Nissan Outdoor Extreme Games 2009

We normally keep a close eye on the Nissan Extreme Games, but were obviously so busy writing on other things that Interlaken 2009 slipped by with no comment from us for which we apologise. However, it’s never too late to make up for past omissions and  show you the high quality of both competitors and film producers… following this teaser from  OutdoorGamesTV.

Nissan have been innovative in the extreme sports world and were the first to realise that an original event concept was needed in this growing sector of the market.

Because extreme sports have become more and more fashionable over the past few years, the event organisers came up with a concept like no other – 5 teams, 5 sports and a 5-minute film.

The task for the five teams is challenging: to produce a five-minute short film in seven days including five outdoor sports in the Interlaken region.

Rather than pushing the limits in outdoor sports, the Nissan Outdoor Games again reveals that certain subjects can be addressed within a sports film. The themes represented in the 2009 films go from the meaning of life and death, profound feelings as well as harmony with nature.

Extreme sports challenges have been taking place in Interlaken now for 5 years. The Games are an important event for adventure sports and film making. For a week, the best kayakers, mountain-bikers, climbers, paragliders and base jumpers combine with film makers and photographers to share their adventure in the mountains and to battle  it out for prize money of Swiss Francs 70,000.

Jean-Pierre Diernaz, General Manager of Nissan’s Marketing Communications in Europe, says “The Nissan Outdoor Games allow athletes to express themselves in the most awe-inspiring way, whilst thrilling the public by capturing their exploits in a five minute film. Nissan is once again proud to be supporting the Outdoor Games and together we are working to increase participation in an active outdoor lifestyle and a sustainable engagement with the natural environment.“

Enjoy these incredible hang gliding sequences filmed by Austrian film team ‘Argon’ (orleyflo)

Marvel at Anthony Green’s 10-second death defying  misting by the falls (acrotwinz).

Enjoy Swiss Team, NBFlyer’s, film for which they received the Jury’s Special Award as well as the Best Sports Sequence for its climbing scene with Cyril Albasini. (OutdoorGamesTV)

And we end with the winning film from Team Golgoht of Finland who received the Golden Peak Award.

The Finn, Petri Kovalainen from the Golgoht team, won the Best Photographer award as well as the Game of Light Award by Julbo.

How to hang glide part 2 – for Nicholas Cage

Yesterday we reported that Nicholas Cage is keen to learn how to fly a hang glider and so with the assistance of expertvillage.com we have posted a few videos which we hope will get you and Nicholas up into the air.

We start by learning  how to set up the wings – its not a big deal but does of course have to be done in the right way but as the instructor tells us it is difficult to make a mistake. 

 

OK so your hang glider is ready to fly – the next lesson from expertvillage demonstrates where the centre of gravity is and what this means when you shift your weight from right to left and therefore what it does to the angle or flight direction of the hang glider. We are still not in the air in this video but it is important to understand the theory.

Right now for control of the hang glider before take off – again from expertvillage – and don’t think you can skip out on this lesson – as we are told until you can demonstarte control of the hang glider which is supported on your shoulders whilst standing, walking, jogging and finally running, without looking at the ground and without tripping over, being blown over and losing you balance you ain’t going nowhere. 

We think that is enough to absorb for one day Nick as we presume you have some lines to learn and dare we say it – you are not really Superman!!

Extreme courage in the face of adversity

This is the incredible story of a young man, Dan Buchanan, who was paralyzed in a hang gliding accident but with sheer grit and determination found the resolve to fly again.

In 1981 Buchanan, of Dayton, Nevada, was a young hang glider trying to fly during dangerous weather conditions and thought he could handle the winds. He was wrong and in a shattering crash landing Buchanan was left paralyzed from the waist downward, unable to walk. But he was determined to go hang gliding again, the sport he loved and so after only six months of ‘mending’ he had enough strength in his upper body to get back into the harness of his hanglider. The only adjustment he needed to make was adding wheels at the bottom of the glider in order to land.

“I missed six months of it — that was all,” Buchanan said. “Everyone said, ‘What are you, nuts? It hurt you once, so you’re going to do that again?’ It wasn’t the sport that hurt me; it was the weather I chose to fly in. No one else would have done what I did.”

Since the accident, he won’t go in the air if the winds are stronger than 20 mph but we at xtremesport4u salute the bravery and courage of Dan as a fabulous example of what people can do with their lives even in the moment of crisis – well done Dan.

Dan Buchanan, right, is shuttled to the end of the runway at the Manitowoc County Airport on Saturday while Ray Leonard rides in the launch trailer. Buchanan’s legs were paralyzed after a hang gliding accident in 1981, but that hasn’t stopped him from returning to the skies. Photo by Eric Young/HTR

I’m going to fly like a bird on my 80th

By Christina Savvas

“‘SUPERGRAN Barbara Rawlings won’t be settling down for a quiet birthday tea party when she turns 80.

Instead, the daredevil pensioner from Coventry will be hang-gliding from a mile above the ground.

Barbara, who lives in Middlecotes, Tile Hill South, and has two sons and a grandson, said keeping active has always been the way of life for her.

She said: “All my life I have kept active playing netball, tennis, I have travelled the world and now I play golf and do yoga.

“I have been in a helicopter but I have always wanted to try hang-gliding and never had the chance before. I don’t need any presents at my age, I have everything I need in life, so I have asked friends and family and anyone else who can to sponsor me to do the flight and the money will be donated to Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.”

Barbara, who moved to the area 10 years ago to look after her sick mother, worked as a medical laboratory scientific officer and spent 10 years in the Middle East.

She was involved in setting up the first women’s hospital in the United Arab Emirates 20 years ago.

She needs to raise £299 to complete the flight at Sywell airfield in Northamptonshire.

On her birthday on July 26, following a lunch with family and friends Mrs Rawlings will be taken up in a microlite and then complete her tandem hang-glide.

Mrs Rawlings says she has never felt scared about trying something new.

She said: “People think I’m mad to do something like this at my age. My family were very surprised, especially my grandson who is 21-years-old this year.

“I am not scared at all. The organisers at Sywell have asked me if want to take out extra insurance but I have said no. It doesn’t bother me.”

Mrs Rawlings has set up a bank account in the charity’s name at Coventry Building Society for anyone who wishes to donate.'”

What a wonderful story. My grandfather was just like Barbara Rawlings – his zest for life could shame us. And he never saw the bad side to anything – he always looked for the good in everything and everyone. What a gift.

Sci fi legend dies

Perhaps not the most usual subject to talk about on an extreme sport blog but did you know that the sci-fi authority Arthur C. Clark, who died last week in his adopted home in Sri Lanka, was also an extreme sports enthusiast. I quote ‘The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible’.

Clarke’s vision of a time when people, subconsciously feeling their own impending obsolescence, devote their lives to such self-gratifications as hang gliding, eco-tourism, and recreational mountain climbing has unfortunately already dawned: consider Mount Everest, where trash left by tourists who climb it each year has become a problem.

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, discovered that scuba-diving approximated the feeling of weightlessness that astronauts experience in space. He remained a diving enthusiast, running his own scuba venture into old age.

Another sad loss for those of us who are prepared to go the extra mile although i’m not sure we extremists could be equated with self gratification????

“When You See That Look of Fear in Their Eyes, You Know This Really Means Something!”

On the 9th March Ski Sunday and Graham Bell (former downhill skier for England) and Ed Leigh took a look at extreme sports and what makes people participate in it, and to do this they went to New Zealand where so many of today’s extreme sports were first invented.

“I love pushing myself into new areas and trying out something that no-one has ever tried before” says Chuck Berry (not the singer!). Extreme sports is all about challenging yourself to learn something new and then putting your skills and your experience to the test. This gives you the biggest buzz of all…

Graham and Ed, being adrenaline junkies themselves, decided to test out this theory and their first task was Bungy Jumping. Bungy jumping, as some of you might well know, is all about challenging yourself to do something that is completely unknown. The first thing you feel is FEAR and you feel weak, but you push through that, and then the big adrenaline rush kicks in, you go out on the platform, you do it…. and then when you are back on the platform you look back at your jump and you feel great about yourself!

As Graham and Ed put it afterwards … it’s “THE biggest adrenaline rush!”

Following that one they decided to try “Flying Without Wings”. Here they were strapped, stomach down, onto a ‘craft’ which launches itself across a canyon and, within limits, you can steer yourself. Their comment was “if you’re into adrenaline then this is for you. It really is so much fun… it’s great.”

From there Graham and Ed went sky-diving which “is surreal” and “so much fun”, but then they came to the decision that if they wanted to ‘fly’ they must search out the ultimate sport, step outside their comfort zone and take to the air solo, and the perfect sport for this is:

SPEED RIDING…

In terms of innovation this is the latest adrenaline sport to come out of the mountains. It combines the speed of downhill with the exhilaration of paraponting. You use downhill skis and a small parachute which allows you to fly close to the ground touching down with your skis as you go. It allows you to take a direct and hitherto impossible route down a mountain as you are able to lift off whenever necessary.

“This is when you are really living life to the fullest” says Graham Bell.

“My heart is racing. I haven’t had that much adrenaline in my system for a long time” was another comment.

It has been said that you need to scare yourself once a day – apparently if you do speed riding “you certainly will!”

I thought it looked GREAT fun and will most certainly give it a go one day…

Extreme Sport

How much do you know about extreme sports?

“We do these things not to escape life, but to prevent life escaping us” says Bob Drury, a paraglider.

Extreme sports are no more “extreme” than traditional activities played at a much higher level. It might even be said that the distinction between an extreme sport and a conventional one has as much to do with good marketing rather than the levels of danger involved or the amount of adrenaline generated. If this wasn’t the case surely rugby union should be termed an extreme sport!

Did you know that when the term “extreme sport” first surfaced in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s it was used for adult specific sports including scuba diving, bungee jumping, sky diving etc. However, nowadays the term applies more to youth sports such as skateboarding, snowboarding and BMX. A feature of all these activities is the adrenaline rush experienced by the participants although some extreme sport enthusiasts claim that it is more about developing their physical and mental skills, seeking mastery of their chosen environment and a desire to escape from the mundaneness of day-to-day life.

What do you think? We are delving into this subject in more depth on our site xtreme sport 4 u. This site is still under construction but we will let you know as soon as it is open, but please feel free to comment on our blog. We would love input from enthusiasts, anxious parents (!) or people related to the topic in other ways…

Extreme Sport including kitesurfing, scuba diving etc.

This is the beginning of what will be a fabulous new site on extreme sports of all kinds. We are starting with a selection of 10: kitesurfing, hang gliding, scuba diving, rock climbing, mountain biking, sky diving, potholing or cave exploration, wingsuit flying (REALLY extreme!), snow boarding and bungee jumping.
Please participate in our poll as we are doing market research to determine the most popular extreme sport and please let us know if there are any glaring omissions!
Our website is in the process of being built. It will report on each of the extreme sports covered, giving instructional information on “how to…” and “where to…”. It will give information on what equipment is required (with links to sites from which the equipment can be bought), and will provide information on what competitions etc. are taking place around the world.
Thank you for dropping in. Please add your comments as we are really interested in feedback particularly from participants of the various extreme sports. As much as anything we really want this to be a fun site and with your help it will be…..
If anyone wants to put articles on our site with useful information this too can be discussed as long as the information is relevant.
You can find us at xtremesport4u but bear in mind that this site is under construction so please bookmark and check again next week.