap that’s attached around your wrist and to the control bar. A safety release can be 2 or 4 line and will disable the kite when you stop holding the control bar. The systems have a safety leash attaching to your left wrist (or harness) to allow you to retrieve the control bar.

Once you have all the safety gear you can focus on the big stuff: a kite and board.

Your choice in what kite to buy will not be an easy one and you should research it well. You will want a kite that you can launch, or re-launch, from the water. A kite that can provide enough lift to allow you to perform jumps and stunts and also good power control. Inflatable kites, single skin framed kites and ram air foil kites can all be launched from within the water, but offer different performance and power controls. There will be kites more suitable for the beginner and offer more safety and control features than others and their will be kites for the professional competition kite surfers that know how to get every last ounce of energy of them. Your choice in kite is not one you should rush into. Talk with your instructor and some other Kite surfers before choosing yours.

Your final piece of kite surfing gear is the board. Similar to the kite you should do some research about the best board for you, but unlike the kites most boards have similar features. They should be rigid and have a harness for your feet to keep the board under you! The board leash will has been recommended above.

Kite surfing is an extreme sport that requires professional training and good equipment for your safety. Never rush into a purchase and always research the various makes and models available to you. The longer you leave buying kite surfing gear the more chance you may have of trying out different systems before you buy them.

The fastest man in the world who on his own set two world records at 100m and 200m and with the help of his team mates in the 4 x 100m set a third world record – so respect indeed – a truly awesome example and what struck me in the many interviews since was that he talked about this achievement was the result of hard work. It may sound obvious, its just two words – hard work – but take them on board and apply them to your chosen field of expertise and then become your own world record holder.

Well done and congratulations Usain – respect man – you ran like a leopard.

Thanks to clickJamaicadotcom and Imranpirishah for the YouTube videos – enjoy!

Although we are deeply sorry for what happened to Kevin we and a number of other reporters of this incident believe that Kevin had totally failed to switch on his brain when he decided to go kite surfing at Fort Lauderdale last week on the day that tropical storm Fay came on shore.

Come on guys – it upsets us that we have to write too often about a fatal accident or near fatal accident but really the notion of kite surfing in a tropical storm should be a no brainer – but I’m afraid there are some people like Kevin for whom even a ‘no brainer’ is not sufficient – and why should the ’state’ nanny us more than they do already.

I have not been able to find any news on Kevin’s current condition, but will report if there is any development – as can be seen on the YouTube video from fatimajamil5 below, Kevin, not surprisingly is in a critical condition – we do wish him a full and speedy recovery.

And so we have posted this blog to show you just what can happen when you try and play with the forces of mother nature – wind speed after all is one of the golden rules of kite surfing – know it and respect it.

Check out the vid – poor bloke.

As the wonderful games draw to a close I know that there will be continuing debate for many years to come on who was the greatest Olympian of 2008 – how do you quantify and qualify for such honour – is it the number of gold medals an individual has won, is it the number of world records broken or could it be awarded to an individual who has played to the best of his or her ability and at the same time demonstrated a degree of honour and sportsmanship never before seen. We do not profess to know the answer – yes the debate will go on and we can for now savour what has been a fantastic Olympic games – so goodbye Beijing and congratulations China.

I am pleased to show you below a great compilation of one contender for the greatest Olympian ever – yes Michael Phelps certainly has every right to be considered for that title – I can only congratulate him and say I have so much respect for this truly great Olympian – thanks IMRANPIRISHAH for this great YouTube video.

You’ve got to love the Wall Street Journal cos when I pick something up from their reporters it is so darn good – big shout of thanks for this article by Stephanie Kang for what you read below, fascinating stuff – and also to xllRAPST4Rllx for the You Tube video you will find below.

They flew down a 30-foot ramp, jostling for position along steep ramps and dirt moguls. They drew the biggest crowd reactions when they crashed.

Getty Images

Jill Kintner of the United States leads in the Women’s BMX semifinals Friday. Ms. Kintner won the bronze medal.

In its Olympic debut, bicycle motocross racing had something to prove to fans of the five rings, especially to those who wondered how BMX racing reached the Summer Games before far more popular action-sport siblings like skateboarding.

“This is our chance to show the world what BMX is about,” said U.S. racer Kyle Bennett, who competed Friday despite a dislocated shoulder. (He didn’t place in the top three, though two American men and one American woman won medals.)

Fans seemed appreciative, bopping to a mix of punk, rock and hip-hop blaring over the loudspeakers at the Laoshan BMX track.

“I used to do BMX when I was a kid so it’s cool to see this,” says Andreas Enderson, a design student from Los Angeles who was milling around between races, looking for a beer. “But you know that this is nothing compared to skateboarding. That should be here.”

Bicycle motocross racing isn’t the most popular action sport. It’s not even the biggest BMX discipline — that distinction goes to the BMX freestyle riders whose tricks send them soaring, spinning and flipping into the air.

Unlike youth sports such as skateboarding and freestyle, however, BMX racing is highly organized. The discipline boasts a network of groups and rules that have regulated the sport for decades. Standardization may not be sexy, but it has helped the little sport reach the Summer Olympics before any of its flashier competitors.

“We knew where we wanted to be and we knew the steps it would take,” says Bob Tedesco, a former drag racer who has been promoting BMX racing since the 1970s. “Freestyle and skateboarding was more like a cult. They never could get together.”

Mr. Tedesco is one of a handful of BMX enthusiasts around the world who have been on a decades-long quest to get to the Olympics. He says he first heard talk about BMX and the Games from George Esser, another fellow racer who founded one of the first BMX groups in 1974.

In his career in the U.S. Air Force, Mr. Esser had watched races around the world. It wasn’t long after his sons started BMX racing that he started “constantly” talking about the Olympics, recalls his son Greg.

“‘This is going to be in the Olympics one day,’” Greg remembers his father proclaiming. “As a 16-year-old kid you think you know it all, and I’m just like, ‘Yeah right, what are you smoking?’”

To make it into the Games, a new sport must meet a laundry list of requirements from the International Olympic Committee. Sports must be regulated by international federations that run world competitions and include member countries with their own national federations. By the early 1980s, BMX racing was well on its way to ticking off those requirements. By contrast, an international governing body for skateboarding wouldn’t come together for about another decade, a major disadvantage considering the glacial pace at which Olympic sports are added.

BMX racing started about 40 years ago in Southern California, when kids began mimicking motocross racers on their Schwinn Sting-Ray bicycles. Informal races quickly led to the creation of bicycle racing leagues around the country, which put on races for kids. In 1971, Bruce Brown’s motorcycle film “On Any Sunday” opened with a shot of kids BMX racing, kick-starting a wave of popularity for the nascent sport.

BMX racing also made the strategic decision to be acquired by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the powerful, long-standing international cycling governing body. By then racers from about 30 countries were participating in a world tour of BMX racing events.

“They, of course, dreamt about going to the Olympics, that’s for sure,” says Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the coordination commission for the Beijing Olympic Games and former president of UCI. “They realized also that they would never make it. It would be much better to be attached to an international federation recognized already by the IOC.”

Meanwhile, NBC, which broadcasts the Games in the U.S., and the IOC were hungering for youth-oriented sports to lure younger viewers to the Games. Their first attempt with snowboarding a resounding success, NBC and the IOC began asking international federations for options in the Summer Games. Research showed that younger people were interested in new disciplines, including BMX and skateboarding, says Mr. Verbruggen.

“The problem with skateboarding is that skateboarding is not organized,” he says.

BMX racing was a ready solution. “We were the only discipline that had our act together,” says Mr. Tedesco. “Not that our ratings were high, but we had all of the pieces that they needed.”

While both are considered action sports, BMX racing and skateboarding have very different personalities.

Bicycle motocross racing was “very organized,” says Dave Carnie, a former editor of a skateboarding magazine who is now on the board of directors for USA Skateboarding. “There’s a place you have to do it, there’s uniforms, there’s rules. Skateboarding had no rules. I could do it whenever I want, wherever I want and however I want.”

And the two aren’t created equal. Skateboarding superstar Tony Hawk has his own skate tour, videos and line of shoes, apparel and accessories, part of a plan to tap into the 11 million people in the U.S. who skateboard and the many more who dress like they do. Few people, even in the action-sports world, would recognize top BMX racers like Donny Robinson and Mike Day. BMX racing isn’t even in the X Games.

Still, entry into the Olympics has pumped new life into the sport. The United States Olympic Committee built a replica track of the Olympic course in Chula Vista, Calif. Nike created a BMX shoe and sponsors BMX racing athletes.

Skateboarders and the IOC continue to discuss how to get the sport into the Games. One sticking point — whether skateboarding will become part of an existing federation or govern itself.

Skateboarding is trying to avoid the fate of snowboarding in its early days in the Olympics. Snowboarders boycotted the 1998 Winter Games after the IOC gave the international ski federation governing power over international snowboarding.

“When you say ‘organization’ you bring on adults and typically bring on old adults,” says Gary Ream, president of the International Skateboard Federation. “A young, relevant sport managed by old adults is a tough sell. They usually do more harm than good.”

Our congatulations to Usain Bolt for his incredible record 200m run of 19.30 seconds, thus breaking the venerable record set by Michael Jonhson 12 years ago.

Officially he won an incredible 0.66 second lead over Crawford (or 0.52 second lead over Martina), – about four body lengths, the biggest margin in an Olympic 200.

What an apt name for this superb athlete. I wonder if his parents ever imagined, some 22 years ago, that he was going to be a Bolt in name and a ‘bolt’ of lightning?!

But otherwise this superb race seems to have been marred with wrangles. Churandy Martina of the Dutch Antilles has been stripped of his Olympic 200m silver medal after the US team’s protest that he had run out of his lane was upheld.

The move deprives the Dutch Antilles of their first ever Olympic track and field medal, and sees 2004 Olympic champion Shawn Crawford of the United States take silver behind Jamaican Usain Bolt.

The US team had initially protested the disqualification of third American runner Wallace Spearmon, who had finished in bronze-medal position behind Bolt and Martina. But they ultimately accepted the decision that Spearmon had in fact crossed lanes.

To his credit, Crawford does not seem to have been over the moon about his silver medal , which he won at the expense of his fellow runner. “It feels like a charity case,” he said.

And, since we’re still in Zimbabwe, we must congratulate the Zimbabwean Brian Dzingai for being up there with the top 9 fastest 200m runners in the world. Although he didn’t get a medal he knows he is one of the fastest men over 200m. That must be a good feeling.