Posts Tagged ‘Florida’

Regular visitors will know that we at xtremesport4u are always searching for material for our readers that will inspire and teach them about their chosen extreme sport.

You may also know that kite surfing or kite boarding was one of the first sports that we talked about on our blog and it is to that extreme sport that we return to again today with the hope of both inspiring and teaching you.

The inspiration comes in the form of the video below from tomasleeman of Andy Hurdman who must be one of the best proponents of his art – he can go anywhere and performs an amazing display of aerobatics – totally inspirational – and when we say ‘anywhere’ you will understand why Andy has picked up the nick name ’sandman’! 

The teaching element comes in the form of the link below to Andy’s website from which you will see there are 3 levels of personal instruction that you can receive from Andy Hurdman -

Level 1 is a 3 hour lesson and will set you back $300. The following topics are covered:

SKILLS TAUGHT

This video which comes from Apexpredator11 and was posted in December 2006, sometime ago now, but it made us think of what the statistics are for shark attacks on surfers. Here we should add the word ‘reported’ and this is what we found.

From the Times on line ‘ Last year the only fatal attack was in New Caledonia, in the southwest Pacific, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s international shark attack file.

There were 71 other reported attacks worldwide last year, up from 63 in 2006. Attacks on the Atlantic coast, particularly in Florida, are far more common than they are on the Pacific coast.

A study by the Harvard Centre for Risk Analysis showed that a person’s chances of being killed by a shark in any given year are about 1 in 280 million, compared with a 1 in 6,700 chance of being killed in a car accident.

This means you would have to swim in the ocean 112 times a day for it to become as dangerous as making a single car journey to the supermarket. ‘

As you are no doubt aware there are only four species of shark that are considered to be dangerous: the Great White shark, the Oceanic Whitetip shark, the Bull shark and the Tiger shark. Further research will quickly reveal that the Great White – the most feared of all the sharks, will ‘not deliberately hunt humans for food’.

While sharks kill fewer than 20 people a year, their own numbers suffer greatly at human hands. Between 20 and 100 million sharks die each year due to fishing activity, according to data from the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

So shark attacks are rare and no doubt often caused by foolish behaviour from an individual – take for example the Meditterranean where Europe holidays and yes, the Great White has been seen in the Med – some even suggest it is their breeding ground – since 1899 MEDSAF reports (the Mediterranean Shark Attack File) that only some 60 attacks have been reported – no doubt in this respect it is a good thing that the Med does not have any surf!

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.

The 11th annual Extreme Mud Wars for St. Petersburg, Florida officials and recreation center teens will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today. The event, sponsored by the city’s Teen Art, Sports & Cultural Opportunities program, will be at Spa Beach, 615 Second Ave. N.E., at the approach to The Pier.

Mayor Rick Baker and his team will compete — and get muddy — on the obstacle course at 10 a.m. Teens will compete in eight arenas of games that include the obstacle course, joust pit, belly bumper pit, tug of war, football and more, including two new surprise events — all in the mud.

The teams are competing for cash: $500 for first place, $250 for second place and $100 for third.

Today’s event is not open to the public, but Friday it will be open to outside organizers who bring their own teams. For information, call (727) 893-7918.

Heather Bosworth, 14, gives it all she has while competing in the tug-of-war event.

Mud, mud, glorious mud, nothing quite like it for cooling the blood……….so goes the old song so I guess these guys won’t be suffering from heat exhaustion!

Having written about 80 year old Barbara Rawlings who is about to go hang gliding I am pleased to bring you this story of another octogenarian who has just completed her first scuba dive.

81 one year old Marge Frisch from Florida, USA has just completed her first scuba dive off the Grand Cayman Islands. For years, Marge Frisch would hear the wonderful stories and see the beautiful photos about Grand Cayman from her daughter Linda Martin.

81–year–old Marge Frisch enjoyed her first dive with Absolute Divers. Photo: Don Mart

Marge had always wanted to visit such a magical place, but her husband’s health challenges kept her from venturing very far from her Sun City Center, Florida home. This week for the first time, Marge had the opportunity to visit Grand Cayman and took full advantage of the chance.

Like many people, her ultimate goal has been to go scuba diving and experience the underwater world that blesses these islands. The only difference with Marge is that she is 81 years old. Marge keeps an active lifestyle in Sun City Center including swimming in the pool, walking and aerobics but they don’t quite offer scuba diving as an activity.

So, Marge began learning about diving and got comfortable with dive equipment in her daughter’s pool in Tampa. Ready to take on the challenge, Marge teamed up with Mark Sahagian, owner of Absolute Divers and successfully completed her first dive at Stingray City last week.

“What an experience of a lifetime,” chirped Marge after boarding the dive boat. “The coral reef and tropical fish were amazing. Having all the stingrays swim up, around, under and over you is incredible. I can’t believe I actually did it but I am so glad I did.”

Sahagian said Marge did great, “At age 81, Marge is the oldest diving student I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. But let me tell you, she certainly doesn’t act her age. Once we got her ears cleared she was like a fish in the water, immediately taking to the stingrays and checking out the tropical fish and coral reefs.”

Ladies and gentlemen this is another incentive, and another reason, to never say never again – well done Marge.