Friday, December 4, 2009

Bull Riding..

Now this is one extreme sport that I feel I have to participate in at least once in my life. It's just you against the animal, and not just any animal a "bull." Bulls are solid muscle and weigh at an excess of 1000 pounds. Bull riding has been said to me the most dangerous 8 seconds of any sport. The object of this sport is to mount the bull while being strapped in, then release the bull from the pen, the rider attempts to stay on the raging animal for 8 seconds with only one arm allowed to hold on. Scoring in bull riding goes from 1 to 100. The score is dependent on how well the rider stays on and also on the tenacity of the bull. Thus, a victory can depend just as much on the bull as it can the rider. I can remember watching Bodacious, the most legendary bull in history just dominate riders. He was never riding and in fact was nearly banned from the sport for being to dangerous. The most famous rider is Tuff Heidman, that actually died doing this sport. That's one crazy sport.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Cliff Diving


As a kid I loved jumping off the rock ledge into the lake. Then it seemed like it was sooo high, when it was probably only 9 feet or so and today it isnt as exciting. For some people though jumping off some rocks into a lake isn't quite enough. They have to go up to the highest point of some cliffs and jump from there. And unlike with me its not about who can do the best canon ball with the biggest splash. These crazy folk actually dive, doing technical moves such as flips, twists and landing either feet first or hands first trying to make as little splash as possible.


Back in 1770, Kahekili (1710 - 1794) the last independent king of Maui and chief of four islands was famous for “lele kawa”, which in English means: Leaping off high cliffs and entering the water feet first without a splash. In order to prove their courage and loyalty, Kahekili forced his nakoa (warriors) to follow his example, jumping of the leap into the Royal Waters at Kaunolu.


Today divers dive from these heights with the World High Diving Federation. WHDF is an autonomous federation, not subordinate to any higher institution. It was founded in 1996, and is an inscribed Sport Federation with headquarters in Avegno, Switzerland. The purpose of WHDF is to provide professional information and promote the disciplines of Cliff and High Diving, also to organize and carry out national and international competitions.


There is a lot of various rules and regulations, regarding licensing, what swimsuits are allowed, how to train, judging etc. http://www.whdf.com/ has all the information if you ever want to start jumping off cliffs.