unusuaL sPorts - Tourism

Adventure
unusual sports
Always popular thrill seekers’ section is
dedicated this time to adrenaline sports
on land, under the water, as well as in the
sky. Ever heard of jumping stilts? Ever
tried heli-skiing? Thinking about exploring wrecks in the deep sea? Come and
read about these breathtaking fun activities.
Januar y, 2008
Adv e n t u r e : Unu su al spor ts
OUTRAGEOUS ADVENTURES:
BREATHTAKING WAYS
TO PUSH THE ENVELOPE
out of the plane,» he admits, recalling how he felt as he balanced in the doorway of the plane. «My biggest fear was being
alone under the parachute and not being able to successfully
land it.» He was surprised by how he felt as he tumbled toward
earth. «It does not feel like falling, just like a fan set on high. You
get a maximum adrenaline rush for that short period of time.
Foust was ecstatic when his parachute opened 5,500 feet. «I
am hooked,» he confesses. As of March, Foust had completed
67 jumps, sometimes doing up to six jumps in one day. «Skydiving is as dangerous as you make it. If you respect the sport and
follow the instructions, you will be just fine,» explains Adventure
Center Skydiving owner Tim Sayre. An air traffic controller for
15 years, Sayre started skydiving in 1983 and now has 8,000
jumps under his belt. He purchased the company in 2000. «Sky
diving is a confidence-builder for sure,» Sayre notes. «And
there is no age limit: we recently had a Bay Area woman who
was celebrating her 96th birthday with a tandem skydive.»
Land lover adventures: How fast can you go?
Spend a long weekend in Napa in California and you might
visit some wineries, relax at a spa and shop at some boutiques.
Or, if that sounds a bit prosaic, why not learn to drive one of the
fastest cars on earth? That’s what Cathy Sivori did to celebrate
her 39th birthday. At the Jim Russell Racing School, which is
located at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Sivori signed up
for the Half Day Jim Russell Test Drive and learned how to drive
a Formula Mitsubishi racecar, which can reach speeds of up to
200 miles per hour.
«I knew that these cars are set up to go really fast,» said
Sivori, who was nervous before the start of her test drive. A
fan of NASCAR racing and a frequent visitor to Sears Point,
she had never sat in a racecar. After reviewing the basics, including shifting, braking, the clutch and the gas, the instructors
explained the layout of the track and how to take corners. With
instructors on the track to monitor her Sivori climbed into the car
to check out Infineon’s technical and challenging road course,
which includes 13 turns and 150 feet of elevation.
«One of the hardest parts for me was not giving the car
enough gas before cornering,» said Sivori. «I was afraid the
car’s back end would slide out.» However, by the end of the
class, Sivori reached the maximum speed allowed for that
test drive: 80 miles an hour in fourth gear. «The half-day program is an opportunity for someone who’s always wanted to
Adventures in the sky: How high can you go?
Shawn Foust never intended to get hooked on skydiving. It all
started with an unusual present from his wife for his 32nd birthday: the chance to plunge from a plane flying at 15,000 feet. On
a clear day last November, the Seaside couple took a leap of
faith together and they both signed up for training at Adventure
Center Skydiving in Hollister. Foust, a federal agent with the
Department of Defense, and his wife, an Air Force captain at
Monterey’s Naval Postgraduate School, had never embarked
on anything like this, even during their military training.
«We took a day-long class and learned step-by-step on the
ground,» says Foust. «The instructors take you through drills in
the classroom, simulating what you will do later. We learned about
equipment and emergency procedures.» But nothing could have
fully prepared Foust for the moment before his first skydive.
«It was louder than I expected, with the 100-plus-miles-anhour winds roaring. I was nervous. It’s not a natural act to jump
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During the Wild Cave Tour, which spans from four to six hours,
a visitor will also see crystal clear lakes and may spot one of
nine species of bat, as well as salamanders and spiders that
dwell in the dark interior. The temperature remains a constant
49 degrees F.«That trip changed my life,» says Roberts. Now a
caving guide himself who goes on 15 caving trips a season, Big
Bill assures his clients that if he can squeeze his 6-foot-2-inch,
230-pound frame into a narrow underground passageway, they
can too.
Wet & wild adventure: How raging can you go?
Before her first whitewater raft trip on the upper Cache Creek
River in Northern California, Rachanee Sporl worried that her
boat would flip and she would hit her head on a rock. «I was a
little nervous,» confesses Sporl, 40, a Santa Cruz County resident who claims she is not the «adventurous type.» While her
worst fears did not materialize, her raft did indeed flip over–multiple times. «The churning whitewater was totally out of control
at times,» says her husband, Dan Sporl. «But the guides told
us what to do when your boat capsizes: keep your feet up.»
The Sporls had so much fun on that excursion with that for their
second whitewater raft trip, the couple invited four other family
members to join them on an overnight weekend excursion on
the upper Cache, two hours north of San Francisco.
Their «Go Whitewater» adventure began on a Saturday morning with an hour-long shuttle ride up the gorge, which provided
gorgeous views of the Calusa Mountains and glimpses of the
river. After they arrived at the Cache Creek River, the guides
gave an onshore briefing on rafting, reviewing the different levels of rapids, which are grouped in classes one through six.
They learned that Class 1 is flat water, 2 is beginner whitewater,
3 is much more intense with rocks and obstacles, 4 is advanced
whitewater and 5 is the expert level.
«A Class 6 is unrunnable. It is one-way trip that you probably won’t come back from,» explains Miles Miltner, who runs
whitewater raft trips on the Truckee River, out of Lake Tahoe,
with his company, Tahoe Whitewater Tours. With many river
outings focusing on Class 3 rapids, «the excitement of the trip
comes from the boat being tossed by the water, maneuvering
around rocks and getting splashed. It is like a roller coaster ride
at times,» says Miltner, whose trips range from a half-day to
two-day excursions.
«We jumped in and started paddling away,» recalls Rachanee Sporl. «We started in a calm spot, then turned a bend and
saw little ripples, then rocks, then all of a sudden it was the
whitewater rapids! I was a little scared, but the adrenaline just
carries you through,» she says. «What made it fun for me is
that the river changes, so it is always new and different. ” The
Sporls are planning another family whitewater raft trip for the
next summer.
drive a race car to experience the Formula Mitsubishi,» said
Del Leutbecher, director of sales and business development at
the racing school. Leutbecher estimated that 80 percent of a
student’s time is spent in the car and on the track.
Opened 49 years ago in Britain by racer Jim Russell, the
school, which has a second location in France, specializes in
open wheel racing, which is even more popular in Europe than
in the U. S. «It felt like flying. It was a big thrill for me,» Sivori says, mentioning that she plans to return to the school for more training.
Underground adventures: How low can you go?
«People come from all over the world to see this park,» says
Carey Goldstein, a naturalist who manages Crystal Cave in
Sequoia National Park, the U. S. Park System’s second oldest
park. «For a cave of its size, the number of formations and the
variety is pretty hard to beat. The colors are very vivid. It is a
living cave–water flows through year-round, making the bands
of blue, white and gray marble shiny.»
To explore Crystal Cave, the park offers Visitors two types of
tours: the regular walking tour and the Wild Cave Tour. «What
makes the Wild Cave Tour special is that you get to see parts
of the cave that you would not see on a normal tour,» explains
Goldstein, noting that the expedition size is limited to six people
at a time. «There are no lights at all except the ones you wear–
we provide coveralls, plus a hard hat that looks like a miner helmet with lights. You crawl on your stomach deep into the cave.»
If a guest becomes claustrophobic and needs to leave the tour,
he says the cave exit is not far away.
«Crystal Cave is absolutely wonderful,» says spelunker «Big
Bill» Roberts. A veteran of show caves on walking tours, he had
never done off-trail caving until he went on the Crystal Cave
Wild Cave Tour in the spring of 2000. «Everything is dripping,
sparkling and pristine,» he notes. «You can tour several large
chambers, 30-to 40-foot rooms, and see every type of formation
in caves–sculpted marble, beautiful stalactites and stalagmites.
As you go deeper in the cave, you go through dry, sandy, twisty,
interconnecting passages before you work your way down to
big boulders and finally water and mud. You also have to go
through the ‘rat-hole’ – a passage through the rock that is about
a 6-foot tube that is just big enough to squiggle through.»
By Karen Kefauver
http://www.karenkefauver.com
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Januar y, 2008
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POWERIZER JUMPING STILTS:
FOR YOUR INNER SUPER-HERO
J
Jumping
After learning to stand, walk and run, jumping is the next challenge to overcome. There are two styles of jumps. Jumping with
one foot is just glorified running. The main difference is in aiming your power upwards instead of forwards. Try to stand in one
place on the bouncing stilts and alternate jumping with your right
and left leg. The trick is to step off as hard as you can when you
are at the lowest point in the momentum, bounce back, and then
change legs so you are touching the ground with the next one.
Balancing yourself is more difficult with two footed jumps due
to the increased spring resistance of the jump stilts. This is the
strongest of all jumps and is the one which can shoot you 6 feet
in the air. Start by standing still for a second and then press
downward as you bend your legs slightly. Do this once and stop
to regain your balance. When you feel you can do it without losing balance, do it several times in a row. Try to press harder on
the jumping stilts for more altitude.
umping Stilts are known by many names including: Powerizers, Powerisers, Powerskips, Velocity Stilts, Flyjumpers, 7 League Boots, SkyRunner, Pro-Jumps, and Powerbocks.
Poweriser is the latest in extreme sports! It enables the users to
run and jump with super human speed and strength! How’s that
possible? Powerisers possess a unique fiberglass spring which
is loaded with your gravitational potential and kinetic energy!
Simply push upon the spring using your weight and the spring
pushes back! Poweriser running and jumping stilts will enable
you to jump to heights of 5-7 feet and run at speeds of 17-21
mph! A perfect leg training activity!
Before you start, it is recommended that you kit yourself out
with a helmet, wrist, elbow and knee pads. Never use powerisers without this safety gear. Don’t use poweriSers on wet
grass or slipper surfaces. Try not to step on leaves or pieces
of paper as you don’t know what is under them. Watch out for
puddles.
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Januar y, 2008
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Will these give me superhuman ability? Can I really
run 20 MPH?
The simple answer is yes, it is possible, jumping stilts have been considered for military application. One particular set of stilts was tested by the
US Air Force. The user maintained an average speed of 23 MPH while
chasing a military quad.
Cool tricks for the experts
Giant Leaps
Giant leaps are the natural graduation to being a quality jumper. To begin with, make a few small jumps with both legs and
every time you jump kick your legs out straight and press more
power downwards for higher and higher bouncing.
Back Grab
This is a cool trick if you manage to maintain good balance.
Jump up and down with both legs at the same time and try to
bend both of them together. It looks better if your legs don’t lose
contact with each other. As you get better at it, try to make the
bend deeper and deeper. When you can do this without falling,
rotate your upper body to either right or left and grab your heels
with one hand.
Back Flips
If you think you can pull off a back flip then you are already
very confident and we can’t give you much advice. If you fail a
back flip with powerizers then you have another half meter to
fall! The only difference to a regular back flip is the unsteady
landing and your timing will have to be perfect. This is not a trick
we recommend since it is so dangerous and the risk of injuries
is high. But if you are a real powerizer expert, this is the ultimate
trick!
http://www.powerizerz.com/
http://www.getjumpingstilts.com/
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Januar y, 2008
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WRECK DIVING:
A GLIMPSE OF THE PAST
day, more and more divers are entering the water to seek out
wrecks.
Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an
increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artificial dive
sites. Shipwreck diving enables sport divers to visit the past.
Each wreck is considered a time capsule into history waiting
to be explored. Sport divers also make interesting artifact finds
while exploring the remains of sunken ships. This enables the
sport diving community to make its own contribution to historians and archaeologists by giving them the information needed
for wreck identification and further research.
There are thousands of shipwrecks located throughout the
waters of the world, as well as many ships that were sunk intentionally for divers. However, the enjoyment of wreck diving is not
limited to those dives made on a ship. It may be just as exciting
to dive on a sunken airplane or maybe even an automobile or
a bus.
Naturally, there are possible hazards associated with wreck
diving that divers need to keep in mind. Wrecks are often
snagged by fishing lines or nets and the structure may be fragile
and break without notice. Considerations include sharp edges,
entanglement, depth, currents, and penetration. You should not
attempt to penetrate a wreck without proper equipment and
training.
Divers will inevitably want to delve into a wreck that appeals
to them, the enticing gloom and lure of the unknown is ever
present. It can be complex to put into words the magnetism that
can take a hold on you for wanting to explore within a wreck, it
goes to the core of what it is to be a diver and push back another frontier within oneself.
Wrecks come in different shapes and sizes, some wrecks are
so open and dispersed that a rookie diver would be safe drift-
O
ver the centuries, maritime engineers made ships larger,
faster, and more powerful. But all of these ships had one
thing in common with every other ship built in two millennia of
seafaring: they can sink! Once a ship sinks, the underwater
world makes the ship its own. The wreck transforms into an
artificial reef that attracts fish and other aquatic life, along with
divers.
The first wreck dives resulted from a profit motive. The Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans sent breath-hold divers down to
recover cargo from their ships when they sank in shallow water.
More recently, when seventeenth and eighteenth century Spanish galleons sank in the Caribbean, diving salvors attempted,
sometimes quite successfully, to recover lost treasure. These
days, we go wreck diving simply to capture a glimpse into the
past. This leads us to the depths to explore around, and perhaps even enter into, these monuments of days gone by. To-
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Januar y, 2008
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ing around it, others are so enclosed, dark and dangerous that
even professional wreck divers may perish exploring them. The
marine encrusted tight hatches and doorways tend to be designed for sealing compartments off and can be quite small, a
challenging obstacle for a fully equipped diver.
It is wise to try and remind the adventurous divers spirit to
temper the need to go forth and roam freely with common sense
and a realistic outlook when it comes to this aspect of wreck
diving. If the surface is not directly accessible from a penetration point on a wreck then the necessary precautions should be
taken and be aware that now you are entering a serious level
of responsibility. It is a level of responsibility that can mean your
very life is at stake if you don’t proceed wisely. A diver roped
to a buddy on stand-by at the wreck entry point is a lifeline in
every sense of the word and should be considered a minimum.
Within some wrecks collapsing structures, dead-end corridors
that divers can only exit backwards and an almost sinister way
that loss of direction occurs can be many hazards and challenges they entail.
The wreck-diving mavericks who learnt from experience may
scoff at such things; after all they may often pioneer into the
unknown and self-rescue themselves sufficiently with no problems. It must be argued in their favour that a cool head and slick
dive skill is a key factor in escaping from underwater dangers.
So be safe out there and be careful divers.
http://www.divinglore.com/
http://www.lynnseldon.com/
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Januar y, 2008
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TOP TIPS FOR CHOOSING
A HELISKI HOLIDAY
than this you will be charged for it – usually about US $75 per
1,000 metres. However, if bad weather prevents flying you’re
refunded at the same rate for unskied vertical. The amount can
vary from one operation to another though, so it’s important to
know exactly what you’re committing yourself to before booking
a trip. And watch out – some operations will include one amount
of skiing in the price whilst only actually guaranteeing a lesser
amount.
Wilderness lodge or hotel accommodation?
In either case you’ll be spoiled rotten, but the wilderness lodge
does give you more of a – well, a wilderness feel.
What’s the terrain like?
It’s vital you check this and ensure you’re going to ski with an
operation that can provide the kind of terrain you like. Most operations cover such big territories that there is plenty of variety.
However, many will not take you on steeper terrain, some emphasise tree skiing and some have no tree skiing at all (such as
in Alaska). Look into this before you go and make sure you end
up somewhere that definitely has what you want – something
that can be hard to get from a company that does not want to
lose your business to a competitor.
T
here are few opportunities in life to feel like a daredevil
action man or woman, but here’s one suggestion – try heliskiing. Imagine the finest run you’ve ever done in a regular
ski resort and then imagine doing something at least that good
and probably a hundred times better – all day long. There are
no crowds, no lines, no ice, no lifts. Just you, your friends and
thousands of square miles of untracked powder. That’s why heliskiers go back year after year! What’s more, the ski experience
of a lifetime is open to any decent intermediate skier or above.
Heli skiing is no longer the preserve of the experts with modern
fat skis (which you’ll be provided with).
So how do you choose a fabulous heli skiing holiday? If you
are booking for the first time – or even if you’re a seasoned heli
skier or boarder – here are some insider questions to ask:
When is the best time to go?
It really depends on where you go. As a general rule, the season in Canada is very reliable from January through until mid
April, often with some of the best conditions late in March and
early April. As you get closer to the equator, the window for optimal conditions tends to narrow somewhat. On certain weeks of
the year demand is slightly less, so prices are lower, but conditions are still excellent. Choosing one of these – they’re usually
outside the main school holiday periods and at the start and end
of the season – can give you excellent value for money.
How many groups share a helicopter?
This can make a big difference to how much skiing you get
in, how ‘wild’ the mountains feel and how much potential other
skiers/boarders have to disrupt what you want to do. You will
get the best experience – and better value for money – by going
with an operator that has fewer groups using the helicopter.
But how do you get the best value for money?
With competition on the Internet becoming quite intense
many companies are advertising deceptively low prices (this is
particularly true for Russian heli ski outfits) in order to attract
business. Whilst these operations may appear less expensive
than others you could find on closer inspection (or maybe only
How many skiers/boarders per group?
This varies between three and eleven. Smaller groups probably give you more flexibility, but if you have a large group of
friends it can be fun to ski or ride together. You will also want
to ensure the group you will be skiing with is at the same level
as you.
History
Hans Gmoser, a mountain guide and Austrian immigrant to Canada,
is generally credited with starting heli-skiing in 1965 in the Bugaboos
Mountains of British Columbia (although he experimented with helicopter accessed skiing in the years proceeding in the front ranges of the
Canadian Rockies west of Calgary). Evidence suggests that heli-skiing
may have even taken place earlier in the late 50’s or early 60’s in Alaska,
Wyoming or Utah based on old photos in ski books.
What is the refund policy when you can’t ski?
Most operations guarantee 30,500 vertical metres of heli skiing as part of a week-long package. If you choose to ski more
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once you arrive) that significantly less vertical is guaranteed as
part of the overall package, and you will actually end up paying
more to ski once you go over that guaranteed amount. It can
often be the case that the heli ski companies which initially appear most expensive work out to be the best value for money…
so check them out carefully.
On a pure cost basis, heliskiing is not cheap, but in return for
your hard won cash, you get the ski experience of a lifetime.
How else could you ever ski 15 runs (or more) in a day on pristine powder with only a few friends for company? And when you
add it all up, a few days skiing costs the equivalent of a couple
of pints a night over the course of a year – so cut down on the
beer and go heliskiing instead!
In conclusion, you can see that when you go heliskiing there
is range of factors to consider that don’t necessarily come into
play when you are booking a resort holiday. So it is worth doing
it through a specialist heliski tour operator, who can show you a
range of options and answer your questions.
By Alf Anderson
http://www.articlecube.com
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Januar y, 2008
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PARAGLIDING
If
fly off a hill and the only noise is the wind in your ears. You are
free, floating, and looking at the mountains, the coast and cruising along slowly–at 15 to 20 miles an hour. To see the sunset
from the sky is totally phenomenal.»
Greenbaum agrees. «When you are flying, you feel like a
bird. You can feel the pressure of the wind on the wing and it
feels like an extension of yourself. It is quite magical,» he says.
For those who want to experience paragliding with minimal time
you hear people talking about «soaring along ridges» and
«hunting for thermals,» don’t be confused. These folks are
most likely discussing paragliding, an increasingly popular air
sport. Paragliding is huge in Europe,» says Jeff Greenbaum,
a paragliding instructor and the owner of Air Time San Francisco. Now it is taking off here in the U. S. » Not to be confused
with parasailing or hang-gliding, paragliding uses a non-rigid,
parachute-like canopy, under which the pilot is suspended from
a harness in a seated position. The paraglider takes off from
hills or mountains and relies on air currents and winds to gain
altitude.
Last November, after waiting years to try it, Terry Lee finally
started taking paragliding lessons with Greenbaum. «At the first
launch, I felt a little bit of fear,» says Lee, 43, who works for
OSHA in Oakland. «I lost that fear real quick though, because
I was busy soaking in all the views. I was thinking, ‘Wow. It
doesn’t get any better than this. ’» It generally takes between
eight and 15 lessons for one of Greenbaum’s students to learn
to fly on his or her own. That time frame may vary due to weather and by how well the student masters basic skills. «To me, it is
very relaxing,» explains Lee. «At the end of a stressful day, you
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Ridge soaring
In ridge soaring, pilots fly along the length of a ridge feature in the landscape, relying on the lift provided by the air which is forced up as it
passes over the ridge. Ridge soaring is highly dependent on a steady
wind within a defined range (the suitable range depends on the performance of the wing and the skill of the pilot).
Thermal flying
When the sun warms the ground, it will warm some features more than
others (such as rock-faces or large buildings), and these set off thermals
which rise through the air. Sometimes these may be a simple rising column of air; more often, they are blown sideways in the wind, and will
break off from the source, with a new thermal forming later.
Cross-country flying
Once the skills of using thermals to gain altitude have been mastered,
pilots can glide from one thermal to the next to go ‘cross-country’ (‘XC’).
Having gained altitude in a thermal, a pilot glides down to the next available thermal. Potential thermals can be identified by land features which
typically generate thermals, or by cumulus clouds which mark the top
of a rising column of warm, humid air as it reaches the dew point and
condenses to form a cloud.
investment, a tandem flight is the way to go. «Anyone can do
it,» according to Greenbaum. However, he strongly encourages
students to learn how to fly on their own. It took Lee about eight
lessons to master the skies. So far, the highlight of his paragliding adventures was a recent trip to Big Sur, where he had a
40-minute flight and plenty of time coasting about the ocean,
soaring to 3,200 feet.
http://www.karenkefauver.com
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